DIYbanter - View Single Post - Pen Barrel Trimmer chews up end-grain

Bill in Detroit

wrote:
I just tried making my first pen. When I used the barrel trimmer
(Woodcraft.com p/n 146139), it chewed up the end grain on my pen blank.
It was far from a nice clean cut. What's the best way to prevent this
from happening?

--Scott

It sounds like the cutter chattered. I'm looking at ways of eliminating
the chatter.

First: Was the wood in good shape to start with? Punky wood is tough to
cut cleanly.

Second: Did you have the brass tube glued in? If not, then the hole in
the blank wasn't ready to be trimmed yet. It was over-sized and missing
the bearing surface the tube provides.

Third: Were you using the correct size trimmer shaft? Using a too-small
shaft would allow it to rattle around in the blank.

Fourth: You may also have had the speed wrong and encountered chatter.
Start by lowering the speed WAAAY down. This will actually make the
operation go more quickly as the tool gets a good, readily controlled,
bite into the wood.

Fifth: It may have come new to you ... and dull as a joke without a
punchline. Take a look at the cutting edges and touch them up if need
be. I use a small abrasive disk on a Dremel-type tool but you could also
use a diamond file against the flat face. Remove it from the shaft
(small set screw) and stroke until the vertical flat faces (not the
short beveled edges) gets cleaned up.

I have notches cut in my Chiwanese wooden clamps to accommodate my
blanks for drilling. Using a pair of water pump pliers to hold them for
trimming seems to help.

Bill

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