Chuck question

[Displaced Canadian]

The thing that I charitably call a drill press has gone up in smoke. It was never that good to start with. I don't have a lot of space and am going to try drilling on my lathe.

Question, I have a tight budget. What kind of a chuck do you have and what do you like about it and don't like about it? Do I need an adapter? PSI has a set of jaws for their brand of chucks that are 2" long to support the blank as you drill. Is that a good thing or just creating a solution to an issue that doesn't exist? The 2 ends of the lathe line up fairly well, at the end of the mandrel it is only off by about a degree at the tail stock sometimes spot on. I will in time be using it for other things. Any advise?

 

[MarkD]

I have had good luck with the PSI Dedicated Pen Blank Drilling Chuck.

 

[PaulDoug]

In the pen turning world I use a collet chuck more than anything. The PSI one is a good one. I turn the blank between centers down to fit in a 3/4" collet, than insert it and drill. That's just my way of doing things, certainly doesn't make it right.

 

[jking]

I made a jig to hold the blank & put the drill chuck in the headstock. It requires me to push the jig manually & pull it back to clear the chips. There is inherent accuracy lacking in my method, though it does good enough for me (right now). Also, the drill chuck tends to come off of the taper shaft when retracting the jig. I haven't been able to keep that from happening.

 

[InvisibleMan]

I have had good luck with the PSI Dedicated Pen Blank Drilling Chuck.

Me too. Love that thing, but it's only good for a square blank 1" max. I've also been able to drill rounded blanks, but don't know if I just got lucky. It doesn't appear to be made for that.

 

[RussFromNH]

I just purchaed the PSI Dedicated Pen Blank Drilling Chuck, and I love it.

 

[MarkD]

I have had good luck with the PSI Dedicated Pen Blank Drilling Chuck.

Love that thing, but it's only good for a square blank 1" max. .

That is true. I use a collet chuck for round blanks

 

[fernhills]

+ one on the PSI collet, if you have one blank that is too small for a 3/4" round go one down to 5/8" or call it close and go down to 1/2" round. You can also buy collets in between the standard diameters. For 85 bucks you have a great tool that you can use for far more things then just drilling pen blanks..... Carl

 

[ed4copies]

Wood magazine, Oct 2011 tested 4 jaw chucks.

Their article recommends the best value--Technatool Nove G3 at $120 (They do note it tightens in the opposite direction of "normal"--could be a deal breaker to some)

Best TOOL--Oneway Talon---$230

 

[Christian]

I have had good luck with the PSI Dedicated Pen Blank Drilling Chuck.

Love that thing, but it's only good for a square blank 1" max. .

That is true. I use a collet chuck for round blanks

I love my dedicated drilling chuck and I find it works very well on round stock too, used mine about 2 hours ago on a round PR blank. Perfect hole right through.

 

[Knucklefish]

I have every kind of chuck (collet, scroll, etc..) and the one I find myself using the most is the PSI Dedicated Pen Blank Drilling Chuck for drilling. It's so simple to set-up and use. Works great for round blanks too.

 

[D.Oliver]

I have every kind of chuck (collet, scroll, etc..) and the one I find myself using the most is the PSI Dedicated Pen Blank Drilling Chuck for drilling. It's so simple to set-up and use. Works great for round blanks too.

I don't really know anything about chucks. What's the differnce between a scroll chuck and a collet chuck?

 

[jking]

Wood magazine, Oct 2011 tested 4 jaw chucks.

Their article recommends the best value--Technatool Nove G3 at $120 (They do note it tightens in the opposite direction of "normal"--could be a deal breaker to some)

Does this mean it could loosen itself in use?

Best TOOL--Oneway Talon---$230

If you have the lathe to spin it. It's definately not for smaller lathes.

 

[jking]

I have every kind of chuck (collet, scroll, etc..) and the one I find myself using the most is the PSI Dedicated Pen Blank Drilling Chuck for drilling. It's so simple to set-up and use. Works great for round blanks too.

I don't really know anything about chucks. What's the differnce between a scroll chuck and a collet chuck?

Collet chuck ==> think router collet. Very simple in operation.

Scroll chuck ==> think giant drill chuck. There's a lot more going on inside here.

 

[Knucklefish]

I have every kind of chuck (collet, scroll, etc..) and the one I find myself using the most is the PSI Dedicated Pen Blank Drilling Chuck for drilling. It's so simple to set-up and use. Works great for round blanks too.

I don't really know anything about chucks. What's the differnce between a scroll chuck and a collet chuck?

Basically, a scroll chuck has 3 or 4 jaws that move in and out to hold the blank. A collet chuck is one that takes differerent sizes of inserts depending upon what size the blank (round) is. They each have their own advantages and disadvantages but both will work for drilling. Google them and take a look.

 

[Displaced Canadian]

Am I correct in assuming that the threads on my lathe are 1"X8? It is a Rockler lathe and the post is about 1" measureing from the outside of the threads.

 

[jking]

Am I correct in assuming that the threads on my lathe are 1"X8? It is a Rockler lathe and the post is about 1" measureing from the outside of the threads.

It's probably 1"x8. You've already verified the 1" diameter. The "8" is the number of threads per inch of length. You can verify this by holding a ruler or tape measure against the threads and counting the number of threads in an inch.

 

[PenMan1]

The little PSI drilling chuck works well on square blanks up to 1 1/4" . Additionally, if you chuck carefully it will actually do a decent job drilling round blanks.

For pen making, the Beal Collet or CSUSA collet chuck is almost a "must have" tool as it does many tasks well.

 

[KenV]

Am I correct in assuming that the threads on my lathe are 1"X8? It is a Rockler lathe and the post is about 1" measureing from the outside of the threads.

This is an important piece of information -- and a trip to a good (wide selection) hardware store should let you purchase a standard nut threaded 1 by 8 threads for a buck or so. If it goes onto the lathe headstock smoothly, you confirm the threads.

Odds are that is the case, but there are a bunch of odd threads around on headstocks.

the manual for the lathe will tell you the threads also.....

 

[sbell111]

Am I correct in assuming that the threads on my lathe are 1"X8? It is a Rockler lathe and the post is about 1" measureing from the outside of the threads.

The Rockler Excelsior lathe uses 1x8, the same as it's HF twin.

 

[ssajn]

I had that same lathe at one time and it does have a 1"x8.

I recently bought a 4 jaw chuck from Grizzly and like it a lot.
http://www.grizzly.com/products/4-Jaw-Wood-Chuck-1-x-8-TPI/H6265
I also bought a set of pin jaws for it. This chuck is a Vicmark clone. It's just a matter of time until I buy another one.

 

[TellicoTurning]

The thing that I charitably call a drill press has gone up in smoke. It was never that good to start with. I don't have a lot of space and am going to try drilling on my lathe.

Question, I have a tight budget. What kind of a chuck do you have and what do you like about it and don't like about it? Do I need an adapter? PSI has a set of jaws for their brand of chucks that are 2" long to support the blank as you drill. Is that a good thing or just creating a solution to an issue that doesn't exist? The 2 ends of the lathe line up fairly well, at the end of the mandrel it is only off by about a degree at the tail stock sometimes spot on. I will in time be using it for other things. Any advise?

Chris,
You've received a lot of good advice here and I won't dispute any of it... I drill all my pen blanks on the lathe now... I still have a harbor freight desk top drill press, but it's not good for really precision drilling...
I use a PSI mini chuck..cmg3 I think is the model number... it has four different sets of jaws and one of them is a set of small bars that will hold about any pen blank I want... it's just a matter of lining up the blank between the drill point and the chuck jaws before I tighten the jaws...

The pin jaws you mentioned will work as well... as long as they will close tight enough around your blank... I drill my blanks in the square... I don't round them until after they are drilled... that way if I'm off slightly, I can still get a concentric pen body by turning around the hole rather than trying to get the hold through the center of a round blank... just my way, not necessarily THE way. I turn between centers on my pens, so the blanks will come out round on the tubes.

I like the idea of the collect as has been mentioned, but don't have a set, so I work around that.

Also you might check with the Grizzly catalog... they have a chuck that is under $50... don't know how good it is, but most of their equipment seems to be good... also don't know what jaws comes with or are available for it, but it looks very similar to the PSI Barracuda chucks.

 

[TellicoTurning]

Just realized I had a picture of the chuck I use...