This has been a comedy of errors for me. Been a couple times that I thought the project was a complete write off and I would need to start over with a new kit & blank. Right now, it looks OK - I just need to finish the finial and glue it in. Here is a list of issues I have had. I'm probably not remembering them all. Part of the reason I'm writing this "book" to the thread is to try to remember everything I learned.
I tried chucking up the 8mm tube with the finial attached. Didn't have the right size collet, so used a drill chuck. This crushed the 8mm tube. Luckily the finial tenon I made is pretty long, so I cut off the crushed portion and there is still enough left inside the finial tenon to operate the tranny. Used a jam chuck instead to get the tenon turned to size.
I had to put the upper and lower together to turn on a mandrel. I put a spacer between them while making the tenon, but the spacer broke out and the tool touched the lower. Had to make the lower a little shorter to remove the damage. Using a tube as a spacer instead of the upper barrel caused a big wobble – must have been some glue on the end of the tube inside the blank.
I has an issue doing final trimming on the CB because there was no tube there. I didn't want to cut a tube from another kit as a spacer (the obvious solution). I can't remember what I did, but it is square. I'll need to get some extra 10mm tube before I do this again.
When I started finishing, I had a low area. I messed with the finish for a long time, then finally got out the skew and took all the finish off and evened everything up. I learned one of the issues I've had with my joints is that when I apply CA to the barrels separated, it builds slower right on the edge, creating a valley when they are put together. I thought I had to keep them separate to keep from glueing them together. This time I left them together for the entire finish build and no issue – and the joint is much better (perfection still pending)
I pressed in the center union (the part the tranny screws on) so it would act as a center bushing for support while turning. I ended up not being able to trim the excess CA because the barrel trimmer would not insert fully (don't have the right size collet to do it on the lathe). I punted using some PSA sandpaper on a bushing, but it didn't sand square enough. When I pressed in the nib, the center union got pressed in too far because I didn't leave enough of a lip when I altered it. This made a noticeable bulge in the tube. Took a really long time to get the thing apart. The inside of the nib needed to be reamed out a bit after all the pounding. I forced the 10mm tube into my 3/8 collet and cranked it tight to press the tube back to size. Up-side is I was now able to use the barrel trimmer to remove the excess CA square to the tube.
The recess fit is excellent, but I marred the finish while filing in the notch. I sanded and buffed it out. Still debating putting a couple more coats of CA on before final assembly as the repair didn't take care of it all. I had put on some blue masking tape, but not everywhere. Lesson – cover all finished surfaces with blue masking tape when hand filing.
Had a lot of trouble getting the center union aligned, partially to the compounding of mistakes. Because of my trimming issues, I ended up a little short (slightly less then 1/32) in the lower. So, I pressed in the center a little less to compensate (I didn't leave an adequate shoulder to align it anyway.) I had some binding issues in my test fittings. Ended taking off all the CA I put on the exposed tube to make a custom fit. Still turned stiff. Discovered I could see how much it was off my pushing on the upper barrel without finial and seeing how much the tranny was off. Took a number of tries pushing the tranny back and forth to get it centered, but now there is absolutely no binding. I have to wonder if the alignment will get knocked out of the pen gets dropped. I used blue loctite, but it was already set before I had it tweaked.
Had the whole pen done except the finial was still in the rough – just the tenon containing the 8mm tube was sized (tight hand press fit). I went to test the tenon with the recessed clip to be sure the recess was deep enough (its right on). Now I find out that the tenon does not fit through the hole in the clip. Pulled out an appropriately sized drill bit and started drilling – mistake. The bit caught on the little clip and twisted it all up. I thought it was a write off. I finally got it bent back to what seems to be acceptable shape with only one small nick in the plating. I chucked up some sandpaper on a dowel to work on the hole – didn't work very well. Then I remembered that a while back I picked up a cheap HF dremel tool, which worked pretty well.
Just need to shape and finish the finial. It may be the weekend before I can get a pic of the finished pen posted.
Another thing I learned – I need more collets.
Here is my stage 3 pen,again using the alt ivory and orange left from stage 2 and adding some aluminum to accent the chrome.I don't remember where I got this blue blank but it was full of pin holes!The same MO,no saws,all drilling and parting done on the lathe.I have been using my collet chuck alot more since starting these challenges.
Trying to get a better picture! Thanks Mike!
