# PenPal Lathe setup for an Apartment



## chartle (Dec 26, 2015)

So my son may start turning pens. The issue is that he will be starting his first real job soon and moving away to live in an apartment in upstate New York.

I think even the small Harbor Freight lathe maybe make too much noise. Though it maybe possible to do things like place the lathe on a anti vibration mat and also the legs.

I has thinking the PenPal maybe better.

One other issue is pen blank drilling. I hate using my small drill press with limited travel so I hoping he could use his lathe to drill blanks but I've been told the PenPal and even my small Harbor Freight lathe can't handle horizontal boring. 

So i guess my real question is has anyone setup a small pen turning shop in an apartment and not pissed off the neighbors?


----------



## Pkweiss (Dec 26, 2015)

I have a couple of Pen Pals for my 12 year old sons. Pretty good lather for making pens. No real vibration but should be screwed it down to a table so it doesn't slide.

PSI sells an attachment to drill blanks on it.

https://www.pennstateind.com/store/PENPALXD.html

Here is a link to a few photos of my shop. As you can see, I packed a lot a small space. 

http://www.penturners.org/forum/f30/shop-redesign-134961/


----------



## JimB (Dec 26, 2015)

The lathe really doesn't make much noise. At least my Jet 1014 doesn't. Some of the other tools do make some noise. There are some members here that live in apartments. I don't recall any of them saying their neighbors complain about noise. Probably whatever he uses for dust collection will make the most noise.

Try to get a lathe with an MT2 morse taper and 1x8 spindle so it will be easier to find drill chucks and other accessories. I drill on my jet 1014 and it has a 1/2 HP motor.


----------



## chartle (Dec 26, 2015)

Pkweiss said:


> I have a couple of Pen Pals for my 12 year old sons. Pretty good lather for making pens. No real vibration but should be screwed it down to a table so it doesn't slide.
> 
> PSI sells an attachment to drill blanks on it.
> 
> ...



Ok I'm confused. 

In the Q&A for the penpal someone asks if you can drill blanks and are told no by 2 people one being a PSI employee. But I now remember that I first saw that jaw set attached to a penpal.

I also once asked if I could drill blanks with my small Harbor Freight lathe was told it didn't have enough HP or travel.

So what gives? The Pen Pal is 1/5 hp and my lathe 1/3 hp.


----------



## oneleggimp (Dec 26, 2015)

Pen Pal should be fine but the HF would not be significantly louder  A lathe is a lathe is a lathe.  Not a lot of difference in noise level.


----------



## JimB (Dec 26, 2015)

chartle said:


> Pkweiss said:
> 
> 
> > I have a couple of Pen Pals for my 12 year old sons. Pretty good lather for making pens. No real vibration but should be screwed it down to a table so it doesn't slide.
> ...


Yes, you can drill. The problem will be that the smaller the motor the slower you will need to drill. You may also find it easier to start with a smaller bit and then your final size bit. The harder your wood or material the more the small motor will struggle. Keeping your drill bits sharp will also help.


----------



## TonyW (Dec 26, 2015)

I have just lost my first attempt to post a reply to this, so apologies if both turn up! My pen lathe has a 250 watt motor too, but it is not a problem as I now drill slower rather than quicker after melting some 'plastic' blanks and having trouble with blocked drill flutes in wooden ones. Being a hobby turner rather than a professional means that the extra few seconds it takes is not important. What I do find a nuisance is the limited quill travel which necessitates moving the tailstock up half way through. From what I've seen this is true of most of the small lathes though, to be honest.

Tony Wells


----------



## fastgast (Dec 26, 2015)

Cliff, I just went thru a down size and ended up with the shop fox W1704, how that I'm not production turning anymore, with a little patience I'm well pleased, it has 1/3 hp and only a MT1 taper, I think the advantage over the penpal is the tool rest is fully adjustable. It's been about a month now and 50 pens later and I'm well pleased with the lathe. It's not like my old Jet but then it only cost 200.00 w/VS.


----------



## darrin1200 (Dec 27, 2015)

I started making pens when the army posted me away from my wife for two years. 

I was livinfg in an apartment that had a small pantry type room. Literally 4'x4'. I picked up a small office desk at the thrift shop and bought my first Delta LA200. I was turning pens here for a year. I even had a GI drillpress set up in the kitchen. The kitchen table was my assembly work bench. I never had any issues with the neighbours or the superintendant. I did usually keep my turning to reasonable hours. 

The lathes are pretty quiet. I found that the most noise came from the actuall turning, especially acrylic square blanks. The other is the vaccum for the dust. That is probably the loudest.

Make sure he wears a mask, and try to keep the dust contained.

A little care and caution can lead to a fun hobby in the apartment.


----------



## chartle (Dec 27, 2015)

fastgast said:


> Cliff, I just went thru a down size and ended up with the shop fox W1704, how that I'm not production turning anymore, with a little patience I'm well pleased, it has 1/3 hp and only a MT1 taper, I think the advantage over the penpal is the tool rest is fully adjustable. It's been about a month now and 50 pens later and I'm well pleased with the lathe. It's not like my old Jet but then it only cost 200.00 w/VS.



Question about the shop fox and cheap lathes in general. I looked at that lathe and its exactly the same as my Harbor Freight lathe with just a few changes. Just a metal Tail wheel and slightly better adjustment handles. 

Is the motor or the electronics better?


----------



## fastgast (Dec 27, 2015)

Cliff, I really don't know the difference, that being said the VS controller on the shop fox is very smooth, there's a delay when you turn the lathe on but I assume thats normal. I haven't turn enough on it yet but so far so good.


----------



## monophoto (Dec 27, 2015)

My first lathe was a ShopFox 1704 - one of its advantages is that it has the highest horsepower rating of the various 'small' lathes. 

I never tried drilling pen blanks, but I did find that I could drill other small diameter holes reasonably well with the ShopFox, but drilling larger end-grain holes with forstner bits was really difficult.  My suspicion is that a ShopFox could be the basis for a single-machine pen-making setup.

One thing to be aware of - it doesn't have a handwheel on the headstock.  But it's not a big deal to make one. 

I understand the issue with noise in a small apartment, but whether that is actually a problem depends on the configuration of the apartment.  As others have pointed out, most of the noise from a pen-making operation comes from dust collection and from the roughing-out operation, the lathe itself it not especially noisy.  I suspect that it wouldn't be a major problem in an apartment if there is a room that does not share a wall with a neighboring unit.


----------



## chartle (Dec 27, 2015)

fastgast said:


> Cliff, I really don't know the difference, that being said the VS controller on the shop fox is very smooth, there's a delay when you turn the lathe on but I assume thats normal. I haven't turn enough on it yet but so far so good.



Works exactly the same as my HF just a different on off switch. Same plugs to change the plugs and same reset button.


----------



## Dalecamino (Dec 27, 2015)

Cliff, you should have a look at this one. I started turning in an apartment with this lathes predecessor Turncrafter. They ARE quiet. 

https://www.pennstateind.com/store/TCLC10.html


----------

