Metal Turning

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Rudy Vey

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You can do Aluminum pens on a wood lathe with the normal tools. Better is a metal lathe. There was an article some time ago in Woodturning Design Magazine (?name?)from Emory how to do an Al pen.
Avoid the Al you can buy at HD or Sears Hardware, it smears. Get some 6061 or 6063 alloy from any of the metal sales companies.

I have done some titanium pens, but for this you need a metal lathe. The main problem was the drilling of the through hole. It takes me about 3-4 hours to make one Ti pen.
Rudy
 

Gregory Huey

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Many of thes turners are turning aluminum stock on a reg. wood lathe with their wood chisels. Also I think Hut sells a pre turned glued up American style blank. I have wrap and soldered copper wire around yhe brass tube and turned it with my wood turning tools.
 

Fred in NC

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In some ways, the wood lathe is better for aluminum. I have a small metal lathe. I can cut straight, and at an angle. But to make a curved surface like a pen, after I cut at several angles I have to sand a lot.

Rudy, what is the matter with boring titanium? Just slow ? Coolant? I want to try that.
 

Mike_O

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Jake, If you know anyone that works in a machine shop, ask them for some scrap 6061 aluminum rod. I have done a number of aluminum pens and they really turn out nice. I use a wood lathe and tools. You will have to sharpen them fairly often during turning, but the results are worth it. I have a couple in my photos if you want to look.
 

btboone

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Drilling deep holes in titanium kills drills. They do get very hot and start galling. Use lots of coolant and get those chips out. Run at slow rpms to keep things from heating up so much. High speed steel will die very quickly. Cobalt or carbide drills work better.

MSC has 6061 aluminum.
 

btboone

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Another tidbit about titanium; when machining it and you get small "angel hair" chips, they burn like magnesium when they get hot. (I learned this the hard way years ago in my basement.) They will burn brilliant white like fireworks and may temporarily blind you. It will certainly startle you. Be sure to have the area clear of anything flammable including sawdust or other stuff. Using a vacuum system with that is filled with sawdust could be a real disaster because it would suck up the burning metal and continuously feed it oxygen. If you get a fire, it generally lasts just a couple seconds, and you can tamp it out with a metal rod. It will smolder like pinestraw for a little while. Don't use water on a titanium fire. It is so hot that it would turn it into hydrogen and oxygen and fuel the fire. Just be safe and clean up the work area before working with titanium. Aluminum dust can ignite also, but it takes a lot more to get it started.
 

Fred in NC

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6061 aluminum is a very common material. I used to get it from a local metal recycling place, where they get it as waste ("drops") from machine shops. I used to pay 60 cents per pound for it. Machines real well with HSS tools.
 

Rudy Vey

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Originally posted by Fred in NC
<br />6061 aluminum is a very common material. I used to get it from a local metal recycling place, where they get it as waste ("drops") from machine shops. I used to pay 60 cents per pound for it. Machines real well with HSS tools.

Fred, in regards to the drilling, see Bruce' post above. Thats what I experienced. I drill on my metal lathe, tried once only the drill press and it was a disaster. When I drill on the metal lathe, I go slow and use a lot of coolant. I found it easier to drill a through hole first with a much smaller bit and then open up the hole.
Rudy
 

jwoodwright

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Fred, A friend of mine had a small metal lathe. He used a parts washer for coolant. The tub set under on brackets and the solution was screened and filtered. He moved to Virginia. Otherwise, I'd try some metal turning.[8D]
 

DCBluesman

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Questions for those of you who have turned aluminum pens...How do they hold up? How time consuming are they to turn? How do you finish them? Can anyone provide a link to a thorough how-to article?
 

btboone

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Aluminum pens hold up well. They can oxidize over the long haul, but wax should help prevent that. You can start with a rod of the desired diameter from MCS Industrial Supply (www.mscdirect.com) They aren't bad to turn. Just keep sharp tools and the steady rest close to the part. If you use a CNC lathe, cycle time is around 45 seconds. [:)] By hand, it might take a little longer. It's not necessary to use the brass tubes, but they can be used if you like. For drilling, regular drills work fine. Just use coolant and relieve the chips a lot. (WD-40 works OK if you don't have coolant; just be sure to clean it all off well after drilling.) As Rudy says, if you don't have a perfectly rigid setup, it might be best to drill with a slightly smaller drill and finish it out at slower rpms and fast feed with the correct size drill. To finish, sand paper makes a nice brushed look, or it can be polished out. Wet sanding with 400 grit and WD-40 works well. To go to full polished, all the machining and sanding marks need to come out, then use a cotton buff on a Dremel and go at an angle to the pen body as it spins in a lathe. Use a waxy compound made for stainless steel. I've found that the white paste honing compound at WoodCraft works great too. You'll find that the press fit parts are a little sloppy if you use a 1/4" drill. (.250") They actually need to be a D drill (.246") to get a good fit. Aluminum's pretty easy to work with, so there's little downside to trying it.
 

its_virgil

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Lou,
I've made 5 or 6 Al.pens. I turned and sanded with wet/dry to about 2000 grit. Polished with white diamonds...do not buff on you buffing wheels you use for pens; the Al. will turn them black. I got a mirror polish; gave the pens away so I don't know how they are holding up.

On two of the pens, after polishing, I repolished with a scotch grite pad and the finish turned to a nice satin finish. The polished Al. is very slick. I have the first on I made...over year old..I post a picture of it later today.

Go to the guild photo albums and look at Mike Roux's album for inspiration. Search the yahoo group's archives, Mike gave a lot of info on how he did a couple of his pens. Quite detailed as I remember.

Also, there is an aluminum pen group...join and search the archives for some info:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aluminumpen/?yguid=145039702

Also, I've been told that a file works well. Just run it over the spinning blank as if yuou were sharpening a hoe...IOW, do not leave the file in one place...keep it moving.

As mentioned, the tools and stock get hot...take small bites and go slow. I glue in tubes just like wood blanks, but don;t guess it is necessary.

Give it a try...it is fun.


Do a good turn daily!
Don
 

btboone

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Don, I've found that a file works well for blending and getting out machining marks, but it usually drags material and gouges the surface a bit. The gouges then need to be removed by sanding. If you get the surface close enough just by machining, it may save time to go directly to sandpaper. As the sanding gets finer and finer, the lines will still be going around the pen. It takes going perpendicular to the lines to really get a nice surface. This can be done with buffing to get to a clean mirror finish.
 
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