A new daily carry pen

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BradG

BradG

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Joined
Jul 10, 2011
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Blackpool -UK
This weekend has been spent with a bit of down time, making a pen for myself to use at work.

Machined from aluminium, and etched.

Thanks for looking

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Recently I posted in your "Bottle Filler" thread, asking when we will see another of your unique pens. Ans: way to under water with projects. Glad to see you did not drown under the weight of those nasty, need to do projects!:biggrin:

This new pen is cool to look at. It raises a question or observation. Does the repeating image have a significance or symbolism? The etching is very heavy deep...far beyond that needed to just get the pattern showing on the pen barrel...that is some heavy duty etching! Is there some step employed or needed to keep the bare aluminium (funny spelling :tongue:) from becoming dull or tarnished?

Great job, and thanks for posting!
 
Hey Brad, good to see you back at it. Looks good !!.:biggrin:
Just one question.....with all that new(ish) machinery....why are you still using kits???:confused::tongue:
 
SteveG said:
Recently I posted in your "Bottle Filler" thread, asking when we will see another of your unique pens. Ans: way to under water with projects. Glad to see you did not drown under the weight of those nasty, need to do projects!:biggrin:

This new pen is cool to look at. It raises a question or observation. Does the repeating image have a significance or symbolism? The etching is very heavy deep...far beyond that needed to just get the pattern showing on the pen barrel...that is some heavy duty etching! Is there some step employed or needed to keep the bare aluminium (funny spelling :tongue:) from becoming dull or tarnished?

Great job, and thanks for posting!
Click to expand...

Lacquer or it can be anodised and left clear. To be honest unless you have mirror polished it I doubt you will notice any tarnishing over time. A lot of my aluminium pens look just the same as the day I made them years back.

As for the depth of the etch it protects the paint more so and in my opinion gives it a better look than light etches

The pattern laid out flat is nothing more than a 3D square pattern. It loses that effect wrapped around a pen but I like the pattern regardless.

skiprat said:
Hey Brad, good to see you back at it. Looks good !!.:biggrin:
Just one question.....with all that new(ish) machinery....why are you still using kits???:confused::tongue:
Click to expand...

I see you use kits from time to time too :cool:

Just wanted to do something a little less intensive than kitless this time around
 
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Just watched your tutorials. Interesting process. Do you work in the etching field or did you come up with this on your own? Very similar to the process the company I work for uses in their reel to reel etching process.
 
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Mortalis said:
Just watched your tutorials. Interesting process. Do you work in the etching field or did you come up with this on your own? Very similar to the process the company I work for uses in their reel to reel etching process.
Click to expand...

Just lots of self tuition, and trial & error. I work in the IT sector :smile:
 
I had a pen etched for my son once. It was a birhtday gift. The etching was barely visible. yours is deep. I guess it would be stupid to ask how you did it. Is it a metal eating router of some sort?
 
Jgrden said:
I had a pen etched for my son once. It was a birthday gift. The etching was barely visible. yours is deep. I guess it would be stupid to ask how you did it. Is it a metal eating router of some sort?
Click to expand...

no machinery is used to cut in the pattern. There's two methods I use for etching pens, one of which uses Ferric Chloride, which creates an Exothermic reaction for very rapid etching of aluminium.

Have a watch of my video tutorial here on Ferric Etching
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rG2RAs2sbbI

You will need to consider this is Isotropic etching and as such allowances for this will need to be made with the masking design so not to erode what you're trying to protect.

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I am currently prototyping an etching machine which I will be selling. It is not ready for market yet but here's a brief outline.

:The system works on Electricity, and not with corrosive liquids so completely safe.
: The etch tank is designed for pens, to give an even etch from top to bottom
: The Etch controller regulates the current for you, so you do not need to buy an expensive power supply to use it.
: The integrated microprocessor times the process, and turns off the electricity after a time has expired. (1 hour recommended as a slow etch time is more controlled. this is compared to 30 seconds with Ferric Chloride). Once the timer has expired and the electricity has been turned off automatically, an audible tone is sounded to alert you to the finished process.
: Current & voltage along with time remaining are displayed on an LCD screen.
 
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Curly said:
Brad will your etching machine have a dual voltage switch for use here in North America with our wussy 110V power or will it be 220V only?
Click to expand...

Yep! it runs off a power transformer which will take a US kettle lead no problem. (IEC lead)
 
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