Besides a pen mill

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M

Mac

Member
Joined
Feb 15, 2008
Messages
532
Location
Bingen, Arkansas
I was just wondering what, besides a pen mill ,I could use to insure a squared blank with brass inserted. For instance does anybody turn your blanks square or by what method do you grind them, or is there another way.
 
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My pen squaring tool of choice is the disk sander and a homemade jig. I use a pen mill only when I'm not in my shop. Disk sanders don't travel lightly. Here is the jig I use: http://www.penmakersguild.com/articles/blanksquarejig.pdf

do a good turn daily!
don

Mac said:
I was just wondering what, besides a pen mill ,I could use to insure a squared blank with brass inserted. For instance does anybody turn your blanks square or by what method do you grind them, or is there another way.
Click to expand...
 
Nice looking setup and GREAT tutorial! One question, what do you do about blanks drilled to larger size, such as a 10mm cigar pen?
Thanks!
Steve
 
O.K. so how do you avoid the bushing interfering with blank contacting the sanding disk? Does the bushing go completely inside the brass tube?
 
I use a disc sander and a jig I got from PSI. It has two sizes of rods that go toward the sanding disk. They do not fit snug, but if you keep it tight to the top of the rod the blank remains square. I had a lot of touble with the pen mill. Now it is just used to remove any excess glue in the tube.
 
Mac said:
I was just wondering what, besides a pen mill ,I could use to insure a squared blank with brass inserted.
Click to expand...

Just get the pen mill's daddy: http://store.bbtoolsupply.com/1X14-SHANK-HIGH-SPEED-STEEL-SHORT/M/B002J6VITK.htm and send johnnycnc (or pretty much anybody with a metal lathe - it's just a rod with two different diameters) some business for all the pilots you need in 3/16 shank diameter.

The full inch cutter diameter also pretty much guarantees you'll never be stuck with a cut area too small for some of those monster bushings, too. (Specifically, at least the Olympian Elite has two bushing ODs larger than the 5/8 cutter PSI includes with the lathe starter kit, so you have to trim the excess by hand to get the bushings to fit.)
 
I just use my lathe and a skew. I make sure the skew is parallel with the face of my collet chuck and it works like a charm. I just got a disc sander though, so I may start using that, but the lathe is pretty easy.
 
My squaring jig

This is my jig... the advantage is the removable rod.... the rods are actually transfer punches from Harbor Freight, $9.90 for the set and you end up with a pen dis-assembly set in the deal.

http://woodhelp.com/Jigs.htm#SquaringJig2
 

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