Pen Drilling vise- WARNING---FLATWORK

[Dan Forman]

If I may be forgiven for introducing a flat, non-spinny object, here is a pen blank drilling vise I came up with last night. Kind of sloppy in the glue department, but with mdf being a thirsty material, and this being a fucntional piece, I didn't bother cleaning it up before shooting some pics. In the critical area of the "V" (where the blank sits), I did exercise better glue control. Also, for better clarity, I used a darker, slightly larger blank than my test piece, but din't bother adjusting the toggle clamp to fit, so it's not fully engaged in the picture.

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l279/T-Caster/P1010767.jpg

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l279/T-Caster/P1010768.jpg

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l279/T-Caster/P1010769.jpg

The base is 3/4" mdf, the top layer is 1/2". That allowed me to make a replaceable, sliding strip to act as a backer to prevent blowing out the exit hole. In the detail, you can see that the block overlaps it a little on the left side and in back, which helps to prevent it from lifting up when the bit enters the backer. The last 1/2" or so of the strip can be cut off when going from a larger to a smaller bore, then simply pushed back into position. The strip is 1 x 8", and can easily be replaced when it's been used up.

The block is constructed from 3/4" mdf. It was built up to give it lots of resistance from the lateral force of the toggle clamp. Given the difficulty of clamping so many pieces in a short period of time, I would use superglue and acccelerator if I were to do it again. The base is 12" square, the block is about 2 1/2" high, and about 3"wide at the wings.

Once set up, with the fence and holddowns in place, is's very solid, and works splendidly. I had tried a few other strategies for drilling, including wooden clamps and another makeshift block and clamp combo, neither of which worked very well. I also had spotty results drilling on the lathe. This setup has produced very good results on a couple of practice pieces, and so far I'm very pleased, can't see going back to drilling on the lathe, at least for pens or other small things that will fit in here. This will also be MUCH faster.

[Gary Herrmann]

Dan, I can't tell from the pic, do you have an angle cut into the face of the toggle clamp pad? Or is there maybe a slit in it to grab the corner of the blanks?

Looks like a good, inexpensive vice.

and you're forgiven for engaging in flatwork. I spent most of the last week doing that myself. Shhh...

[Ben Gastfriend]

You are forgiven for doing f**t work because it is only meant to enable turning. I like the look of that vice. I think most of you know me as that cheap guy, because I won't spend a penny on anything- homemade lathe tools, homemade chuck inserts, homemade tools, and I simply will not spend 39.00 on a hunk of metal drilling center vice, when you can make one out of some MDF! Great job.

As for you, Gary... f**twork is not allowed over here unless... well, you're forgiven as well.

Happy New Year!

[Jim Becker]

Excellent design, Dan...and one that looks like it will hold those blanks very nicely for both safety and for a good, clean, non-wandering bore!

[Bernie Weishapl]

Great design Dan. Wow that is some neat work.

[robert hainstock]

Looks simpler to use than my modified Jorgenson clamp ala CUSA! :)
ob

[Steve Mawson]

Great design, now I have something else to build. I use some laminations for pen blanks and was having trouble getting the hole straight so I had equal wood on each side of the hole. I believe this will take care of that.

[Jon Lanier]

Is there wiggle room for a slightly large or smaller blank? (width not height)

[Dean Matthews]

See... I feel bad now. I took the cheap route and cut notches in some 2x4s that I then clamp in my drill press vice.

You guys make me feel lazy when you come up with these neat contraptions.

[Dan Forman]

See... I feel bad now. I took the cheap route and cut notches in some 2x4s that I then clamp in my drill press vice.

You guys make me feel lazy when you come up with these neat contraptions.

Yeah, but at least you HAVE a drill press vise! :D For those of us that don't. well, necessity is the mother of invention.

Dan

[Dan Forman]

Is there wiggle room for a slightly large or smaller blank? (width not height)

Yes, the toggle clamp is adjustable in both directions (in and out), so that a wide range of thicknesses can be accommodated.

Dan

[Dan Forman]

Great design, now I have something else to build. I use some laminations for pen blanks and was having trouble getting the hole straight so I had equal wood on each side of the hole. I believe this will take care of that.

This has given me the best results so far, but the straightness of the hole will depend on how true the table of the drillpress is to the quill, and how true the quill itself operates. I'm still working on that aspect- I think my quill wanders a bit, but not sure yet, could be the vise or technique too. Working wilth laminations really highlights any errors.

Dan

[Dan Forman]

Dan, I can't tell from the pic, do you have an angle cut into the face of the toggle clamp pad? Or is there maybe a slit in it to grab the corner of the blanks?

Looks like a good, inexpensive vice.

and you're forgiven for engaging in flatwork. I spent most of the last week doing that myself. Shhh...

Neither one- the tip of the clamp is a moderately soft rubber, and gives just enough to grab the blank firmly. The original plan was to use two clamps, one to press the blank into eash of the faces of the block, but with the sliding insert, that would have been tricky, so I tried just the one at an angle, and it holds very firmly.

Dan

[Dan Forman]

Thanks to all. I posted this over at the pen forum, a couple of folks suggested a modification of the design that would capture the jig in the table slots, thus locking the x axis, so that only the y axis would need adjustment for a change in blank size. That would necessitate the block being rotated 90 degrees from where it is now. I'm thinking that over, might have version 2.0 before too long.

Dan

[CW McClellan]

I have found that some of these bought pen blanks are not squared they advertise 3/4 sq or 7/8 ect sq --drilling these will also run-out--went thru the cks of drill press and quill --drills ect -that is my findings most:rolleyes:

[Dennis Peacock]

You are forgiven for doing f**t work because it is only meant to enable turning.

As for you, Gary... f**twork is not allowed over here unless... well, you're forgiven as well.

Happy New Year!

Maaaaaaannnnnnnnn!!!!!! Can't get one past Ben now can we. :rolleyes:

Ben....you are hereby awarded the title of Fl*twork Police. :eek: :p

[Dean Thomas]

I particularly liked the replaceable insert! That is a personal issue for me, so it's pretty nifty.

I'm using a Jorgenson clone from HF with a piece of something exotic and fun glued to one face to ensure that I have square to the table. I then screwed it down to a 2x10 slab so that I have some flexibility. It works. Not great, but hey for $5 and 10 minutes of work, I have a pretty good drilling rig on a base that is very expendable and very replaceable. No sawing done, none required on version 1. I have another $5 clamp that may become sawn as version 1.1 or v 2.0. ;)

Very, very nice work.