My first roller ball

[Band Saw Box]

My HF lathe arrived today and after a little set up I turned my first roller ball. It an Olympian II Elite from PSI. It was a starter kit that came with two kits, bits and bushings. I had two problems one I found while drilling the upper blank, it seamed to drill funny and it looked as though the bit was bent, when I got done I check the bit and it did have a slight bend. I call PSI told them of the problem are sending me a new one. The second problem was in gluing the tube the upper blank the glue set before I got it passed the end of the blank. It didn't cause to much of a problem in the finished pen.
I used Lacewood and finished it with Hut crystal coat. It was a fun pen to make and I think I wasn't to try other kits. I ordered a ten pack of slimline kits that I going to give as Christmas gifts. Any and all comments are welcome. Thanks for taking the time to look at my work.

 

[gbpens]

You are not supposed to do that well on the first rollerball. Great work.

 

[bobjackson]

Looks great. Nice job.

 

[ironman123]

Congratulations on your first pen on your new lathe and your first rollerball. That is a good looking pen and a very nice job.

Must have used CA to glue the tubes in. I still do that ever once in a while.

Keep us posted. How about a photo of your setup?

Ray

 

[cal91666]

Nice job Dan. Just think. It only gets better from here on.

 

[dtswebb]

Fine job Dan and the addiction only gets worse from here.

And you did a good job recovering from the little issues thrown your way.

I would recommend using a good two part epoxy for gluing the tubes in - the longer drying time can make the difference between getting the tubes glued in and the "what do I do now expression". Been there, done that.

 

[Band Saw Box]

Thanks for all the nice comments. I didn't have much of a problem with gluing in the tube on the lower blank as it was a smaller size, but I think using 5 min epoxy is a real good idea and I found some in my shop and I'm doing a test right now to see if it's still good. I also posted a picture of my lathe on it's stand under Shop, Fixtures, Jigs and tools

 

[OZturner]

A Great Pen Dan,
Lovely Blank, a Well chosen Pen,
Fit and Finish look Fantastic,
Congratulations,
Brian.

 

[hobbyist2013]

What an eye catcher. It's a beautiful pen out of beautiful wood.

 

[LagniappeRob]

Nice job!

A quick word of caution... I like the Elite 2, but be careful if you ever need to take apart. It's pretty easy to crack plastic.

 

[Band Saw Box]

Thank you Brian for you nice comments.