Squaring Blank Ends

[Gabriel]

G'day All,

I have read quite a few posts on squaring the ends of a pen blank off, and a few people have posted various jigs on how they square the ends off. I came up with a theory, and have managed a jig that I think has a little potential that I thought I'd share to see how plausible it is.

I have used barrel trimmers in the past, and whilst they seem to work really well for the set sizes (mostly 7mm) I found that they are limited when using in a drill. I use my lathe to drill the blanks, and have used the barrel trimmer mounted in the lathe chuck to square the ends. This seemed to work quite well, until I started using blanks that weren't square. The issue then was that I had to mount the blank (after the tube was inserted) back in the same position or it may have a slight wobble and thus the 'square' end wasn't quite square.

I have seen a few jigs used on sanders, and I loved the idea. I didn't have a sander though, but after some searching on gumtree, one popped up that was cheap enough to find out how often I'd actually use it to see if I should invest some real money in one sometime...

I think the premise is self explanatory, but basically I have used the theory of the tormek jigs (how they lock in round turning chisels), and made the jig to accept my set of pen punches.

As long as I make sure initially that the rod is set square to the disc of the sander, then I can just sand down the excess blank until I hit the tube.
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It's quick to change the punch to a different size when I'm making different pens, and it means I don't need to keep changing everything on the lathe to square the ends off (I'm finding that although using the lathe for a multitude of tasks, more often than not continually changing setups from one use to another gets tedious:().
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So far in my tests (only about 8 pens) the results have been very promising. The sanding is actually quicker than the trimmer (maybe mine was blunt) and using 220g paper leaves a smooth enough end for a great result.

C & C more than welcome. This is just the first attempt at the jig, but if it continues to turn out the results as it has done thus far, then by the time I get to a mark 3 or 4 I could patent it and retire on the earning:D


Anyways, just thought I'd share

Thanks a bunch

Gabriel

[PenTurner]

Gabriel , when I had a Belt Sander like that, that is what I did minus the jig, as long as the set up was square to start with! but that looks like a more accurate way to do it. Amos:)

[Gabriel]

I figure, this way it doesn't matter what shape the blank as it's reference point is the tube.

[Treecycle]

Great idea using the transfer punches. That way you should have the right size mandrel for any pen. Even if the pen sleeve is not an exact fit on the punch, the amount of movement over the length of the sleeve would not even be visible on the end of the blank.

[Mobyturns]

Great idea using the transfer punches. That way you should have the right size mandrel for any pen. Even if the pen sleeve is not an exact fit on the punch, the amount of movement over the length of the sleeve would not even be visible on the end of the blank.

I've used the transfer punches in a Vermec collet chuck as mandrels as well.

Nice idea with the sanding setup, I agree with Amos - getting the jig all square first is the key. I like the simplicity of the pen barrel trimmers but unfortunately some timbers tend to burnish rather than cut well.

[PenTurner]

Yes, with Gabriels set up it doesn't matter if the blank is out of square along the length. Amos

[QC Inspector]

A good jig. It is very much like one I made using the little mitre gauge that came with the sander and an over centre clamp.