getting blanks perfectly round

[aggromere]

Well time for another one of my stupid questions.

When turning a blank round it is important to me to get it exactly right. Like a dowel from the store. I've tried the open ended wrench thing I picked up here, but it still doesn't seem to get right.

I've thought about putting a piece of carbon paper on a flat piece of wood and pressing it on the blank and hand spining it and then take down the areas with carbon on them. Haven't tried it yet though.

anybody have any suggestions or want to share how they do it?

Thanks

 

[penfancy]

Cut off the edges then move your tool rest a little closer. Make it parallel to your blank. then watch the edge as you turn and go slow. You will be able to see the profile and match it up to your tool rest. That works for me but someone here might have a better suggestion. Hope this helps.

 

[JBCustomPens]

Turn the blank until it doesn't wobble. Put your hand on it, you will feel it.

 

[Pens By Scott]

For me, it depends upon the pen kit. I tend to pick ones where I can make the body/barrel(s) with a curve. For me, it feels better in my hand. For slimlines, I do as Gregg says, use my hand and fee for bumps and wobbles.

 

[Displaced Canadian]

I use a hard sanding block. It will show the high spots and when the pen gets close you can use it to sand it to final size. Just be careful with anything higher than 320 grit.

 

[rjwolfe3]

Are we talking about getting blanks round before you drill and tube or after you have drilled and tubed and are turning to completed diameter?

 

[jskeen]

In either case, if you want a uniform and straight cylinder, the best way I have found is to use a relatively long, flat sanding block after turning the last few thousandths with with a skew chisel (larger the better) laid flat on the toolrest.

 

[workinforwood]

This would be the benefit of owning a metal lathe...even if you just bought the cheapest most basic one you could find. With your drill press, you spot a hole in each end of the blank with a 60 degree pilot bit. Then you use a dead center and a live center and mount the blank just like that works just fine. You put the right bit in the tool holder and simply crank the top slide back and forth..it's perfectly straight every single time down to whatever diameter you desire. You ask someone like Ken Ferrell, and he can make you a round carbide tool to install into your metal lathe tool rest. Or...a triangle bit works fine...just leaves a rough ugly surface, but it's going to be rough ugly and perfectly straight!

 

[Russianwolf]

perfectly round and perfectly parallel are two different things. You can have a perfectly round cone.

To make something perfectly parallel quickly, I cheat. I have a duplicator and use it to make dowels all the time. All my blanks are spun using it so that I can see what's inside before I do anything else. And yes, having them round helps greatly if you plan on putting them in a collet chuck.

 

[its_virgil]

Seems like a waste (of time) (to me) to spend time to turn a blank perfectly round then turn around and put most of what's left on the floor. :biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:But, if that is the way it must be done then you've had some good suggestions.
Do a good turn daily!
Don

When turning a blank round it is important to me to get it exactly right. Like a dowel from the store. I've tried the open ended wrench thing I picked up here, but it still doesn't seem to get right.

 

[jttheclockman]

I never turned a blank perfectly round.Waste of time. If you need to turn a blank round to fit a collet chuck just turn the end that slips in and perfect is not needed. I have turned dowels round for small projects but perfect I doubt it. Close enough is a good term.

 

[workinforwood]

Although a few people seem to think this is a waste of time, it really is not a waste all the time, just most of the time. If you are building a pen from a blank made by me, or Keith or Steve or several others..Gisi's, the list can go on and on ...bottom line is there are blanks out there that require accurate drilling. I try real hard to at least keep my blanks with images to be parrallel with the edges, so when they are not on center of the blank, they are at least parrallel with the edges so that a drill press can be used to drill the blank. For segmentations and veneer inlays, this can be totally impossible. Now you have to mark the center on each end, spin the blank round and then chuck the blank to drill it. If the blank is not round and straight, then it won't fit straight into a collet and your hard work of manupulating the center of the blank becomes for not. The entire blank must be spun round in these cases and perfectly straight.
Now, if you want to drill with a collet chuck and the center is not so important...spinning a tennon off one end can work as long as you are just drilling a short piece and accuracy is not a problem. Otherwise, in general, the proper use of a collet chuck is to have the material end as close to the chuck as possible so that you have maximum hold and minimum run out.

So spinning a blank round and straight before drilling is a waste of time on regular materials, but not all.

 

[rjwolfe3]

Seems like a waste (of time) (to me) to spend time to turn a blank perfectly round then turn around and put most of what's left on the floor. :biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:But, if that is the way it must be done then you've had some good suggestions.
Do a good turn daily!
Don

I never turned a blank perfectly round.Waste of time. If you need to turn a blank round to fit a collet chuck just turn the end that slips in and perfect is not needed. I have turned dowels round for small projects but perfect I doubt it. Close enough is a good term.

Gentlemen there are other reasons for turning a blank round besides just for drilling and tubing. Some people like to have a round and finished blank to show customers what the wood/material looks like or for photo purposes or for their collection. Others like to turn a blank round and finish as an example to sell on this forum. It may not have to be perfectly round to do this but I think a round and finished blank looks much better then a square one when showing off the material. Not everything is a waste of time.

 

[aggromere]

I make a lot of pens that are cigar look a likes. Most cigar shapes are very close to perfectly cylindrical so I try to get to that shape in the proper diameter before I finish the ends. Also, it really helps when you need to drill exactly in the center. but problem solved.

I have been looking at metal lathes for a couple of months now and just ordered a mini from little machine shop.

 

[jttheclockman]

Although a few people seem to think this is a waste of time, it really is not a waste all the time, just most of the time. If you are building a pen from a blank made by me, or Keith or Steve or several others..Gisi's, the list can go on and on ...bottom line is there are blanks out there that require accurate drilling. I try real hard to at least keep my blanks with images to be parrallel with the edges, so when they are not on center of the blank, they are at least parrallel with the edges so that a drill press can be used to drill the blank. For segmentations and veneer inlays, this can be totally impossible. Now you have to mark the center on each end, spin the blank round and then chuck the blank to drill it. If the blank is not round and straight, then it won't fit straight into a collet and your hard work of manupulating the center of the blank becomes for not. The entire blank must be spun round in these cases and perfectly straight.
Now, if you want to drill with a collet chuck and the center is not so important...spinning a tennon off one end can work as long as you are just drilling a short piece and accuracy is not a problem. Otherwise, in general, the proper use of a collet chuck is to have the material end as close to the chuck as possible so that you have maximum hold and minimum run out.

So spinning a blank round and straight before drilling is a waste of time on regular materials, but not all.

Well I fall into the waste of time catagory and yes there are some that may need a blank to be perfect when scrolling a design or sort but when that blank is now turned for a pen it is no longer perfectly round. Doing knots and other segmenting does not require a round blank and in fact a perfectly square blank is what is needed and from this perfect center holes can be achieved and no metal lathe is ever needed.

Now there are those that prefer perfectly round blanks and if so I am sure have developed a way to achieve this by now. To address to selling of blanks and seeing them in round form is a matter of taste. When a blank is round it takes away the possibilities of doing other things such as segmenting unless you are adept to working with round blanks for this. Not that easy to do then but can be done. So I guess it is all a matter of perception and for me no need to have perfect round blanks and notice I said perfect which the original poster mentioned. Have to throw the smilley in or else you know how words get interpretted here. A couple moree for good measure

 

[jttheclockman]

Well time for another one of my stupid questions.

When turning a blank round it is important to me to get it exactly right. Like a dowel from the store. I've tried the open ended wrench thing I picked up here, but it still doesn't seem to get right.

I've thought about putting a piece of carbon paper on a flat piece of wood and pressing it on the blank and hand spining it and then take down the areas with carbon on them. Haven't tried it yet though.

anybody have any suggestions or want to share how they do it?

Thanks

This being the original question I think you need to work on your technique more. When you have the blank close to what you are looking for you can use the skew as a scraper and lay it on the side and go back and forth across the blank and your eye will tell you what is a high point. I look at the back of the blank with a white pice of cloth or paper laying on the bed. Your technique and eye is your best friend without buying all those fancy mills and things. Unless you do a lot of them that require that kind of precision then it may be worth the extra cash but remember you have to sell X amount to get that money back. Good luck. Have a great day.

 

[DCBluesman]

I make a lot of pens that are cigar look a likes. Most cigar shapes are very close to perfectly cylindrical so I try to get to that shape in the proper diameter before I finish the ends.

This may be part of the problem. Cigars are not cylindrical (having straight sides, circular ends of equal size, and a constant circular cross section). Both the top and bottom halves are tapered and actually look better with slight curvature.

 

[aggromere]

Yea that is the shape I go to when I do final shaping.

 

[its_virgil]

If the OP has told us why he needed his blanks perfectly round I would not have replied with the comment I made because I would have agreed. But, so many times a comment or question is posted without the OP giving us enough information. Then we have to post several times to get the original question cleared up so an answer can be given. I suppose it was none of my business why the OP wanted perfectly round blanks. I should have offered a suggestion. My apologies. I wasn't trying to be rude...
Do a good turn daily!
Don

Gentlemen there are other reasons for turning a blank round besides just for drilling and tubing. Some people like to have a round and finished blank to show customers what the wood/material looks like or for photo purposes or for their collection. Others like to turn a blank round and finish as an example to sell on this forum. It may not have to be perfectly round to do this but I think a round and finished blank looks much better then a square one when showing off the material. Not everything is a waste of time.

 

[bad]

I've got to be honest here. It's never dawned on me to try and get a perfectly round blank. Maybe I'm still too much of a newbie. I make sure the blank is as square as I can get it (table saw and rip fence does the trick). I then take the square blank and put it in the chuck using the smallest jaws I have (1" pin jaws). I then drill it on the lathe. I've never drilled a blank that's been more than a few thousandths off centre. Glue the brass tube in, trim the ends, mount it on the mandrel and I'm away to the races. I don't think I've made more than a thousand pens in the past few years but like I said before, this system seems to work for me.

I guess if I really did want a perfectly round blank, I'd use a centre spur and live centre and the biggest skew I've got. As others have pointed out make sure the tool rest is as close to parallel with the centre line of the lathe as possible and once the blank is close to round lay the skew flat and run it along the side of the blank slowly. Also, before the blank is close to round and the skew is still on the angle, I hold the handle of the skew in one hand and I hold the body of the skew between two fingers. I make sure my fingers are positioned so that at least one of my fingers is running along the edge of the tool rest. That keeps the skew from moving back and forth while on the tool rest and forces the blank to be almost round. I'm not sure I communicated that last point very well perhaps somebody else with more experience could restate that last point with greater clarity.

 

[workinforwood]

I thought you were trying to drill odd blanks that were not centered throughout the blank...like maybe a "feathers" type blank. Also...having a straight blank means you can part the ends flush rather than using a barrel trimmer. oh well. who ever knew what you really wanted! :biggrin:

This is the great thing about jumping to assumptions. I still say though...metal lathe's rock..just push the button and it's round and straight almost all by itself. I love it.