Pre-drilled blanks

[ryan kelley]

I have been considering turning pens my only problem is I have no drill press, no space for a drill press. I have looked at PSI catalog and I see pre drilled blanks, is there another source with more of a variety blanks?

[Rasmus Petersen]

well you have a lathe... use that as a drill press. grip the blank in you chuck and use a jacobs chuck in the tailstock and drill away... it takes a little longer than with a drill press but works just fine :)

[Horst Hohoff]

Rasmus is right. What do need a drillpress when you've got a lathe. I've always drilled my blanks on the lathe. And since I bought a collet chuck with 18 different collets it's become a lot easier. I turn the blank round and drill it from both sides. In case of acrylic blanks this also prevents blowout as a sideeffect. And so far I've never bought a wooden pen blank but always cut them myself from larger bowlblanks or other wood I've got in stock.

Horst

[Rasmus Petersen]

Not to hicack... but what collet chuck are you using ?? (and whats the price)

[Stephen Massman]

Rockler also has pre drilled blanks and some with the brass tube already glued in. Do a search on their website for "ready-to-turn"

[Keith Outten]

Corian Pen Blanks (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=95535)

These are cut to size, drilled 7mm and ready for you to insert your brass tubes. All proceeds go to suppporting SawMill Creek.

.

[Rasmus Petersen]

Nice Keith!! if you ever have any wood blanks where the deal is the same, and the proceeds go til SMC im up for at pack :)

[Daniel Heine]

Ryan,

I agree with all of the previous responses, although I have never drilled a blank on the lathe. Rockler does sell acrylic blanks that ere pre-drilled, and have the tubes already in them. All you have to do is turn the blaks and assemble. Last time I saw they had them for slimlines, euros and cigars.

Dan

[Dean Thomas]

Hey Ryan,

I'll offer you about the same advice I offered someone else the other night:

Right after you read this, edit your profile to tell us where you live! Once we know that, you might just find a sympathetic turner in your neighborhood who'd enjoy a beer or a cup of good coffee and some face time talking about chips and stuff. If you're near a chapter of the AAW, or a woodturning or woodworking club, you might just find a sympathetic soul willing to give you time in exchange for a nice pen.

Next week, I'm going to spend some time at a friend's house making some sized and drilled pen blanks for the Freedom Pen Project. He's a good friend and one who likes to talk wood. Few of us actually get to talk chips very often, so when we find someone who could use a hand, they often find an ear as well. Bill & I will trim, chop and drill about 400 or more blanks down to 3/4" squares and 4-1/2" long before chopping. We'd glue 'em up, too, but he's allergic to CA glue and hates epoxy. So, I get to do that at ANOTHER friend's place. Some chat time, some sipping time, some glue-up time. Win-win-win time.

Just a thought, Ryan. Fix that profile. :)

[Jon Lanier]

Getting pre-drilled blanks would be a good way to go if you don't want to go through the trouble of 'blank making'. I love turning but I don't particularly enjoy the pre-turning process.

I just don't like putting out the money for pre-made blanks. And your are limited to styles... usually slim and euros.

But I must admit, the Corian pre-blanks from Sawmill here... Are a good price! And less work.

[Keith Outten]

Nice Keith!! if you ever have any wood blanks where the deal is the same, and the proceeds go til SMC im up for at pack :)

Rasmus,

Thanks, our Corian pen blank stock is growing. I have eight more finished pens to take pictures of today and add to our growing list. I believe we have most of the colors in our inventory already, there are new colors for 2008 that it may be a long time before we can get them in our shop but the new colors are incredible.

I have thousands of wood pen blanks in my office, most have been sent to me from people who are Freedom Pen turners so they aren't for sale. We ship free pen blanks to Freedom Pen turners when they order pen kits from us, when requested. We have lots of exotics and hundreds of rosewood blanks that were donated by a company that manufactures Billiard Ques. The most popular pen blanks are generally American species like maple and walnut, this is due to the fact that many of our pen turners are students and we don't ship them exotics since there are so many people who are allergic to rare woods. Sometimes the Instructors will turn them and often I get the chance to give them to the large turning groups.

Corian pen blanks eliminate the allergy issues and are safe for everyone to turn. I expect we will be donating some Corian blanks to our student groups this year.

Most of the pen blank suppliers are now offering pre-drilled blanks these days. There is less variety available but probably something for everyone if you search long enough you are bound to find blanks to suit your projects.

For the record we have shipped over 90,000 Freedom Pens to our Service Members in the Middle East.
.

[Rasmus Petersen]

Thank you for the clear up Keith. i will consider joning the freedom pen proj, or dooing something eq. for the danes in the service

[Harvey Schneider]

I always drill my blanks on the lathe! I found it difficult to get the drill to run truly down the center of my blank (especially on wood with a strong grain pattern), and drilling from both ends meant that the grain lines might be at an angle to each other.
My solution was to turn the blank to a cylinder between centers. Then I put a drill chuck in my tail stock and grip the cylindrical blank in a chuck on the head stock. Drilling accurately down the center is easy.
Drilling this way is slower, and the drill flutes don't clear themselves as easily. Advance the drill slowly, and retract it periodically to clear the flutes. This is especially needed with oily woods like cocobolo and rose wood.
If you need to advance the tail stock to drill deeper, stop the lathe and release the tail stock clamp. Retract the ram (this will drag the tail stock forward) and lock the tail stock clamp again. Restart the lathe and continue drilling.
If you want to cut the blank off after drilling through the first section, a thin parting tool does a better job than any saw can.
I would rather be standing in front of my lathe than in front of a drill press or a miter saw, and I didn't need to spend a fortune on specialized fixtures. That's more money that I can spend on wood stock.