Oh!ScoJo wrote: No description.
My spindle is hollow and allows a 5/8" dia rad to extend through the spindle and out the chuck! Handy! That feature was something that I didn't know to look for when I was purchasing ... I was lucky that it came that way! For all bad that I can say about Cntrl Mach, they did copy from some good designs! I suppose that the technology is old enough that patent protection long since expired ... which, I suppose, is an issue, at least if it is to be imported.ScoJo wrote:Unfortunately, no chucking it into the lathe for me. It's 3 feet long.
For cutting the mandrel ... consider cutting the face down to an oversized center pin, say 1/8" dia. 6 or 7 0.010" face cuts should leave enough pin.
Then measure the pin diameter and cut away 1/2 to 2/3 of the excess, cutting parallel to the spindle axis. Measure/cut/measure /cut ... until you have about 0.101" dia pin. Then work the pin into a taper to about 0.097" at the outer end using a fine file held against the spinning pin. When you get close, measure with a wheel bore! When the wheel almost seats fully, switch to emery paper to smooth out the pin and take the last 0.0005 to 0.0010" off the pin. At the same time use emery paper on the mandrel face to smooth that off. Ideally, when you finish, the wheel slides onto the mandrel with the spoke face flush against mandrel face with only the gentlest of pressure, and, once on, will not slide sideways at all. At that point, you will not damage the bore and teh wheels should be as low runout as the rest of your lathe is capable of.
I don't think that there is a problem with 2 or 3" of mandrel stock protruding from the chuck, unless the chuck lacks strength to hold it. That gives you room for a couple dozen "mandrel re-do's".
If you have a dial indicator, put it on the pin and see just how well you did. When you are done running wheels, try a couple times to remove the mandrel, chuck it up again, and measure the runout then. Repeat a few times to see how well you lathe performs.