Did the drill press with vise grips holding the blank. wooden clamps notched, bought the DP vise from SS (though I never did buy a dedicated pen vise). Each some better than the previous, but wandering bits, diagonal holes, and lots and lots of end blow outs!:mad:
Then moved to horizontal drilling (one reason is that the head stock was getting cumbersome to raise to the DP position[read - weak old fart!] (pre Mark 7 and lift assist) with a couple different jigs on the table saw bed and fence, and finally bought the Nova G3 with pins when SS had a sale so I could use the lathe setup to hold the blanks to drill (Drill bit in the tail stock while the chucks rotated with the blank). For plastic blanks this seemed to be the best method to keep from melting the plastic. And yes, until I realized I need to advance the quill MUCH slower I melted A LOT of bigger holes in blanks (7mm easily became wavy 8!!)
The pins are okay, but if the blank is anything but perfectly square and straight it was not pretty, I would spend more time fitting the blank than I wanted!!
It became easier to preround the blank (especially hard woods and plastics) before drilling the hole for the brass inserts. That's when I started using a large live end in the tail stock and a taper pointed piece (same 60 degree) mounted into the lathe chuck. Would pre-drill two SMALL pilot holes. one in the center of each end as reference and then learn to "snug up" the quill to the best tension so I could get it to spin and then remove materiel)Twice the work, getting the blank rounded so I could drill it so I could glue in the inserts and shape it, At least the set up was consistent!!
SO..... when Nova advertised their Pen Plus jaws, I waited to see what the different forums would say. Reviews were a bit too mixed, but having just ruined a couple nice plastic and one expensive wooden blank, I bit the bullet and ordered the Pen Plus through Amazon (with their great return policy I figured why not),
They are significantly (IMHO) better then the pin jaws,
They are much longer and even though they only have two jaws total, they hold very securely.
Comparing the length Pen Plus (left) and pin jaw (right)
[ATTACH]23086[/ATTACH]
A 5" plastic pen blank in the pin jaws (all four jaws holding the piece)
[ATTACH]23088[/ATTACH]
And the same blank in the Pen Plus. The half circles traveling the length of the jaw seem to allow for a better grip and each jaw uses two screws to hold it in place - one accessed via the long tube/ circle).
[ATTACH]23087[/ATTACH]
Whether you think it is worth the extra $38, is of course based upon your wallet, tolerance level for adjusting blanks, and how good you are at using other methods. Personally I sucked at the other methods, my tolerance levels for mistakes seems to reduce based upon perceived pleasure, so the wallet took the hit!)
Me, I like it!
Apologies for the horrid pictures! Went to grab my point and shoot but the battery was dead so had to use the camera in the phone (yep, took the phone out to the shop with me... but only long enough to get the pictures - after all sanctuary IS sanctuary!!
)Be well,
Ben
