Drilling pen blanks

[John Torchick]

I have drilled a few pen blanks and it seems the exit hole is a bit off center; some more than others. I now use a 4 inch drill press vise from HF (#30999) and try to make sure the blank is straight as possible. I realize that a lot of the material will be turned off the blank but in case I need more precision, what do I need to do? I don't do enough pens to justify the cost of the center drill vise at this time. Maybe I could get one for the wife for our 45th anniversary?
Thanks in advance.

 

[Clifton C]

John, I drill on the lathe holding the pen blank with pin jaws in a scroll chuck. The drill is held in a Jacobs chuck in the tailstock. If the pen blank isn't cut square, i.e. 11/16 X 3/4, I just eyeball the difference, make sure the gaps are parallel and grip with only two jaws. I know there are pen blank jaws available but this is how I started and the pen jaws only come in pairs and cost almost the same as pin jaws. I still mark the centers, but just to assures me that things are running true. Depending on the blank, sometimes I drill half way, turn end for end and finish drilling, meeting in the middle. Another way for problem (chippy) blanks, is to leave the blank a bit long, stop drilling before you exit the end and then trim to length. Some blanks just want to "blow out" when the drill exits and this technique helps with that.
c

 

[Jack Brown]

Don't worry about it, the grain will pull most of them off center.

 

[Bill Boehme]

Are you drilling the full length of the pen blank or are you cutting it to the lengths stated in the instructions? If you have two short pieces it is unlikely that the bit will wander very far off center. If you try to drill the entire blank that is an opportunity to have a lot more drifting. A drill press vise isn't too good at controlling side-to-side tilt. Other things that can cause this problem include a dull drill bit and not clearing the chips out of the drill. Drill about a half inch and then back the drill bit out of the hole and clear the flutes. Applying lots of pressure when drilling is probably the main cause of the bit wandering.

 

[Don Jarvie]

If you will use your drill press make sure it's square to the table, etc. If the DP is off a hair it will show up in the blank.

You can use a wooden screw clamp or any other homemade vise to keep the blank square at the DP.

If the blank is off more than a 1/16th or so it will show up in the pen. If you turn the ends of each blank the same size as the tip, etc you'll notice it slightly off on each end.

Make some blanks out of some scrape and get the setup right then you will be good to go.

 

[Mike Johnson]

I live in the mid-west so I might be a little bit cornfused, but if you drill a pen blank and mount it
on a pen making mandrel what difference does it make how much the hole is off on one end or
the other when you will turn and finish the drilled blank on the mandrel.
I can see if you were turning a segmented piece or a pen blank with a concentric design inside
the pen blank that needs to be turned evenly across the axis to attain the finished design. On an item
like that I would turn it between centers and then mount it in a chuck and then use a drill bit mounted
in the tail stock to get the hole drilled perfectly in the center of the blank.
Trying to drill a hole down the center axis in a pen blank on a drill press usually requires a jig or modified
drill press vise with a vertical V-block channel to keep your blank centered while drilling. Depending on the
material being drilled the drill bit can wonder off the axis if the material being drilled is hard or the bit is dull.
Some of the tools I make have holes in the center, it is easier to drill the hole in the blank and then mount it
on a mandrel to turn the tool to its finished outside diameter. Some of these tools are fairly long so i drill some
of these blanks from both directions, this helps keep the hole on the center axis. Many times you may need to
adapt a process to the tools you have available to you to complete a project.

 

[John Torchick]

Thanks to all. I didn't mention that I was drilling acrylic but will look at the replies in detail. Yes, most of the material will be turned off the blank but I'm too much of a perfectionist, I guess. I think I can make a notched piece of wood on the TS and square it to drill somewhat straight. Another project for the books!

 

[Mike Johnson]

Here is a simple way to drill perfectly aligned holes on a drill press. A bowl chuck can also be used in this manner.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_JjJ0-mStY

 

[John Torchick]

Here is something I made to drill cork rings for fishing rod grips. Will give it a try.

 

[Bill Boehme]

Here is what I use for drilling pen planks. It's easy to make with carriage bolts, fancy wing nuts, washers, and a couple blocks of wood.

 

[Hy Tran]

John,

I drill on my lathe. That said, a couple of caveats:

• I'm not a production pen-maker. Speed is not of the essence.
• Many of my blanks are not precision-cut, e.g. not square in cross section (rectangular, trapezoid, etc., but not square), so I have a particular process, using pin jaws, for single-tube pens:
• Mount blank in pin-jaws, squeezing on corners. Typically, two or three corners will grip in the four jaws.
• Turn a round section at the end of blank, leaving a shoulder (and a dimple from tailstock)
• Reverse the blank. Turn another round section.
• Drill hole. Go slowly, clean a lot. Remember to raise your faceshield before you try to blow drilling dust.
• For tricky woods, have a backer piece at the back end of the blank so you don't blow out when you drill through. (Something small, inserted cross-wise in the chuck is good).

With this process, the turned-round sections are concentric to the hole you drilled. This makes milling the ends square and flush pretty easy. This is also amenable to batch production (prepare batches of blanks at a time).

 

[John Torchick]

Bill, that is what I had in mind. I have a DP vise that I could use to hold the drilling jig.
Hy, don't have pin jaws but it might be worthwhile for pen blanks and other turning projects. Yes, it is impossible to blow off sawdust with the face shield down. Guess how I know.
Thanks to both of you for your advice.

 

[Bill Boehme]

There's no need for holding it in a vise and actually if you clamped it in a vise it would make the hole alignment less accurate for a number of reasons.

 

[John Torchick]

The vise makes me look professional.

 

[RichColvin]

• Remember to raise your faceshield before you try to blow drilling dust.

I had to laugh as I do that too often. I have to remember to raise it to scratch an itch also !

Kind regards,
Rich

 

[RichColvin]

There's no need for holding it in a vise and actually if you clamped it in a vise it would make the hole alignment less accurate for a number of reasons.

Bill,

This intrigues me. Would you explain more ?

Kind regards ,
Rich

 

[Bill Boehme]

Bill,

This intrigues me. Would you explain more ?

Kind regards ,
Rich

When a pen blank is clamped in my fixture, the two outside edges aren't necessarily parallel. In fact they usually aren't because the pen blank usually isn't a perfect square cross section. It might be a rhombus or some other four sided cross section because the saw that cut the blanks wasn't perfectly adjusted or the wood warped as it was drying. Also the two wing nuts might not be adjusted equally.

When my fixture is sitting on the drill press table, the V notches are perpendicularly to this table. If it were sitting in a vise, it probably won't be as accurately vertical.

With the fixture in a vise, a lot of extra work will be needed to get the pen blank centered not to mention that every pen blank is a different size which means more twiddling with the vise.

With the fixture sitting on the table, it is easy to slide it to where it lines up with the drill. Light pressure should be used when drilling the pen blanks so there will hardly be any torque and holding the by hand is easy. Once the drill is far enormous into the blank then pressure can be increased.

 

[John Torchick]

Bill, thanks for the detailed explanation. If I lived closer, I would buy you giant cup of coffee. Maybe even a cinnamon bun to go with it.
Need to get into the shop and make that jig. Did you cut the V notches on a TS or router? One piece and then cut into two for the opposing sides?

 

[Bill Boehme]

It was cut on a tablesaw. The corner notches are there because it is a more solid grip on the pen blank if it is being held by the sides than by a corner.