Just not meant to make one piece slimlines

When I first started turning pens, I was reading the articles on Don Ward's website. I especially like all his slimline modifications. I printed off all of his articles so I could try them for myself. Somehow they got on the back burner and I wansn't getting around to them until I saw a post of a one piece slimline by Timebandit. His pen looked so good, I went and found Don's articles I had printed off and started my own. The first one I turned on the mandrel and when it was finished it was out of round. I figured maybe the mandrel was bent. So I tried another one this time between centers. I had read in another thread by Larry Gottlieb on here about putting a 1/4" bolt inside both tubes to turn it between centers. So I tried it this way. Worked well, except that I had some problems with tear out near the end. I grabbed some thin CA to firm it up and proceeded to finish the pen. I thought I'd hit the nail on the head until I went to press everything together and realized that when I was firming up the end I had actually glued the loose tube into the blank. I didn't really know how to free the tube so I improvised. I took a 1/4 bolt and epoxied it in the tube. I then tried to turn the bolt using a wench to break the CA bond. Instead I broke the epoxy bond. I thought I would try it again. I chucked a 1/4 drill bit and was going to clean the epoxy out and the tube spun free. However now it was stuck on the drill bit. I ended up grinding the tube off of the drill bit and getting new tube. Put the blank back on the lathe. Sanded out the scratches I had made trying to free the tube and refinished it. Finally I had my one peice slimline. I decided to give it to my sister. I was going to see her this weekend so I put the pen in my car so I wouldn't forget it. Got to her place this morning and at about 1:30pm I remembered the pen in my car. Went out and got it and gave it to her. She said "How does this work?" I told her to twist the writing end. She said she was and it wasn't working. I told her to let me see it. Sure enough it wasn't working. Went in my brother-in-laws shop and found the tools to get it apart. Turns out some epoxy had got between the tube and blank when I was trying to free the tube. Thanks to the heat in the car I had glue the free tube into the blank for a second time.:at-wits-end: I guess I try and fix it a third time when I get back home. Anyone else ever have days like this?

Yes, I have had many days like this and there not really much you can do about them other than stopping for a while and trying again later or just keep trying. They can be extremely fustrating but they can also help you learn from and prevent some of these mistakes and accidents from happening in the future.

hell with a third time on the same pen, chunk it and start over!!!! LOL, I've had days like that, you know what i do? I go inside and work on something else, cool off(literally), and think about my next plan of attack and then not rush things. Dont let it get to ya, its happened to lots of us on here.

Sounds like normal day around here. One piece pens and pencils are fairly popular with my family.

I do it a little differently from some. Drill the blank full length 7mm. Then drill the blank on one end 5/16" dia. about 1/2" long so you can glue a 5/16" brass tube into the blank. A 7mm brass will just fit into a 5/16" brass tube. Glue the top brass in as normal. The lower brass will not be glued in just like you are doing now. Press the pen nib into the 7 mm brass tube and slide it into the 5/16" tube. Then a 7mm brass tube will fit into the pen and the wood will not be unsupported and weak on the nib end. Snug fit and the one piece pen will work perfectly.

jfoh, that's a good idea. I'll try that. And Seamus, I too find that cooling off helps. Ice cold beer helps the cooling off process (as well as the creative process) right?

Sorry to hear of these troubles Derek but, I admire your persistance.:biggrin: I guess these things are to be expected when we journey into new territory. Keep at it !

jfoh said:

I do it a little differently from some. Drill the blank full length 7mm. Then drill the blank on one end 5/16" dia. about 1/2" long so you can glue a 5/16" brass tube into the blank. A 7mm brass will just fit into a 5/16" brass tube.

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I do this also and it works great. I use tubes from the bracelet helper kit.

jfoh said:

Glue the top brass in as normal.

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I don't do this...well, I do glue the top tube as normal but I don't use whole tube. I use just enough of the upper tube to slip over the transmission and grab it to operate it. I use about 1 inch of the upper tube. This allows the pen to come apart much easier than it does when using the full 2" brass tube on the top.

One piece slimlines are fun to make and the possiblilites for shape is limited only by one's imagination.

Do a good turn daily!
Don