Pin Jaws for Penturning

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TonyL

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Mar 9, 2014
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Does any one use pin jaws to hold round or square pen blank stock? I have several Nova chucks and plenty of their jaws, but not their pin jaws. I do have the their pens jaws, but I am looking for a shorter versions - like 1/2 the length of their pen jaws. I do have collets too (but don't like dealing with them). Thank you for reading/advising.
 
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mark james

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Sep 6, 2012
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Medina, Ohio
LOL, my experience is just the opposite. I have pin jaws (Nova), but much prefer my collets. But my needs may be different. For typical wood and acrylic blanks the pin jaws are fine, but for a segmented blank I find the collets to be much more precise for drilling end to end.
 

penicillin

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Feb 27, 2019
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I use the Nova pen jaws on a Nova G3 chuck to drill pen blanks. The tailstock has a Jacobs chuck and the drill bit. I like the pen jaws because they come as a pair, which allows you to see through the gap in the spinning jaws. You can see when the drill bit pops out the back of the pen blank as you drill it. (Yes, I can feel it as I turn the tailstock feed, too.)

https://www.rockler.com/nova-pen-plus-jaws
Here are the same pen jaws at a special sale price. They have special engraving and donation to honor veterans, but are otherwise identical to the pen jaws above. A small stack of them is still on sale at my local store:
https://www.rockler.com/nova-limited-edition-veterans-pen-plus-jaws

https://www.rockler.com/lathe-chuck-and-tapers-chuck

I got one of those Nova G3 multi-jaw kits in a plastic box. It came with a 4 jaw pin jaw set. I don't mind testing with the pin jaws; I might learn something as well.
https://www.rockler.com/nova-30th-anniversary-g3-reversible-chuck-bundle-with-3-jaw-sets-and-case

-> I assume you want me to try drilling a pen blank with all four pin jaws in the chuck.
-> Is that right?
 

moke

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Dec 30, 2009
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Location
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
I have pin jaws for a Hurricane chuck, and like it. But lately I have been using the Penn State self contained version, and putting it in my 3 jaw chuck on my Metal lathe. It works well too.
I have a couple Nova chucks, I just never got the pin jaws. My Hurricane chuck is a 5" so it's a little big, but still works fine.
 

Dieseldoc

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Oct 28, 2017
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Location
Livermore, Ca 94550
Don't drill off pen jaws or drill press.. My needs are like that of Mark, need to drill to insure everything is center up, so I turn the blank between centers, round and then use Collet chuck to hold blank. Never had blank drill off center this way.
 

More4dan

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Joined
Mar 17, 2016
Messages
2,102
Location
Katy, TX
On my metal lathe I turned round between centers and chucked the round blank in my 3 jaw chuck to drill. It helped that the headstock was a Morse Taper 3 and I could pass a 3/4" round stock through it and the chuck so I didn't have the blank stuck out past the jaws. Now I have a wood lathe and even with my collet chuck much of the blank is extended from the chuck. My pin jaws do hold the blank solids with a long contact area with the blank allowing a steady hold for drilling.


Sent from my iPad using Penturners.org mobile app
 

Ironwood

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May 31, 2010
Messages
1,226
Location
Mackay. Australia
I use my Nova chuck without any jaws fitted to turn my blanks round on one end, then I switch to collets. Make sure the blank is accurately squared before you start, and you might have to sand or cut the corners off the blank to fit in the chuck.
I have the pin jaws, but prefer to do it this way.
 

TonyL

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Joined
Mar 9, 2014
Messages
8,904
Location
Georgia
Thank you. I have actually been using my spigot jaws and i made my own with their nylon plastic jaws. So far, they are doing the trick. Thank you all again.
 
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