anyone try these barrel trimmers?

[Manny]

Seems like a good deal. Just curious if anyone has bought one

http://cgi.ebay.com/6-Cutter-HSS-Pe...5|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:1|293:1|294:50

 

[mostangrypirate]

I have not, but I would. a 4 head cutter with that set is usually me expensive. good price, and 6 cutters can't be bad.

 

[rwyoung]

I have one of the HSS 6 cutter heads and it seems to work very well. Touched it up with a small diamond hone. Nibbles through walnut, padauk and acrylics like crazy. A little slower going with rosewood but still does the trick. My particular 6 cutter does tend to clog a bit so I keep a small brass brush handy to clean it out.

The shafts in my set also look quite similar and seem to be pretty much on the money for diameter and function. Using Gorilla Glue (polyurethane) for my blanks and so it is good to have a tight fit to clean out the goop.

 

[aggromere]

truing blanks

Im sure i was the last to know but someone gave me a tip as a response to one of my threads that was the best tip i ever got so far.

He said to turn the blank round between centers, then drill on the lathe. After you insert the tubes but the blank back into the chuck on the head stock and trim the end of the blank with a skew till you just hit the brass and it looks shinny. I've been doing all my pens that way now and I like it much better than pen mills. I hate them, I hate making adapters for odd sizes. They were always going dull and a pain for me to sharpen.

So now my procedure is:

Take all my pen blanks in batches of 10 or 20 and turn them round between centers and set them aside for when I need to make a pen.

When I decide to make a pen, I usually set up to make 5 of the same type. I cut the previously rounded blanks to size then drill them all on the lathe. So far no blow outs, no off center holes, no problems.

Once they are drilled I glue in the tubes and then put them back on the lathe and true each end with a 1 inch skew. No problems with that either.

My next step will be to take all the extra tubes I have and begin making sleeves or barrels for each pen size and take them down to near bushing size and set them aside till it is time to make that type of pen.

With all the prep work done, when I make a pen I mostly get to do the fun stuff of final turning to size with a skew and finishing.

I use an assembly tool for the lathe as well. Once I finish my five pens or what ever im making I press them all together on the lathe.

Some days I have no pens completed (which is a bummer) but some days I have 10. I think it makes it a lot more fun.

 

[arw01]

So when you true the end of the blank are you just going straight in with the skew?

 

[sbell111]

Seems like a good deal. Just curious if anyone has bought one

http://cgi.ebay.com/6-Cutter-HSS-Pe...5|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:1|293:1|294:50

Those are the Rizheng trimmers. I use them. They work well.

I buy them directly instead of through a reseller. It's quite a bit cheaper. I also buy several extra cutter heads. That lets me keep one on each shaft and have replacements for when they get dull. They are cheap enough that it's worth it to replace them rather than sharpening them.

Incidentally, I still have several of these trimmer sets left over from a group buy that I ran. If anyone wants some at a reasonable price, let me know.

 

[pentex]

Steve, sent pm.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Im sure i was the last to know but someone gave me a tip as a response to one of my threads that was the best tip i ever got so far.

He said to turn the blank round between centers, then drill on the lathe. After you insert the tubes but the blank back into the chuck on the head stock and trim the end of the blank with a skew till you just hit the brass and it looks shinny. I've been doing all my pens that way now and I like it much better than pen mills. I hate them, I hate making adapters for odd sizes. They were always going dull and a pain for me to sharpen.

So now my procedure is:

Take all my pen blanks in batches of 10 or 20 and turn them round between centers and set them aside for when I need to make a pen.

When I decide to make a pen, I usually set up to make 5 of the same type. I cut the previously rounded blanks to size then drill them all on the lathe. So far no blow outs, no off center holes, no problems.

Once they are drilled I glue in the tubes and then put them back on the lathe and true each end with a 1 inch skew. No problems with that either.

My next step will be to take all the extra tubes I have and begin making sleeves or barrels for each pen size and take them down to near bushing size and set them aside till it is time to make that type of pen.

With all the prep work done, when I make a pen I mostly get to do the fun stuff of final turning to size with a skew and finishing.

I use an assembly tool for the lathe as well. Once I finish my five pens or what ever im making I press them all together on the lathe.

Some days I have no pens completed (which is a bummer) but some days I have 10. I think it makes it a lot more fun.

In theory, that should work just fine. However, in practice 'stuff' happens. Even though I mill my blanks before turning (standard procedure for most folks) after turning, I re-mill and almost always take a small shaving off one side. This gives me a more perfect mating with the hardware than if I don't. Picky perhaps, but since I don't make a lot of pens compared to what some here do, I try to make them as fine as possible.

 

[gomeral]

In theory, that should work just fine. However, in practice 'stuff' happens.

In theory, there's no difference between theory and practice. But in practice, there is.



daniel

 

[Greg O'Sherwood]

In theory, there's no difference between theory and practice. But in practice, there is.

Aww, now your just postulating...

:biggrin: