BORING! Pen Blanks on Lathe: Two Methods, One Stinks!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ก.ย. 2023
- ✅ SHOP NOTES: In prepping wooden blanks to accept the pen hardware, a straight and accurately sized hole is critical. We'll cover two methods and I gripe a little about a chuck that failed in use.
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🟢 This is the adapter that allows you to use a “standard” 1” x 8 TPI adapter: amzn.to/3ZbYTR4
🟢 The chuck is a Wen amzn.to/3EvfYvO
🟢 The jaws were an inexpensive add-on amzn.to/3Pc86V3
BUT
🟢 Before I do this again I'm buying a dedicated pen black drilling chuck: amzn.to/45WGBW1
🟢 This Is the center finder I used: www.amazon.com/dp/B000H55IDW/...
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#Shopsmith #ShopsmithBandsaw #CuttingMachineScrews
Sometimes it is the simple things that I never think of that are the most frustrating. Tilt the table 90 degrees before removing / storing. Shazam! Never once have I thought of that. Always has been clumsy to store table when removed. Problem solved. Thank you for another great video.
Tilting the table also makes it easier to reinstall. It really is the small things. Scott
Your video is not a surprise. Rotating the work is best for drilling. Useful video for all to see.
I have wood lathe and metal lathe. Once I got the metal lathe I was introduced to centre drills. I now centre drill everything, wood or metal. I have experienced that with some pieces of wood, the grain can cause a drill bit to be slightly pushed off centre. Like your tail stock test, once the bit starts off centre, it will continue to drill off centre. I have had this happen even with the brad point bits like you used. This can happen for me with smaller diameter bits e.g., 1/4in.
If I first use a centre drill to make a small pilot hole, then my later bit, twist drill or brad point or Forstner will more likely drill centred.
I have also experienced where a drill started on centre, but then the wood grain changed density along the work and I ended up slightly off centre.
This is a bigger challenge for me when drilling deep holes for e.g., pepper mills. Forstner bits are not long enough so I need an extension and typically the bit with extension will wander in the hole. I now use larger twist drills to drill the pepper mill blank undersized, then mount the blank on the metal lathe and use a boring bar to get the hole to desired diameter. This may seem like overkill, but I prefer to not have to fight with a hole which has gone off centre at the base of the pepper mill blank.
Dave.
Dave, that approach makes a lot of sense. I got started turning on a watchmakers lathe, which is kind of a mix of a metal lathe and a wood lathe. It was fun to learn on and just as you said, the boring bar was a godsend.
I think I’m gonna start doing more of my pen blanks this way.
Where do you get your pen inserts and such?
@@hisnameisiam808 I get most of my pen supplies from @pennstateindustries
I guess I can think of at least two other ways to do this but that is a good demo. You could also use a pen vise and a drill press (either SS or a benchtop) or set the SS into horizontal boring mode with a v-block for the blanks. Or, and I do this since I am just getting set up to make pens, I buy predrilled pen blanks (so far). Absolute centering is not needed since the pen will be turned between centers or on a mandrel.
You are right that in some cases being centered isn't critical and that the hole will wind up in the center of the final shape. Where it can matter is with laminated blanks where the pattern within the blank needs to be straight. That's a rare need for some but frequent for others.
We use the same exact pencil. The best pencil imo
A few things. I have been turning pens for over 8 years. There is no pen kit that uses a 6" blank stock. Cut to the correct length. One piece kits are at the most 4" blank stock so that is one pass regardless of which way you address the drilling operation. 2 piece kits are at a max of 3" so again, mark the orientation of the blank to keep grain aligned, cut the blank in half and drill both pieces. Only one pass again.
Almost every kit/bushing setup has from 1/32" to 1/8" stock remaining on the finished pen. Being off center, on a 3/4"x3/4" blank, by a little bit would not cause a problem in turning.
Need to drill a deeper hole? Use the appropriate length bit and move the headstock closer as you max the quill travel.
Tail stock flexing? Put the machine in drill press configuration and use the table and appropriate jig to hold the blank. If you are using the SS for pen making then these shop made or bought jigs will be around somewhere.
Great video though
Thanks for chiming in! I guess I edited out some important information about what we are doing. I purchased my grandson, a pen turning lathe, but he is not making pens or anything for that matter. These blanks are strictly for him to practice turning on. They are all roughly 5 inches in length, which is just about the maximum capacity of his lathe. Scott
I'm glad to hear you got him started. Woodturning is a lot of fun. Starting on longer stock to learn tool control is a good idea. Eventually get him down to correct length so his finesse starts being used.@@MyGrowthRings
@@StephensPenTurnings He’s been turning for a couple years, but this will be his first lathe that he’ll be able to take with him. He and his family are traveling the US in an RV, so the only time he’s had to practice his turning is when they are here locally and he gets into my shop. I hope that the slave holds up to the rigors of their life. Scott.
That tailstock flex is what bothered me so much while making pepper and salt grinders. Nobody had any good solutions. When drilling a grinder that's 8-10" in length, it causes the drill bit to drift. I use a tailstock mounted drill chuck that has the #2 taper and the chuck that SS sells on the headstock. Tough deal.
I think if I did enough of this that I would fabricate a “tailstock” of sorts that rest on the way tubes and is driven into the wood. I guess I need to think about that.
boring long holes straight you can get a VERY straight bore by rotating BOTH material and cutter against each other, preferably at different speeds so there wouldn't be any periodical helical errors introduced. this is how long straight gun barrels where done with errors so small that it was measured in parts of a millimeter fir guns roughly 40cm (16") bore almost 20m (22yds) long
I tried to drill my blanks with the lathe and found that the bit didn't want to center and it flexed a little. I currently use a self-centering drill press vise and align the fence for front to back centering. I also have a stop on the fence for left to right centering. Once I am set up, which takes only a few minutes, I can drill several blanks of varying sizes and they all are perfectly centered. The vise doesn't even care if the blanks are a bit rectangular or even round, Of course, most of the wood or acrylic is turned away in the pen making process, so with most single blank pens being even a little off center doesn't matter. Thanks for another great video. Short, sweet, and to the point. Blessings, Glen
Good one Scott
Could you drill the blanks in drillpress mode? Batch them out that way? The chuck adapter would be handy. My oneway fits on the taper but turning small pieces between centers would maybe be better with more length at the headstock end. great vid.
Sure. It's a Shopsmith!
Thanks. I’ve been reluctantly trying set up my mini lathe for pen turning because I wasn’t sure what to do using the Shopsmith. Now I know.
I purchased a #2 MT drill chuck several years ago for this purpose. I do not use it. It is both longer and heavier than using the Shopsmith drill chuck and the Shopsmith #2 MT. It caused things to wobble and wallow out the hole. So it sits on the shelf.
eBay is your friend. Seriously, someone else is bound to be looking for one just like it.
Your bracelet… Interesting piece. I'm seeing copper rivets, yes? My previous life in jewelry talking here.
Yes, that is correct. My oldest sister, who passed away in 2017, was a silversmith. A few years before her death she asked all of us siblings what she could make for each of us, and while I’m not much of a jewelry guy, I did wear a similar cuff many years ago, so I asked her if she could model one after the Shaker oval boxes I make. I sent her a pattern and some of my copper tacks and that’s what she made. There are also several personal messages inside and one on the outside. I really cherish it. Thanks for asking. Scott
Great to see some shopsmith lathe work!
I align my tailstock with centers by using the drive spur with it's center and my small live center in the tailstock. I also prefer both stop collars in position and with a combination of the stop collars, the eccentric in the tailstock and the two set screws that lock the eccentric to adjust it so the centers meet exactly point to point. There is still a bit of slop in the quill, but not enough to make a difference. I hope this helps, and if there is a way that yields better accuracy I would appreciate a lesson. Thanks! Donnie
Great comparison. I have all the pen making equipment and It's on my list to do.
Well, bless your heart, Scott! That was a great way of boring holes. I have never had that nice chuck. I have made a lot of pens, but all I knew to do was drill my blanks in horizontal boring mode using the fence and the miter guage. I will have to see if I can get some of that equipment you showed.
Very nice video and demo. I actually don't use my ShopSmith as a lathe. I have a dedicated lathe. This will definitely help later on for other applications. Keep up the great work. 👽
I bought a mini-lathe for turning pens but then the SS can be used for finishing the pens.
We were using this same set-up on a small Wen lathe, and it worked almost as well. The quill advance makes it a bit easer. Scott
I like these “boring” videos…
Good video!
Thanks!
Wood blank is more likely off-center in the chuck, vs. the drill in the tail stock.
Before altering tail eccentric, bring tailstock bit or morse center up to the chuck & make sure the Chuck & Tailstock are Aligned To Eack Other.
Only Then adjust the eccentric in the tailstock !
Next, if marked center of blank does not meet the drill - Adjust the blank in the chuck.
Also do same for the marked center on the other end.
Thanks again.
Great tips and observations!
Thanks for the informative video. You must be opening a pen factory! LOL..
The fact the long screw driver failed to pass suggested the mis-alignment, but resawing the pen blank demonstrated the mis-alignment more clearly. Nice demonstration! The tailstock flexed quite a bit..was it tight?
Now for a cheap shot...At the beginning of 2nd attempt, the drill bit clearly was higher than center point which could have been remedied by raising the tailstock(part of initial alignment procedure for the lathe with the addition of the chuck and wood?) Several variables have been added compared with simple spindle turning...
2nd cheap shot: I thought that you didn't like the 10-index quill feed lever(that is presently installed on your unit), and favored that long purple lever that is available on eBay??? jim
Hey Jim. Yes, the tailstock was tight and yes, the misalignment could have be compensated for by moving the tailstock around, but that error is an indication of a buildup of tolerances. And yes, I am forcing myself to use the 10 position handle.
If your wood and drill bit are not perfectly aligned, if you spin the wood and have the drill bit stationary, you will get a hole in the center of the wood, but it will be slightly larger than the size of the drill bit... If you do it the other way (i.e. drill bit spinning and the wood stationary), you will drill a hole the size of the drill bit, but off center... I don't do woodwork on a lathe, but I do sometimes use a mini-lathe for drilling similar holes in similar sized pieces of steel for creating custom reloading funnel pieces for my ammunition reloading press...
Exactly right. I’m going to demonstrate a hybrid approach in the follow up Q&A, by you are spot on.
@@MyGrowthRings -- It's more obvious when you are doing larger holes... The items that I am creating are powder funnels for Dillon reloading press... I prefer a slightly different flare on the cartridge brass than Dillon provides with their default powder funnels for each caliber, so I create my own... They are basically just a piece of steel cut down to a particular length and diameter with a hole drilled longitudinally and a groove cut around the cylinder at a certain point and a nose tapered into the profile that you are wanting to expand the mouth of the brass to... Pretty simple, really...
I always spin the wood. I also made my own tail stock adapter to mount my SS drill chuck years ago before SS offered one, or at least I could never find it on their website back then.
Why doesn't the tailstock flex as much when the bit is attached to it as it does when the wood is attached to it?
Guessing that the increased weight of the scroll chuck pulls down and takes up any slack in the tail stock. Having a drill chuck that mounts as close as possible to the tail stock gives better results. That bit of movement in the tail stock is the bane in my experience in drilling pen blanks.
What Dwight said.
It was a great demonstration, very educational to see the woodworking steps.
Thanks, Tom.
Hi, Ton. I commented on one of your recent videos an answer to one of your questions on the Gen 2 control panel for the Power Pro. In essence, your zombie fingers will work on the touch screen as it is both finger and pressure sensetive. Blessings, Glen
@@sandysmeltzer2975 Thanks Glen!
Great video, Scott.
I was going to ask if it was the centrifical force of the spinning wood that keeps the drill bit centred? But autocorrect changed it to centrifugal. So I looked up the spelling and found a whole new rabbit hole to fall in.
Absolutely right
Nice demo! I have been using a pen blank vice and bench drill press for boring the blanks, cutting the blank to size first (length). The method you shown seems more efficient by boring the hole first and then cutting the blank to size. Pens make great Christmas birthday and graduation gifts. I keep several made up unexpected occasions also.
Yeah, I used to cut then drill but I kept getting alignment issues.
You are doing it right, smaller blanks are easier to drill precisely then a long blank to be cut in half
MGR great video. Seems like there is lot of deflection on the tail stock, regardless of which method is used, is there a way to correct or compensate for that?
There is, and the best approach is to use sharp tools, and don’t feed too aggressively. The advantage of using the wood in the Chuck on the quilt is that the drillbit will stay centered on the stock, which is not the case the other way around.
If only turning a few I can see doing it this way. Though I uave not attempted any pens just yet. Would it make more sense if you are drilling out a lot of blanks to use the horizontal bore and a jig device for black placement?
I could go either way on that. The accuracy of drilling on the lathe is better, but doing it horizontally with a jig would certainly be faster. A longer bit could help either way. Scott
Now I don't have a lathe, but was interested in how you make pen blanks - for when I eventually buy a lathe - (I keep saying i don't need one but keep watching lathe videos!) and before you started drilling I thought - 'That tailstock looks way to flimsy' does ShopSmith make a better tailstock? - it did seam to move around a lot.
No, that’s the tailstock. Keep in mind that when turning the pressure from the quill isn’t coming and going like it was here. I did a video where I did some turning and some turning prep where I talked all about this. Scott
Check around the 14 min mark of this vid: th-cam.com/video/w_SS67qincs/w-d-xo.htmlsi=W7XUDrdLsECfY0Qu
You mention flex on the trail stock when the drill bit is doing the spinning, what stops the same flex when the drill bit is in the tail stock??
There sure can be. The important thing is to use sharp drill bits and don’t put too much pressure. The flex doesn’t seem to matter when the stock is spinning but it does matter when the drill bit is spinning.
Curious about the difference. I am not sure I understand why the difference between turning the wood or turning the Jacob Chuck. and why the flex of the tailstock was in play one way but not the other. Is there a purpose for the flex in the tailstock?
It's good that you are thinking this through. When the stock is stationary (On the tailstock) any flex in the tailstock will create an angled hole. When the stock is spinning the bit is forced to stay centered. It's kinda magic.
Maybe this will make sense. When you drill, the bit is pushing against the wood, even with regular holes, so the wood is accepting that pressure by drilling the hole. If the wood is in the tail stock, the bit is still pushing against the wood and the tail stock is accepting some of that pressure so flexes. I was at a Maker Fair. The woman showing children how to hammer nails into wood had them nailing in the middle of a plastic folding table. The children were getting nowhere with their hammering as the table was flexing/accepting all the pressure/force being applied by the hammer to the nail. Simply moving the wood above one of the table legs transferred the force into the non-flexible floor. Bingo, nails driven.
@@Pascalore Exactly right. There are some Shopsmith users who use their lathe extensively and who found the flex to be excessive, so they have fabricated new, beefier tailstocks.
@@MyGrowthRings if I have learned anything about shop smith “ Assume nothing. So that is why I asked the question about the flex of the tail stock. Setting up the stock to be turned seems to take the flex out of the equation or at least minimizes the effect. It looks like to me to drill the wood to be turned with wood turning will net the best results. Starting from a place of precision makes a big difference all the way through the project. Thanks again.
Do you have a link to that adapter?! That's been a big challenge for me as a newbie. Most tools and knowledge is not based on the Shopsmith, so if I can convert the head to something more traditional, I would love that!
I’ve had a couple links in the video description. If I were to do it over again, I would buy a dedicated shocked specifically for drilling. I’ve linked to that also.
I'd also like to see a link to the threaded adaptor, which wasn't added in your links.
@@mesoed Sorry about that. I’m adding it now.
What chuck is that. Was it made for pen blanks?
The chuck is a Wen amzn.to/3EvfYvO and the jaws were an inexpensive add-on amzn.to/3Pc86V3
If your chuck wrench is in the chuck your hand should be on the wrench. You ever seen a wrench go flying? Metal lathe 101 can now be applied to SS chuck use.
So you’re saying you enjoyed the video?
Yes I did as I have all of your videos. I apologize I should have said that. When I seen the chuck wrench in the chuck my mind instantly went to safe mode. That point has been "drilled" into me from years ago.
@@barryharlow3368 Thanks, my tender ego needed that. :) Seriously, you are correct.
When you turned on the Shopsmith at 6:18 into the video did you get an electrical shock?
It’s funny you would say that. No, but I am beginning to notice some arthritis in my hands, and that’s actually what I was reacting to. Sucks to get old!
@@MyGrowthRings I totally understand. Great videos. Feedback: I would like to see more of the Shopsmith being used to make things. Perhaps things for your new work space. Best of luck.
@@raymondyunker9962 You and me both! I just need more shop time.
Where can I get that tailstock chuck arbor? I would love to be able to use my shopsmith tools as much as possible.
@@hisnameisiam808 Shopsmith sells the chuck arbor but you can drop open the video description and I think I link to one there.
@@MyGrowthRings I found it on ebay! Thanks friend! Do you know if I can get new rubber on the drum for the 6 inch belt sander? Or do I need to buy a new drum?
@@hisnameisiam808 They do, but I know a guy who ordered one recently and was surprised and disappointed that he was shipped a section of automobile intertube!
@@MyGrowthRings 😬😮💨😅🤣😂🤣 oh no! I'll look into it! Thanks!
@@MyGrowthRings hi sir, so I purchased the wen 3.75" chuck you linked to in your video description and the pen chuck jaws you linked to as well and for some reason the screws that come with the 3.75" chuck do not fit through the pen chuck jaw's screw hole. Did you have to modify at all?
the only good thing a shopsmith lathe is good for is shucking corn
I’ve also peeled apples and cored cantaloupe, so there!
@@MyGrowthRings awesome, sounds fun