Pen Mandrel Bushings

[Dave NMI Taylor]

Does anyone know if anyboby has come up with a cross reference for the seemingly millions of different bushing sets for pen turning?

It seems to me that each kit purchased has it's own bushing set, not counting the different manufacturers part numbers.

There are bound to be many duplicates, so it would seem someone would have come up with a cross reference of which bushing sizes will fit which kits.

[Nancy Laird]

Dave, there are two sizes of mandrels for pens, A and B (or 1 and 2, depending on the company you buy from). Each different pen kit uses a different size of bushing, as well as a different bit for drilling out for the tube.

I might suggest that you decide whose pen kits you are going to use (Berea, PSI, or ???) and stick to that particular manufacturer, because jumping from one to the other will only confuse you. We bought a wall-mounted drawer unit to hold our bushings--just a stick-on label to tell us what each is, and the bits are kept on the lathe stand so they don't get mixed with the rest of the stuff.

When you go to a website or look through a catalog, the description of the kit should tell you which bushing and mandrell and bit are required for that particular kit. Keep notes!!

Nancy

[Chris Barton]

Dave,

There is another alternative. If you get a decent set of calipers you can make your own mandrels. On ocassion I've made my own from Corian but, a good dense wood will work as well. You just need to make sure they fit inside the barrel and that the ouside portion is the same diameter as the metal fittings.

[Bill O'Conner]

there is a cross reference at yahoo pen group in their file folder it show most of the pen styles

[Dave NMI Taylor]

Thank you Chris and Nancy, but I think you both missed the point.

I was looking for a cross reference, It seems these days of the internet, one should be able to find anything, but I have not yet had any luck.

Thanks again....

You too Bill, You are on point and I appreciate your assistance.

[Rich Souchek]

Dave,
Have not seen what you want, telling what bushing sizes go where on what pen and which ones are identical to what.
I actually measure with calipers each new pen type I work with, and am now up to 6 or 8 different ones. It is absolutely amazing how different each one really is. After checking these, I've come to the conclusion that each set should be treated as unique for that type of pen.
I keep trying to make do, mainly because of being cheap. The end result is that there are many pens in my shop with wrong diameter ends or the short tube being by the nub when it should be by the clip. It has just lead to confusion and waste.
Better luck to you .
Rich S.

[john blanchard]

try this site, http://www.penventory.com/inv.pl

[Joe Collazo]

Does anyone know if anyboby has come up with a cross reference for the seemingly millions of different bushing sets for pen turning?

Here's a link to the reference charts at IAP: http://www.penturners.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=14937 . You can download the pen reference chart in either excel or pdf. All the bushings are listed there.

Hope this helps

joe