Pen Blank Cutting Jig

[stevo81]

Here is a pen blank cutting jig I have made. It is made from several pieces of aluminum that I have solid riveted together. I don’t have much experience working with aluminum but it has come up pretty well. Took approximately 6 hours to build but I think the accuracy and speed that I can now cut pen blanks with was worth the effort, oh and it was time spent in the shed ....not at work.:D


I set the jig up using a piece of paper between the saw blade and the end of the jig, so that the saw blade just misses the end of the jig. The jig is held in place with the hold down clamp on the saw. The stopper on the jig is cut to the exact same length as the end of the jig in the closed position. The brass tube is placed into the space in the middle of the jig and the stopper is pressed up to the tube and secured using a grub screw. the distance between the end of the stopper and the jig is exactly the same length as the brass tube. There is a small toggle clamp to hold the blank in place.


Once the blank is cut, it is approximately .1mm longer than the brass tube I have cut well over 100 blanks on this jig and none of them have needed any further trimming or squaring......I don’t own a pen barrel trimmer.


Thanks for looking.

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

Nice jig. You could probably make yourself something like this for segmenting cutting too.

2 things come to my mind when doing the cutting like this. And this is just my thoughts and you probably have had very good results though. First is you have to constanly remind yourself to keep the same edge against the fence of your jig when cutting. This means flipping it 180 degrees when maiking the opposite cut. I say this because if the blank is not perfectly true there will be a difference in the end cuts.

Second is when drilling blanks I have had on numerous occassions had chipout on the ends of the blank which can easily be removed if using a sanding jig or barrel trimmer. So the blank is not lost and when using some expensive acrylic it can be costly if I cut to exact dimensions. Also there are times when drilling for the tube the bit will wander just a tad and go in on an agle due to grain orientation or flex in something. Have this happen too. But the blank is not lost because there is enough material on the sides and so what if the tube is crooked. This will get aligned with a trimmer later in the process.

So even though the theory is good it would not be something I would want to do. I just cut my blanks with the first tool I grab weather it be the bandsaw, tablesaw or scrollsaw. I do not make them with such tight tolerances. Just my 2¢

[Rum Pig]

I agree with JCM in that I like a bit extra to allow for mistakes but this would be easily overcome by inserting a spacer on your tube when cutting the blanks.

Well done on making this jig I certainly have not seen anything like it before:2tsup:

[munruben]

Nice looking jig but personally I don't have a problem cutting pen blanks and just square them up on the sander or use the pen mill. I also prefer to have the blank a little on the long side, nevertheless, it is a well designed jig and if it suits your needs, thats great.:2tsup: