Pen Mills? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Pen Mills!

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Yeah, Rick, it's best once you've rough turned the pen part. I think the cowby I was channeling when this was written said it this way:

"I’m assuming that you’ve done drilled your blanks, glued in your tubes and rough
turned the pen parts to where they’re cylindrical. Sandpaper ain’t expensive but it
ain’t cheap neither. You don’t want to waste it on sanding away all that wood that
you coulda done cut away on the lathe."
 
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I do mostly PR castings and because it sometime shrinks when it cures, I use the long tubes to provide extra room for shrinking. I made one of these similar to the one shown but tried it with 1/4 inch tube to sand off,it cut through the sand paper in a circle where the tube is. The solution is like someone suggested, I can use the bandsaw or belt sander to get the blank close to where I want it to be then just use this to square it with the tube. thanks again for the awesome idea.
 
A friend just brought me a pen he bought elsewhere and wanted me to repair it for him. Among other things, the blanks were not square so the fit of the hardware was poor. Since it was already turned to size, I couldn't use the pen mill or the wood would have splintered. I remembered Julia's post and tried her method and it worked like a champ.

Thanks for the idea!!
 
I really like the idea.

Now...can we figure out a way to adapt this for closed end pens?

I've tried to wrap my brain around this, and I think it is possible. The mandrel would have to run without the tailstock.

I'm thinking that you could make a little "stub" mandrel on a metal lathe. Make it so that it's only 1" or so, or maybe even shorter. Just long enough to register the right angle.

Or maybe one of those adjustable mandrels would work well, for this purpose.

Still brainstorming....
 
I plan to make one soon from all steel. The biggest problem was making a morse taper. Well then I took cues from Hank Lee and thought that it would be much easier to make it to be held in a drill chuck. I have a handle with a small 3/8" chuck on it that I use now for hand drilling or holding the pen mill when I do it by hand over the drill press. I can just hold it in that. I figure 1.5" stub would be just about perfect.
 
//Well then I took cues from Hank Lee and thought that it would be much easier to make it to be held in a drill chuck.//

Do you have a collet set for you lathe? That would be easier and more accurate than the drill chuck.

I'm thinking about making one on my metal lathe as well.

The problem that I have is that you really have to turn your pen to almost finished diameter, or close to it and THEN square the blank.

It's just an extra step that may be unnecessary.

However, it may give a nicer clean edge that a mill.

So now I'm thinking that I should build a mount for my Dremel tool so I can sharpen my own mills.

Can't decide which to do!
 
NO collet set yet, maybe someday. I turn mostly between centers so even with a collet I would go back to the mandrel set up. I could try to figure out the proper measurements to turn a MT-2 but I am far from a "metal lathe operator" so there is a high chance I would screw it up! [;)] A little wobble in the chuck would not really effect it though because the spindle the blank is on is perfect to the face of the sandpaper. The main reason I want it with a drill chuck end is so I can normaly use it to clear CA while held in my "drill chuck on a stick" I think that replacing a mill is not the best use for this, but more for end cleaning and the few kits that the pen mill is too small for. Like the Gent kit, flatten 90% with the mill and then use the sander to bring down the left over flush to where the mill stopped.
 
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