Texatdurango
Member
In another thread I said I would share some pen making techniques via PM but more folks expressed interest than I thought so I decided to just do it in a post instead.
To begin with if there is one thing you take away from reading this, it is the hard and fast rule that there are NO rules to follow! I see posts everyday where someone is asking about what taps they are supposed to buy, which drill bits they are supposed to use, which mandrel to buy and so on. These are not kits so quit thinking "Kit assembly" and start using your imaginations. One reason for sharing my way of doing pens is to show there is NO shopping list, there is NO right or wrong procedure, there is NO diagram showing how part "A" attaches to part "B" and there are NO boundaries other than your imagination.
I took a photo this morning of some pens I will be displaying at an upcoming show in the hopes of selling a few. If you notice there are a lot of similarities but no two pens are 100% identical, and the only thing in common is that none of them use brass tubes anymore. I used acrylics, truestone and ebonite. Some have sterling silver trim, some have titanium. There are homemade clips, there are clips from kits. There are different methods used to attach clips and different types of nib front sections and nib sizes, some are "factory"sections, some are hand made. The point in showing these is that they are all unique with subtle differences and no rules were followed in their designs. I have dozens of taps, drills and gadgets for making dozens of those "subtle differences" so telling you to turn to a certain diameter, drill a hole using bit "X" then thread using tap "X" just doesn't work and will only frustrate you.
Now that the stage is set, let's begin. I want to share a method I use to turn a pen without using mandrels, just a collet chuck. Remember... do what floats your boat and NOT try to make a 100% copy of someone elses work, you'll be glad you did!
Step 1. I start with either buying a round blank or turning it round and chucking it in my Beall collet chuck. I like the Beall chuck over other chucks mounted on mt-2 shafts because I can insert a 5" blank quite a way into the chuck for more accurate holding.
Step 2. I turn it down to the approximate size of the finished barrel; we'll call it 5/8". Then I turn a tenon for the threads.
Step 3. Using a die holder with a mt-2 shank mounted in the tailstock I thread the lower "multi-start" threads by HAND TURNING the lathe. Left hand turning the spindle, Right hand gently pushing in the tailstock.
Step 4. Using a home made check gage I make sure the threads work smoothly.
Step 5. Using a short center drill I mark the center for drilling. I think this is VERY important and never omit this step (Oops, there's a RULE
)
Step 6. I start drilling the lower barrel using different size bits to allow clearance for the front section to screw into as well as a Schmidt converter.
Step 7. The last drill just about all the way in. Note my little red shop aid? I leave it on just to give a bit of support to the exterior threads during drilling. May or may not help but it's pretty and I made it so I use it! Note the depth marks on the drill bit? I use those riligously! Darn it, another RULE!
Step 8. Once the barrel is drilled out I tap the body to accept the front section. A light shot of cooking oil makes threading easy and leaves clean shiny threads in acrylics (soapy water for ebonite). Notice I don't mention the tap size, that's because you can use any tap you want depending on the size of pen you are making and the section you are using, remember, there are NO rules right!
Step 9. I simply insert the tap into a drill chuck mounted in the tailstock and HAND TURN the lathe. Remember, Left hand turning the spindle, Right hand gently pushing in the tailstock.
Step 10. I clean out the inside of the barrel then thread in the fron section and converter that I will be using to make sure everything works fine with plenty of room. Now is the time to catch any problems.
Step 11. At this point I have a barrel ready to go, almost! Note that up to this step, I have not removed the blank from the collet chuck for any reason. It is rock solid and true as can be.
Step 12. I remove the front section and wet sand the blank with 400, 600, 800 and 1000 grits. Then polish with plastic polish. Remember to stay away from the threads!
Step 13. Now I remove the blank from the chuck and actually have a working pen… sorta! All I have to do now is cut the blank to the length I want, change collet sizes to one that fits the smaller body diameter and reinsert the body back into the chuck "head first" and turn down the "fat" end. You will note that the top of the lower body is fairly straight. This allows the blank to be reinserterted back into the collet chuck. If it were turned "Fat" as some like their pens, this would not work as the blank would wobble in the chuck. I only taper the tail end of the blank.
Step 14. With the "nib" end held by the chuck I turn down and taper the bottom of the barrel. If I want a "postable" cap, I turn down the tail end a bit more to fit into the cap. Remember that I already polished the top of the barrel, now I polish the lower end, overlapping the front end a bit. When removed from the chuck I simply take it to the buffer and buff the whole barrel at once and I'm done. Be careful chucking the blank and you will have no chuck marks to deal with.
Well, there you have it, one way of turning a pen with just a collet chuck, I hope this helps shed some light on the subject and gives you some ideas on how you can start on your masterpiece without buying a handful of specialized mandrels. Here is the finished pen (the cap just sorta happened by magic and will be another topic soon!) :biggrin:…….
To begin with if there is one thing you take away from reading this, it is the hard and fast rule that there are NO rules to follow! I see posts everyday where someone is asking about what taps they are supposed to buy, which drill bits they are supposed to use, which mandrel to buy and so on. These are not kits so quit thinking "Kit assembly" and start using your imaginations. One reason for sharing my way of doing pens is to show there is NO shopping list, there is NO right or wrong procedure, there is NO diagram showing how part "A" attaches to part "B" and there are NO boundaries other than your imagination.
I took a photo this morning of some pens I will be displaying at an upcoming show in the hopes of selling a few. If you notice there are a lot of similarities but no two pens are 100% identical, and the only thing in common is that none of them use brass tubes anymore. I used acrylics, truestone and ebonite. Some have sterling silver trim, some have titanium. There are homemade clips, there are clips from kits. There are different methods used to attach clips and different types of nib front sections and nib sizes, some are "factory"sections, some are hand made. The point in showing these is that they are all unique with subtle differences and no rules were followed in their designs. I have dozens of taps, drills and gadgets for making dozens of those "subtle differences" so telling you to turn to a certain diameter, drill a hole using bit "X" then thread using tap "X" just doesn't work and will only frustrate you.
Now that the stage is set, let's begin. I want to share a method I use to turn a pen without using mandrels, just a collet chuck. Remember... do what floats your boat and NOT try to make a 100% copy of someone elses work, you'll be glad you did!
Step 1. I start with either buying a round blank or turning it round and chucking it in my Beall collet chuck. I like the Beall chuck over other chucks mounted on mt-2 shafts because I can insert a 5" blank quite a way into the chuck for more accurate holding.
Step 2. I turn it down to the approximate size of the finished barrel; we'll call it 5/8". Then I turn a tenon for the threads.
Step 3. Using a die holder with a mt-2 shank mounted in the tailstock I thread the lower "multi-start" threads by HAND TURNING the lathe. Left hand turning the spindle, Right hand gently pushing in the tailstock.
Step 4. Using a home made check gage I make sure the threads work smoothly.
Step 5. Using a short center drill I mark the center for drilling. I think this is VERY important and never omit this step (Oops, there's a RULE
)
Step 6. I start drilling the lower barrel using different size bits to allow clearance for the front section to screw into as well as a Schmidt converter.
Step 7. The last drill just about all the way in. Note my little red shop aid? I leave it on just to give a bit of support to the exterior threads during drilling. May or may not help but it's pretty and I made it so I use it! Note the depth marks on the drill bit? I use those riligously! Darn it, another RULE!
Step 8. Once the barrel is drilled out I tap the body to accept the front section. A light shot of cooking oil makes threading easy and leaves clean shiny threads in acrylics (soapy water for ebonite). Notice I don't mention the tap size, that's because you can use any tap you want depending on the size of pen you are making and the section you are using, remember, there are NO rules right!
Step 9. I simply insert the tap into a drill chuck mounted in the tailstock and HAND TURN the lathe. Remember, Left hand turning the spindle, Right hand gently pushing in the tailstock.
Step 10. I clean out the inside of the barrel then thread in the fron section and converter that I will be using to make sure everything works fine with plenty of room. Now is the time to catch any problems.
Step 11. At this point I have a barrel ready to go, almost! Note that up to this step, I have not removed the blank from the collet chuck for any reason. It is rock solid and true as can be.
Step 12. I remove the front section and wet sand the blank with 400, 600, 800 and 1000 grits. Then polish with plastic polish. Remember to stay away from the threads!
Step 13. Now I remove the blank from the chuck and actually have a working pen… sorta! All I have to do now is cut the blank to the length I want, change collet sizes to one that fits the smaller body diameter and reinsert the body back into the chuck "head first" and turn down the "fat" end. You will note that the top of the lower body is fairly straight. This allows the blank to be reinserterted back into the collet chuck. If it were turned "Fat" as some like their pens, this would not work as the blank would wobble in the chuck. I only taper the tail end of the blank.
Step 14. With the "nib" end held by the chuck I turn down and taper the bottom of the barrel. If I want a "postable" cap, I turn down the tail end a bit more to fit into the cap. Remember that I already polished the top of the barrel, now I polish the lower end, overlapping the front end a bit. When removed from the chuck I simply take it to the buffer and buff the whole barrel at once and I'm done. Be careful chucking the blank and you will have no chuck marks to deal with.
Well, there you have it, one way of turning a pen with just a collet chuck, I hope this helps shed some light on the subject and gives you some ideas on how you can start on your masterpiece without buying a handful of specialized mandrels. Here is the finished pen (the cap just sorta happened by magic and will be another topic soon!) :biggrin:…….
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