Square up by sanding?

[mikeinco]

OK, I made a small jig to try and use a disk sander on my ShopSmith to square up blanks. The jig I made uses a transfer punch to hold the blank and it was made square on all sides. I then squared the sander to the miter gauge and clamped everything in place and guess what? Not even close to square on the blank, looks like its off by about 15-20°. The table was level side to side and front to back. Any suggestions? I opted to square blanks this way after an encounter with the mill in my hand drill that tore up my thumb, not a good feeling!

 

[Tim'sTurnings]

Try using a Jacobs/drill chuck in the tailstock. Put the transfer punch in the chuck, slide the blank on the punch and then square the end with the sanding disc. Make sure you tailstock and headstock are even with each other and that should work very well. A lot of people square their blanks on their lathes like this.
If you want, you can post a picture of your set up and we can see how you did it and maybe we can tell why it doesn't work. Try the way I explained and it should work better, anyway.
Tim.

 

[its_virgil]

no need for the sides to be square unless you are using them to register the blank. Then they need to be parallel to the tube axis and perpendicular to each other. But, I offer you an excellent way to square blanks on a disk sander. Read this from the IAP library: http://content.penturners.org/library/tools_and_jigs/blanksquaring.pdf This is an excellent little jig and is easy to make.
Do a good turn daily!
Don

 

[Rick_G]

When I started turning between centers I looked for a different way to square the blanks. I figured since the live center is on a 60 deg. angle it will rest on the inside of the tube before all the wood is off the end. To test this I made myself a thin parting tool using an old blade from my planer and sharpened it at a steep angle then put a blank between centers and turned it down until it was round and a little larger than finished size. I took the bushing off the tailstock end and turned the tailstock in until it was snug. Then using my new parting tool turned 90 deg. to the way it is normally used. IE flat side up I slowly started to take wood off the end of the blank. I angled the parting tool so the tip would hit the brass tube first as soon as I saw the brass reflected on the tip of the live center I stopped. A quick check showed the wood was still sticking out past the tube. I put the blank back in place and changing the angle on the parting tool brought the wood down even with the tube. Checked for square with a straight edge and did the other end. Assembled the pen and everything fit perfectly. I've been doing all my pens this way for a couple years now with no problems and no more dull pen mills.

 

[StuartCovey]

Can't help with the sanding. But I did that once to my thumb and ever since I have been using a pair of pipe wrench pliers and they work great. Holds the blank without slipping and never even gets close to your hand.

Good Luck!

 

[mikeinco]

I'll post some pics tomorrow of the jig I made and how the ShopSmith is set up for sanding. I'm trying to figure another way to turn since my 7mm mandrel broke today, had to drill out the broken piece from the head and tapped new threads, put the threaded end of the mandrel into it, but it keeps coming loose even after some red thread lock. I wonder if I put the mandrel into the Jacobs chuck on the live end and keep using my mandrel saver in the tail stock, hmmm? I have an order for about a dozen pens and don't really have time to wait for new mandrel, I don't have the equipment to turn between centers, so its a mandrel or nothing.

 

[wyone]

Too bad you did not see the deal that Rockler had a couple weeks ago. It was for a free mandrel with the purchase of 10 slimline kits. The slimline kits were reduced to $1.95 I think, and I use them for a lot of things, so it was a pretty good deal. The free mandrel was an adjustable mandrel and I did not see how I could go wrong with it. Not sure if they are still having that sale, but if so, they are open on Sundays. Just an idea.