Dan_F
Member
If I may be forgiven for introducing a flat, non-spinny object, here is a pen blank drilling vise I came up with last night. Kind of sloppy in the glue department, but with mdf being a thirsty material, and this being a fucntional piece, I didn't bother cleaning it up before shooting some pics. In the critical area of the "V" (where the blank sits), I did exercise better glue control. Also, for better clarity, I used a darker, slightly larger blank than my test piece, but din't bother adjusting the toggle clamp to fit, so it's not fully engaged in the picture.
The base is 3/4" mdf, the top layer is 1/2". That allowed me to make a replaceable, sliding strip to act as a backer to prevent blowing out the exit hole. In the detail, you can see that the block overlaps it a little on the left side and in back, which helps to prevent it from lifting up when the bit enters the backer. The last 1/2" or so of the strip can be cut off when going from a larger to a smaller bore, then simply pushed back into position. The strip is 1 x 8", and can easily be replaced when it's been used up.
The block is constructed from 3/4" mdf. It was built up to give it lots of resistance from the lateral force of the toggle clamp. Given the difficulty of clamping so many pieces in a short period of time, I would use superglue and acccelerator if I were to do it again. The base is 12" square, the block is about 2 1/2" high, and about 3"wide at the wings.
Once set up, with the fence and holddowns in place, it's very solid, and works splendidly. I had tried a few other strategies for drilling, including wooden clamps and another makeshift block and clamp combo, neither of which worked very well. I also had spotty results drilling on the lathe. This setup has produced very good results on a couple of practice pieces, and so far I'm very pleased, can't see going back to drilling on the lathe, at least for pens or other small things that will fit in here. This will also be MUCH faster.
Dan
The base is 3/4" mdf, the top layer is 1/2". That allowed me to make a replaceable, sliding strip to act as a backer to prevent blowing out the exit hole. In the detail, you can see that the block overlaps it a little on the left side and in back, which helps to prevent it from lifting up when the bit enters the backer. The last 1/2" or so of the strip can be cut off when going from a larger to a smaller bore, then simply pushed back into position. The strip is 1 x 8", and can easily be replaced when it's been used up.
The block is constructed from 3/4" mdf. It was built up to give it lots of resistance from the lateral force of the toggle clamp. Given the difficulty of clamping so many pieces in a short period of time, I would use superglue and acccelerator if I were to do it again. The base is 12" square, the block is about 2 1/2" high, and about 3"wide at the wings.
Once set up, with the fence and holddowns in place, it's very solid, and works splendidly. I had tried a few other strategies for drilling, including wooden clamps and another makeshift block and clamp combo, neither of which worked very well. I also had spotty results drilling on the lathe. This setup has produced very good results on a couple of practice pieces, and so far I'm very pleased, can't see going back to drilling on the lathe, at least for pens or other small things that will fit in here. This will also be MUCH faster.
Dan
] How about some details on it.
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