Barrel trimmer for large pens

[Paul-H]

Hi all

Newbie warning

Hope this is the correct section for this topic, perhaps a mod could move it if not

So being new to pen turning I have bought a few kits to get me started, most use a standard 7mm tube so no problem with them but a couple are large fountain pens and take a much larger tube, 12 and 14mm, my question is regarding using a barrel trimmer on the larger pens, I have one of the Common universal barrel trimmers that goes from 7 to 10mm, but can't find anything that can be used with the larger diameter pens.

Are larger than 10mm barrel trimmer available or if not what do you all use when working on a larger than normal pen.

Thanks for any help with this.

Paul

 

[flexi]

There are a couple of ways....
One is to use a spare 7mm tube, glue it into a scrap piece of timber and turn to the I'd you need....
Another is to change to a disc sander and with a set of parallel pin punches and a magnetic vice...
Alternatively swap to another pen mill Woodpecker tools do a nice tct mill with bigger shafts but at a cost....

 

[flexi]

Just read your intro post....
Back to Axminster for some 7mm tubes, it will be good practice at turning

 

[alpha1]

I trim my blanks on a metal lathe in a universal four jaw chuck. In fact most of my pen turning is done on a metal lathe.
I have a wood lathe the only thing I use it for is drilling the blanks in a pen chuck. I can not get away with turning on a wood lathe the last time I tried the skew or what ever you call them ended up on the other side of the shed. It was not good.

 

[TVS]

disk sander me all day long set the table and fence up square and away you go works eve time for me

 

[Hallelujahal]

I've taken to using a disc sander more recently for all my pen blanks - I even knock the corners off the blanks as well with the sander which gives me a bit of a head start when turning

 

[alpha1]

I might have to give that a go.

 

[Neil]

You can get standard pen mills up to 37/64, there about 10 tube diameters as standard. I use disc sander for all but 7mm tubes as I find the 7mm drill bits wander a little and can make the tube a little out of plumb.

 

[Penpal]

Hi there mate I use a dedicated disk sander and three sets of punches as mandrels to hold the blanks square so my answer to you is this way. Many and various are the other ways,my way is as Woody said set up and accurate every time,IMHO much kinder to the blank ends over the years of trying all the other methods.With the Slimlines I still use a Step Drill initially to clear each end inside of glue etc then it has a flat reamer that tales away slurry.