Alright. I had a topic about a power wrapper and its capabilities so I decided to just buy a lathe from harbor freight....18 inches. Will an 18 inch mandrel fit into an 18 inch lathe? I already ordered the three jaw chuck, but I can't find a 1/4 in mandrel that's less than 18 inches....anyone know if I can just order an 18 inche mandrelfrom mud hole and be good to go? Or is it the exact size....this might sound silly to you pros but I've never used a lathe so any advice you wanna send my way it would be greatly appreciated.

My ultimate plan is to incorporate some really nice curly maple burl dyed and stabalized into my handles. My first build is going to be a handle for a Batson rainshadow center pin. I already have the piece of stabalized wood...just don't know exactly how to work with it and not destroy a beautiful piece of expensive wood!

Thank you in advance for any replies....should be getting the chuck soon and then I'll hopefully learn from the pros here what kind of mandrel will work then I can get to work

[www.harborfreight.com]

Patrick,
The 18 inch length is the "distance between centers". i.e. if you have a wood holding point on the head stock and have a point installed in the tail stock, the 18 inches will be the total distance between those two points.

Now, if you were to add a chuck or live tail stock on the lathe - that distance will be reduced.

But, now if you install a 1x8 screw on chuck on the head stock that has a hollow center, you will be able to open up the chuck and will be able to install a mandrel into the chuck for the width of the chuck and as long as the diameter is not too large - - like about 3/8th of an inch - the mandrel will actually slide through the chuck. If you use a mandrel that does slide through the head stock chuck, there is no reasonable length that you could not have for a mandrel.

Having said that- there is a bed extension made for that particular lathe. This lathe is made in the far east and the same lathe is sold under different names.

Here is the bed extension that fits onto your lathe:
[www.rockler.com]

I have the excelsior model of your lathe with the bed extension. I really like having the extra length on the bed, because, when I am working with some long pieces and or mandrels, I can use the bed extension, to push back the tail stock for clearing the work piece when changing parts and or tools. Of course, if you want to work on a 30 inch piece of material, you will have room for that as well.

An example of a lathe like yours - in the excelsior version - set up for center point drilling:

[www.rodbuilding.org]

An example of two different "points' to hold a piece of material. There is a 5/8th point inserted into the head stock chuck, and a "live center point" in the tail stock to hold the other end of the handle. These "points" were used to hold the wood for turning the grip.
[www.rodbuilding.org]

This picture gives one a view of the Excelsior version of your lathe. You can note on the right side of the lathe, is the bed extension - where it has been bolted up to the main lathe bed.

[www.rodbuilding.org]

A link to the 5/8th "point" that I used in the head stock to grip the butt section of the rod handle:
[www.pennstateind.com]

A link to the live - tail stock piece with its point used to support the other end of the handle when shaping:
[www.pennstateind.com]

In one of the pictures, there is a view of the head stock with the Taig 3 inch chuck, that is attached to a size converter that adapts the 3/4 X 16 threads on the back of the 3 inch lathe chuck, to the 1x8 threads on the head stock:

The spindle adapter: [www.pennstateind.com]

A link to the Taig chuck:
[www.taigtools.com]

The circle jaws that I used on the taig chuck:
[www.taigtools.com]


A few examples of chucks, jaws and accessories"
[www.google.com]

A person can buy a plain back chuck in your choice of sizes:
[www.google.com]

An example of a 3 jaw - machinist chuck:
[www.shars.com]

An example of a 1x8 threaded back plate that might or might not fit the 3 inch chuck listed above. If this particular back plate would not fit, you would want to verify the bolt and diameter pattern for fit, and if it does not fit obtain a different one.

Then, if you buy a plain back chuck, you will need to purchase a rough machined threaded back plate with 1x8 threads:

The answer is YES, you can use an 18" mandrel on your new lathe. The mandrel can slide thru the chuck into the heard stock as long as the mandrel is of a lesser diameter than the inside diameter of the headstock. In fact it wise to slide much of the excess mandrel out side of the turning piece into the head stock. This has the benefit of shortening the amount of mandrel exposed to lateral pressure when applying cutting tools to the turning wood. This is especially important on small diameter mandrels so as to avoid any flexing!

What I'm saying is, you don't need 18" of exposed mandrel, if the piece your turning is only 6" long.

Hope this is clear.

PS: I find a collet chuck to be superior for holding mandrels as they grip most of the circumference of the mandrel, and importantly will not slip. Collet chuck inserts are available for all mandrel sizes.
Collet sets are also available from Penn State Industries.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/17/2016 10:26PM by Phil Erickson.

The large I own is too short to fit the Mudhole mandrel, so I cut it in half and have 2 mandrels. It works fine as you only need one side with the live center. And each mandrel is still plenty long enough to turn a grip or reel seat.

I have the same Harbor Freight Lathe and have a Jacobs chuck attached to it. The 18" Mandrels fit just fine. Alps recently started selling mandrels in 3 sizes. Great product and awesome price and you can also purchase collars for them. Call utmostenterprises.com and talk to Carol, she will get them ordered for you.

Just preference here, but I wouldn't want to turn stabilized blocks on a 1/4" mandrel. Too much flex IMO. 3/8" is the smallest I use for wood and acrylic and most of the time I use 7/16" and 1/2".

Thanks for all the responses here. Learning quite a bit....sounds like I'll need a few different chucks at my disposal!

You will end up spending more on accessories than you did on the lathe.

Scott -
X10 on the comment about the total price of doing rod turning. I suspect that I have about double the price of the lathe in accessories by the time that it is all figured out.

However, the accessories make jobs possible that are not possible without the appropriate accessories.

Good luck

roger wilson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Scott -
> X10 on the comment about the total price of doing
> rod turning. I suspect that I have about double
> the price of the lathe in accessories by the time
> that it is all figured out.
>
> However, the accessories make jobs possible that
> are not possible without the appropriate
> accessories.
>
> Good luck

Scott "helped" me to spend a little more on accessories than the cost of the lathe. LOL

It was great advice, and money well spent.