Now I got myself wondering...

Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
J

jrich7970

Member
Joined
Jun 13, 2020
Messages
124
Location
South Jersey, USA
Discard piece from an old cutting board I made.

Maple, walnut, cherry, padauk, cherry, walnut, maple.

I have some extra slimline tubes (but no other pen parts), but I might try cutting a blank out of this and turning it. Only issue is it's 5/8" wide, not 3/4".

Guess it can't hurt to try. The discoloring of that maple running through at the top might be interesting. I can make the bottom part of the pen all maple.

20200723_155804.jpg
 
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
You should be OK at 5/8".

BTW .... are you drilling on the lathe ? . That's better than any other method. . Should be do-able if you have a 4-jaw chuck, as long as the blank is reasonably square and of fairly uniform cross-section. . You can even get by without a 4-jaw chuck ... there are so-called pen-turning chucks.
In principle, a drill press and vise should work .... but that's "in principle" .... in practice it's a bit harder, LOL !
 
I guess I'm really old school. I have found, with my abilities, etc., nothing beats a machinist cross-feed vice mounted on my drill press. I routinely take 5/8" or maybe a smidge less, blanks (that I collected before the 3/4" and 7/8" blanks of today) and drill them out for El Grandes/Churchills with no problems. Just make sure that everything is plumb all the way around and have at it. It probably takes me 5 minutes to get the set-up right, but heck, what else am I going to do with my time? If the blank is really catewampus, it takes a bit more fanagalin' but that ok, as it would takes just as must fussin' to drill it on my lathe. Just me, and remember I might not be fast but I sure am slow.
 
I bought my floor standing drill press in 1995. The first thing I did was put a craftsman XY bed on it. Very happy with it, it's how I drill.
20200723_184302[1].jpg
20200128_171805[1].jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: DrD
@DrD
Thing is, Don .... the lathe method gets the alignment right with almost no fuss at all.

So I can take that 5 minutes, that you spend getting things squared and plumbed in the machinist vise on your drill press, and use that time for drilling slowly to avoid overheating the blank. . Sure helps though if the blank is square and uniform in case I need to flip it around and drill in from the other end as well ( if the required blank length is on the long side). . I used to do the drilling on a drill press (without a machinist vise) and I nearly always got the hole cockeyed to the blank axis (I could never figure out why). . So drilling on the lathe is now a pleasure ... one of few left !

But ... to each his own ... as the saying goes ! 😀
 
@carlmorrell
Thanks for showing your setup ..... SIR ! ... lol !

That's a pretty nifty idea to use an XY bed, and I especially like that squaring clamp .... ideal for pen blanks .... never saw one of those b4 !! . 😀
 
  • Like
Reactions: DrD
magpens said:
You should be OK at 5/8".

BTW .... are you drilling on the lathe ? . That's better than any other method. . Should be do-able if you have a 4-jaw chuck, as long as the blank is reasonably square and of fairly uniform cross-section. . You can even get by without a 4-jaw chuck ... there are so-called pen-turning chucks.
In principle, a drill press and vise should work .... but that's "in principle" .... in practice it's a bit harder, LOL !
Click to expand...

I would love to, but I don't have a chuck. So I'm using my drill press. I made a "vise" with scrap wood and a hinge. It works fine. For my "pen assembly tool", I turned a pice of walnut to 3/8" to fit into the drill press chuck, and left the bottom part square. And I have a flat piece of maple that I lay on the table. So I assemble the pens vertically.
 
@jrich7970

Sounds good ! :)

So is it the 4-jaw headstock chuck you are lacking ? . Or is it the Jacobs chuck to hold drill bit in the tailstock ?

The reason I ask ... the Jacobs chuck off your drill press could possibly be mounted on the lathe. . Needs to be removable from the drill press, and you also probably would need a "J3 to MT2" arbor ($15) in order to mount in on the lathe tailstock. . Details would depend on the Jacobs chuck.

May not be worth your while at this time to delve into that.
 
magpens said:
@jrich7970

Sounds good ! :)

So is it the 4-jaw headstock chuck you are lacking ? . Or is it the Jacobs chuck to hold drill bit in the tailstock ?

The reason I ask ... the Jacobs chuck off your drill press could possibly be mounted on the lathe. . Needs to be removable from the drill press, and you also probably would need a "J3 to MT2" arbor ($15) in order to mount in on the lathe tailstock. . Details would depend on the Jacobs chuck.

May not be worth your while at this time to delve into that.
Click to expand...

I'm lacking both of those chucks. Hmmmm. I guess I could take the chuck off my drill press, as I recall, I had to put it on when I assembled the thing new, so, it probably comes off.

I would much rather drill on the lathe because I think it would be more precise. And, also...I have a Morse Taper #1. I would assume I can get a J3 to MT1 arbor.

But all that would cost me over $100 (a decent 4 jaw chuck and a Jacob's Chuck)...maybe I'll save up...it's not like I'm going to a craft fair any time soon.

Which brings me to another question...how many pens does everyone take? I know it's probably all over the map. Do you do other stuff? Like, maybe pen/letter opener sets? Keychains? Bottle stoppers? Bowls?

I'm also interested in bent wood rings. I did a few with NO power tools at all, gave a few away. Had similar CA problems. Takes some time and I never developed a good skill....doing it on a lathe would be nice. And a 4 jaw chuck really helps with rings too.
 
@jrich7970

If your lathe has an MT1 tailstock, you might have to look harder to find an arbor for the Jacobs chuck.
The reason I mentioned a J3 - MT2 arbor is because I know that is fairly common and I thought you had a MT2 tailstock, but did not know.
Many Jacobs chucks have a J3 taper fitting (but not all) so that explains my use of the J3. . You will have to check that to be sure. . Sometimes there is a marking on the Jacobs chuck itself.

But MT1 is quite uncommon. . I would think that the required arbor does exist, but finding it could take a bit of searching.

You may be better just continuing to drill as you currently do with the drill press since you have developed a good way to do that.

Also, the need for a headstock chuck ups the overall cost, so .... carry on as you have been is my advice at the moment.

But, YES, it would be better drilling on the lathe. . And easier. . The accuracy would be improved but that benefit is not such a big deal because any drilling inaccuracies are largely compensated for after you glue in the tube and round the blank.

My view is that I like to achieve good accuracy in every step of the process .... just my obsession I'll have to admit.
I hated drilling pen blanks on my small drill press because the hole, altho' straight, nearly always came out oversize and non-aligned with axis.
And I use a metal-working lathe for the whole process ... drilling, turning, trimming, etc. ... mainly because that was my prior skill set.
If you ever become committed to kitless pen-making then you may want to upgrade your lathe and go with a metal-working lathe.

As far as your turning activities other than pens, I cannot really comment. . I've made only pens (2000+) with some of them being kitless.
Making kitless pens often leads into doing some somewhat unusual operations for which a metal-working lathe is better suited.
Some of those operations can even involve working with metals !!
 
Well must admit I too use a cross slide vice on my bench drill as per doc D . I extend and lock the quill out then align the side of the blank with that so I know it's vertical. i can then retract the quill and align the drill bit to the centre , or off centre if the grains more interesting that way and drill it. If you then leave it mounted in the. i e you can also square it up accurately on one end too. I've even used an end mill to square it up ( very carefully) if I didn't have the right size of pilot for my pen mill.

Like the jig for holding square mines a bit more basic but idea is the same. I find a small piece of 0ly 7nder the end of the blank prevents tear out as the drill exits ( especially on some acrylics ).
 
magpens said:
@jrich7970

If your lathe has an MT1 tailstock, you might have to look harder to find an arbor for the Jacobs chuck.
The reason I mentioned a J3 - MT2 arbor is because I know that is fairly common and I thought you had a MT2 tailstock, but did not know.
Many Jacobs chucks have a J3 taper fitting (but not all) so that explains my use of the J3. . You will have to check that to be sure. . Sometimes there is a marking on the Jacobs chuck itself.

But MT1 is quite uncommon. . I would think that the required arbor does exist, but finding it could take a bit of searching.

You may be better just continuing to drill as you currently do with the drill press since you have developed a good way to do that.

Also, the need for a headstock chuck ups the overall cost, so .... carry on as you have been is my advice at the moment.

But, YES, it would be better drilling on the lathe. . And easier. . The accuracy would be improved but that benefit is not such a big deal because any drilling inaccuracies are largely compensated for after you glue in the tube and round the blank.

My view is that I like to achieve good accuracy in every step of the process .... just my obsession I'll have to admit.
I hated drilling pen blanks on my small drill press because the hole, altho' straight, nearly always came out oversize and non-aligned with axis.
And I use a metal-working lathe for the whole process ... drilling, turning, trimming, etc. ... mainly because that was my prior skill set.
If you ever become committed to kitless pen-making then you may want to upgrade your lathe and go with a metal-working lathe.

As far as your turning activities other than pens, I cannot really comment. . I've made only pens (2000+) with some of them being kitless.
Making kitless pens often leads into doing some somewhat unusual operations for which a metal-working lathe is better suited.
Some of those operations can even involve working with metals !!
Click to expand...

Yeah, I would love to drill on the lathe. As it is now, even though I THINK I have the center clearly marked and that bit coming down in EXACTLY the right place, it never does. So far I've been OK. I'd just like to be a little more accurate, and simpler. Upgrades are always (given time and money) in the picture.

For now, I deal with what I have available.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom