Drilling on the lathe

[CMC75]

I am trying to pick a setup for drilling blanks and would like some opinions or reviews of the dedicated pen blank chuck from PSI.

Just purchased a lathe and getting started. Need to buy the drill chuck and turning chuck. Cost is adding up quickly so looking for a lower cost to mid-priced starting option.

Any negative feedback about the dedicated pen blank chuck?

 

[dschem]

The negative feedback that I would give is that you can only drill pen blanks on it. But, if you get a chuck with pen blank jaws, then you have what you need now and will likely want to experiment later. Pens aren't the only thing to turn on a lathe! And the price difference isnt much for the right chuck. Buy once, cry once.

And yes, drilling the lathe is much better

 

[jttheclockman]

Absolutely no negative feedback and in fact I highly recommend them. I did at one time buy a couple from PSI but they broke and they sucked. So I spent bigger money and got a good quality one from Nova. but here is one, https://www.turnerswarehouse.com/products/dedicated-pen-blank-drilling-chuck#:~:text=With two and a half times the capacity,blanks up to 2-1/2" square and 5" long.. Now people use pin jaws in a basic chuck but I do not like that because pen blanks are never square and you want to grab the blank from 2 opposite corners because that centers the blank at all times. This is not an inexpensive hobby for sure but with the better tools you can perfect your techniques and quality of your work. It makes things easier and more enjoyable. Always try to look at it that way. ye more than one way to skin that cat but one way maybe easier than others. good luck.

I would caution on the above statement that only pen blanks can be drilled on it. If the blank fits between the jaws anything can be drilled such as call, bottle stopper blanks and much more. I drill billiardballs with it.

One other note, if you get one, get the largest one.