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Pen jaws for a metal lathe.

alpha1

alpha1

Fellow
Joined
Mar 29, 2018
Posts
1,179
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middlesbrough
First Name
Dave
I have stopped using my wood lathe for drilling blanks in fact I rarely use it for anything to do with pens. I use my metal lathe and a milling machine for 99% of my pen making.
I have a set of Axminster pen jaws mounted on the wood lathe that are not geting used.
I find my metal lathe is a lot easier to use and a lot more accurate when drilling blanks..
I have a question before I turn and manufacture a solution does any one know of any pen jaws or adapters designed to be used with a metal lathe.
Failing that I will adapt the pen jaws to fit on my metal lathe.
I dont turn anything other than pens because I dont know how to. The wood lathe if I can sort the pen jaws out is posibly surplus to requirements.
 
alpha1

alpha1

Fellow
Joined
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Posts
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Location
middlesbrough
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Dave
I think I may have a solution Beufort ink sells chuck back plates. I will have a measure up of my exsisting pen jaw chuck and see if they have a compatible back plate or one I can modify.
 
H

howsitwork?

Graduate Member
Joined
Sep 18, 2019
Posts
528
Location
north york (gods own county)
First Name
Ian
That’s the way to go Dave. I know for both Boxford ( metal lathe ) and Myford wood one . Just change back plates and you’re sorted.

If beaufort don’t then Axminster power do various back,plates for their range of chucks. You might need to turn the register in situ to get a good fit .
 
C

Curly

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Nov 3, 2019
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Location
RM of Aberdeen, Saskatchewan, Canada
First Name
Peter
What kind/sized metal lathe do you have? If large enough to have a 4 jaw with removable jaws you could make soft jaws that are longer than stock to hold the blanks. You would have to learn to adjust the jaws individually to centre the blank but that only takes a few minutes once you have the hang of it.

If the lathe is bigger you can grip the wood chuck in the metal lathe's chuck.

Pete
 
alpha1

alpha1

Fellow
Joined
Mar 29, 2018
Posts
1,179
Location
middlesbrough
First Name
Dave
Curly said:
What kind/sized metal lathe do you have? If large enough to have a 4 jaw with removable jaws you could make soft jaws that are longer than stock to hold the blanks. You would have to learn to adjust the jaws individually to centre the blank but that only takes a few minutes once you have the hang of it.

If the lathe is bigger you can grip the wood chuck in the metal lathe's chuck.

Pete
Click to expand...
Why did I not think of that.
I have several chucks for my metal lathe. I have a collet chuck. A three jaw chuck. A four jaw chuck that I use a lot. I also have a four jaw independent chuck. That means you can alter each of the four jaws individually one at a time I would normally use it for barrel work using a dial gauge to centre the work. There is no reason that I can not do the same with a pen blank. I will give it a try and see how I get on I am thinking to fit the four jaw independent chuck and batch drill a bunch of blanks. Its probably to much of a faf for a single blank may be. But we will see.
 
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