So Lets Talk About Mandrels

By coincidence earlier today I watched a youtube video from Keith Rucker about making a mandrel to turn a pulley on:


Assuming that your pulley has a key slot this seems like a fairly accurate and easy method.
 
I hold parts like a pulley with an id collet. Rovi is a good American company that makes a good one. Rovi has a 5c collet set up
where you turn the expanding soft collet to size then you can load and unload in seconds keeping parts square and concentric.
You can then buy new soft heads to hold parts up to 6 inch dia. Ebay has some good deals on the Rovi set ups. And much cheaper than the Hardinge id collet set ups.
jimsehr
 
Picked up a nice set of mandrels. Mostly Pratt & Whitney. Goes up to 3/4. They will work well for my current project and the smaller scale model engines I'll be working on. IMG_20160506_123352.jpg
 
eeler1 said:
Heck, I cut tapers like that without even trying. Maybe I have a mandrel-making lathe.
Click to expand...

:D

Nope, just one that's not leveled or aligned. My lathe is the same but for most things, but when turning between centers you can dial it out.
 
I have mandrels of several types. The ones I usually reach for are a little set of 4 or 5 from 1/2" to 1". They are about 4" long and held in the chuck. You turn the mandrel in place and they are split into 4 segments on the end,with a cap screw to slightly expand them. Of course,once you turn one to a certain size,you can only use it once in a chuck. But,I use collets a lot in my HLVH(which is really a collet lathe,primarily). Then,they will always run quite true the next time.
 
Even though you stated you don't want expansion mandrels, Breakheart Tools Inc. has a complete set for $44.95 . I have a set and they work great for what I have done so far . They are American made .
 
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