I now own a craftsman wood lathe 1hp and I was planning on using it to turn grips and to turn unfinished blanks to sand them down. I've seen the universal rod chucks but is there any other way to rig it up. also is this the same thing you would use to accept the mandrels. or do they come with an attachment.

Ked,

Check in the Equipment and Tools section of the Photo's page, and you will see that someone got an extra tail stock piece and mounted a bearing in it. This could be an answer, if your in the situation to afford it. I'm gonna do this to my TurnCrafter Pro as soon as I can afford it.

Bill in WV

Not exactly sure what you are seeking. A three jaw chuck at the head handles most things. A live center at the tail stock supports the far end of most things just fine as well.
Mandrels I usually use the three jaw and a live center for, but some folks use a dead center and dog at the head instead.
Your problem in turning an entire rod is support along the length. Steady rests exist for such long stock, but they can certainly leave their mark. I polished a blank a few months back by chucking the butt in the three jaw and then supporting the tip in a soft cotton rag on an adjustable support. I polished by pulling down away from the head. At 150 RPM that did fine for me. At high RPM the thing will whip around on you, so be careful

The unfinished blanks are like the gator glass blanks they have the ridges, they don't hinder the rods action but they do hinder the aesthetics. In a book I read about graphite rod building it shows the guy using a rod turning lathe to sand the ridges down. Thats what I am trying to achieve with my wood lathe. I figured about making adjustable rod supports that support the rod the length of its course to keep it from wobbling. short of buying a renzetti is this possible with what I've got?

Possible? Sure. Supports that don't mar will be your biggest problem if you are trying to go that path.
Imagine using a scotchbrite in your hand, gripping around the blank, and pulling down toward the tip. Will keep it under tension and from flipping around. That's basically what I did in refinishing. Supporting the tip in a cotton rag I did just for whan I wasn't sanding. Slower your lathe is, the easier and safer it will be to manage.

Ked,
I do this all of the time.
I do all most all of my handle work with the handle glued to the blank.
i.e. I drill out the bulk cork to match the blank size at the station of interest. Drill the reel seat hubs. Clamp everything together after gluing with 30 minute epoxy.

I have a lathe that I made by using a 3600 rpm 1/2 hp buffing motor. The buffing motor came with a 1/2X20 threads on one end. This is a perfect match for a keyless 1/2 inch chuck. I turn all of my handles by chucking a rod up the butt of the rod. This allows me to have clear access to the very end of the rod butt for a clean edge on the butt of the rod.

I have made several rod supports using aluminum stock and skateboard ball bearings. The skate board bearings are very high quality and quite inexpensive. They typically use a 5/16th inch bolt for mounting. I simply have two steel rod vertical supports threaded into an aluminum base. Then, there are two bottom holes in the lower bar that are tapped 5/16th for the bolts for the bearings. Then, a single hole tapped in the center of the upper bar for the single bearing on the top bar.
Thus, the rod is captured in a triangle formed by two ball bearings on the bottom and one ball bearing on the top.

To avoid marring, scratching or polishing the blank, when not wanted, I typically take a double wrap of masking tape around the blank at the point of support for the rod.

I position the rod support that is closest to the handle about 1/2 inch in front of the handle. This gives me very firm support for supporting the handle, while doing the heavy turning on the handle. The other rod supports are positioned down the rod at locations to avoid rod whip or bounce. I find that the first one is about 2 feet down the rod, and then the ensuing ones about 18-30 inches further down the rod.

The thing that you find after doing a rod or two, is that the blanks have points of harmonic balance, as well as harmonic imbalance. If you position the rod supports at the correct location, it is easy to spin the rod at 4000 rpm with no shake or whipping. However, if you place the supports at the incorrect locations, you can easily blow a rod apart due to destructive vibration at 200 rpm or so.

I place my first rod support, then take a test run by holding the blank in my hand, as I quickly turn the lathe motor on and off. I typically wear cotton gloves, so the blank slips nicely through the gloves, with very little friction, so that I don't burn my fingers, or run a piece of graphite through my hand. With the rod supported at the first point, I can quickly run my hand up and down the rod, as the lathe is turning to find the location, where the blank is steady and quiet with no whipping. I lock the 2nd support at that location, and then repeat for the ensuing supports. From that point on - I find that all most all blanks - irrespective of length can use the same rod support locations. Now and then - particularly if I have a very light action and quite limber rod - I may have to move the supports slightly, but in general, they can stay put.

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Having the bulk cork glued up with the reel seat glued in place as well, I simply start up the lathe and began the turning operation. I generally start with 30 grit sand paper to cut the glue line, do the bulk of the shaping with 100 grit paper, and then qickly move through 200,300 and 400 grit paper for the final finish. Because the rod is spinning so fast, the secret is a "Light" touch. A heavy touch with too heavy grit, can quickly remove too much cork from the blank. Since the handle is glued to the blank, you have one shot at getting the handle right. If you make a mistake, you have to take all of the cork and reel seat off the blank and start over. Not a nice thing to have to do. So, plan in advance, proceed with caution and then you will have a nice product.

Take care
Roger

p.s.
In the case of your lathe - I would simply remove the tail stock, extend the bed, - with whatever means is required, and then add rod supports down the length of the blank. My lathe is 10 feet long so it can accomodate nearly any length blank. kk

Remember, use a double wrap of masking tape to protect the blank, while spinning the rod. Also, after each use, use compressed air, to remove all of the sanding dust and dirt from the ball bearings to ensure long life from the sakateboard bearings.

p.p.s.
I use the same rod supports that I use on the handle lathe, for use on my power wrapper. They work equally well. Since the power wrapper turns slowly, and not much during use, there is not the need for the masking tape while wrapping the guides.

Roger, I like how your setup sounds. How do you level the blank to get it centred? I have turned on the blank in the past, and found that keeping the rod centered and level was key to getting it to spin with the least wobble. Then add more support to stop whipping.

Make one of the leveling tools as shown in RodMaker and leveling your rod anywhere along the lathe will take seconds at best. The tool would cost you about a buck to make, and perhaps 5 to 10 minutes of your time.

...............

is it just a string level mounted on a block of wood with a groove cut in the bottom?

I really don't understand your question.
You are asking me how I get the rod level?

As I said, when turning the rod, I simply chuck a solid glass or steel rod in the chuck , and then either sand the rod to match the inside of the blank, or use tape on the glass or steel rod, so that the rod will be a jam fit on the inside of the blank. Thus, the blank at the chuck end will always be 100% centered.

As far as level is concerned, I really don't care except that the rod runs true. I simply turn the blank and adjust my first rod stand 1/2 inch past the handle so that it just is a nice fit against the bottom of the rod - no matter the rotation of the rod.
Then, I start and stop the lathe, while using my hand to hold the rod, as I run my hand up and down the spinning blank to find the spot where there is a point of sympathetic vibration, so that the blank doesn't shake. Then, I move down to the 3nd and if necessary 4th blank stand.

As I said earlier, with heavy blanks, I will often just use two blank stands. For a long and light blank, I may use as many as 5 stands to keep the blank stady and free of whipping.

The key behind all of this is a very quick hand on the lathe switch so that you can quickly brake the blank, if it starts to whip and stop it before the blank is destroyed.

Generally speaking, once the initial setup for a "typical blank is set" the same setup will work with most blanks.

Generally speaking, I pretty much leave the first three supports in the same location - no matter the blank. If I am on a very light blank, I typically will have one stand within one inch of the tip - to keep the tip from whipping at the high 3600 lathe speed that I use to turn the handle.

Take care
REW