Making your own center band

[dmott]

I never really gave this a thought, until I saw a post about it.

It is nice having the freedom to change the shape, since there is only the nib and cap/clip to worry about. It is also nice to be able to turn the center band along with the wood, ensuring that you will have a flush fit when you assemble the pen.

Here's a few, from left to right:
-Cabara hardware with maple burl, white pearl acrylic and purple heart bands
(The rest are all Slimline hardware with my own center bands)
-Tulipwood, ebony, maple burl, with purple heart center band
-Bocote with maple burl center band
-Oak and manzanita (both "homegrown") with black and yellow acrylic centerband
-Maple burl with bocote centerband
- Purple heart and maple burl cross cut and glued to be "straight" again, with purple heart on top and a white and black acrylic centerband

Let me know what you guys think. I've seen a lot of awesome pens here, and have thought of many ideas while reading these forums at work. Still trying to learn.

 

[joek30296]

They all look very nice. Gotta try making my own center bands. I'm a "newbie" and still have a big learning curve to overcome.
Keep up the beautiful work.

joe

 

[jhprice]

Nice work. Looks like you got the idea down pat.

 

[dmott]

heres one i did last night, first one thats all plastic (acrylic or whatever it is). Still messing around with shapes, this one is almost like a reversed cigar.

Black and white acrylic with a black irredescent acrylic band

 

[Drstrangefart]

Looks like you have the centerbands pretty well figured out. With any of your plastics (acrylic, PR, Alumilite) you can skip the centerband entirely and just soften the edges at the center and REALLY play with some interesting shapes. It works with wood too, but it's tricky nailing the finish.

 

[gingerwood]

For custom centerbands, how get a snug fit? do you cut off a small section of tube, or use a smaller drill bit?

 

[dmott]

For custom centerbands, how get a snug fit? do you cut off a small section of tube, or use a smaller drill bit?

I usually end up with between 1/2" to 1" of extra blank material after cutting my blank to fit the brass tubes.

I cut off a sliver a tiny bit bigger than i will want the band to be and drill a 1/4" hole. I have not experimented much with these sizes because 1/4" seemed to be pretty perfect. Keep in mind that this is for 7mm pens.

The 1/4" hole seems to work well with the mandrel also. I just toss the piece between my halves (as long as the thickness is consistent, which it MUST be. If it is not a square cut, it will leave at best a small gap and at worst it could pretty much stop your pen from turning/opening. Its tough using a pen mill on a piece of acrylic 1/4" to 3/8" thick, so be careful or be creative with a different way to square it up.)

Then i just turn to whatever shape/size i want. I then put bushings between all the pieces to make finishing a little easier.

 

[Drstrangefart]

http://www.penturners.org/forum/showthread.php?t=82080

Check that little gizmo out. I have since taken the pliers to the bench grinder and shaved the profile super thin. Also got some even thinner pliers. That jig makes the process a lot more consistent.

 

[dmott]

Yes I use the same concept. Just a piece of scrap wood i always drill on/ through, make a hole big enough for my pen mill shaft to fit through. Depending on the size of my blank I hold it with channel locks or just clamp it down to the scrap board and use the pen mill to square it up.

 

[Drstrangefart]

Yes I use the same concept. Just a piece of scrap wood i always drill on/ through, make a hole big enough for my pen mill shaft to fit through. Depending on the size of my blank I hold it with channel locks or just clamp it down to the scrap board and use the pen mill to square it up.

I decided to mount some tube in my board to keep the pen mill from wallowing the hole out and also keep the pen mill as straight as I can. I find my bandsaw to be incapable of making something as small as a centerband easy and safe to cut down. I'm kinda attatched to my fingers.

 

[Rick P]

I leave the "band" section a bit long and trim with a parting tool. Dmott your not limited by the clip and final or the nib. You can turn finals and nibs of any size or shape you'd care to out of aluminum, wood or bone as a substitute for the kit hardware.

 

[dmott]

I leave the "band" section a bit long and trim with a parting tool. Dmott your not limited by the clip and final or the nib. You can turn finals and nibs of any size or shape you'd care to out of aluminum, wood or bone as a substitute for the kit hardware.

im guessing this is my next step then. I havent given it too much thought, but it would be awesome to finish a pen only using the twist mechanism and cartridge. This is what everybody means by "kitless" right? Is this all accomplished using only a chuck?

 

[Drstrangefart]

I leave the "band" section a bit long and trim with a parting tool. Dmott your not limited by the clip and final or the nib. You can turn finals and nibs of any size or shape you'd care to out of aluminum, wood or bone as a substitute for the kit hardware.

im guessing this is my next step then. I havent given it too much thought, but it would be awesome to finish a pen only using the twist mechanism and cartridge. This is what everybody means by "kitless" right? Is this all accomplished using only a chuck?

You probably wanna hit the library here up and dig around for kitless examples and instructions. There's a million ways to skin that particular cat.

 

[Rick P]

Drstrange fart is correct there are tons of ways to do kitless pens, but you hit on a good one for doing kitless twist pens. There is a great thread on a similar method in the "show off your pens" section called a "wooden sierra" Something like that. The author does a great job of walking you through his method for making an all wood kitless pen. I'll be doing an all animal product pen that would fall under the same category very soon. Spending a ton of time in the forum library is great advice as well.

 

[okiebugg]

disc sander

http://www.penturners.org/forum/showthread.php?t=82080

Check that little gizmo out. I have since taken the pliers to the bench grinder and shaved the profile super thin. Also got some even thinner pliers. That jig makes the process a lot more consistent.

Another trick is to get a piece of wood like a pen blank that is as perfectly square as you can make it. ONE drop of CA to the end of the square piece of wood attach the piece that you want to make the center band into to the end of the blank with the glue. Then.......you can put it on your disc sander miter (make sure it is square to the wheel) then work the center band piece to the thickness you want.

All it takes to remove the center band from the square blank is a small leather hammer and tap it laterally and it will pop off. (CA can withstand direct pulling pressure but easily fails with lateral pressure. Anyway, it's the way I do it FWIW

 

[AnachitlPut]

if you could give me any tips or trick you learned in doing this that would be great been thinking about doing just don't know what i want to do just yet . i would need to get a 7mm though

 

[dmott]

if you could give me any tips or trick you learned in doing this that would be great been thinking about doing just don't know what i want to do just yet . i would need to get a 7mm though

Well most of the advice needed is probably in this thread a few posts earlier.

Just keep in mind that since you are making a center band and there will be no brass tube, do NOT drill 7mm. You must drill at 1/4". Then square up the piece, and turn it with the pen and no middle bushing, so you can shape to your liking.