Pen Mill for Elegant Beauty kit?

[Jim Smith]

I turned a couple of the Elegant Beauty kits this afternoon and wanted to get the input from others more familiar with this kit. I use a pen mill to square up the ends of the blanks. Since none of the pen mill "bits" fit the tube used in the Elegan Beauty, I glued a 7mm tube into Corian and turned it down to size. It worked for three blanks, then the Corian cracked because it is so thin. Is there another way to get a bit that fits this tube or do I have to turn down another Corian bushing and just hope it lasts longer?

Thanks for your help with this.

Jim Smith

 

[Rudy Vey]

That is exactly what I do, I just make a sleeve that fits snug inside the brass tube, but I use wooden sleeves instead of corian. I wonder why your corian goes bad, I have made some special sleeves for pens, like the Regency, from corian and never ha da problem.

 

[OKLAHOMAN]

I also make mine out of wood, but I see no reason for the corian to split as I know a number of members use corian for their sleeves......

 

[Daniel]

what size is the tube on the elegant beauty?
Sound like you might have gotten the acrylic just a little to snug. this will cause a lot of heat to build up and could crack the acrylic.

 

[Jim Smith]

Daniel,

I use a 23/64ths inch drill for the Elegant Beauty tube. Once the Corian is turned down so that it will fit inside the tube, there is only around 1mm of Corian remaining. I'm pretty sure that the heat buildup was the cause of the Corian cracking. I suspect that the heat softened the Epoxy allowing the Corian to slip and crack. Unless somone can give me a better solution, I think that I'll try to find some copper tubing in a hobby shop that will fit in the Elegant Beauty tube and just larger than the 7mm tube. If I'm able to find the right size, I'll post it here in case others are experiencing similar difficulties.

Jim Smith

 

[MobilMan]

Jim, you could drill the Corion or wood with a 1/4 bit & not use a tube. That would give you a thicker bushing. I use spacers on the mandrel out of Corion when I wet sand so I won't get black on the blanks & they're drilled out 1/4. I think a mill will still fit in it. Might give it a try.

 

[Gary Max]

I make mine out of delrin----works great

 

[avbill]

Every body just remember that there are two different Elegant Beauty pen kits.
1. from Bereahardwoods
2. from Dayacom

two different drill sizes and two different tube sizes.

 

[Leather Man]

Jim,
I have, in a pinch, taken a 7MM tube and wraped about 1/2" of both ends the size of the tube I am inserting it into. That should hold the 7MM tube straight inside the other tube while you square the end of the blank. Worked for me.
Ben

 

[rherrell]

I'm with Gary. Get yourself some Delrin and they will last forever.
A 1/2" X 4' piece will cost you $6.35 plus shipping and will make over 20 sleeves. Here's a link.........http://tinyurl.com/63zf8f
I keep 1/2" and 5/8" on hand and use it for all kinds of stuff, including custom pens. Glue won't stick to it so I also make dead centers out of it and use them for applying CA.:wink:

 

[Daniel]

My answer is not really a feasible one for most people. I bought a metal lathe and have made pilots for all the tubes I have needed them for. it takes a couple of hours to make a pilot and now they have averaged a nice $10.00 each. But the initial purchase hurt just a bit. I also have delrin for making my own bushings. The CA reason and agree with the comments on it. I got two or three sizes of rods so that I am closer to final turning size one way or the other.

 

[BruceA]

Try this $3.50 solution

Arizona Silhouette has the Sierra size (27/64ths) bushing inserts for $3.50. Cheap, quick, and works great. Just slip it into the Sierra blank, and then use your 7mm Pen Mill shaft.

Search for: Pen Mill Sleeve-Sierra on the AZ site.

 

[bitshird]

Arizona Silhouette has the Sierra size (27/64ths) bushing inserts for $3.50. Cheap, quick, and works great. Just slip it into the Sierra blank, and then use your 7mm Pen Mill shaft.

Search for: Pen Mill Sleeve-Sierra on the AZ site.

And if you need a sleeve or set of non stick bushings for another style??
I agree get a piece of acetal, Enco has shorter pieces as well as the long sticks, remember some pens require BIG bushings, I buy 1/2 in by 4 foot for most, and 3/4 by 1 foot for the big pens.

 

[BruceA]

Ken,
He asked about the Sierra, nothing else.
For us beginners, trying to turn a bushing can be challenging!! Especially for us Tennessee folks...!

If you need larger sleeves, Arizona Silhouette has those, too, for less than $5.00.

Here's the verbiage:
Pen Mill Sleeves

We now carry Delrin sleeves to assist in trimming the wood on the El Grande rollerball, fountain and ballpoint pens, the Churchill style pens, the upper barrel Baron/Sedona pens and the Sierra pen. The sleeves come pre-drilled with a 7mm hole which allows the use of a 7mm pilot shaft. As pictured above, the Delrin sleeve slips into the brass tube, a barrel trimmer with a 7mm pilot shaft is inserted and trimming can begin.

The El Grande / Churchill and the El Toro / El Presidente sleeves are sold as a pair - one for the large tube and one for the smaller tube. Each pair is priced at $4.95. The Sierra and Baron/Sedona sleeve is a single unit and is priced at $3.50.


On items like this, I'm finding I'm time and money ahead to just pay the price and move onward.