Can someone take apart a pen?

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LenKaltman

Member
Joined
Dec 21, 2012
Messages
21
Location
Liberty Township OH
Hi everyone,

Frustrated newbie pen maker needs help. :confused:

I was working on a cigar pen made out of buckeye burl with an antique bronze trim. Everything was going GREAT and it was probably going to be the nicest pen I made so far.

Then, when I started to put it together something happened, (not sure what went wrong) and it's just not fitting right. I tried to take it apart, but don't have the tools or skill to get it apart without damaging it.

Could anyone help me out and take this pen apart for me?

If you're in the Cincinnati Dayton area (I'm in Monroe, halfway between the two) I could swing by at your convenience, otherwise I'd be glad to mail it to you.

Thanks!!!!
 
Last edited:
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LenKaltman, I have the Harbor Freight set, and as well as being cheaper, the shipping is less as well, and you would probably get it quicker from HF.

mrcook, you mentioned to use the transfer punches as mandrels for holding various items. Can you elaborate on that? How do you use them as a mandrel and for what. Just interested, thanks.
Tim.
 
I have two sets of punches one I purchased from Wholesale Tool the other came from an estate sale. One set gets down to very small diameters and the other is much larger. Find the punch that fits snugly into the tube and will press up on the fitting or cap you are trying to remove. Unless your work bench in very sturdy I have been known to get down on the floor and strike the concrete floor with the punch while holding the piece. If you plan on reusing the removed piece consider putting something soft on the floor for the item to land on when it pops out.
As for the mandrel question look up Ed from Exotic Blanks on You Tube. He shows a neat trick using a punch the same size as the blank with the brass tube glued in chucked into a drill chuck on one end of the lathe and then having a abrasive disc on the other end and using it as your trimming tool. Brilliant now your blanks will as square as your lathe.
 
Tim'sTurnings said:
mrcook, you mentioned to use the transfer punches as mandrels for holding various items. Can you elaborate on that? How do you use them as a mandrel and for what. Just interested, thanks.
Tim.
Click to expand...

I use them to turn closed end pens for which I do not have a pin chuck. Double stick tape on the flat end makes it easy to hold blanks for turning small discs/domes. They are frequently used to hold cylindrical items to be engraved in my laser.
 
I stick the paper to the backside of a flipped around cutter head. The reamer bit makes sure I am square to the paper. Works great, AND I get to put off buying a collet chuck :biggrin:
 
"I get to put off buying a collet chuck" translates to
"Honey. all I want for my birthday is a collet chuck from PSI (or Beall Tool if you've been really good)

Lee
 
Tim'sTurnings said:
LenKaltman, I have the Harbor Freight set, and as well as being cheaper, the shipping is less as well, and you would probably get it quicker from HF.

mrcook, you mentioned to use the transfer punches as mandrels for holding various items. Can you elaborate on that? How do you use them as a mandrel and for what. Just interested, thanks.
Tim.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the info - I live about ten minutes from a Harbor Freight and am there regularly. I already ordered the punch set online from Penn State (I'm there regularly too, at least online.
 
LenKaltman said:
Tim'sTurnings said:
LenKaltman, I have the Harbor Freight set, and as well as being cheaper, the shipping is less as well, and you would probably get it quicker from HF.

mrcook, you mentioned to use the transfer punches as mandrels for holding various items. Can you elaborate on that? How do you use them as a mandrel and for what. Just interested, thanks.
Tim.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the info - I live about ten minutes from a Harbor Freight and am there regularly. I already ordered the punch set online from Penn State (I'm there regularly too, at least online.
Click to expand...

Yep, I have the HF set. They call theirs a "Transfer Punch set," I believe.
 
If you accidentally swapped the upper and lower tubes when you turned them the best you can hope for is to salvage the rest of the pieces or have a pen that never retracts. Been there done that :frown:

Some of my transfer punches are covered with paint. I use them to hold tubes when I paint them before I slip them onto a finish nail driven into a piece of wood to dry.
 
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