Trimming

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Hi Roy, I don't know about that one, but I do have the 12" disc sander from Harbor Freight and I'm very satisfied with it. Originally I was planning on purchasing the 10", but a sale came up on the 12" that I couldn't pass up. Getting away from the barrel trimmer and going with a disc sander has worked out great for me.
 
I trim on the disc sander all the time. Provided your tubes are square in the blank,
you can use a square to check the table on your sander and then use the square
as an edge to move your blank into the disc. Works great.
 
For sanding pen blanks, a 6 inch disc sander also works fine and the discs are less expensive. I bought this one from HF and it does a great job at squaring the ends of blanks. There is a $55 coupon for it currently in the May 2011 issue of Wood Magazine (and probably other places as well).

For regular square or round blanks, you can use the supplied miter gauge. If the blanks are irregular, I built a little jig that holds an old mandrel shaft. The blank slides onto the shaft, which holds it square to the disc (similar to the one in this article). It only takes a few seconds to sand the ends down to a shiny brass tube (if you indent your tubes 1/8 inch or so). I can tell by the sound when the brass tube hits the sandpaper. I hook my shop vac up to the sander so there is no mess. All in all, I find the sander to be much nicer than using a pen mill. As an added bonus, it's quick and easy to sand off the corners of blanks to save yourself some turning time, particularly with Tru-stone.

Dave
 
DBMyers said:
Hi Roy, I don't know about that one, but I do have the 12" disc sander from Harbor Freight and I'm very satisfied with it. Originally I was planning on purchasing the 10", but a sale came up on the 12" that I couldn't pass up. Getting away from the barrel trimmer and going with a disc sander has worked out great for me.
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Dave....I sent you a PM
 
When I first got into woodworking I bought a cheap Sears table saw. I learned a lot working with it but things got a whole lot better when I got the Delta Unisaw. So with the old saw I bought a 10 inch sanding disc and mounted it. Since I had the saw square and the miter guage figured out getting square blanks is a snap. Since the thing is so loud there is no way I could hear any change in the sound when you get to the brass so I work slowly. Does not burn the wood that way also. When squaring up cast blanks for click pens like the Vertex I always use a caliper to get the lengh just right or the pen refill will either stick out too far on the finished pen or not far enough. Don't ask me how I know this.
 
Rangertrek said:
Roy, think about a sander with both belt and disk. I use the belt side to rough trim and then the disc to finish. I also suggest you get one with a miter gauge so you do adjustments. See this tutorial for more info.
http://content.penturners.org/articles/2010/squaringpenblanksonabeltdiscsander.pdf
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I enjoyed the article!
I have a belt sander (4 x 36) so I need the disc sander (which I ordered).
The little attachment you use so you can turn the blank is neat.

Thanks, and thanks for everyone's input. :smile:

Roy
 
Another method

Here is another full proof method of sanding the blanks ends. I use the lathe. I use a faceplate with some self stick paper attached to it on the headstock side. I then use my drill chuck and insert the proper sized HF knockout rod. I side the blank on the rod and slide the tailstock close to the headstock that has the faceplate with the sandpaper and gently push the blank to the paper. When the paper gets worn I simply just reposition it to another clean spot. Works great all the time and accurate.

I am not fond of the idea of using an old tablesaw as a sanding disc. Too many things can go wrong there and the speed is too fast for my liking. Remember the tube and not the blank must be 90 degrees to the disc.
 
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