dfurlano
Member
Well every pen I have made so far I have been taught a lesson. Which I guess is good but somewhat painful. So I thought I would share my wisdom (hows that for spin) with everyone and at least feel I making progress. So here goes:
This Cigar pen was a lesson in what happens when you mandrel is not turning true. Although hard to see I had to remount the blanks and true up the mandrel. Lesson #1 - I now use a dial indicator with a magnetic base and check the run out each time I turn a pen.
Attempt at segmenting. Made a simple design and thought that I would make the top finial. Lesson #2 - If you are going to make a wood finial don't forget to consider how the clip will be mounted. I CA'ed the post to the screw that holds the finial which the clip mounts between.
This pencil was made with a resin blank from PSI. Turning resin blanks is a long process that I need to figure out how to shorten. Anyhow I wanted to thin the area where you grip the pencil down. Lesson #3 - When working with a resin consider how translucent the material is before you turn. The grip area suffers from a copper highlight from the brass tube.
Last pencil was this comfort pen without the rubber grip. This was my first shot at a home brew EPR. Had fun making the resin and turning the pen. Lesson #4 - Not sure how I did this but the top of the pencil is not the correct diameter. In fact I think I have the front and rear barrel backwards. The bushing on the comfort grip end is a larger diameter than what I needed and normally you would cut that end off. So I need to take this apart and re-turn the end.
Thats what I got so far. Thanks for looking.
This Cigar pen was a lesson in what happens when you mandrel is not turning true. Although hard to see I had to remount the blanks and true up the mandrel. Lesson #1 - I now use a dial indicator with a magnetic base and check the run out each time I turn a pen.
Attempt at segmenting. Made a simple design and thought that I would make the top finial. Lesson #2 - If you are going to make a wood finial don't forget to consider how the clip will be mounted. I CA'ed the post to the screw that holds the finial which the clip mounts between.
This pencil was made with a resin blank from PSI. Turning resin blanks is a long process that I need to figure out how to shorten. Anyhow I wanted to thin the area where you grip the pencil down. Lesson #3 - When working with a resin consider how translucent the material is before you turn. The grip area suffers from a copper highlight from the brass tube.
Last pencil was this comfort pen without the rubber grip. This was my first shot at a home brew EPR. Had fun making the resin and turning the pen. Lesson #4 - Not sure how I did this but the top of the pencil is not the correct diameter. In fact I think I have the front and rear barrel backwards. The bushing on the comfort grip end is a larger diameter than what I needed and normally you would cut that end off. So I need to take this apart and re-turn the end.
Thats what I got so far. Thanks for looking.
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