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Bart

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Aug 28, 2005
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Location
Oak Harbor, WA, USA.
I have been looking at Drill bits & mandrels & see that they have different sizes. I was planning to get the #2 morse taper & 7 mm mandrel. Is the 7MM mandrel used for the bigger sized pens blanks?

Also have any of you drilled your pen blanks on the lathe. I cut some scrap into 5/8 & 3/4 blanks today & chucked it in my Oneway Talon chuck & using the live center aligned it & then slid the Jacobs chuck with a brad-point of standard fractional size that is close to 7 MM & 10 MM & drilled the 2 blanks & it seemed to work fine. The chuck only left minor impressions on the corners of the wood that would be removed when turned.
 
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I have only used the 7mm mandrel so far and have made slimlines, cigars, and atlas pens. The lathe will work for drilling holes but the drill press is probably faster.
 
The 7mm will work for all but a few of the pens. Each style uses a set of bushings specific to the pen that fit the 7mm mandrel. Berea has a B mandrel that is thicker and is used for some of their pens. It has less flex in the shaft. As far as drilling, who cares, whatever works for you.
 
If you don't have a good pen vice and drill press, using the lathe will be a more accurate way for you to drill blanks; but it will be quite a bit slower.
 
Occassionly I will find a real nice burl or other outrageous piece of wood that I want to use that might only be 5/8". If the kit calls for a 3/4" piece of wood and you use a drill press and get just a bit of wander you can lose a the wood... especially when drilling with say a 25/32" bit
In these cases I drill with my SuperNova chuck and pin jaws... never lost a piece if I do my part of keeping the lathe speed and drill feed speed down and clearing the hole often...
It does take a bit more time, but it is worth it...
I also use this method on antler a lot to keep dead center in the pith area
 
Bart....This is how I drill some of the larger holes on my lathe. I use this method when accuracy is of importance. Hope it helps.

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When drilling some of my laminated blanks it is necessary to stay as close to center as I can.This is also true when I want natural bark on deer antler.
In those cases I will turn between centers to 3/4" and using the 3/4 Beall collet chuckon the drive end and the jacobs chuck in the tails stock, drill on the lathe.
I can also drill a more acraute hole as in single body pens longer 4+ inches with this method.
It takes longer ,the collets and chuck is fairly expensive but the results are more repeatable.
 
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