Stars and Stripes Pen

[GregMuller]

If you have made a stars and stripes pen I have a question. How did you trim the red barrel. In Constants video on PSI he uses a PSI sander to trim the barrel. I do not have one and usually use a barrel trimmer in the drill press. Tried useing a jig that attaches to my lathe but could not keep it at 90 degrees, was holding it in my hand. If anyone has a jig that uses the lathe to trim barrels or other ways to trim barrels , can you post a pic or send me a PM of it. I ruined the barrel and now will have to order a new one. Great for Constant but not to good for my pen turning budget. Thanks.

 

[lorbay]

Greg a quick and easy way is to put a small piece of trued up wood on the end of your barrel trimmer and then put a small piece of sandpaper on the end of that. Tape the wood to the barrel trimmer cutters. I saw a picture on here somewhere where someone did this with a trimmer style mandrel, but now I can't find. Someone else may remember where it is.

Lin.

 

[Monty]

Greg,
Take your barrel trimmer, turn it around on the shaft. Cut a circle out of a piece of sandpaper just a little larger than your trimmer and punch a 1/4" hole in the middle. Slip this over the shaft of the trimmer and use a little CA to glue it to the backside of the trimmer (which is now the front side since your reversed it) and trim if desired. Voila, instant barrel sander.

 

[rej19]

Ditto what Mannie says. It works great. I have a barrel trimmer that has gotten dull so I just reversed the cutter and made a permanent sander with it.

 

[killer-beez]

I purchased a sanding mill from rherrell. I works great and is non-agressive and wont blowout the ends of delecate kits. Not sure if he is still making these but worth a look. http://www.penturners.org/forum/showthread.php?t=42098

 

[JimMc7]

I use a disc sander to trim most of the material (down to 1/64"-->1/32"). I do the final trimming with a MDF block/120G PSA paper on a faceplate coupled with pen mandrel/milling sleeve in the tailstock to ensure blank ends are square. Use this setup both to trim Constant's blanks and to remove excess CA in the finishing step. I've used a collet chuck in the tailstock in the photo but think a Jacob's chuck would work fine, too -- I wouldn't buy a collet chuck just for this purpose (you can always find other uses for one though!).

 

[GregMuller]

Holding the Blank

Jim,
How are you holding the finished blank. Is there something in the collet chuck that the blank slides or does the collet check hold the acutal blank. I tried a version of that set up with the finished blank being held in a Jacobs chuck but was very nervous about breaking the blank and then must have pressed too hard because I burnt right through the sand paper.

 

[JimMc7]

Jim,
How are you holding the finished blank. <snip>

Greg, I use a spare pen mandrel shaft in the collect chuck. I put a pen mill sleeve in the blank and slide this assembly on the mandrel shaft. I can use a light touch to sand the blank because the assembly slides on the mandrel easily. This also lets me use the same setup for multiple pen tube sizes. I don't use this to take off a lot of material -- just for CA removal and final squaring of delicate blanks. I buy 6" 120 grit PSA sanding discs at Lowe's and cut them in small pieces just big enough to fit the blank (the piece shown in the photo is much larger than most I cut now). I also change the paper frequently -- sometimes 2-3 pieces if a fair amount of material or CA to remove.

Here's a better view of an earlier version of the setup -- pen mill sleeve is in the tube:

 

[KenV]

the Transfer Punch does a marvelous job of holding the blank against the sand paper if you use a drill chuck or a Collet Chuck (you need a wider selection of collets than might otherwise be necessary - but the Collet Chuck easlily handles those over 1/2 inch sizes and a reversed drill bit that just fits inside the tube is a good sub - and rolling (gently) the blank allows to end to be even with the high point of the abrasive - in case there is a bit of missed alignment.

 

[Russell Eaton]

Constant showed me a trick that i like alot, If you take the jaws off the nova chuck and insert the blank into it turn it at a high rpm and use a skew. It will square off the blank quite nicely. I have even used a piece of sandpaper to finish it up. Russell