Sand blank perpendicular to hole?

[mikeschn]

I'll bet the answer is obvious, probably even easy... but right now it's eluding me... so please help me out.

I'm making a closed end Tycoon. I'm working on the cap. The instructions are as follows...

CAP BLANK:
• Mark the center on both ends of the blank.
• Drill a 10mm hole at one end, 11/32" deep (Diagram B & C)
• Squeeze glue drops into the hole, slide the cap insert recessed
end in first into the hole. Let dry.
• Use a sander to square the end over the insert.

So here you see, I've drilled the hole and glued in the insert. I'm ready to use a sander to square the end.

Normally I use a barrel trimmer. Obviously that won't work, as the hole is only 11/32" deep. And the blank is not truly square, and it's not known which surfaces, if any, are truly parallel to the hole.

So how do I sand the blank perpendicular to the hole?

Mike...

 

[Skie_M]

Use your closed end Big Grabber mandrel ...

You'll be spinning the entire cap end ... simply sand the exposed side of the cap till you get down to the insert. Don't forget to go all the way up to finish sanding and polishing ... you can actually do this AFTER you actually turn the exterior of the cap.

 

[magpens]

You have asked a very good question, Mike.

This looks like one of the PSI closed end kits. . I have done a couple of them, but not the Tycoon. . I have found that the PSI instructions leave quite a bit to be desired.

I did not use the Big Grabber. . Instead, I turned the blanks round before starting and drilled the hole you are talking about with the blank in the chuck jaws, glued in the insert, and then squared up the open end of the cap using lathe tools.

I do not know how to help you out, but I will think about it and maybe something will come to me. . I do not see how the Big Grabber will help you now with such a short piece of wood.

 

[Jolly Red]

Make a sanding mandrel out of wood, with a short tenon on the end to loosely fit the tube of the insert. Attach sandpaper to the square face of the mandrel and use this to sand the insert.

 

[magpens]

Make a sanding mandrel out of wood, with a short tenon on the end to loosely fit the tube of the insert. Attach sandpaper to the square face of the mandrel and use this to sand the insert.

I think the point is, how do you hold the short piece in such a way that you know you are sanding the open-ended surface flat and accurately perpendicular to the axis of the very short hole inside the threaded insert (tube).

It seems to me that a short tenon, loosely fitting inside that tube will not do the required job of maintaining perpedicularity.

You have to somehow find a surface which is parallel to the insert tube axis and devise a way to work to that.

Maybe I am missing something that is fairly obvious.

Aha !!!!!

Edit: . You could leave the cap blank in the vice exactly as it is in the last picture. . You then would mount the mandrel suggested by Jolly Red in place of the drill bit ... but I think such a mandrel used in this way does not need to have a short tenon going into the threaded hole; it just needs a flat surface accurately perpendicular to its axis with sandpaper glued to the flat surface. In fact, instead of making such a mandrel, you could use a barrel trimmer with the cutting head reversed and glue sandpaper to the flat end (barrel trimmer shaft tightly in the chuck of the drill press).

 

[jttheclockman]

Does the cap insert have a hole in it??? If it does what I would do is make stepmandrel for the head stock. The first step would be for a smaller tenon and the second step for the correct sized tenon to fit the cap securely. You can drill further into the cap end with the smaller bit without protruding too far. Hold the blank by hand and feed into the mandrel. Something like when doing birdhouse ornaments. Place sandpaper on the mandrel past the second tenon. You drill the second hole the size you turned the tenon to. It is easier to do than explain.