Pen drilling

[JoeScroller]

I have a drill press from Harbor Freight , 5 sp., #38119 and wonder if I will be able to use this to drill my blanks for pen making? Will the item called the pen makers center drill vise fit and will I have the depth to cut through the blanks?
BTW, I am using a Carba-Tec variable sp. mini lathe. I also saw a Dedicated Pen Blank Drilling Chuck from PSI but it is a #2MT and my lathe is a #1MT.
I am ata loss on how to drill my blanks if ....
Thanks,
Happy Thanksgiving!!
Joe in PA

 

[ed4copies]

Hey Joe,

If your drill press has a "quill travel" of 2.5 inches or more you got it made.

If it is short of 2 inches, it's a little tougher, but it will work.

MAKE a vice by cutting an eight or nine inch piece of 2x4, down the middle, making it two 2x2's. Now, cut a "V" around the middle of one piece and the same "V" directly opposing on the other piece.

Insert a bolt at each end, bolting the two pieces together, tightening with a wing nut.

I have used a "vice" like this for 15 years. Works fine.

If your drill press does not travel far enough into the blank (remember cut the blank long and saw off the end, don't try to have your drill bit exit or you will get blowouts from time to time), then push the blank UP the bit, using this "vice" to hold it securely. AGAIN---DON"T try to go through the end.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!
Ed

 

[workinforwood]

I've been drilling square blanks in a drill press with only 1 3/4 inch of travel. Been doing this for a long time. I have a 1.5 inch block of wood..I drill as deep as I can, then stop with bit in hole, raise the drill head back up and slide the block of wood underneath and continue. It's a PIA, but I've been doing it for years, so I'm so used to it I don't even notice anymore.

 

[ctubbs]

If you insist on a vice, why not go back to HF and look at their machinist vice. Good for blanks and metal work also. I wish I had known Ed before I bought my vice. 2X4 are much cheaper.:biggrin:
Charles

 

[ed4copies]

If you insist on a vice, why not go back to HF and look at their machinist vice. Good for blanks and metal work also. I wish I had known Ed before I bought my vice. 2X4 are much cheaper.:biggrin:
Charles

Charles---if there is a CHEAP alternative, Ed has tried it!! (Not ALWAYS successfully!!!)

 

[toddlajoie]

Charles---if there is a CHEAP alternative, Ed has tried it!! (Not ALWAYS successfully!!!)

Heheheh... I'm right there with you. The first 4 months or so of my pen making, I used an old wood screw type clamp I already had, with the same type of notches cut out of it... Not the easiest way to do it, but it worked for a while...

 

[Jim in Oakville]

I do all my drilling on my lathe, I haven't used my DP in 10 years for pen blanks

 

[PMisiaszek]

Down here at my "Florida shop," I have tried to keep things simple (and inexpensive). So, about the time I was setting it up, HF had a 20% discount coupon and I used it to buy their benchtop drill press. I had no problem using it for anything related to penmaking, although I had to do work-arounds from time to time when the quill wasn't long enough. Now it is gathering dust because I am doing all of my drilling on the lathe. For less than a HF drill press, you can be drilling perfectly centered holes and have one less piece of equipment on the bench.

 

[Smitty37]

Works

I do all my drilling on my lathe, I haven't used my DP in 10 years for pen blanks

The pain in the neck part of this is you need two lathes...or spend a lot of time changing back and forth. You do get straighter holes though.

 

[JoeScroller]

Okay. After due consideration and some running around shopping and talking to turners like yourselves, I had a $10 coupon for Woodcraft and went to buy the pen makers center drill vise. I have to make a change in the vertical position of the blank after the initial drill but that seems to be okay..not too much trouble. I glued 'em up and will try turning a few tomorrow...I hope. It's getting pretty cold out there in the Garage/"shop" ! We'll see?!?!?!?
Thanks guys !
Joe in PA

 

[ctubbs]

Decisions decisions decisions. Dang it, if I only had enough money, space and time I'd just buy everything and sit and watch it make pens for me. Nah, where would be the fun in that. Glad I still have to make the choices of what and when to buy. Joe, best of luck with your new vice. the cold front came through here last night. Maybe it will go around you and you can get into your shop. Of course, when I was an apprentice, the Old men taught me that the heat was in the tools. Stand close, Joe. The tools will warm you right up. HAHAHA.
Charles

 

[LeeR]

MAKE a vice by cutting an eight or nine inch piece of 2x4, down the middle, making it two 2x2's. Now, cut a "V" around the middle of one piece and the same "V" directly opposing on the other piece.

Insert a bolt at each end, bolting the two pieces together, tightening with a wing nut.

I'm definitely going to give this a try. I am currently using a 6" wood clamp (twin screws), and I'd thought about disassembling them to cut a V-shape in each. But I have to clamp both jaws to the table, and I do a lot of fidgeting with them prior to each drilling of a blank.

I think I'll give the 2x4 model a try. The advantage I can already imagine now is that I can design it from the start to be easy to clamp or bolt one side to the drill press table, and have the other side movable to allow quick changing of blanks.

 

[fernhills]

Hi Joe, it took me awhile before i drilled on the lathe, had to see for myself. I drill most of my pen blanks and that includes game calls, shaving handle blanks to. I have the pen vice from woodcraft, it is in the shop some place in a corner. I use my drill press a lot, but not for pens. When you have a four jaw chuck and a Collet chuck a new window of opportunities will open up for you, when, will be up to you. Carl, right around the corner in Hellertown, PA.

 

[JoeScroller]

Well boys, it is what it is and that's all there is to it, huh...what the h--- did that mean, not enough sleep last night I guess or it's just me being shop deprived!

 

[Robert Taylor]

MAKE a vice by cutting an eight or nine inch piece of 2x4, down the middle, making it two 2x2's. Now, cut a "V" around the middle of one piece and the same "V" directly opposing on the other piece.

Insert a bolt at each end, bolting the two pieces together, tightening with a wing nut.

I'm definitely going to give this a try. I am currently using a 6" wood clamp (twin screws), and I'd thought about disassembling them to cut a V-shape in each. But I have to clamp both jaws to the table, and I do a lot of fidgeting with them prior to each drilling of a blank.

I think I'll give the 2x4 model a try. The advantage I can already imagine now is that I can design it from the start to be easy to clamp or bolt one side to the drill press table, and have the other side movable to allow quick changing of blanks.

i use a wood handscrew type clamp and did not disassemble it to cut the v-grooves. i marked it with a combination square and cut it on the bandsaw.

 

[ldb2000]

I do all my drilling on my lathe, I haven't used my DP in 10 years for pen blanks

The pain in the neck part of this is you need two lathes...or spend a lot of time changing back and forth. You do get straighter holes though.

Just as a point of reference , it takes longer to set up the DP then it does to switch from drilling to turning on the lathe .

 

[sbwertz]

I do all my drilling on my lathe, I haven't used my DP in 10 years for pen blanks

The pain in the neck part of this is you need two lathes...or spend a lot of time changing back and forth. You do get straighter holes though.

Just as a point of reference , it takes longer to set up the DP then it does to switch from drilling to turning on the lathe .

I've done some drilling on the lathe, but if the blank is not perfectly square, I've had difficulty aligning it in the lathe.

I haven't had problems with the seam rippers, because I turn them round before drilling them on the lathe, but if I try to drill a pen blank that is slightly rectangular, it is hard to align it. I'm using one of my nova chucks to hold the blank for drilling.

 

[fernhills]

If you get that rectangle closer to square, which isn`t to hard, it will work better in a four jaw chuck for drilling. I almost always turn them round before drilling, but sometimes i want that extra material there, especially if i am drilling a 37/64 hole.

 

[ldb2000]

I turn everything round first . If I'm going to spend the time to turn a blank and drill it and make a pen out of it , I like to know that the blank is worth the time and by turning it round first I can tell about what it is going to look like when it's done . Also I can be sure that the hole is going to be perfectly centered . It takes me less then 2 minutes to take a blank to round between centers and sand it to see what it looks like , time well spent when your trying to make a high end pen .

 

[JoeScroller]

Well, the drill center vise and drill press set-up that I have did NOT work:frown:. So, returns to Woodcraft and an order to PSI for the pen drilling chuck and MT1 adapter. Received the items today and went right out to try 'em!
Guess what, it worked so easily that I stood in shock wondering ...did this really, really work for me...then I gotta grip and moved onto the pc to let you guys know my results.
Now, I have to learn how to glue up the blanks better so as NOT to get glue down the inside of the tubes and/or how to clean 'em out better when I do.
Also, I must cut my blanks more accurately so I have minimal corrections to make on the length of the blanks before turning.:redface:

 

[Drstrangefart]

Yeah, I use the 2x4 vise, and I have to stop, slide a board under the blank and resume drilling. It's slower than I'd like in an ideal world, and tough with acrylics, but it gets the job DONE. And all of my stuff was a gift when Dad upgraded pretty much his entire workshop, so no complaints. BTW: My drill press had all of the grips on the handles break off, making life difficult. I drilled a little over halfway into 3 golf balls with the right sized bit, and thick CA'd them in place of the stock grips. They are now MUCH larger than original, easier to control, and easier to work with.