New use for pen jaws

[John Torchick]

I was inletting part of a fly rod grip on the drill press. Somehow the inletting with the Forstner bit was off center. It didn't leave enough cork to turn to final dimensions. I got the idea to use the TechNova pen jaws to hold the cork. I tried a short piece of grip and it worked. Photo attached. This might be something others might find useful for some applications in turning. One good turn deserves another!

 

[Richard Coers]

Not much different than using spigot jaws.

 

[John Torchick]

Same principle but don't have spigot jaws. It saved the day for me.

 

[RichColvin]

John,

You should consider making a collet to hold the cork. The collet should be sized slightly smaller than the cork, but would provide even squeeze around the perimeter, reducing the risk of deforming the shape before drilling. The collet would be held in the pen jaws.

Check out Colin Hovland’s article, Wooden Collets for a Scroll Chuck, I have made a number of collets for work holding in a similar approach. It works very well, and provides two things:

1. A faster way to make custom chuck sizes for the work holding you need, and
2. A less expensive approach than buying a whole bunch of chuck jaws.

I wrote about this in the Ornamental Turning Book of Knowledge.

Kind regards,
Rich

 

[John Torchick]

Rich, the cork is turned to round, drilled, glued to the rest of the grip and turned to final shape. I don't think a collet would be necessary. I checked as I tightened the jaws to make sure there was enough grip. It is OK at long at the hole is centered for the mandrel.