US Patent 10226823 Portable pipe lathe and method

A pipe lathe includes a shaft; a cutting head supported on the shaft for movement with the shaft; a mandrel positionable on an outboard end of the shaft for supporting the shaft along a machining axis; and a first external pipe clamp and a second external pipe clamp, the first and the second external pipe clamps supported for external pipe engagement substantially concentrically about the machining axis. Multiple spaced apart engagement sites provided by the mandrel within the pipe and the external pipe clamps on an outer surface of the pipe support the pipe in a linear and centered position for machining by the cutting head, even when the pipe is non-linear, flexible and possibly with a cross section that is non-circular.