Blank Drilling and Cutting

For what it's worth below are three pictures of my setup for drilling and cutting pen blanks. Note that I don't own any of the commercial jigs, instead I have my own method that works for me with the equipment I own, your mileage may vary :)

The first picture is how I rip Corian blanks on my table saw using the MicroJig. Honestly I am not sure how I would rip blanks any other way as the MicroJig is perfect for this application. The picture pretty much has as much detail as is necessary.

The second picture is my setup for cutting blanks using my table saw slider. This same technique could be done just as well using a miter jig however since I have a slider I use it almost exclusively for cross cutting. The spring clamp on the right side of the picture holds the blank material down against the table. To prove the accuracy of my setup I used a micrometer to measure a brass pen tube, the length was 2.087". After cutting the first blank to length the length of the blank was measured at 2.086". close enough :) Note that I cut blanks to the exact length of the pen tubes and have not found it necessary to mill them after inserting the brass pen tubes. This technique was recommended to me by Ken Salisbury.

The third picture is my plywood drill jig. I think the picture shows the jig clear enough without going into details. Since the jig holds the blank flat to the bottom board there is no tearout or problems with blanks blowing up when drilling. I have drilled over a hundred sets of blanks without losing one yet and the hole ends up dead accurate through the length of the tube if you start off real slow to allow the bit to settle in the center. I am using a parabolic drill bit that was purchased from Berea Hardwoods. My radial drill press isn't the most accurate machine as the head does have some flex when drilling. I also have an XY table mounted and I use it almost all the time as it eliminates the tap tap required to adjust the center of the blank to the drill bit.