I just tried making my first pen. When I used the barrel trimmer (Woodcraft.com p/n 146139), it chewed up the end grain on my pen blank. It was far from a nice clean cut. What's the best way to prevent this from happening?
--Scott
When I used to make pens, I made sure of two things and never had problems. First, made sure the cutter was a clean as a whistle, and sharp. These are easily shapened with one of those flexible diamond files.
Second, make sure you trim the blank BEFORE you turn it for size (diameter). That way small, brisk cuts with your trimmer have plenty of meat to cut and won't be able to chip most woods. If the wood is punky or prone to chip, drip some water thin CA on the ends to be trimmed and let it set up. Then trim.
But for me, when I was making pens for $$ I wanted speed. I inserted and seated the tubes in the blanks and let th glue set up. Then I took the blanks over to the miter saw with thin kerf 80 tooth blade on it, and cut it there. Trimmed that wood really smooth and square to the barrel, and occasionally it even trimmed up the brass tube. I quit using my barrel trimmer except to give a quick twist or two after the miter saw to make sure I didn't leave any burrs on the tube. Trimmed on the miter saw, the smooth end cuts fit perfectly on the bushings of the mandrel.
The small amount of brass you might trim won't hurt your blade if it is carbide. If you try it, just make sure you use a thin kerf with a lot of teeth.
Robert
snipped-for-privacy@aol.com wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@n67g2000cwd.googlegroups.com:
I use both a barrel trimmer and at other times ( when I've lost the dang thing on the workbench) I use my stationary disc sander. The only difficulty with the sander is that sometimes the tube was not drilled perpendicular to the blank and I can be off smidge. More sanding solves though.
chewed up the end grain on my pen blank.
Scott
I like to chuck my pen mill in my drill press and usually simply hold the blank tightly by hand and slowly lower the mill until it has done the job. Does a great job, wouldn't be without it.
Recently bought one of those centering vises and now use it instead of holding by hand. Does a great job too and you can ensure same alignment as when you drilled the blank.
If you need a larger diameter pen mill try using the centering vise again and use a Forstner bit to do the squaring of the end.
Works great.
Bob, London, Ont, Canada
It sounds like the cutter chattered. I'm looking at ways of eliminating the chatter.
First: Was the wood in good shape to start with? Punky wood is tough to cut cleanly.
Second: Did you have the brass tube glued in? If not, then the hole in the blank wasn't ready to be trimmed yet. It was over-sized and missing the bearing surface the tube provides.
Third: Were you using the correct size trimmer shaft? Using a too-small shaft would allow it to rattle around in the blank.
Fourth: You may also have had the speed wrong and encountered chatter. Start by lowering the speed WAAAY down. This will actually make the operation go more quickly as the tool gets a good, readily controlled, bite into the wood.
Fifth: It may have come new to you ... and dull as a joke without a punchline. Take a look at the cutting edges and touch them up if need be. I use a small abrasive disk on a Dremel-type tool but you could also use a diamond file against the flat face. Remove it from the shaft (small set screw) and stroke until the vertical flat faces (not the short beveled edges) gets cleaned up.
I have notches cut in my Chiwanese wooden clamps to accommodate my blanks for drilling. Using a pair of water pump pliers to hold them for trimming seems to help.
Bill
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