DRILLING BLANKS ON THE LATHE

[Drcal]

I have seen several threads about this before but could not find ananswer to my question:
If I want to use my Nova chuck (I have a full size one and a smaller one) to drill a blank, can I use it with the standard jaws or do I need to buy the long jaws?

Thanks.
Carmen

 

[Dan26]

I have the standard jaws and it works fine for me. I usually drill a starter hole 1/8" then drill to size.

 

[BigShed]

I do all my blank drilling on the lathe, use a Nova G3 with 35mm pin jaws (JSPIN) which I find gives more control over the positioning of the blank.

YMMV

BTW I also use my lathe as my pen press, so I don't use a separate pen press for assembly or a separate pen vise for drilling blanks.

 

[Justturnin]

I made these and love them. I drill all of my pen blanks with them.

Auxiliary Pen Blank Jaws

 

[Boz]

I only drill on the lathe now. I bought the dedicated blank chuck from PSI and it works great. I also use a collet chuck for round blanks and on unusual applications like antler or segmented blanks I put the drill bit chuck in the driven end and a live center on the tail and hold the blank with a pair of vice grips and use the quill to advance the blank. A foot switch or a knee switch is a great help.

 

[Whaler]

I use a Super Nova 2 and these jaws NOVA PIN JAW SET

 

[Dan Masshardt]

Nova g3 with pin jaws for me.