A mandrel, mandril, or arbor is a tapered tool against which material can be forged, pressed, stretched or shaped, or a flanged or tapered or threaded bar that grips a workpiece to be machined in a lathe. A flanged mandrel is a parallel bar of a specific diameter with an integral flange towards one end, and threaded at the opposite end. Work is gripped between the flange and a nut on the thread. A tapered mandrel has a taper of approximately 0.005 inches per foot and is designed to hold work by being driven into an accurate hole on the work, gripping the work by friction. A threaded mandrel may have a male or female thread, and work which has an opposing thread is screwed onto the mandrel.
Old shop-made mandrel for turning hollow objects on an engine lathe
Rotary tool mandrel with an accompanying grinding wheel
Several types of 'triblet' along with other Jewellery mandrels
Wood and steel mandrels for shaping bracelets
A lathe is a machine tool that rotates a workpiece about an axis of rotation to perform various operations such as cutting, sanding, knurling, drilling, deformation, facing, threading and turning, with tools that are applied to the workpiece to create an object with symmetry about that axis.
Modern metal lathe
A watchmaker using a lathe to prepare a component cut from copper for a watch
Lathe turned pillars at Chennakeshava Temple, Belur
A craftsman working a chair leg on a lathe