Needs Pictures Needs Pictures:  0
Picture(s) thanks Picture(s) thanks:  0
Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 15 of 28

Thread: The Sander Mill

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Bendigo Victoria
    Age
    80
    Posts
    16,560

    Default The Sander Mill

    One of the projects I had in mind when I bought my metal lathe is to produce one of the Sander Mills for pen blanks that is shown on the IAP forum.

    I currently sand my blanks after CA finishing on a disk sander and, whilst generally acceptable, there are occasions when I am less than satisfied with the fit to the kit parts.
    One only has to be the slightest bit out of square for a gap to be noticed.

    So I turned up one of these sander mills and here is the result. The long shaft takes a slimline bushing, other pens will reguire sleeves to be turned for them. The short, fatter, shaft can be put in a cordless drill, a drill chuck on the lathe, a drill press or any other means. I would thing even hand rotating will work.

    20081023_002_small.jpg

    Will pick up some adhesive backed abrasive paper at the WWS tomorrow and give it a "whirl".

    20081023_008_small.jpg
    Last edited by Big Shed; 13th July 2017 at 10:29 AM.

  2. # ADS
    Google Adsense Advertisement
    Join Date
    Always
    Location
    Advertising world
    Age
    2010
    Posts
    Many





     
  3. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    Maryvale, Queensland
    Posts
    2,338

    Default

    Woohoo!

    How much to make me one?

    Russell.
    Pen Affair Craft Supplies - Cheapest Pearl Ex & Pemo Polymer Clay in Australia
    http://craftsupplies.penaffair.com

  4. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Hell with fluro lighting
    Age
    55
    Posts
    2,156

    Default

    You could make the shaft removable , by threading the mount, then you could use different sized shafts, for the different pen kits. Just make sure you thread in the right direction....

    Nice peaice of kit there
    I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.

    My Other Toys

  5. #4
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    Port Kennedy, Perth
    Age
    53
    Posts
    1,031

    Default

    Good idea, do you take orders?
    David

  6. #5
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Bendigo Victoria
    Age
    80
    Posts
    16,560

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by dj_pnevans View Post
    Good idea, do you take orders?
    David
    Quote Originally Posted by BoomerangInfo View Post
    Woohoo!

    How much to make me one?

    Russell.
    I suppose so, the American guy is asking $US45 (about $A70) which I think is a tad excessive.

    As there is a few hours of work in them, how about $35+postage?

  7. #6
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Location
    Canberra
    Age
    50
    Posts
    633

    Default

    Looks awesome, BS! Very keen to hear how the trial goes. Don't forget something to clean the glue out with.
    Toasty

    "The knack of flying is in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss."

  8. #7
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Bendigo Victoria
    Age
    80
    Posts
    16,560

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Toasty View Post
    Looks awesome, BS! Very keen to hear how the trial goes. Don't forget something to clean the glue out with.
    Toasty, you should have removed the glue from inside the tube before you put the tubes on the mandrel for turning.

  9. #8
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Location
    Canberra
    Age
    50
    Posts
    633

    Default

    Yeah I'm down with that. What I am getting at is part of the commercial pen mills useage is to square the ends off down to the tubes, and to clean the glue out of the tubes with the little fluted end, sorta like a two for one deal
    Toasty

    "The knack of flying is in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss."

  10. #9
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    Maryvale, Queensland
    Posts
    2,338

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Toasty View Post
    Yeah I'm down with that. What I am getting at is part of the commercial pen mills useage is to square the ends off down to the tubes, and to clean the glue out of the tubes with the little fluted end, sorta like a two for one deal
    That may be the intention, but it never works. Even the glue that stays in the small gap between the mill flute and the tube is enough to ruin a pen - I found that out the hard way. I manually check with a normal drill bit and scrape it through any bits of glue stuck to the side.

    Russell.
    Pen Affair Craft Supplies - Cheapest Pearl Ex & Pemo Polymer Clay in Australia
    http://craftsupplies.penaffair.com

  11. #10
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Bendigo Victoria
    Age
    80
    Posts
    16,560

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Gra View Post
    You could make the shaft removable , by threading the mount, then you could use different sized shafts, for the different pen kits. Just make sure you thread in the right direction....

    Nice peaice of kit there
    Gra, I have thought of that (what do they say about great minds..........?). There is a problem with that however, the sandpaper disk (19mm OD, 6.3mm ID) has to but up to the shaft, otherwise the sander doesn't sand the blank and the tube. If You then take this shaft out and put in a thicker shaft, you will also have to enlarge ID hole in the disk to fit.

    Bit messy IMHO.

    It wouldn't even have to be threaded, you could use the standard pen mill approach and use a grub screw, but I think that is one of the failings of the standard pen mill.

    On balance a sleeve is quicker and neater, alternatively you could make a dedicated sander mill for each pen kit.

  12. #11
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    US
    Age
    65
    Posts
    1,131

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by BoomerangInfo View Post
    That may be the intention, but it never works. Even the glue that stays in the small gap between the mill flute and the tube is enough to ruin a pen - I found that out the hard way. I manually check with a normal drill bit and scrape it through any bits of glue stuck to the side.

    Russell.
    I've found that the first step to removing the glue from the tube is to sand / mill the ends. Glue to glue bond is MUCH stronger than glue to brass bond. So if there's any
    glue on the rim, then the inside and outside glues stick together very well.

    Once you sand or mill the ends of the tubes, you break this bond and the glue is easier
    to remove by pushing up on it through the bottom. I use the metal rod from a disassembly kit.

    I think that to use this end sanding tool to clean the inside of the tubes might be
    possible by eliminating the shaft that goes in the tube, and making a hole in the disc
    with a set screw. This way, tuners can use their own existing pilot shafts from their
    pen mill kits. Now that I've turned on the metal lathe, maybe I'll give it a try.

    Of course, all I've made so far is a mess, but it's worth a shot..

  13. #12
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    Aberglassly,NSW
    Age
    80
    Posts
    4,976

    Default

    Nice one Fred great use of the metal lathe. As suggested if you make the spools with a threaded end section then its just a simple matter of have the size spools and screwing them in and out to change size. Just make a lot in the tube for the screwdriver.

    I can see no reason these have to be made from metal either a dense timber should also suffice or for that matter an acrylic

  14. #13
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    Maryvale, Queensland
    Posts
    2,338

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Simomatra View Post
    I can see no reason these have to be made from metal either a dense timber should also suffice or for that matter an acrylic
    Hey that's true. A use for those casting experiments that have failed!

    I'm not sure of my turning skills are up for a nice true shaft yet though, but I guess I won't know until I try.

    Russell.
    Pen Affair Craft Supplies - Cheapest Pearl Ex & Pemo Polymer Clay in Australia
    http://craftsupplies.penaffair.com

  15. #14
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    Port Kennedy, Perth
    Age
    53
    Posts
    1,031

    Default

    All I use to clean out the glue is a spade drill bit.
    David

  16. #15
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Bendigo Victoria
    Age
    80
    Posts
    16,560

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Simomatra View Post
    Nice one Fred great use of the metal lathe. As suggested if you make the spools with a threaded end section then its just a simple matter of have the size spools and screwing them in and out to change size. Just make a lot in the tube for the screwdriver.

    I can see no reason these have to be made from metal either a dense timber should also suffice or for that matter an acrylic
    Sam, see my reply to Gra re the different threaded inserts, you run in to problems with your sandpaper.

    You can probably make them from any material, just what their longevity would be with the frequent insertion in to chucks etc I don't know.

    Picked up some textile backed abrasive toady from the WWS, together with a very fine velcro type self adhesive base material and will be trying that on the Sander Mill tomorrow, will report back then.

    Will also be turning some Corian sleeves for a few kits I picked up from Jim Carroll at the WWS, so time will tell.

Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast

Similar Threads

  1. Palm sander V's Orbital Sander
    By 46150 in forum HAND TOOLS - POWERED
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 19th June 2008, 05:46 PM
  2. Comparison Between C.S Mill & Bandsaw Mill
    By echnidna in forum SMALL TIMBER MILLING
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: 7th October 2007, 04:26 PM
  3. Replies: 11
    Last Post: 23rd May 2007, 08:10 PM
  4. Makita palm sander V Dewalt palm sander
    By Slyffer in forum HAND TOOLS - POWERED
    Replies: 7
    Last Post: 19th January 2007, 05:23 PM
  5. Sanding discs for face plate sander/disc sander
    By Waldo in forum WOODWORK - GENERAL
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: 19th April 2005, 05:49 PM

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •