• Thanks for visiting The Penturners Forum today.

    There are many features and resources that currently you are unable to see or access, either because you're not yet registered, or if you're already registered, because you're not logged in.

    To gain full access to the forum, please log in or register now. Registration is completely free, it only takes a few seconds, and you can join our well established community of like-minded pen makers.

Blank end mill question

crazylegs

Apprentice Member
Joined
Dec 14, 2017
Posts
39
Location
Wilshire
First Name
Kevin
How do you all sharpen the cutting part on the pen mill? The thing you use to get the ends of the blanks square.
 

Penpal

Grand Master
Joined
May 26, 2013
Posts
25,340
Location
Canberra AUSTRALIA
First Name
Peter
Tried most all of the penmills and only use a dedicated disk sander with two sets ie Imperial and Metric punch sets as mandrels and an absolute accurate hand made holder with a most suitable drill chuck from a hammer drill (new one) they have long holding jaws.

Peter.
 

Attachments

  • DSCF0022.JPG
    DSCF0022.JPG
    164.4 KB · Views: 68
  • DSCF0025.JPG
    DSCF0025.JPG
    101.9 KB · Views: 69
  • DSCF0028.JPG
    DSCF0028.JPG
    147.9 KB · Views: 69

crazylegs

Apprentice Member
Joined
Dec 14, 2017
Posts
39
Location
Wilshire
First Name
Kevin
Tried most all of the penmills and only use a dedicated disk sander with two sets ie Imperial and Metric punch sets as mandrels and an absolute accurate hand made holder with a most suitable drill chuck from a hammer drill (new one) they have long holding jaws.

Peter.

Do yuo have a picture of the set up?
 

Phil Dart

Moderator
Executive Member
Joined
Nov 28, 2014
Posts
5,455
Location
Colebrooke, Devon
First Name
Phil
How may blades on your mill?
You've had plenty of answers telling you how dreadful pen mills are. My own opinion is that they are not dreadful, they are actually bloody fantastic, as long as they're sharp. Most people don't sharpen them so consequently they consider them dreadful. The method of sharpening will depend on how many blades yours has, so I ask again, how many blades does yours have please?
 

fortress

Registered
Joined
Apr 11, 2016
Posts
5,178
Location
Astley
First Name
John
Hi Kevin,
I Myself never use a pen mill on wood only acrylics, on wood I use a set up like others have shown with a sanding disc.
 

Phil Dart

Moderator
Executive Member
Joined
Nov 28, 2014
Posts
5,455
Location
Colebrooke, Devon
First Name
Phil
I have one with 4 blades and one with 6 blades.
The one with 6 blades is next to impossible to sharpen accurately. The only thing you can do is put a diamond card across the face of the blade, and hope that card is held at the same angle with every pass. These 6 blade versions come from China and are another reason why pen mills get a bad name.

The 4 blade versions are easy to sharpen, and there are two methods.
Lay a diamond card flat in the edge of your workbench and pass the back of the blade along the card. You're not sharpening the face, you're re-setting the cutting point by refreshing the back, much the same as sharpening a carbide cutter.
The other method is to sharpen the face, but because it only has 4 blades, it's easy to make a jig so that the angle is the same each time. I have a homemade jig that fits on my ProEdge, and it takes about 20 seconds to sharpen the whole thing.

I realise this is contentious, but in my humble opinion, a sharp, well maintained pen mill will give a better, faster and more accurate result over a disk sanding method every time.

Other opinions are available.:devil:
 

crazylegs

Apprentice Member
Joined
Dec 14, 2017
Posts
39
Location
Wilshire
First Name
Kevin
Thanks Phil. I have found them to work well in the past but only when sharp. I will try the diamond card method. Any chance of a picture of you proedge jig?
 

howsitwork?

Graduate Member
Joined
Sep 18, 2019
Posts
513
Location
north york (gods own county)
First Name
Ian
I would use a diamond lap and rub carefully only on the flat size of the blades until you get a very small burr detectable with a fingernail at the cutting edge . This should just knock off and you’re sharp.

Must admit I like the look of peters sanding system ( both Peter’s versions) but with a gentle touch and sharp cutters I’ve not had a major issue generally.
 

Pierre

Graduate Member
Joined
Sep 2, 2015
Posts
996
Location
Southern Central France
First Name
Pierre
I only have 4 bladed ones and I use a small engineers flat fine file to sharpen them.

I don't agree that they ruin end grain, as a trained cabinet maker I use a scraper on end grain very successfully especially when passing over dovetail joints, you have no option and blunt doesn't 'cut it' pun intended. (its the same principle) and so long as you have about a 15 degree burr on the cutting side then it should cut properly, part of the technique is not to push the blade too heavily and let the tool cut and pull, also don't leave too much excess wood from the end of the tube to the start of the wood to cut. I try to get my blanks to 1-2 mm longer than the tube. BUT that is after drilling where the wood is longer because many woods like Thuya burl, wisteria, grape vine and even Oak etc will have blow out as the drill cuts its final stages, so just lop the scruffy bit off and mill to your heart's content.

The same applies to scrapers, when you sharpen them make sure you create a 15-25 degree burr (depending on whether you use a pro-edge or not) and dont knock it off on the honing wheel you will be able to create issue thin shavings instead of dust.

Also the mills as supplied are probably not really sharp in the beginning so sharpen them first.
 
Last edited:
Warning! This thread has not had any replies for over a year. You are welcome to post a reply here, but it might be better to start a new thread (and maybe include a link to this one if you need to).
Top