Faceting Pen Cap/Body

[ridlaH]

Hello Everyone,

I'm looking for some advice for faceting Pen bodys/caps.

I've always liked the idea of adding facets to give a play of light and sparkle to the pen, but wasn't sure if there was a jig or tool that would help get the angles consistent to make it look nice?

Any ideas/thoughts would be helpful.

I've placed an example screenshot of a BENU pen below.

 

[jttheclockman]

https://www.penturners.org/search/103623/?q=Faceting+Pen+Cap/Body&o=relevance

 

[walshjp17]

If you can get your hands on a Pen Wizard you can make facets using the various wheels and cogs that come with it. I have made pen bodies with 6 and 8 facets in the past. Unfortunately, I do not have any photos.

 

[duncsuss]

I use a fluting jig with a trim router. My lathe has indexing stops built into the headstock - 24 stops so I can easily make 6, 8, or 12 facets. Got it from PennState but it looks like they've discontinued it.

 

[hokie]

I'm fairly positive that Benu pen is made with a mold you can get on Aliexpress for like $4 and inserts for $2.50...

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256802772497382.html

Obviously Benu has some different hardware, but the overall resemblance is uncanny.

 

[jttheclockman]

I'm fairly positive that Benu pen is made with a mold you can get on Aliexpress for like $4 and inserts for $2.50...
View attachment 366617View attachment 366622
View attachment 366618

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256802772497382.html

Obviously Benu has some different hardware, but the overall resemblance is uncanny.

Actually pretty ingenious.

If you check Steven AKA: SkipRat posts he shows how he does all that stuff on his metal lathe and shows jigs he made and things. I am not going to look up the links. You can easily do that.

 

[hokie]

If you check Steven AKA: SkipRat posts he shows how he does all that stuff on his metal lathe and shows jigs he made and things. I am not going to look up the links. You can easily do that.

Do you mean in regards to the faceting or the hardware? I was curious either way and looked through 7-10 years worth of his threads and did notice he had a cool setup to carve v-slots into pen bodies for that pool cue look. Pretty neat.

 

[jttheclockman]

Do you mean in regards to the faceting or the hardware? I was curious either way and looked through 7-10 years worth of his threads and did notice he had a cool setup to carve v-slots into pen bodies for that pool cue look. Pretty neat.

Years ago I did this pen and he loved it so much he went ahead and did an even better job by faceting the body . here are those photos.

Mine: first one and his second one.

https://www.penturners.org/threads/a-jt-cloned-panache-almost.135080/

 

[dogcatcher]

My advice is to research "diy gem faceting jigs" and "gem faceting for beginners"

It's a whole new world of creativity. Knowing the if's the and's and the why's of how it works will help make better easy to use and inexpensive jigs.

 

[Penultimate]

If you have access to a mill and a hex collet block you can make facets. A hex collet block and a router table might work.

 

[Pierre---]

I love facets, especially freely flowing ones. It is above my skills to make them on a mill or a router. But I love hand work, and with it everything is possible. First a careful drawing (veeeeery careful near the center), here I used an octagon with double threads, the doted line marking the surface that will be stay untouched:

Then using rasps, files, a scraper (Exacto knife with a round blade), sanding paper and buffing can do the job in a shorter time than one could think! Quite inexpensive stuff, this is all I need:

The same technique on ebonite with an urushi coating:

Mills and pen wizards are expensive and not the only tools one can use. Just my 2 cts.