In this article, I will talk about the bits, mandrels, bushings and other equipment you need to start making and building your own wooden pens. Referring to the word tooling makes reference to the wooden pen supplies you will need that are reusable.

When you are selecting the tooling that you need for your upcoming pen project these are the things you are going to have to do.

You need to drill a hole in the exact center of the wood blank. Tubes made of copper are glued in this hole. Then you need to take the pen unit and attach it to the mandrel, which is in the lathe.

The drill bit must be a parabolic flute bit to make it fit exactly. This is between the wood and the tubes of copper. . Other bits can cause damage through cracking, and the drill can?t be slow, as this will cause burning. The drill bit itself can be bought in a hardware store, and they are specifically designed to drill long tubes. The bit is made with a 135-degree split at the tip. Its drilling abilities are perfect for drilling through various materials such as grain wood for example. It performs a crack free job and is much faster. This is the reason why industries such as space and aircraft utilize them.

On the lathe there is a straight steel shaft called a mandrel. The pen blanks are mounted on these and turned. The end of the mandrel has a centering hole as well as a nut, with the other end going into the lathe?s headstock.

A drill chuck or a special arbor will hold the shaft in the lathe. The #1 or #2 Morse taper is the tapered arbor you will want. Consult your lathe manual to determine the right one to use, although most seem to favor the #2. The center hole that has the nut, which is at the end of the mandrill, is where the live tailstock center goes. This is the shaft support. Be very gentle when tightening the mandrel so that it won?t bend or flex.

The A and B pen kits have two mandrel sizes. The first one is ?A? approx. and the thick shaft if ?B? at about 0.921″. The B shaft is used for the pen kits that are larger as it has fewer whips to it because it is able to give stronger support gives better support, making a more precision pen.

The bushings are next with the pen kit.When it comes to knowing how far you should turn the wood down it?s the bushings that are the requirement for this. You need to do this so the matching pen parts are lined up.

With a little bit of patience and some hard work you will have a beautiful pen set made in no time. The key is not to rush your project but follow instructions carefully and stay with the exact measurements. Once you have done your first set no doubt you will want to go on to making many more.

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