Potpourri starting Mar 15, 2010

[mickyd]

This thread is for discussion of anything. Changing subjects is expected and/or encouraged!

Previous weeks thread one can be found at:

http://www.shopsmith.net/forums/showthread.htm?t=5372

[honeywell]

I noticed alot of pen blank drilling vises have a diamond shape. Is this for: (a) to not mar the wood (b) hold the blank steady (c) all of the above?
I was going to use my old machinest vise with some wood pads?

[pennview]

Honeywell, the difference between the pen vise and the machinist vise is that both jaws on the pen vice move apart or together at the same time, while the machinist vise has one fixed jaw and one moving. On the drill press, with the pen vise, you center it under the chuck and then clamp it to the table, which allows you to drill the hole for the tubes in the center of the blank even if the blanks are different sizes. Those "V" notches hold the corners of the blank and ensure you're drilling in the center of the blank and that the blank is vertical to the table. The "V" also will hold round blanks in position for drilling. They likely also prevent marking up the blank, but there's not much of a benefit from that as any surface marks would be removed while turning the pen.

You can use your machinists vise to hold the blanks as well. It just takes a bit of set-up to ensure you're drilling in the center of the blank and that it's vertical or square to the table.

[honeywell]

Sorry to sound like a pain, but... Will this work? If I cut some scrap the size of a pen blank, drill a hole just the size of the mandrel, place it on the mandrel (without the brass tubes) and turn it. I was going to practice on the scrap before I did the real thing.

[JPG40504]

Sorry to sound like a pain, but... Will this work? If I cut some scrap the size of a pen blank, drill a hole just the size of the mandrel, place it on the mandrel (without the brass tubes) and turn it. I was going to practice on the scrap before I did the real thing.

Sounds reasonable. But then why is the mandrel necessary? Practice with stock turned down to pen size.

[navycop]

Sounds reasonable. But then why is the mandrel necessary? Practice with stock turned down to pen size.
I had the same idea as Honeywell. Maybe I can use the mandrel/bushings so I know when to stop turning and start sanding?

[pennview]

The mandrel is just under 1/4", so you could drill a 1/4" hole through the practice blank and then mount it between the appropriate bushings. As mentioned by JPG, you could then practice getting the blanks turned and sanded to size.

One thing I would add is that when you start making pens that you ensure the brass tubes are square to the ends of the blanks. Use a barrel trimming tool or perhaps a disk sander. Some pen kits look a bit cock-eyed when assembled if the ends aren't exactly square to the tubes.

[robinson46176]

Just an off the wall thought here. Some of you pen turning guys might look at some of the reloading equipment used to resize and reshape spent brass shell casings.
Some of it is kind of pricey new but there is a lot of used stuff out there. There are also hand tools to perform many of those trimming operations.
Just a thought.
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Maybe you could call them .38 caliber pens... :D