Barrel trimmers

[louie]

So I have the barrel trimming kit from PSI. You know the one that comes with one cutter head and several shafts. (7mm, 10mm, O, etc)

For the past year or so I have been making pens with tubes that do not correspond to the standard shafts. So I have made my own adapters for the 7mm shaft from delrin rod. I use dental plate wax to seal the end of the tube, etc. etc. You know the drill.

The other day I made a pen with a 10mm tube so I was able to use the standard cutting shaft. What a pleasure, no wax, no cleaning up glue that got past the wax with an exacto knife. The shaft cleans up the tube as the cutter head squares up the blank.

I know CSUSA sells shafts for some of the popular size tubes, but they are expensive, I was wondering why our master metal workers here on IAP don't create barrel trimmers with the cutting action built in. Perhaps with enough interest and therefore volume, they could be made for less money.

Thoughts, comments?

 

[aggromere]

check out www.penturnersproducts.com. That is Johnny CNC's web site. I believe he has some stuff like that. I square my blanks on my lathe and don't use barrel trimmers anymore. I never could figure out how to sharpen them.

 

[louie]

Peter, yeah, Johnny sells them, but they don't cut.

from his description: "Does NOT have a "glue cutter" groove." :-(

 

[johnnycnc]

Peter, yeah, Johnny sells them, but they don't cut.

from his description: "Does NOT have a "glue cutter" groove." :-(

Exactly right. I see no need in a glue cutter built into one of these..
if I am getting glue globs in there like that..I need serious help!
Seriously..i get a little glue in at times, but the factory ones with "glue cutter"
are not an exact fit anyway, so they don't actually scrape the inside
of the tube clean like I can, with a pen knife or...inside measuring jaws of my old calipers, which is the bomb for this task in my opinion!
The added machining cost of the cutter groove made no sense to me for little to no utility, so I left it off.

 

[johnnycnc]

Louie;

I am with you on this. I would add that I have OFTEN wondered why the suppliers ( major and minor) do not offer shafts for all the major pen sizes. Are they expensive to make?

They are only expensive if you count the time. They are not a pleasure to machine as the long slim shank gets a fair amount of deflection..
I make them, but they don't make my favorite things to machine list.

 

[JOEHILL7]

TRIMMER HEADS

WHO SELLS GOOD TRIMMER HEADS OR CARBIDE HEADS?
JOE