Who Needs a Pen Press?

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monophoto

Member
Joined
Mar 13, 2010
Messages
2,542
Location
Saratoga Springs, NY
Many, if not most, new wood turners start out making pens. And one of the accessories they frequently buy, and that later sits unused on the shelf when they move on to other kinds of projects, is a pen press.

When I started out, I first experimented with using an F-style clamp as a press - something that I saw other pen turners doing on YouTube - that didn't work well for me. Too many pieces to hold, and advancing the clamp to press parts together wasn't especially controllable.

Then I found that my drill press made a great pen press. After all, a drill press has a lot in common with an arbor press, only on a less powerful scale. And the beauty of a drill press is that the pressing action is very controllable using one hand. But to use a drill press, it was necessary to have something that will fit into the jaws of the drill press and fit down over the pen components being pressed together. Here's what I came up with - a scrap of end-grain oak turned to form a dowel, with a concave depression in one end, and a hole drilled in the other end to receive a scrap of 1/4" rod (actually, the end of a 1/4x20 carriage bolt that I had shortened for another project) The rod is glued into the hole with a little epoxy. I grip the rod in the drill press chuck, put a scrap of dimension lumber or plywood on the drill press table, align the pieces that are to be pressed together under the cavity, and pull the handle to lower the drill press.
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However, small items like this tend to be put in safe places in my shop, never to be found again. So I also needed a way to safely store this amazing gadget. Another scrap of wood to the rescue! This time, I drilled a 17/64" hole through the small scrap of wood, carved a shallow recess in the back, and glued a magnet into the recess. The holder now attaches to the metal shroud at the top of my drill press to hold the press gadget.
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