308 Win Keychain Pen

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Sylvanite

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Jul 18, 2006
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The title really says it all. The refill extends with a twist of the fob. I think this is about as short a keychain pen as you can make. I even had to trim the fob's press fitting so that the refill could retract without hitting it. All in all, it was an interesting little pen to make.

Regards,
Eric
 

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Sylvanite

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Jul 18, 2006
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3,090
Location
Hillsborough, North Carolina, USA.
How it was made - the parts.

The first picture shows the parts of the pen before assembly. The refill and drive head are from a PSI keychain pen kit, but the parts are the same as any mini pen or teacher's pen. The transmission is a standard 7mm slimline part. The tube is again from a keychain pen kit, but in the previous pen I just cut down a slimline tube. The rifle case is a new 308 Winchester caliber case that's been drilled out (I think with a letter H bit) ever so slightly larger than the outside diameter of a 7mm tube. I've also counterbored it a little as shown in the second picture. This is to give me just enough room to get needle-nose pliers onto the refill so it can be replaced (the refill will be below flush of the case head when finished). The bullet has been drilled out to accept the mini-refill and soldered to a short section of 7mm tube. Actually, I soldered it to a slimline tube and then cut off the excess. If you look closely, you'll see that the end of the tube is flared slightly. I did that to get more bearing surface on the bullet for a better solder joint. I flared the tube by squeezing it between a board and the live center on my lathe. The last part is a modified keychain kit fob. I used one from a Wood-n-Whimsies keychain kit because it has a square shoulder (the PSI kit has a rounded shoulder) which made it easier to grip in a collet chuck. The third picture shows the modified fob next to an unmodified one. You can see that I've shortened the press-fit section and I've counterbored it (with a #6 bit). When assembled, the fob will almost contact the transmission, and the refill will retract up inside the fob.

Further assembly coming in another post...
 

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Sylvanite

Member
Joined
Jul 18, 2006
Messages
3,090
Location
Hillsborough, North Carolina, USA.
How it was made - assembly

Ok, this morning, I seated the bullet, polished the cartridge, and powder-coated it. Then I inserted the transmission. The first picture shows the case head where you can see the end of the transmission and the refill (retracted). There is just enough room around the refill to get a pair of small needle-nose pliers on the refill to insert/remove it. The second pic shows the upper tube pressed onto the fob. The tube turned out to be about 1/16" too long, so I turned a bit off the end. Final assembly is just a matter of slipping the tube into the case head over the transmission.

While I was waiting for the powder-coat to bake, I decided to do the next one a little differently. The hardest part of making this pen was soldering the tube square to the bullet. There's very little bearing surface between the two, and melting the solder blind without also melting the lead in the bullet can be a challenge. Therefore, I got out a solid copper bullet, turned a stepped tenon on the base to fit the tube with a ring for the solder wire, and drilled it out for a mini-refill. It soldered together much better. I'll make another one soon and post pics if people want.

Regards,
Eric
 

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