Help Please - Bullseye Apollo Turners

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egnald

egnald

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Joined
Jun 9, 2017
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Columbus, Nebraska, USA
So, I have my blanks drilled and glued up and I am getting ready to turn. I think I want to have the cap and body at the same dimension rather than having a step at the cap to body interface.

Since the hole in the end of the cap is drilled to 29/64 (0.453") or 11.51mm, I am thinking I should only turn the cap down to maybe 13.5mm (about 17/32") which would leave a 1mm wall thickness. Then I would turn the body down to the same 13.5mm so they match up. I really don't want to mess this up, so am I off base? What would you recommend?

Thanks,
Dave
 
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Having a cap and body meet without a small lip is a tough one - because you get the situation you are facing. As a general rule, I believe anything thicker than 1 mm is OK, but it has to be a solid 1mm, without any gutter or threads in it. I would worry less about the slight transition point and more about the wall thickness when considering what to do - but no matter what, as said on a favorite pen turning podcast, don't make the inner diameter larger than the outer!!! lol......happy holidays all!

Kevin
 
Probably not what you want to hear, but the way I do this is to use Rubber Chucky's' Whatever Chucky set (https://www.rubberchucky.com/store/p146/Whatever_Chucky_Set.html#/). After I shape the two barrels, I assemble the pen and place it in the the Whatever Chucky and sand them a bit to ensure the barrels meet rather than overlap. I then put them back on the Bullseye mandrels for finish sanding and polishing. I worked with Don Doyle (Mr. Rubber Chucky) to create/develop a prototype for this Chucky set several years ago to help me build kitless/custom pens but pivoted to the Bullseye kits when they came out.. Works a treat.
 
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walshjp17 said:
Probably not what you want to hear, but the way I do this is to use Rubber Chucky's' Whatever Chucky set (https://www.rubberchucky.com/store/p146/Whatever_Chucky_Set.html#/). After I shape the two barrels, I assemble the pen and place it in the the Whatever Chucky and sand them a bit to ensure the barrels meet rather than overlap. I then put them back on the Bullseye mandrels for finish sanding and polishing. I worked with Don Doyle (Mr. Rubber Chucky) to create/develop a prototype for this Chucky set several years ago to help me build kitless/custom pens but pivoted to the Bullseye kits when they came out.. Works a treat.
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Oh yeah, that sounds cool. I've looked at all of those "Chucky" things before when I was looking for some kind of non marring tailstock live center.
 
Hey, Kate from Bullseye here. @walshjp17 hit the nail on the head but I've also done it where i dont trim the ends until very late, and put the blanks together holding one in a collet chuck and using just a live center on the other. Then i can get everything trued up before going back to the mandrels to clean up the ends and sand. Hope that helps!
 
KateHarrow said:
Hey, Kate from Bullseye here. @walshjp17 hit the nail on the head but I've also done it where i dont trim the ends until very late, and put the blanks together holding one in a collet chuck and using just a live center on the other. Then i can get everything trued up before going back to the mandrels to clean up the ends and sand. Hope that helps!
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Thanks Kate. I think I will give your method a go on this first one. I hope you get stainless steel apollo rollerball kits back in stock soon. I'll be getting my next allowance on Jan-3 and would like to send a chunk of it your way for more! - Dave
 
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