Preping some blanks Nova Pen Jaws

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Edward Cypher

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Joined
Feb 8, 2011
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I was preparing some blanks both wood and acrylics in anticipation of pen kits I ordered during the BASH as it finally got warm enough here in Colorado. So I am drilling blanks on a drill press and I can't get a decent sierra or le roi elegant blank to drill straight:mad::mad:. So I decided to go to our local woodcraft and pick up a Nova Pen Plus jaws and drill on the lathe. They all came out great and all I could say was why wasn't I doing this a long time ago. The reason is probably because I had been doing slims and if the hole is off a little it is no big deal as there is a lot of wood left on a 5/8 or 3/4 blank but when you move up to larger pens it makes a big difference. I was not sure my PSI lathe would be in line well enough to use this jaw set but it worked like a charm. I am impressed with how well it works and am kicking myself for not doing this a long time ago. :smile::smile:
 
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I had exactly the same experience. I went with PSI's dedicated pen/bottle stopper blank chuck, since I didn't have a 4-jaw chuck. I really like it, especially on acrylics. It's nice to be able to drill the blank to depth and then cut both barrels on the table saw. Before, I had to cut each barrel and leave 1/2" extra so the drill bit wouldn't blow out the end. Now I drill once, cut my barrels, and the pattern in the acrylic now lines up nicely in the finished product.. :tongue:
 
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I bought a set about a month ago. Now I want to get a dedicated lathe for it!!!:biggrin:

I've had a bunch of great blanks I wasn't confident I could get drilled on my crappy hand-me-down drill press, and since I got the jaws, I've been running through them!!!
 
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Edward Cypher said:
[...]
So I decided to go to our local woodcraft and pick up a Nova Pen Plus jaws and drill on the lathe. They all came out great and all I could say was why wasn't I doing this a long time ago.
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Click to expand...

Well, at least to do it with the Nova jaws, they were only released last year (September, maybe?). :smile:

I bought them about that time, and same experience -- EXCELLENT results. I have several Nova chucks and so I dedicated one just for pen blank drilling.

And over the holidays, I bought a Beall collet chuck. This has been a great addition to my lathe.
 
I purchased a set of the Nova pen drilling jaws a few months back. They are my most used set of chuck jaws!

Now only if my tailstock quill travel was greater then 2 1/4"...:rolleyes:
 
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