Comments on: Drilling a pen blank on the lathe

By: Keith Larrett

Keith Larrett — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 00:40:26 +0000

I got mine from Penn State.

Collet Chuck

It has a 1″ x 8 thread so I use it with an adapter when I use it on my 1642, but it threads right on my Jet mini lathe.

By: Taylor

Taylor — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 21:33:54 +0000

Where did you buy your collet chuck. I looked all over and couldn’t find one.

By: Keith Larrett

Keith Larrett — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 23:03:09 +0000

Rock

I get the dental wax from Arizona Silhouette. Here is the address It cost thirty cents a sheet, I got ten sheets and they have lasted me forever.

As far as cutting my designs on the scrollsaw, I draw a pattern and then stick that to the pen blank with spray adhesive. Then I just cut along the pattern line. The cut from the scroll saw is generally smooth enough for a glue joint, although I will normally sand them lightly.

By: Rocky Davis

Rocky Davis — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 18:30:33 +0000

I was impressed with the dental wax for keeping glue out of the tubes while glueing them to the blanks. Where do you get this product, and does it come in a sheet like you pictured, or do you press in into a flat piece with which to work?

How do you cut your designes so precisely with your scroll saw? Are you sanding the pieces smoothe after the cut before joining them back together?

Rock

By: Keith Larrett

Keith Larrett — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 21:11:30 +0000

I use this method on all my pen blanks Ed. I have limited experience with resins and plastics, but those that I have made have all been drilled this way. You’re right about the exit hole not being supported. Maybe the collet provides some of the support. I also am in the habit of sharpening the drill bit each time before I drill and advancing the drill slowly towards the end of the hole.

Or maybe it just “dumb luck”

Thanks for the comments!

By: Ed Brown

Ed Brown — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 18:12:33 +0000

Keith,

As you know, the “conventional wisdom” demands that we stop short of exiting the blank when drilling, so we don’t “blow up” the material. Have you used this method on resins, palm wood, and other blanks that would typically show “exit wounds”??

I would suspect that the additional support you are providing with your collet MIGHT eliminate the “blow up” syndrome, but I would be hesitant to say anything authoritative, one way or another.

Thanks for the article, it is well-done!!