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Location: Orlando, Florida
1. Press harder.
2. Sharpen the end mill. The HSS or high carbon steel ones are notoriously dull. A diamond card / paddle or sandpaper wrapped around a flat piece of scrap wood will work.
3. Upgrade to a higher quality pen mill. I use Whiteside's carbide pen mill. (If you do upgrade, you'll likely need to purchase new barrel trimmers to match your end mill.)
Still Learning,
Allan Hill
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Location: Bothell, WA
I put my pen mill in the drill press and feed the blank by hand. So far there isn't a wood so hard that it wouldn't cut, including tough stuff like African blackwood and desert ironwood.
Like AHill said, you'll need to keep it sharpened with a diamond card or similar.
Cellulose runs through my veins!
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10-25-2018, 08:15 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-25-2018, 08:16 PM by greenacres2.)
If I've got more than a millimeter or so, I trim carefully with my band saw, then finish the trim on my sander--using the appropriate center punch or drift pin in a v-jig mounted on my miter gauge. Takes longer to type than to do. I turn a lot of hybrids and acrylic, along with some antler--and the pen mill didn't always mix well, especially on the hybrids. Not ruining 2 worthless wood castings paid for the aluminum v-block.
earl
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I cut mine on my radial arm saw. The brass isn’t hard enough to hurt the blade and I get a nice square clean cut.
Don
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Location: Jacksonville, NC
Like already said might need little more pressure. If dealing with a dull pen mill very easy to resharpen:
http://www.penmakersguild.com/articles/p...ening1.pdf
Bill
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Location: Jacksonville, NC
Years ago made jig to hold the pen blank to mill the wood jig using the pen mill in my drill press. Used a 2x4 about 12” long split down the middle, cut a V in each half. Turned the handles round on the lathe added a small hinge and came up Jig & Presses shown but no longer at this site.
http://www.hutproducts.com/departments.asp?dept=99
Bill
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Location: Truro,N.S. Canada
I agree with Arlin,I use my disk sander.Just make sure the blank is presented 90* to the sanding disk.I find it works much better than the pen mill.
Mel
ABC(Anything But Crapsman)club member
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Thanks for the advice. I have run a diamond file across the flat edge of the mill and that does help briefly. I have taken to cutting close and using a belt sander to get even closer. Even though I work hard to make sure I drilled straight down the pen blank I am not sure that is always the case so I don't trust using a sander to get the end square. What has worked best for me is to make sure I have a freshly charged battery in the drill then support the blank on the floor and lean on the drill. Holding the blank in my hand I can't get enough pressure on it. Even then after doing a bubinga blank the mill was hot to the touch and the end of the blank was burnt.