Make your Own Paper Chuck and Pen Holder

by Dave Arnold

 

Dave Arnold paper chuck and pen holder
This is Dave's pen holder sitting on top of hisTympan paper chuck.

 

Tympan (paper) chuck

 

To make the paper chuck, start by band sawing or turning a plywood disk ( I used 3/4") and attach it to a faceplate that fits your machine.

 

You can tape, glue or clip individual pieces of paper to it or do as I did and make a pack to make changing paper easy. I use standard printing paper, a pack about 1/2" to 5/8" thick and sandwich the paper between two plywood disks that I have already sized to my needs. I use a 8" disk as this fits well to the standard paper size and gives me more room to experiment with my tracings. After you have made your sandwich, consisting of the two plywood disks with the paper in between, then carefully cut the paper using a fine toothed band saw blade.

 

I make my sandwich with the backer plywood disk with the face plate attached on the top and another disk to match on the bottom of the sandwich. In that way I get a perfect (almost) fit of the paper to the disk which is important due to the next step.

After cutting the pack and before removing either of the disks, I use 3/4" masking tape to tape the paper edge to the plywood disk that is attached to the face plate. I am careful that the tape overlaps just the plywood disk attached to the face plate and not the one that was on the bottom of the stack.

 

You then remove the bottom plywood disk and you have a pack of paper mounted on a plywood disk that can be easily screwed on and removed from your lathe. I think you can understand the necessity for matching the edge of the paper to the plywood disk so that when the edge of the paper pack is taped to the plywood disk it is held in position without causing wrinkles. I simply use a small piece of masking tape to grab the top piece of paper and remove it when I need a fresh start.

 

Paper chuck on a Cler Lathe

This is Dave's paper chuck system mounted on his Cler lathe.

Pen Holder

 

The pen is spring loaded and slides on a precision linear slide (very smooth). The pen holder can be retained in any quick change tool post holder or other lathe tool holder designed to hold square shank tools.

 

The block of material that I attach to the linear slide truck can be made from either nylon or UHMW. Either of these materials give a nice grip to the chosen pen as long as one has chosen the drill size to match the selected pens. I have also found that pens by different manufacturers have no standard to the barrel size, so this requires choosing an appropriate size drill which is slightly smaller than the area of the pen which will be gripped. This area is immediately above the nib and the chosen pen should have a straight barrel in this area. Some pens have tapers or curved sections in this area and would be difficult to fit. Also the longer or deeper the hole in your block the more stable will be your set up. A little experimenting will go a long way in getting the right fit. You will know that you have achieved your objectives when the pen is held solidly with just a press fit, yet is easy to remove and change pens, i.e., different colors, nibs, etc.

 

In choosing a spring, smaller is better, all you need is something to maintain a slight pressure of the nib to the paper. Look at the springs found in some of the cheap click style ball point pens or something similar.

 

I am currently using the Roller ball Pens made by Pilot named the Precise V5. These pens come in an array of colors and have a very fine point. I have used the extra fine line pen called the Liquid Expresso made by Sanford but when I could no longer find these pens I had to switch and that meant having to make a new retaining block. Stay away from ball point pens as they tend to cut the paper and impress the papers beneath if one is using a pack of paper.

 

I have found this system to work very well and with a little experience you too will find that it can't be beat.

 

Dave