# Drilling pen blanks on the cheap



## old folks (Jan 22, 2005)

I spent all the money I had on a lathe, tools, starter set one and two (from Pen State) but being a newbe I forgot about how to drill the blanks... can somebody tell me how to make a cheap and easy to make(I stink at building things)drilling jig ? Thank you


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## Gary (Jan 22, 2005)

Here is a pretty simple one for you:






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## jwoodwright (Jan 22, 2005)

John,
Do you have a Drill Press?  An easy jig is a piece of 3/4" plywood the size of your Drill Press Table.  You then use two pieces of 1" T x 2" H x 4" L wood.  This wood is glued and screwed to the plywood so it forms a 90 Degree corner, toward the center of the base piece.  So, you have your bottom piece and two "walls" attached, in the center of the base.

Your Pen Blank will go into the 90 Degree Inside corner, there you clamp it, center the blank under the drill bit and clamp the base to the Drill Press Table.

Watch your speed, clear the bit often, drill, remove, drill, remove.  Best not to try and drill all the way through, can get blowouts, bit knocks out a chunk of blank.  Make your blanks  1/2" longer than needed.   then you can cut off the extra blank material.

I'll try and find a graphic... Better yet Gary Provided one.  The plywood would be under the 90 Degree corner section.  []


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## GregD (Jan 22, 2005)

I just took a couple of pieces of 3/4"x 3"w x 12"L pine (I think, It was in the scrap bin),cut them to equal length. Then tipped my tablesaw blade to 45 degrees and cut a V in the width. I cut three notches one for 1/2", one for 5/8" and one for 3/4" blanks. Drilled a 9/32" hole at each end for a bolt and wingut.


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## KKingery (Jan 22, 2005)

If you can find one, I use one of the old wood clamps to hold the blanks - and I just use my regular hand drill.


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## jwoodwright (Jan 22, 2005)

Some more great ideas.  This is what we are about.[]


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## woodscavenger (Jan 22, 2005)

As my name implies I am cheap. My tool money is precious to me since my wife does not yet give me a big enough allowance.  Anyway here is my solution to the vise setup that I just completed.  It works great.

1. screw clamp
2. matching face plate each with a "channel" cut into them (router, talbe saw, hand saw....just make sure they are at 90 degrees)
3. attach the matching face plates to the tips of the screw clamp with glue and screws.  Keep the 90 degree profile!
4. screw one-half of the screw clamp to a piece of MDF that fits comfortabl on your drill press. (Mine is long enough to touch the back of the press and clamp it to the front of the table.)
 ** I made the center of the "V" line up directly under the center of the drill bit when the MDF is push all the way to the back throat of the press that way the Y coordinate is reproducible every time and then I can move a little left/right for the X coordinate.  

Since one half of the clamp is screwed to the MDF you can set it up to tighten/loosen the clamp with only one of the screws.  I have been amazed at how well this setup is working for me.

I even slip a narrow strip of 1/4" plywood (about 1'4" wide) between the face plates to act as a replaceable drill plate so I don't have to keep replacing the MDF.  This should keep tear out to a minimum.

The quick clamp just clamps the whole jig to the drill press table.



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## jkirkb94 (Jan 23, 2005)

Shane, out of curiosity, what brand of drill press do you have?  It looks similar to mine.  I have an old Chicago drill press.  Kirk[8D]


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## woodscavenger (Jan 23, 2005)

You got it right.  I picked it up at a pawn shop for $20.  Best money I ever spent.


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