Kitless convertible pen

I feel like my kitless journey is progressing. My fit and finish have improved since I started making my metal bands. I switched to Caswell buffing wheels and compounds this week, which seems to be a significant improvement over my other compounds. I started using a rotary tool with a very soft buffing wheel to polish my threads with magic juice 1 and 2, and these are my best-looking threads yet. I forgot to polish my section threads in the last picture so that you can see the improvement made by my new polishing method.

I am happy with my progress and plan to become a little more adventurous with design. I want to start experimenting with a step-less design next. I feel like I am trying to cram too many elements into a pen as I experiment with design aspects, so I plan on simplifying the accents in the future.

I am also trying to improve my photography. I have a little lightbox and use my iPhone. I have a picture of my lightbox below and hope to get some advice for improving my photo setup so that my pens don't look like a disco ball hanging over them in pictures. I have tried covering the lights with parchment paper, but I still get the disco ball wavy effect.

I appreciate all advice and criticism to help me improve. Thank you!

Convertible Pen (dual section for rollerball or fountain pen)
M13 x .8 threads
Diamondcast "Oil Slick"
Black accents with Black Diamond Mica
Ebonite Sections
Jowo #6
Beaufort Clip
Additional section with a Beaufort Rollerball nib











Here is my lightbox setup that I am looking for advice with:



Same pen in the lightbox. Notice how it makes the finish look uneven. Any suggestions on making it look more even like the outdoor pictures above but maintaining the color depth I get in the lightbox?

The pen looks great, sharing the context and background of what you have learned to get to this is much appreciated.

Would you please remind us of your metal bands?

Good design, well done.
For photo's lighting is the major challenge. your light box looks like little bright, might want to adjust your source of light.

floatslow said:

The pen looks great, sharing the context and background of what you have learned to get to this is much appreciated.

Would you please remind us of your metal bands?

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Thank you! I like sharing what I am learning, as I hope it will help out others. There is a lot of trial and error in this, and not much detailed info out there that I can find.

I was using premade plated rings (pictured below), which meant I was installing the rings after I turned. Using a wood lathe for the most part, it was hard to create a tenon exactly deep enough and wide enough to accommodate the rings without having some fit issues.

I recently started making rings with a step drill, and jeweler saw. I desire to use more expensive materials, such as silver, as my pens improve. However, I noticed the amount of waste I was creating and the price of silver sheets and decided to look at other options.

I decided to use a disc cutter with centering dies to make washers from 1mm sheet stock. This way, I can use the cutouts as cabochons for my finials as I did with this pen rather than just turning the center into swarf from drilling. I am also working on metal stamping for the cabochons so I can put initials or graphics on my cabochons. This leaves me with little to no waste when I work with more expensive materials for accents.

I cut out a washer the size that I need to fit my tenon and turn it down with the pen rather than trying to fit a premade ring to my pen. Perfect fit every time.

Old rings:




Disc cutter:

Very nice. Like the rings. Will you share a source for the rings? The refillable rollerball units are Schmidt PRS rollerball tips and are available from several sources here in the US. I really like using them for non-fountain pen users. Again, awesome pen and I like the rings. Turners Warehouse sell the Beaufort clips. I suspect you knew all of this but I thought I would share.
Do a good turn daily!
Don

Very nice mate. Clean and classy

its_virgil said:

Very nice. Like the rings. Will you share a source for the rings? The refillable rollerball units are Schmidt PRS rollerball tips and are available from several sources here in the US. I really like using them for non-fountain pen users. Again, awesome pen and I like the rings. Turners Warehouse sell the Beaufort clips. I suspect you knew all of this but I thought I would share.
Do a good turn daily!
Don

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Thank you. The rings on the pen I made myself. The rings I was referring to that I had been using (pictured in the cases) came from Richard Greenwald, who retired at the end of last year. I bought a supply of rhodium plated rings before he retired, knowing I had to figure out how to make them myself before I ran out.

hooked said:

Thank you. The rings on the pen I made myself. The rings I was referring to that I had been using (pictured in the cases) came from Richard Greenwald, who retired at the end of last year. I bought a supply of rhodium plated rings before he retired, knowing I had to figure out how to make them myself before I ran out.

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Thanks. I had seen them on Richard's site and should have bought some before he sold it all. I did purchase several of the schmidt roller ball tips form him.
Don

As you are aware, LED strip lights are notorious for indirect glare in the form of small dots on glossy surfaces unless the strip light incorporates a diffuser. It is easy to see the rows of dots on the pen in your lightbox photo.

There is a video from one of the YouTube channels I follow called "The Hook Up" that gives a really good overview of the diffuser options related to LED strip lights. Link: "The Hook Up: LED DIFFUSERS"

Regards,
Dave

Your pen is awesome. Thank you for sharing your process on making the rings.

What do you use to stamp designs in the cutout cabochons?

I have been using a light box for photographing my pens - the LED lights are outside the box, and shine through the translucent white walls. The walls help to scatter the light.

TDahl said:

Your pen is awesome. Thank you for sharing your process on making the rings.

What do you use to stamp designs in the cutout cabochons?

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I have been trying some metal stamps that I got on Amazon. There are all kinds of graphics available, or custom stamps. I am getting mixed results. I made a jig on my 3d printer to hold the die in place to make sure when I hit the die with a 2lb brass hammer that I get an even stamping. The problem I have now is centering my stamps every time. As you can see below, I have not mastered that yet. This is a clover. I am working on jig v2.0 which will give me a way to quickly center.

Once you stamp, you can use an acrylic marker over the stamping and wipe it off. This makes the indentations whatever color you use to fill it in.

hooked said:

I have been trying some metal stamps that I got on Amazon. There are all kinds of graphics available, or custom stamps. I am getting mixed results. I made a jig on my 3d printer to hold the die in place to make sure when I hit the die with a 2lb brass hammer that I get an even stamping. The problem I have now is centering my stamps every time. As you can see below, I have not mastered that yet. This is a clover. I am working on jig v2.0 which will give me a way to quickly center.

Once you stamp, you can use an acrylic marker over the stamping and wipe it off. This makes the indentations whatever color you use to fill it in.

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View attachment 352956

View attachment 352957

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Really appreciate you sharing, again great work

hooked said:

I have been trying some metal stamps that I got on Amazon. There are all kinds of graphics available, or custom stamps. I am getting mixed results. I made a jig on my 3d printer to hold the die in place to make sure when I hit the die with a 2lb brass hammer that I get an even stamping. The problem I have now is centering my stamps every time. As you can see below, I have not mastered that yet. This is a clover. I am working on jig v2.0 which will give me a way to quickly center.

Once you stamp, you can use an acrylic marker over the stamping and wipe it off. This makes the indentations whatever color you use to fill it in.

View attachment 352955

View attachment 352956

View attachment 352957

Click to expand...

The stamp looks great. Maybe you could make a base to secure the stamp jig, and then determine the true center of the stamp.

TDahl said:

The stamp looks great. Maybe you could make a base to secure the stamp jig, and then determine the true center of the stamp.

Click to expand...

That is exactly what I am working on. A base that has a 10mm, 11mm and 12mm opening for my cabochon to fit in that will place the die holder centered on the opening.

I noticed my link above is not working. Here is a link to metal stamps that I found on AMazon.

PM sent.