Pen Kit suggestions that works well for laser engraving

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LarryJB

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Jul 10, 2015
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Mountainburg, AR
I am starting a project to make a few pens for my High School 50th Reunion. I want to make a few (maybe 10 or so) pens for door prizes that I would like to get laser engraved with the school name and a school simple logo. I am looking for pen kit suggestions that would work well to have them laser engraved. I would think I would want something that would end up with a fairly thick layer of wood to make the engraving a little easier. I would also like to fill in some of the engraving with some kind of gold filler material especially on the logo. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
 
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Curly

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The shape you turn a pen influences the outcome more than the kit itself and a larger pen is better if there's multiple lines or logos involved. So a straight or bushing to bushing or a slight (0.030") bulge is okay. A Marilyn Monroe shape is not so good. The engraving is not very deep so most kits work fine.
 

LarryJB

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Go Sierra/Gatsby/Monet, etc. 27/64 tube. Finished diameter of the Sierra Vista is a little bigger.

I know I did not say this before, but I was wanting to stay with kit with a cap I have design plans for artwork on 2 pieces. sorry.
I was looking at Orion or Classic kits. Would those work?
 

LarryJB

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Sylvanite, I am looking for something that will actually look very shiny metallic like real gold. Will this paint do that?
 

lorbay

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Sylvanite, I am looking for something that will actually look very shiny metallic like real gold. Will this paint do that?

If it were me, I would use rub n buff. Silver, Gold , Copper.
Lin
Where can I find this rub n buff? Never mind, I found it at Amazon. BTW: Would something like this work?

It would, but it is a paint so anything painted outside of the area you want filled may or may not come off, the beauty of rub n buff is it only fills the area needed.
Lin.
 

LarryJB

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Mountainburg, AR
Sylvanite, I am looking for something that will actually look very shiny metallic like real gold. Will this paint do that?

If it were me, I would use rub n buff. Silver, Gold , Copper.
Lin
Where can I find this rub n buff? Never mind, I found it at Amazon. BTW: Would something like this work?

It would, but it is a paint so anything painted outside of the area you want filled may or may not come off, the beauty of rub n buff is it only fills the area needed.
Lin.
Ok, good info. What if I put 1 or 2 coats of CA finish on the blanks before doing the engraving?
 
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LarryJB

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Do the CA finish and after you put the rubadub ;) on it you stop.
I may be confused about the proper sequence for this. Here is what I thought I was supposed to do:
1) turn the pen
2) put on 1 or 2 light coats of CA finish
3) Laser engrave the pen
4) apply color filler to the engraving enough to fill in flush or slightly above surface and let dry
5) sand excess filler flush to surface of pen
6) Add several more coats of CA finish and polish to final sheen

If this is not correct, please set me straight.
 

Curly

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The rub fill I have seen is like a wax and doesn't dry hard. Most of the pens we had laser engraved by a trophy shop we left without a fill. Those that did get filled did not get more CA.They got our normal CA finish (couple coats of thin followed by 10 medium, sand with 400 and then Beall buffed). We did not assemble the pens before engraving, that came after. There may be other ways of doing it but that's what we did.

I'll attach pics of the tube holders we provided the guy. One was for his rotary holder and the other for single lines of text.
 

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JRK

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Feb 25, 2019
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Bridgeton, Missouri
Speaking to the original question. I just recently got my NEJE engraver.

I have used it on slimline pens and cigar pens so far. I've had very good results with both. I am using the t-shadow rotary jig.

btw, a burn time of 30ms seems to work good, and I only do 1 pass.

Jerry
 

sbwertz

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May 11, 2010
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Phoenix, AZ
Also, I am very interested in finding a way to fill in some of the engraving with a gold filler of some kind.

I finish the pen first, then burn it, then fill the burn with a gold or silver Sharpie and wipe off the excess. The burn needs to be fairly deep. Since I have my own laser engraver, I usually burn it twice to get it deeper for filling. The finish makes it easy to wipe off everything that is not in the burn.

I have used Rub N Buff, but like the Sharpie's better. They come in gold, silver and bronze.
 
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