Cool video. Just a few questions...
Did I see that you are using a bowl chuck to hold the pen for drilling? Isn't the inside of the jaws round? I usually turn my blank to round first before inserting into the jaws on my chuck. Now I am wondering if I need to.
Yes, I am using a 4 jaw chuck with the shortest jaws it came with. They are indeed round on the inside. I have never had a slippage problem on wood or acrylic. I only turn round if it's an odd shape like the cholla blanks from Ed at Exotic.
I think I saw that you are squaring the blank to the tube on the lathe? How can you be sure it is perfectly square? I hate pen mills so I would love to eliminate that step if I can but I could not see how to do it and get it truly square on the lathe.
Yes, I face the blank on the lathe. The way I see it, if I get it faced even with the brass tube it is going to be as straight as I need it. With the blank being true, the brass will be straight so the wood matching it will be as well. The whole side may not be perfect perpendicular to the length of the brass tube, but the 1/16 to 1/8 inch left after being turned down...is.
Do you have any problems with the blank slipping? Mine slips every once in a while and I tighten the tailstock up again. The problem is that eventually it expands the end of the brass tube ever so slightly. Just wondered if you have the same problem. Are you using the dead center from Grizzly?
Every once in a while it slips, but it's not a problem. I do my best to not crank too hard, but I have also never had a brass tube bulge so I don't really know what that limit is. I am using a (I believe) Craftsman dead center.
Thanks for the video!
Not a problem, I plan on doing more soon!