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I typically do not use a sanding disc to square but with certain woods or segments I need to, I made a jig that slides in the miter slot and keeps the blank square to the disc
 
Originally posted by GBusardo

I see no reason why that would not work as well as a disc sander. Just make sure your disc and mitre gauge are set to 90 degrees .
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Gary,
This still not guarantee that the ends are square to the hole. The hole may be angled as it goes through the blank. What is needed is to be sure that the hole is square to the sanding disk.
 
Originally posted by pssherman

Originally posted by GBusardo

I see no reason why that would not work as well as a disc sander. Just make sure your disc and mitre gauge are set to 90 degrees .
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Gary,
This still not guarantee that the ends are square to the hole. The hole may be angled as it goes through the blank. What is needed is to be sure that the hole is square to the sanding disk.
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LOL Good point, now I see a reason [:I]
 
I considered making a jig that included a rod that would feed a blank into a sanding disk at 90 degrees to the rod, but I'm lazy and it was low priority.
 
I sometimes sand the ends of my pen blanks on a disk sander. I don't have a jig (other than the mitre gauge locked at 90 degrees). First of all, I trim the ends close (but not quite flush). I mount the blank on the lathe and turn it to a cylinder. Then I take it back to the sander. I hold the blank against the table and mitre gauge and touch it to the disk. I'll usually turn the blank while sanding as well. I find that this technique leaves the ends smooth, square, and ready to turn to shape.

There's no reason you couldn't do the same thing with a sanding disk mounted in a table saw.

Regards,
Eric
 
The table saw trick sounds like a good possibility, you would have to make sure that your blade/sanding disk was set like a square 90 degree cut. I keep my table saw in storage most of the time, and it is so cheap that the blade angle doesn't stay where I put it.

I made a disk sander by turning a 6 inch wood disk, then mounted it on a 3 inch face plate that attaches to the 1" x 8tpi spindle on my lathe. I put a 6 inch self adhesive sandpaper disk on the wood disk, and I have a disk sander.

I sand ends instead of using an end mill. I sand visually for square, it wasn't hard to get the feel, I give the blank a quarter turn several times, and pay close attention to when the brass starts to show. If it starts to show on one side first I make an adjustment in pressure and get all parts of the brass to become visible at the same time. After a while I became able to hear when the sandpaper touches the brass; I haven't tried it with my eyes closed yet, but I haven't got any ends out of square for a long time.
 
Originally posted by wdcav1952

PSI makes a jig for sanding the ends of the blank. I got it and was not impressed with the quality of it. Color me a pen mill guy. [8D]
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I bought the jig as well. It now sits behind my sander gathering dust. Once in a while I look at it and wonder why it's still there!
 
Originally posted by GoodTurns

Originally posted by wdcav1952

PSI makes a jig for sanding the ends of the blank. I got it and was not impressed with the quality of it. Color me a pen mill guy. [8D]
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I bought the jig as well. It now sits behind my sander gathering dust. Once in a while I look at it and wonder why it's still there!
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Here I thought I was the ONLY ONE with the "Collector version"
 
The only other problem I see with using the disc on a table saw is the speed of the disc. I think it is much faster than a typical disc sander. I too have used a faceplate with some self adhesive paper and a jig that fits between the ways and keeps the blank square once it is turned round.
 
Chasper, with your set up you could put a MT mandrel in the tail stock and bring it up to the sanding disk, that way its square to the tube (not that you have a problem doing it by hand but for others that want try your setup). If you have an adjustable mandrel it would be even better making it shorter.
 
Originally posted by ed4copies

Originally posted by GoodTurns

Originally posted by wdcav1952

PSI makes a jig for sanding the ends of the blank. I got it and was not impressed with the quality of it. Color me a pen mill guy. [8D]
Click to expand...

I bought the jig as well. It now sits behind my sander gathering dust. Once in a while I look at it and wonder why it's still there!
Click to expand...

Here I thought I was the ONLY ONE with the "Collector version"
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Ed, if you want a set of three, I'm sure Jon and I would be willing to make you a package deal. :D
 
My reasoning for the sanding disk is, I bought a 7mm mill, and the first time I go to do adifferent type of pen I need to buy another shaft, which I haven't been able to find unless I buy a whole set for $35. I have a very good and accurate table saw, the metal disk is around $16 and the sanding disk to put on it is $4. After making a jig I could sand all blanks no matter what pen kit they are for. How does a sanding disk work for the plastic and arcrlyic blanks? Seems to me like it might melt them.
 
Paul you can make your own spacers with slimline tubes, glue a blank on the tube and turn it down to fit the inside of the bigger tube. If you can do a search better than I can there is quite a bit of information on this.
Bob
 
Originally posted by 1JaredSchmidt

I can't find my pen mill so I square mine on a CTD chop saw.
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Jared, your method is fine as long as the tube</u> is exactly perpendicular to the saw blade. If your drilling is off at all, the blank will not mill off correctly and may lead to slight inaccuracies.
 
I brought a 1" x 8 tpi tap from Landfilllumber. I tapped a hole in a scrap piece of oak. Mounted it on my lathe and turned it round. Turned a flat face with a spindle sticking out of it. The spindle accepts a 7mm tube exactly. I glued some sandpaper on the flat face. To cut the center hole in the sandpaper I just whacked a hole through the paper using a 7mm tube.

When I need to true the ends of a blank that does not have a 7mm tube, I take a spare 7mm tube and glue it in a blank. Turn it so that it fits exactly into the tube of the blank I'm wanting to square.

So far I have three of these "bushing". A sierra and a perfect fit upper and lower barrel.

ACT_6501-1.jpg


ACT_6502-1.jpg


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ACT_6505-1.jpg
 
Keith, you hold the blank and push it to the sand paper or do you use your tailstock to crank it in? And another question, when your sandpaper wears out, do you make a new thingy or casn you peal it off and put on new?

I like your idea and the one for the sanding jig for the disk sander. Ya, I'm one that likes to make jigs.. and ya I could have bought the pen mill set and been turning pens all this time...
 
I just hold it by hand. I cut the blank slightly longer than the tube. Glue the tube in. Then square it, holding it by hand. I also use the jig to clean up the edges after finishing.

When the sandpaper wears off I just peel it off, clean the face of any glue residue and glue a new piece of sandpaper on. I use spray adhesive and spray it onto the back of the sandpaper only.
 
Ok, one more little question and I'm off to give a try.. Is that jig all one piece of wood or did you turn the spindle, drill the round block and glue the spindle in?


Thanks for the help and pictures..
 
Like Tom said, I think the speed of a table saw is much faster than what most sandpaper disks recommend.

I use the miter or band saw to cut the blank to within 1/8" of final length, bring it to within a gnat's hair of final on the disk sander, and then a pen mill to shave the gnat.

Someone did a really great group buy (from Rhiezing, or however you spell it) on pen mills a while back that I was lucky enough to get in on and got several 3/4" cutter heads, a full set of mills with the different sized pilot shafts, and a few extra 7mm shafts to make my custom-sized stuff - all for about the same price as buying one set from the regular sources. It's made my life so much simpler; my tubes are no longer a pain to trim, and they all come out perfect and much faster than any other method I've tried. I've had to find other things to blame my mistakes on since then. My stupid HF tools keep wrecking pens! ;)[:p]:D Yeah, that's it, my tools are the culprits!

I highly recommend getting in on the next pen mill group buy. I'll do some rooting around and see who it was that did the buy.
 
It was Daniel that did the pen mill group buy and it was from "Rizheng", not whatever it was that I typed earlier. :D

I was skeptical on the buy, thinking it was too good to be true, but I'm really impressed with the quality of the mills that we got.

By the way - Thanks Daniel! :)
 
Originally posted by PaulDoug

Ok, one more little question and I'm off to give a try.. Is that jig all one piece of wood or did you turn the spindle, drill the round block and glue the spindle in?


Thanks for the help and pictures..
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It is all one piece. That way you are more assured of getting your spindle at 90 degrees to the face and centered around the "line" from your headstock to your tail stock.
 
Thanks for the help and pictures..
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It is all one piece. That way you are more assured of getting your spindle at 90 degrees to the face and centered around the "line" from your headstock to your tail stock.
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OK, I couldn't wait, I ordered a tap today, from Lee Valley. I know I probably could have gotten cheaper, but I might have ordered the wrong thing. Anyway. I glued an oversize oak dowel into my block. I started turning the block in a chuck, but I will wait to get my tap. Then I will drill the hole. tap it and put it back on the lathe to finish turning. I figure that way it will all be true. I also think, these blanks squarers are fun to make, I think I will make several each for a different size tube, instead if making inserts. The only thing missing is the shaft on the pen mill also cleans out any glue that got into the tube. I will have to come up with something to deal with that.

Have you seen the chuck in the Lee Valley add for their tap? I want to try making that next.

I really appreciate your help.
 
I just use my pen mill to square the ends and lay a piece of sand paper on my work bench, hold the finished blank as uprigt as possible and then sand off any glue or finish that gets on the end. So far I haven't had a problem. This ain't brain surgery!!
 
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