Pen Drilling Vise Wanted

[jimwill48]

Not sure if this is the proper forum but I thought this would get lost in the Buy/Sell section and it is Turning related. :eusa_whis

Does anyone have a PSI, Woodcraft or ??? pen drilling vise they no longer use and want to get rid of at a reasonable price?

I have been using a regular drill press vise and squaring the blank to the side of the drill bit and it has worked out sort of. But now I'm starting to use a couple of kits that need larger holes ( 3/8" and 10mm) and the need to drill to center is a little more important. The normal problem I have is I can hit the center of the blank on top but it skews off center on the bottom not a big deal with a 7mm. I have squared the table (vise) to the spindle so I know thats good. So I would like to try a real Pen Drilling Vise to see if it fixs by problem but sticker shock really hits @ $50.00 for one 8-O .

Even if someone had one I could just borrow and just try on my drill press would be great, just to see if I want to spend that $50 and buy a new vise.

Thanks all,

James

 

[DaveO]

I can say from experience once you have a good drilling jig you will never regret the purchase. I bought the Woodcraft jig after blowing out the side of a segmented blank that I had worked for several hours putting together. :BangHead: :BangHead:
You can make one from hardwood scraps, but it does limit you to certain size blanks. I'll see f I can find some plans for one.
Another thought would be to drill on the lathe. You will need a drill chuck (some $) but it can be used for other purposes in addition to drilling.

Here's a good link - Pen Drilling Jig

Here's another you could make yourself -

Another style with a cheap price - Pen Blank Drilling Jig - Rockler Woodworking Tools


HTH, Dave

 

[gator]

I have one that I made that works very well. I don't have pictures at the moment but will try to take some this week and post them here when I do.

George

 

[dozer]

I use the one from Woodcraft and have been very happy with it. Fred P made one using a drill press vise that works really well maybe he will post a picture to give you an idea.

 

[Eaglesc]

Get a square block of wood,drill a 1/2 incn hole in it, rip through the middle.
Use that in your DP vice to hold the blank.
Either that or make a V block for your DP vice.
90 degress to the table shouldn't be difficult, that is what a DP is designed to do.

 

[FredP]

mine is as eagle describes. just a hunk of wood with a v grove in it an each jaw of a DP vise. self squareing on a wide range of sizes of blanks.
___/\___

fred p