trimming and squaring

[Rifleman1776]

How to trim and square blanks before turning seems to be a recurring theme here. In the past I have responded that I square on my disk sander and that has been just fine for me. But others have pointed out that square in relation to the sides of an unturned blank has nothing to do with making the ends perfectly perpendicular to the tube. While my finished product has been suitable in my eyes I did change things a bit today. Can't ever fine tune technique enough. Squaring with the sides of the blank is (sorta) OK because you turn using the tube as the center axis and that does more squaring. But today it dawned on me (I'm kina slow sometimes) that I usually end up using the hand held trimmer to remove glue from the tubes before mounting on the mandrel. So I asked my self, "Self, while trimmer is in your hand and you are using it on the glued blanks, why not finish trim too?" Self couldn't find a reason why not. So that's what I did. And, on several (I was doing a batch) it did take shavings and give a final, more perfect, squaring. Every few years I get past the stubborn and learn something. []

 

[Fearless]

That's how I have started doing this. I have the PSI blank squaring jig for the disk sander and I use it first and get the bulk of the material taken care of and get it close to the bushings and then since I need to clean the tubes anyhow, I then use the barrel trimmer to take it the rest of the way to the barrels.
Works out pretty good and makes the edges on the barrel trimmer last much longer.[]
Scott

 

[rtjw]

I have the hardest time squaring theblanks. I may have to get me one of those barrel trimmer/squarer/ thingma jigs.

 

[TheHeretic]

I use the barrel cleaning/squaring tube. I have made a few bushings for the trimmer as it has a 7mm post and I make more than just 7mm tube pens. I made the busing out of hard maple and when I feel they are to loose in the tube I can simply turn a few more.


Dean
Columbus OH

 

[dubdrvrkev]

I have a PSI barrel trimmer as well but I turned some bushings to fit the larger pens. I had some white teflon or maybe UHDPE, not real sure and drilled it 1/4" (nice fit to mandrel and shaft of barrel trimmer) and turned it down just like wood. Except you have to stop alot and clear the ribbons off the mandrel.

 

[JimGo]

lol...welcome to the dark side Frank!

 

[Daniel]

Well Frank, now you gone and done it. you'll start expecting the wood to actually meet flush with the nib and center band. start fussing about just what side of the pen the clip sets on. there is just no end to the can of worms you just opened. []
I've always used the Barrel trimmer. once I got past the various tube size problem the only thing left to worry about is keeping it sharp. that alone makes the sanding disk look like a good idea. when sandpaper gets dull you Just throw it away.

 

[woodscavenger]

The barrel trimmer is worth every penny!

 

[Rifleman1776]

Daniel said, "the only thing left to worry about is keeping it sharp."
Daniel, if that is the ONLY thing you have left to worry about, you must live some sort of really charmed life. [][] Actually, I am lucky that we have a local guy who is a whiz at sharpening. He studied my trimmer for a few seconds then put really nice cutting edges on it using a 1" belt sander turned backwards. Took about two minutes and he charged me a whole dollar. Sharp made a big difference.

 

[swm6500]

I use the barrel trimmer, I have two of them, one I keep set for 10mm and the other for 7mm.

 

[jdavis]

Could not make it without the barrell trimmer. Keep it mounted in the small drill press.

 

[jdavis]

Could not make it without the barrell trimmer. Keep it mounted in the small drill press.