Aluminum Clicker

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Cwalker935

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At last weeks meeting of the Richmond pen turners Bruce Robbins (BRobbins629) taught us how to tap aluminum tubing and make a corian nose cone to make a click pen. He provided us with a clicker, clip, tubing and corian so that we could make our own. I decided to make mine out of 3/8 aluminum rod rather than the tubing. Stepping down drill sizes and getting the right depth for each was a challenge. Drilled, tapped and turned on a wood lathe. It has a nice smooth action and an upgraded refill. Had to keep my skew sharp to turn the aluminum. Far from perfect but a step up in skill level for me

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Cwalker935

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That's a pretty darn slick pen Cody!

Turned Aluminum with a skew...:eek:. Well done.

The pen is very nice, clean lines.

Wish I was at that meeting!

We have great meetings, I learn something new at every meeting. Bruce is walking reference on pen turning and there are a number of others that have much to offer.
 

Cwalker935

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That is a beautiful pen. What is the purpose of the corian nose cone? Yours without it is fantastic.

Steve:

The tube that Bruce uses has an ID of 1/4" which is perfect for tapping for the threaded clicker. However, there is no way to retain the refill and spring without a separate nose cone. The nose cone is turned with a 1/4" tenon, step drilled for the spring and refill and then glued into the tube. The advantages is that drilling and test fitting is much easier. You can use standard sized bits yo do all this. You will end up with a two part pen body using this approach.

I wanted a continuous pen body and had to to use aircraft extension drill bits to be able to drill to the proper depths. Standard bits are not long enough.
 

Skeleton2014

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Very nice Cody! Like many others, I love and use click pens exclusively. Maybe you and Bruce could do a tutorial with pictures. I would love to learn how to do something like this.
Again, well done! Jeff
 

bobleibo

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Cody
I wish I could hit the like button more times. This is really cool. The tip is made from Corian? It looks just like the aluminum body. I agree with Bob #1.....this has to go on the "try" list.
Cheers
Bob
 

Cwalker935

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Cody
I wish I could hit the like button more times. This is really cool. The tip is made from Corian? It looks just like the aluminum body. I agree with Bob #1.....this has to go on the "try" list.
Cheers
Bob

Sorry for the confusion, Bruce's demo used a corian nose cone. My pen is an aluminum body.
 

BRobbins629

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Nicely done Cody and nice modification. As I mentioned at the meeting, there are many variations of this design once you discover how easy it is to tap the threads for the mechanism.
 

Charlie_W

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Excellently done Cody! You have come a long way...and quickly!

I saw Bruse demo this before. It is slick how these go together and those clicker mechanisms are so smooth! I have two or three of them in a box waiting for me.

Wish we had a penturning group up here. Getting to Richmond is a bear with traffic.
 

ldb2000

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That is an awesome looking pen Cody . I love the smooth taper to the tip you totally nailed the shape !!!
I LOVE working with aluminum , when polished it has such a great feel in your hands .Those clickers are so nice to use , the click is very smooth and it looks very finished when done .
Glad to see others making kitless ballpoints , since most of the public uses them everyday they are in much higher demand then fountain pens and click pens are the most desired of all . :highfive:
 

vtgaryw

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I've wanted to try something like this. What is the clicker mechanism used and where can I find it?

Thanks,

Gary
 

Cwalker935

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magpens

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That's a very nice pen, Cody, and you have polished it beautifully !!! . Well done !!!

I am wondering about the clip and the clicker mechanism. . Do you know who is the supplier of those, please ?
 
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