Some Laser Engraved Pens I've as Door Prizes

[Ken Wines]

I use an Epilog Helix laser engraver. Those of you that are familiar with that series of engrave know that the stock rotary from Epilog has much to be desired. That being said... I built a mandrel based rotary for my Helix. Not only is a very precise at cutting inlays it excels also at doing full 360 degree seamless tube wrap engravings. Here are a few examples of some that I made for door prizes for my woodworkers club's Christmas party this past year. The first picture (the Sierra) I must attribute the design to Craftsmanspace.com. The 3rd picture is a paver design I found on the net and redrew to fit the slimline tube. It has over 1600 individual drawing elements on each tube. The fourth picture was inspired by a cutting board pattern that I adapted to fit the slimline tube.

 

[eharri446]

With those kinds of pattern, you could use fairly inexpensive wood and still make stunning pens.

I recently did a fraternity pen for a customer and had the Greek letters engraved then used 5 minute epoxy with Mixol white dye to fill in the engraving.

If I had a rotary unit for my laser, I would do something similar on all of the Teak blanks that I bought (100@$25.00).

 

[smik]

I use an Epilog Helix laser engraver. Those of you that are familiar with that series of engrave know that the stock rotary from Epilog has much to be desired. That being said... I built a mandrel based rotary for my Helix. Not only is a very precise at cutting inlays it excels also at doing full 360 degree seamless tube wrap engravings. Here are a few examples of some that I made for door prizes for my woodworkers club's Christmas party this past year. The first picture (the Sierra) I must attribute the design to Craftsmanspace.com. The 3rd picture is a paver design I found on the net and redrew to fit the slimline tube. It has over 1600 individual drawing elements on each tube. The fourth picture was inspired by a cutting board pattern that I adapted to fit the slimline tube.

Sharp looking pens Ken. I really like the look of the first pen.

 

[Ken Wines]

Sharp looking pens Ken. I really like the look of the first pen.

I like that one a lot, also. Unfortunately, the design drawing is licensed CC3.0 Non-Commercial and I therefore can't make pens from it to sell. Check out the Free Patterns page on CraftsmanSpace.com, they have a lot of designs there that can be used commercially .... Free patterns

 

[PenPal]

An inspiring batch Ken I immediately thought using your device and teaming up with quality
people who tattoo patterns on customers you would create a gold pass to a future wealthy business from their customers.

The impact would be forever.

Peter.

 

[mark james]

OK, now you can go away...

These are very impressive! I do appreciate the accuracy.

As to eharri446's comment. YES! I have used simple maple and walnut and they produce excellent results. The few pennies/inch you pay for maple/walnut is well spent.

I love your work Ken!

 

[Ken Wines]

Thanks, Mark. I hope to meet you at MPG next month. I registered and reserved my hotel room the other day.

 

[Jim15]

Amazing work.

 

[OZturner]

Mind Blowing Pens, Ken.
Outstandingly Beautiful, and Precise.
It is hard to get my Mind around putting such a Magnificent Blank, onto a Slimline Pen.
Not that I have anything about Slimline's, but the Effort, Equipment and Man Hours, Invested into the Blank, to Adorn a Slimline, WOW.
Magnificent Work, Ken.
Brian.

 

[Pens By Scott]

Hi Ken,
Continuing to love your work! Say, have you done anything similar to the Sierra, in a Mauri tribal pattern, or Hawaiian? On Koa, i'd be certain they'd fly off the shelves...

Just saying...

 

[Simsonicole]

How amazing!!! Nice work. This was my first attempt...that I did for the pen swap. Do a lot of names ect...but not really thought to take it to the next level. Any advice, tips or tricks welcome :angel::highfive:

 

[Ken Wines]

Hi Ken,
Continuing to love your work! Say, have you done anything similar to the Sierra, in a Mauri tribal pattern, or Hawaiian? On Koa, i'd be certain they'd fly off the shelves...

Just saying...

Scott, I don't do many finished pens these days. I make and sell a lot of laser inlaid and puzzle blanks. The drawback to doing laser engraved blanks is that you have to turn and put at least a basic pen finish on the blank before engraving. I don't generally do these because it robs the blank purchaser of the ability to define what the final pen shape will be. An inlay or puzzle blank on the other hand gives them total control of the final look of the pen. I cut Sierra sized blank to an approx 5/8" diameter, leaving them the option of how arced or straight they would want the profile to look.

 

[Ken Wines]

How amazing!!! Nice work. This was my first attempt...that I did for the pen swap. Do a lot of names ect...but not really thought to take it to the next level. Any advice, tips or tricks welcome :angel::highfive:

Beautiful work on the music pen. If you want to take it up to the next level the rotary device that you are using is the most important piece of the puzzle, IMO. I use an Epilog Helix laser and the only rotary option that Epilog supplies for that laser is an atrocious surface driving rotary. You've probably seen the ones I'm talking about. They have 2 drive wheels on the headstock end and 2 idler wheels on the tailstock end. The engraved option rests in the gap between the driving wheels. Although these might work for glasses, mugs and such, if you want to do a full 360 degree seamless engrave on something like a pen it's not going to happen. With all that being said, I custom built a mandrel based rotary fixture for the Epilog. With it I know exactly how much Y sizing is required for it to do exactly 1 revolution. I can get a seamless wrap every time when doing raster engraving or vector cutting.

 

[Ken Wines]

Mind Blowing Pens, Ken.
Outstandingly Beautiful, and Precise.
It is hard to get my Mind around putting such a Magnificent Blank, onto a Slimline Pen.
Not that I have anything about Slimline's, but the Effort, Equipment and Man Hours, Invested into the Blank, to Adorn a Slimline, WOW.
Magnificent Work, Ken.
Brian.

Brian, I quit making slimlines to sell some time ago. Here are my thoughts on making things for giveaway such as door prizes. I could make one very nice item and possibly make one person very happy. Alternately, I could make ten items of lesser values but still somewhat unique and give them to ten people and possibly make ten people happy. Door prizes to me are something that are nice to receive and you don't really expect them to be that valuable. As far the time committed to making them, once the pen has been turn and finished adding the laser embellishment is not that much more in terms of time.