Kit Pen Assembly without the Right Tools

A friend gave me this pen in kit form.  She included the bushings for holding the barrel on the mandrel, but not a mandrel.  I do not have a mandrel.  I decided to make my own precision mandrel and do a good job of turning the acrylic barrel blank.  That means it had to be correctly centered while turning and with no vibration.

Step 1: The parts

This pen is from Woodcraft.  The barrel features a  cylindrical circuit board in clear acrylic.  In addition to the various parts, you see a 1/4 inch steel rod from my workshop.  The barrel blank shows the two bushings for mounting the barrel blank on a mandrel.  I inserted the bushings into the ends of the barrel blank so I could determine how long to cut the 1/4 inch steel rod I will use to make a mandrel.  The holes in the bushings are just a little too small for the 1/4 inch rod.  I suspect the holes are 6 mm, which would be just a tiny bit smaller than 1/4 inch.  My finger marks the length I want to cut for the mandrel.