What grit for squaring jigs with sand paper on the lathe?

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jschoolcraft

jschoolcraft

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Basically what the title says.

I have had https://www.woodpeck.com/ultra-shear-pen-mill-inserts.html on my wish list for a while. I had a bunch of the cheap mills that need touching up with a hone like every blank.

I bought Rick's sanding setup for the tail stock and it works great.

What isn't so great, even at 80 grit, is how long it takes to get through a large number of blanks. I'm not a production turner but sometimes I'll prepare 20 blanks at a time and then turn them down during the week. When I turned the Designer Twists I did 15 pens ( x 2 tubes per pen, x 2 faces per tube == 60 faces). I started with 120 and went down to 80 and that whole operation probably took 90-120 minutes over 2 days. I had the shop vac collecting dust, I regularly cleaned the disc, was going about 500-600 RPM.

Is it grit? Technique? Something else? I like sanding as much as the next person and my volume is by no means huge.

I was really hoping that wishlist item would be a miracle cure but it's easy to find 50+ results on this forum that all say ditch the pen mill and go to a sanding setup.
 
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There's always a balancing act with how long you cut the blank before drilling and gluing in the tube. I shoot for minimum extra length on the blank these days specifically because I hate when it takes forever to flush up the blank with the end of the tube on the disc sander :D
 
woodwzrd said:
How much are you taking off when you square them? I usually trim the excess off mine with a miter saw fairly close to the tube and then hit them on Ricks squaring jig. I use 80 grit and it usually only takes 10-15 seconds tops to get to the tube.
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Likely a 1/4" on one side, like a 1/16" on the other side. On a regular basis.
BHuij said:
There's always a balancing act with how long you cut the blank before drilling and gluing in the tube. I shoot for minimum extra length on the blank these days specifically because I hate when it takes forever to flush up the blank with the end of the tube on the disc sander :D
Click to expand...
Yeah, I need to build that jig for the bandsaw, I'm eyeballing it with a sharpie for the most part now.
 
Here is what I made for sanding but use a pen mill for blanks. If there is a lot of material past the tube, I run it through the bandsaw.
20240716_202942.jpg
 
jschoolcraft said:
Likely a 1/4" on one side, like a 1/16" on the other side. On a regular basis.

Yeah, I need to build that jig for the bandsaw, I'm eyeballing it with a sharpie for the most part now.
Click to expand...
The jig for the bandsaw to cut close to length on the blank is really the way to go. I cut mine (if needed) fairly long compared to the tube so I can drill deeper than the tube and then I cut to length. I try to have between a sixteenth and no more than an eighth on either end. If you've got up to 1/4" on one side then you're spending a lot of time trimming that off. That's a lot of sandpaper or trimming mill life to go through 1/4" each tube.

For the record - I sand on my disc sander, my drill press has a wobble so I don't bother with using the mill. I think I have 120 on my disc?
 
What I do is whatever excess I have I take off with my belt sander. I get real close to the tube and then switch to the lathe and sand. And if I have alot excess I will cut that off with my scrollsaw.
 
You should be able to get within a 1/32" of the tube length. I have a jig that clamps the blank and uses the tube as a reference. Cuts the blank that same 1/32" longer than the tube. Takes only a minute or two and is more a matter of making sure the end of the blank is perpendicular to the tube.

For wood blanks, I just cut to this length. With synthetic blanks, I cut blanks longer, drill to the required depth, then trim the excess.

This is the jig I made for my table saw sled. the key is that the slider "L" is just long enough so it cuts the blank the same length plus 1/32" longer than the brass tube at the upper right.
https://www.penturners.org/media/table-saw-blank-cutting-jig.23881/
 
d_bondi said:
I have a crosscut sled on my table saw and trim to within less than 1/16" on that before using a sanding jig.
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do you eyeball and draw a line? or just sneak up in multiple passes?

My table saw currently identifies as a workbench with half my garage stored on it :|. I'm slowly changing it's identity back to a table saw
randyrls said:
You should be able to get within a 1/32" of the tube length. I have a jig that clamps the blank and uses the tube as a reference. Cuts the blank that same 1/32" longer than the tube. Takes only a minute or two and is more a matter of making sure the end of the blank is perpendicular to the tube.

For wood blanks, I just cut to this length. With synthetic blanks, I cut blanks longer, drill to the required depth, then trim the excess.

This is the jig I made for my table saw sled. the key is that the slider "L" is just long enough so it cuts the blank the same length plus 1/32" longer than the brass tube at the upper right.
https://www.penturners.org/media/table-saw-blank-cutting-jig.23881/
Click to expand...
I was going to make a version of the one hanging around for the bandsaw, it's on my list anyway. Hopefully I'll have my table saw back in service this weekend.
 
You don't need a fancy sled, just use the T-square that came with your bandsaw. Hold the tube on top of the blank with the end flush, bring the blade up close, eyeball 1/16" long and make the cut. If you center the tube with 1/32" on each side it will take 10 seconds to sand it off using 80 grit paper.
 
I think a bandsaw jig will be just the ticket for you. Since it uses the actual brass tube as a gauge, my jig repeatedly leaves only about 3/32" to square off between the two ends - so not a tremendous amount to remove. I use 120 grit paper on my sander, and like you I keep it clean with one of those big eraser-like sandpaper cleaning sticks. - Dave
 
jschoolcraft said:
do you eyeball and draw a line? or just sneak up in multiple passes?
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Multiple passes.

I agree with @rherrell that you don't need a fancy sled. I use mine because I store it on the table saw so it is always there.

I use the table saw because I get little or no blade deflection with my full kerf blades, whereas with the band saw I struggle with blade deflection, especially with light cuts.
 
jschoolcraft said:
do you eyeball and draw a line? or just sneak up in multiple passes?

My table saw currently identifies as a workbench with half my garage stored on it :|. I'm slowly changing it's identity back to a table saw

I was going to make a version of the one hanging around for the bandsaw, it's on my list anyway. Hopefully I'll have my table saw back in service this weekend.
Click to expand...
I use a depth gauge and a japanese fine tooth pull saw to get close then either sand ( rarely ) or use a tube trimmer GENTLY with the blank held firmly in a vice on my drill press table. I cut to within about 1/16 using the saw . Depth gauge ( shows me exactly where the tube is inside the blank . If it doubt err on the side of extra length.
 
rherrell said:
You don't need a fancy sled, just use the T-square that came with your bandsaw. Hold the tube on top of the blank with the end flush, bring the blade up close, eyeball 1/16" long and make the cut. If you center the tube with 1/32" on each side it will take 10 seconds to sand it off using 80 grit paper.
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My bandsaw didn't come with any kind of miter gauge or a fence. It's an old craftsman 12" bandsaw/sander combo I got off marketplace. The bed does have a miter slot, so there's that.
 
jschoolcraft said:
My bandsaw didn't come with any kind of miter gauge or a fence. It's an old craftsman 12" bandsaw/sander combo I got off marketplace. The bed does have a miter slot, so there's that.
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If you have the miter slot that's all ya need. You can make the sled. Mine is decidedly not pretty but was pretty quick and simple to make.
 
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