Cocobolo Big Ben

[jschoolcraft]

My first Big Ben and my first damaged tip from pressing too hard. I think the chrome and gold were messing with my eyes and it didn't seem fully seated so I pressed too hard.

I wish PSI sold just replacement tips. I've called their customer support a couple times for other issues and have had bad experiences, mostly seems like I'm wasting their time and everything they sell is listed on the website even with store owner comments but rant done. It's a big, chunky pen and I like it.

 

[egnald]

Very Nice. Of course you have hit two of the favorites that are up at the top of my lists, Cocobolo and the Cigar style kits.

I'm assuming you used a pen press to do the assembly? I used to damage the tips of my Cigar pens every once in a while because my pen press (The PSI Assembly/Disassembly Press) had a cone shaped depression/hole that the tip fit into when pressing. Since then, I made an HDPE cap to fit over it so that it is just flat with no depression. That seemed to fix my problem. I also made one to slip over the aluminum end of the press. I think the HDPE is a little gentler on the parts than the aluminum. Here is a thread that I started when I made them.

Maybe just slip a little piece of wood or even some stiff cardboard between the tip and your pen press to provide a flat but cushioned surface to press against.

Even with the tip like that it sure is an attractive pen. Great Job! - Dave

 

[jschoolcraft]

Very Nice. Of course you have hit two of the favorites that are up at the top of my lists, Cocobolo and the Cigar style kits.

I'm assuming you used a pen press to do the assembly? I used to damage the tips of my Cigar pens every once in a while because my pen press (The PSI Assembly/Disassembly Press) had a cone shaped depression/hole that the tip fit into when pressing. Since then, I made an HDPE cap to fit over it so that it is just flat with no depression. That seemed to fix my problem. I also made one to slip over the aluminum end of the press. I think the HDPE is a little gentler on the parts than the aluminum.

Maybe just slip a little piece of wood or even some stiff cardboard between the tip and your pen press to provide a flat but cushioned surface to press against.

Even with the tip like that it sure is an attractive pen. Great Job! - Dave

Thanks! Much appreciated.

I have the Milescraft 4701 Pen Press. I don't think it has any disassembling capabilities which was a regret when I saw mentions of that in other threads. I've also seen people adhere a small piece of leather on both sides (maybe capping the tip end first). This is the first one I've damaged like that. It almost looks factory because it's a concentric indent all the way around. (design feature?).

I have destroyed a couple pens/keychains with an excessive amount of force. Pen turning is teaching me patience and to moderate my "bigger hammer" tendencies. The most frustrating destruction was on another pen where the pen press handle fell backwards and hit a blank waiting to be assembled chipping off a piece at the end. It's always the mistakes at the very end that are the most frustrating.

This is 1 of 3 cigar pens I started with. I had a beautiful olive wood cigar pen that I took all the way to assembly and noticed the refill was sticking out too far and wouldn't retract. Gold star if you guessed I mixed up the upper and lower portions of the pen when turning. I ended up disassembling that pen to reuse the hardware. The last one I think I passed the working time on my 5 minute epoxy and couldn't fully seat the tube. I know now that I might have been able to use a different tube from the other side but I wasn't in love with the blank and ordered 3 extra sets of tubes just in case.

I know there are a few posts (at least a few I've seen, I haven't done a deep dive researching them yet) on workflow. I'd love to find those stacking trays, I was reminded of them again at MyEyeDr picking up my glasses. I'm mostly using sharpie on cardboard but that's not rigorous enough for multi-tube pens with several bushing sizes...

 

[d_bondi]

I don't use a traditional pen press. First I made my own, then I tried a couple including the Milescraft and one with disassembly capabilities but never cared for the lever action and the lack of fine control.

I use this Between Centers Pen Press on my lathe. It is $18, it works great and you have awesome control because you are using the quill on the tailstock.

For disassembly I use these Locking Soft-Grip Pliers ($17) and these Transfer Punches ($22). You can get a similar set of transfer punches at Harbor Freight for only $13.

I don't make as many component pens anymore, but I really like this setup, it is less expensive and I have much more feel and control.

Regarding PSI and their customer service, I am honestly surprised that you have had poor results. I have worked with them a few times and always had them be very responsive. They have replaced several defective parts for me at no charge.

 

[jschoolcraft]

For disassembly I use these Locking Soft-Grip Pliers ($17) and these Transfer Punches ($22). You can get a similar set of transfer punches at Harbor Freight for only $13.

I have the transfer punches from HF. The soft-grip pliers are on my amazon wishlist.