Zertex Hex

[gawdelpus]

Looking at one of these I thought it would look cool with a hex body ,no beal so came up with a fix on my metal lathe ,an air die grinder and router bit ,made a wood clamp to replace the normal tool post and this is how it turned out
the setup . One in forest oak and one in S.A. ebony ,hand sanded to 1500 w/dry and buffed on a polishing buff , cheers ~ John

 

[keithlong]

That is very cool looking, I like it.

 

[OLDMAN5050]

very good / novel idea

 

[workinforwood]

Looks awesome John. Is there a way to get rid of the round parts off the kit so that you blanks blend straight into the hex parts? That would make it look even better...it looks great, don't get me wrong, and I sure appreciate your hard work, but the round fittings throw the pen off.

 

[KenBrasier]

Well done! I like this, both look great, but the ebony looks awesome.

 

[BRobbins629]

Very nice indeed.

 

[gawdelpus]

Jeff ! you could turn the round part off the nib end ,it screws on to a section that is pressed into the nib end of the barrel, but because it,s a click action any altering of lengths would affect how far the ink section protrudes But I agree would look better with a clean line at least on the nib end

 

[seamus7227]

Jeff ! you could turn the round part off the nib end ,it screws on to a section that is pressed into the nib end of the barrel, but because it,s a click action any altering of lengths would affect how far the ink section protrudes But I agree would look better with a clean line at least on the nib end

couldnt you make the tube longer to make up for the difference that would be taken off of the nib and click end?

 

[Craftdiggity]

Pretty cool concept. Tough to put a CA finish on those though. I would consider something more protective than a buff/polish.

 

[bitshird]

Cool Idea John, I see you indexed off of a piece of hex stock, Pretty clever. Fine looking pens, particularly the Ebony.

 

[Mark]

Nicely Done John. Both pens look awesome.

I just got a lathe with indexing and that (believe it or not) was one of the first projects I had planned for it. I was going to leave extra material on each end of the body, to be milled out to cover the rings. That way I wasn't altering the fit. It may be easier to lengthen the body to accommodate the removal of the rings.

 

[joeatact]

Great Idea and the finished product looks great!

 

[maxman400]

They Look Great, Nice set up.

 

[gawdelpus]

Nicely Done John. Both pens look awesome.

I just got a lathe with indexing and that (believe it or not) was one of the first projects I had planned for it. I was going to leave extra material on each end of the body, to be milled out to cover the rings. That way I wasn't altering the fit. It may be easier to lengthen the body to accommodate the removal of the rings.

Mark I wish my old metal lathe had indexing hehe, my pen lathe does but no real way to utilise it for this sort of application . I have a close friend (who shall remain nameless) who has a beal in a box as yet virginal and almost out of warranty lol. You might eliminate some of the gap by a two pronged attack , shorten the actual nib to the hex ,and counter bore the blank to accept the screw fitting adapter ,or even take the small step off it and press it in flush ,would take some careful measuring to get it right ,and these are very thin in the finished wall thickness ,probably too much time and effort for a market pen ,but a nice mod for a special pen . If getting a longer tube with the right dimensions was no problem then the whole thing becomes very feasable indeed , Got a lot of good feedback today at my stall, but funnily enough the one I sold was a proof of concept one I did first which was some clear cast poly with an embedded chrome plastic braid ,then milled with the flats ,I thought it was a bit too flashy ,shows how much I know lol. Cheers ~ John

 

[skiprat]

Very nicely done John!!!:wink:.
You found an inventive way to index, but perhaps you could also index from one of the gears? I did that for a while, but then drilled indents around my chuck faceplate.

I wonder if there would be any problems with the plating on the kit parts peeling from the edge if you trimmed the ring off?

 

[Jgrden]

Clever

 

[PaulDoug]

I like them. An alternative to removing the rounded part on the pen kit would be to round the blank at the ends to match the pen kit parts. Just a thought.