Do you have a pen kit that is your nemesis?

Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
Beautys_Beast

Beautys_Beast

Member
Joined
Sep 27, 2017
Messages
161
Location
Wisconsin/
I purchased 5 Apolo Infinity kits a couple months ago. I have attempted to turn the first one three times now. Each time, I have had a blow out. Now this pen is a VERY large pen. 9/16 top tube. I swear I am gonna beat that pen someday. Just couldn't try again today.

Do you have a kit that has your number?
 
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
Hmmm ... what is a nemesis ? . Something that forever fights with you ?

I have never tried that pen kit. . If you are using acrylic, try wood.
 
magpens said:
Hmmm ... what is a nemesis ? . Something that forever fights with you ?

I have never tried that pen kit. . If you are using acrylic, try wood.
Click to expand...

A nemesis is like a villain who is always against you, fighting you at every turn.

Ive tried it in both arcylic, and wood. It beat me both times. I have it glued up in wood again, just couldn't deal with attempting to turn it again today. Maybe tomorrow. Yea, that it. Tomorrow I will defeat it.
 
I don't know if it's still made, but the Regency pen that was sold by CSUK was a pretty tough nut to crack for a novice.
I remember when I first joined IAP, there was a tutorial, front and centre home page, by Keith Hertzog on how to make one. It's still in the library.
Another PITA was the digital watch pen. They needed a little window in the cap end to see the watch that was inside the top tube.I did make a couple but the watch itself always crapped out on me. IIRC you had to be a genius to even set the damned time on it. :biggrin:
Making a 360 herringbone blank also turned many people insane..:rolleyes:
 
There has been a couple of threads over the past 10 years similar to your question, but they were over a specific blank more or less. I have had a couple of blanks that I could not get the correct finish - over a period of 6 months to a year, I would put it on the lathe and attempt to finish it, but something would happen such as white spots, or CA lifting on the end, or in one case old/bad CA that would not harden enough to finish properly, or something else. It was generally something that I had enough experience to overcome, but still it persisted. And the problems that would occasionally arise, all seemed to happen on that one blank. I think I have had this happen twice; I would put the blank aside and wait a few weeks and try again; and then again.


One blank was an ebony blank for a Polaris, (IIRC), the other was a segmented blank for a Sierra.
 
Haha, I have a Majestic Squire that I am, IIRC, on my fifth blank with. One issue after another, not to mention that I had a defective part on the kit initially and had to deal with PSI to get it replaced. I will finish it one of these days!
 
I just wanted to say, I finally beat my nemesis. It fought me to the very end, stripped the finish 3 times to get it right. It even gave me a hard time during assembly. Alas, here it is the Nemesis (Apollo Infinity) in Camphor Burl.

As a side note, I don't think I can ever sell this pen. It would be impossible to recoup the time and effort that went into it.
 

Attachments

  • Nemisis2.jpg
    Nemisis2.jpg
    65.5 KB · Views: 228
Click Pro here, I have messed up more on assembly than anything else. Just doing stupid things and not paying attention.
 
Slimline Pro with no brass tubes and no center band

elyk864 said:
Click Pro here, I have messed up more on assembly than anything else. Just doing stupid things and not paying attention.
Click to expand...

Kyle,

Do you mean the Slimline Pro ?

I have grown to like that kit very much. . I make it without the center band and recently I have started to make it without any brass tubes. . I drill the center with a "A" drill (0.234" diam) which is just big enough to accept the Parker refill. Then I counterdrill the ends a short amount to "L" drill size to the appropriate depth to accept the nib and the finial. . The outer diameter of the blank is machined to 0.525" and then tapered (tapers 1" long at each end) to match the bushing size (about .425").

So the blank is a total length of about 4.2" with no center band.
I really like the results.

I will be doing a thread shortly.
 
The Artisan Americana Rollerball from CSUSA is one of my favorite pens with the snap cap. It was actually one a friend made for me that initially got me into pen turning, but the kit was a colossal pain for me. Turning a portion of the cap down to the barrel without having it blowout or chunkout on the end was... interesting... and the snap cap feature, which I really enjoy, turned out to be incredibly difficult to get just right. I actually have another kit at home that I want to make out of a nicely figured bocote piece but have been putting off for weeks because I'm not sure how I will handle CA buildup on the end with exposed tube.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom