another approach to pens 8 sided

[Rolland]

I have been trying to complete a scalloped pen for the past week and have met with nothing but failure. As soon as I get near the finished size it blows up so after three failures ............I am persuing another direction and giving my mind a break.
This is a Baron rollerball from Arizona Silhouette, the blank is an acrylic acetate. I turned it on the lathe and went to the milling machine and set up on a home made mandrel to cut the flats. This is much easier that those @#%&***@# scallops.:frown:
I hand finished the flats off the lathe. Any comments welcome good or bad.

 

[PTsideshow]

Nice looking pen.
:clown:

 

[titan2]

Pretty nice looking pen there!!!


Barney

 

[Haynie]

Looks good. May I ask how you measured for the flats. I have tried it and am doing something wrong.

 

[Ruby pen turning]

I have been trying to complete a scalloped pen for the past week and have met with nothing but failure. As soon as I get near the finished size it blows up so after three failures ............I am persuing another direction and giving my mind a break.
This is a Baron rollerball from Arizona Silhouette, the blank is an acrylic acetate. I turned it on the lathe and went to the milling machine and set up on a home made mandrel to cut the flats. This is much easier that those @#%&***@# scallops.:frown:
I hand finished the flats off the lathe. Any comments welcome good or bad.

If you keep having blowouts, try gluing on some scrap wood to the scalloped ends. You will need to have some way of measuring the final size. When finished just cut off the scrap a small amount away from the tube and sand the rest of the way to the tube.

 

[Ruby pen turning]

This will only work I think if you are turning between centers,doing a closed end or have one end of the tube open. You will also need to find the exact center on the scrap for the live center to stick into.

 

[Rolland]

haynie
I turn the blank to .210 larger diameter than the od of the tube. When I set it up to cut the blanks I have to deside how much to leave so I can taper it to the hardware. I set the endmill on the blank and then cut .050 to .060 off each flat which will leave .150 to 160 measured across the flats.. I set the spin jig to cut 45 degrees for the eight flats each cut will be wider than the finished width untill you get to the 312 degrees mark then they will all be the correct size.
I leave the extra size so I can taper the ends for a finished look.
Hope this makes sense.

 

[Drstrangefart]

Now THAT'S just cool. Nice diversion!

 

[Fred]

Very nice pen.

How about several pictures of your setup to cut the flats? You know a before, during, and after thing.

 

[Knucklefish]

Milling machine?

Can you share with us what sort of milling machine you are using?
Gotta say I LOVE what you have done here, really outta the box in MHO.
Great job!

 

[seamus7227]

VERY WELL DONE!!! its always good to take a break when things just arent going your way.

 

[PenPal]

Rolland,

I particularly favour faceting pens, to overcome two problems I

1. Mounted a small finishing Router on the quill stem.

2. I had a minilathe and dedicated it to the X Y table and fitted a 72 toothed gear to the head stock shaft to give a means of consistant spacing, fitted a top chuck on the head stock use a standard Mandrel and blind set it into a sleeve in the tail stock. Works great.

Send me a pm with your E Mail and I will send Pics.

Kind regards Peter.

 

[Jgrden]

eh, eh, you make me laugh. I saw those scallop pens and they are beautiful but the patience needed to compete one and the correct machinery just told me to stay away from even trying.

 

[wiset1]

eh, eh, you make me laugh. I saw those scallop pens and they are beautiful but the patience needed to compete one and the correct machinery just told me to stay away from even trying.

Awh, come on now...I always say if I can do it anyone can. The secret to scallops is THIN CA every couple of turns. I just purchased 5 more bottles of thin just to be able to keep my nerves at bay when doing segmented work. Just invest in loads of thin CA.

Sorry...the pen looks amazing and I'm sure in time you'll get a scalloped pen that works for you. Best wishes

 

[BKelley]

Rolland,

That is a real nice pen. I have done a few octogonal pens, but I do them on the
Pen Wizard. I have not done an arcylic yet, just cocobolo. Let us see more of the work off your mill.

 

[Ted iin Michigan]

+1 on what Knucklefish said!

 

[thewishman]

Good looking pen! Was there a lot of hand sanding needed?

 

[Robert111]

I have been trying to complete a scalloped pen for the past week and have met with nothing but failure. As soon as I get near the finished size it blows up so after three failures ............I am persuing another direction and giving my mind a break.
This is a Baron rollerball from Arizona Silhouette, the blank is an acrylic acetate. I turned it on the lathe and went to the milling machine and set up on a home made mandrel to cut the flats. This is much easier that those @#%&***@# scallops.:frown:
I hand finished the flats off the lathe. Any comments welcome good or bad.

If you keep having blowouts, try gluing on some scrap wood to the scalloped ends. You will need to have some way of measuring the final size. When finished just cut off the scrap a small amount away from the tube and sand the rest of the way to the tube.

Okay, I'm in the same situation as Rolland. I've had two successes and about eight failures with scalloped pens. Can you explain what you mean about using scrap wood glued to scalloped ends.

 

[ed4copies]

I have been trying to complete a scalloped pen for the past week and have met with nothing but failure. As soon as I get near the finished size it blows up so after three failures ............I am persuing another direction and giving my mind a break.
This is a Baron rollerball from Arizona Silhouette, the blank is an acrylic acetate. I turned it on the lathe and went to the milling machine and set up on a home made mandrel to cut the flats. This is much easier that those @#%&***@# scallops.:frown:
I hand finished the flats off the lathe. Any comments welcome good or bad.

It's a great idea and would be perfectly suited to the Rinehart, which has a faceted centerband (although I believe it is SIX sided, rather than 8)

Nice work!!!