the.com/mandrel
the unsung steel spine that lets hollow metal hold its shape under brutal pressure
means A cylindrical rod, spindle, or core around which material is shaped, held, or formed — used in lathes, pipe-bending, and metalworking to support a workpiece from within.
from From the French 'mandrin,' a lathe spindle, which likely passed through metalworking trades into English by the 17th century. The deeper roots are tangled and debated — some trace it to the same Latin source as 'mandrake' (mandragora), the forked root once thought to resemble a little human, with the rod-like form perhaps lending its name to the rod-like tool. The connection is plausible but not certain, so treat the mandrake link as a likely cousin rather than a proven parent.
- core job
- Supports tubes from inside while they're bent or formed
- name root
- Likely from French mandrin, a lathe spindle
- hot work
- Glassblowers wind molten glass around them for beads
- battery trick
- Cylindrical cells coil electrode layers on a mandrel
- vanishing act
- Some dissolve away after composite parts cure
jacoby mandrel — historic seamless tube mill in dubuque, iowa, pioneered mandrel-based manufacturing
landis mandrel lathe — precision machine tool manufacturer using mandrels for shaft work, cincinnati ohio since 1879