Pen turning question

[John Branam]

I have just set up a harbor freight lathe that I got really cheap, I bought an M2 taper mandrel for pen turning, the M2 taper is in the tail stock and the head stock does not have a morse taper at all. So I can not use a mandrel on this type of lathe? Is the a fitting or anything that can be bought so that I can turn pens? I am not sure of the exactr HF model put it is the one sold currently with a stand on thier web site.

[John Hart]

John...What's the model number of the lathe?

[John Branam]

It is model # 45276-6vga. It is about 3 years old. I picked up as a starter lathe and because it was only $35. I am hoping to be able to learn on this and then move up to a better lathe.

[John Hart]

Yeah..this is the HF $140 lathe. My BIL bought it a while back and did pens on it just fine...Now it belongs to another new pen turner who has been making very nice peices. No special equipment or anything. I'll have to ask him tomorrow, won't see him today.

[John Branam]

Any help you can give me is appreciated.

[John Branam]

Would a collet chuck work, or is there a adapter that can be screwed onto the headstock?

[John Hart]

Turns out that I can't be any help John. The Lathe that my BIL got, was in fact a Grizzly...Then he replaced the grizzly with a HF lathe that's different than yours I guess. One thing though...he sorta thought that the one you have should support MT2. Do you have a picture of the spindle? I'm at a loss.

[John Branam]

I will try to take one tonight.

[Robert E Lee]

John, get a holed of Jason McDonald he just went through this same thing. There in a post about it.