Newbie pen barrel question

Note that the barrel trimmer size matches the mandrel size (inside diameter of the brass tube), not the drill size (outside diameter of the brass tube). It will always be slightly smaller than the drill bit.

See also

Drill bits come in fractional inches, decimal inches, number and letter sizes as well as metric. O and S are obviously a letter size. "O" is .316" (8.02mm) and "S" is .348" (8.83mm) Dan

Dan,

Penn State Industries makes a barrel trimmer with about four shafts. I don't think any of them will fit the tubes you are using. What I have found that works is to use a 7mm brass tube glued into a scrap of wood. Turn that down so it fits into the hole in the larger brass tube. I've done that with the PSI click pens. The alternative is some sort of jig that locates on the hole in the brass tube and allows you to sand the end square on a disk sander.

Hope this helps,

Harry

having made a few pens (almost 50 now), I have discovered that if not used carefully, the barrel trimmer can "bend" the grain of the wood where you use it. That way, when you look at it closely, the grain "leans" in a clockwise direction about 1/16 (or so) of an inch in.

I have found this unacceptable and found that using a disk sander does the job much better (at least for me) as the barrel trimmer was not sharp enough to cut the wood well (it blew out often) and now I use it to scrape the finish off the ends of a completed pen (by hand, not powered) and it does a fine job for that.

so, my personal recommendation is to use a disk sander (if you have one) to trim your wood down to the brass, turn your project, and then use the barrel trimmer to clean it up a little by hand after you are done.

Also, the penn state universal barrel trimmer comes with a chrome sleeve to fit inside the odd sized pens.

if you want to discuss this more, my domain address is just excite.com.

good luck on the pens and welcome to the club!

Rob

Thank you for the replies and emails, I really appreciate it !!

I've been to the websites and found the drill charts.

The company that sells the pen kit sent me an e-mail saying they don't sell barrel trimmers in those sizes ... yet. So, since I have a 7mm trimmer already, and a 7mm drill bit, I'll just look for pen kits with that barrel size.

I'm not skilled enough yet to make my own jigs or adapters, and I don't have any other tools except a hand drill and a table saw. My wife bought me a Jet Mini for christmas and I'm still just learning.

...... SNIP .......

You have all you need to make a drilling jig. All you need is two pieces 1X6 glued to a piece of wood or plywood. Join the 2 pieces of 1X6 at a right angle to each other and perpendicular to the base. When you put the blank against the intersection of the two pieces and clamp it in place, it will hold the blank vertical. Then all you have to do is find a friend who has a drill press. Good luck.

Ken Moon Webberville, TX