PSI's Apollo Pen Kit

[heineda]

Hello,

Just wondering if any of you have tried turning this kit yet. I bought a few thinking they looked pretty nice, but I'm having fits trying to turn them. I have to mic the lower barrel, because last night, I had the acrylic turned right down even with the busing, started sanding, and a peice about 1/4" wide just broke off from the rest of the peice!!! I took it off the mandrell, and theyre must have been about 2 microns of the acrylic material left on the tube. Any input out there? Help!!!

Thanks,
Dan Heine

 

[sbell111]

I've never made that kit, but from looking at the instructions, it doesn't look like there is anything especially tricky to turning the blank.

Acrylic can be explosive. Make sure that your tools are sharp and you get good glue cohesion when you glue in the tubes.

 

[gustgio]

Hey heineda

I tried this kit as I too thought I would try a nicer and thicker kit (thicker my BUTT), it's only THICKER looking, I blew out the cap twice and I was using a wood blank I got form the PSI bargain bin. You really have to leave this one a step beyond PROUD of the bushings. After I finally completed it I wasn't that impressed aobut it. Perhaps my choice of wood, or I dunno just wasn't impressed overall


I honestly don't think it is your methods, I had the same problem you jsut got keep at it. It is SUPER thin on the barrel.

Originally posted by heineda

Hello,

Just wondering if any of you have tried turning this kit yet. I bought a few thinking they looked pretty nice, but I'm having fits trying to turn them. I have to mic the lower barrel, because last night, I had the acrylic turned right down even with the busing, started sanding, and a peice about 1/4" wide just broke off from the rest of the peice!!! I took it off the mandrell, and theyre must have been about 2 microns of the acrylic material left on the tube. Any input out there? Help!!!

Thanks,
Dan Heine

 

[gerryr]

I made and posted this one back in January. Since then I've made at least one more. Both have been from wood, but I have 2 more kits left and will probably do those in plastic. I didn't have any trouble with the material being too thin.
http://www.penturners.org/forum/topic.asp?ARCHIVE=true&TOPIC_ID=32519&SearchTerms=apollo

 

[wdcav1952]

The Apollo, the Churchill and the El Grande all have very thin amounts of the blank left after turning. It would seem to me that failures are related to gluing and turning, rather than the kit.

 

[bitshird]

Cav, I agree, it gets down to the nubbin(thats a technical machinist term) on the Churchill and El Grande, I thought the Apollo was just a redressed Churchill, [)][)][)]

 

[redfishsc]

Originally posted by bitshird

Cav, I agree, it gets down to the nubbin(thats a technical machinist term) on the Churchill and El Grande, I thought the Apollo was just a redressed Churchill, [)][)][)]

I haven't double checked the sizes of the parts between the Churchill and Apollo to see if they are the same, but I can assure you that the Apollo has a better nib coupler--- it's METAL and won't BREAK like the Churchill.

On the downer side, the metal adds to the weight of the pen but that's the price you pay for durability.

 

[nightowl]

I have made two Atlas pens which I believe are the same as the Apollo. I haven't had any trouble and didn't think about the amount of the material left. Now you have made me nervous.[?] I have one more kit and I was thinking about doing a segmentation on it. I'll post a pic when I am finished.