Help needed - stick pen

[Brad]

I am trying to work with a stick pen kit from Lee Valley to create a thin desk pen. http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=1&p=32848&cat=1,250,43243,43244
I am on attempt #3 and it failed again.
The problem is I drill the 3 7/8" hole down into the blank, glue in the small threaded tube, attempt to square the end on the disk sander and turn.
The squaring is done by hand, I do not know how I can align the squaring to the tube on these kits.
Because the squaring is not exact and the pen is thin, I break thru into the drilled hole.
This last attempt, I tried to push the tube to one side when glued in order to get better alignment to the drilled hole, I know I am getting a qood alignment off my drilling jig. I still broke thru before I had turned down to the .400" diameter I wanted.
The drill size is .250" so I should have .075" thick walls if I can get the alignment right. I was thinking of an end mill, but this tube has a thread in the first 1/4".
The crazy thing is this is the second pen of a commissioned set, The first one worked like a charm with a slightly thinner pen. Dumb luck I guess.
2251
If anyone has any ideas, I would like to hear them before I start on attempt #4.
Thanks for any and all help.

[jack]

can you get your blank truly square, then use a good 4 jaw chuck and drill on your lathe? This has helped my drilling immensly vs. on a drill press...

[bohdon]

Darn it's been a long time since I've made one of those but it seems to me that I used my penmill to square the end. I know I didn't use a disc sander because I don't have one.

I'm pretty sure I...no maybe not (was gonna say I squared it before I glue the tube in) dunno maybe I did. Or did I square it up on the mandrel? Darn I can't remember for sure. I think I may have done a little of both.

The last time I used one of these was when I was trying to make a candy cane shaped pen, thinking back to that I must of squared the end before I glued the tube in, then just cleaned it up a little on the mandrel.

[Brad]

Brad I have made quite a few of these pens but have not encountered the problem as you have described! It sounds to me that your bit is wandering as this is a deep hole to be drilled all at once or the blank isn't true on the lathe.
Do you use a Jacobs chuck to hold the mandrel? Is your blank off square? Are you getting a true center when you bring up the tail piece with the live center?
I suggest turning the blank round until the edges are gone between centers and then drill the hole, this might help with the alignment when turning.
I use a 1/4" brad point.
My thoughts!!

Terry

The hole is too deep for a standard drill bit, I have a long shank 1/4" brad point bit that I normally use to drill with for these pens. Long bits do tend to wander, the brad point helps. I use a gauge block mounted on the drill press table to get a good alignment of the drilled hole.
I am trying something a little different now. I drilled the main hole with a 7/32 extra-long bit, and then opened the top up with a 1/4" bit. The 7/32 is tight for the spring, but I tested it on a piece of scrap and I could work the spring into that sized hole. The top of the hole was a much better fit to the tube this time. I guess when the 1/4" bit wandered, it made to top of the hole over sized.
If this doesn't work I am going to follow the advice here and turn the blank round first. I have noticed that the live centre does not end up in the middle of the blank bottom when I bring up the tail stock to support the pen.