Adding features - circles, ink window, clips

Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
N

NJturner

Member
Joined
Dec 4, 2006
Messages
451
Location
New Jersey, USA.
In another forum post @hooked referenced the PepeTools circle cutter for metal rings on pens. I'm starting on a venture to add an ink window, clip and some accent rings to my pens as I am getting a little bored with the simple turned pen and would like to kick up my game and develop my own style.

I custom cast my own blanks so have colored and clear materials available. I ordered some clips from Beaufort for starting out. I've got most of the dies and taps needed from group buys here. So to my questions - Is the Pepe Tools circle cutter still the preferred tool for this? It's a bit pricey and to me it seems I will hardly use its wide selection of circles - I'd prefer something in metric and focusing on sizes common to fountain pen bodies which the PepeTools doesn't seem to do.

Second - I read in the posts of people using end mills to provide recesses. I am working on a wood lathe so curious if this is still an option or is it really an option only to those of us working on metal lathes? I know I can probably grind a chisel to give me a decent tool for cutting a recess, but the end mill seems cleaner and more accurate.

Third - Ink window - are they glued into the body of the pen or is this another place to do threading? Debating between a tenon and gluing it or cutting threads on both sides and threading it in (and then maybe glue it)? I cast some liquid diamonds clear resin for the ink windows and typically use either Alumilite Clear Slow or Thermoset Solutions Clear Urethane Resin I bought through @McKenzie Penworks. If you do glue it, what have you found works best?

Appreciate everyone's thoughts

Kevin
 
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
I don't think the disc cutter I use is a preferred tool. Just what I use. You can use whatever method works to make rings. I take a square wire and form it into a ring, then arc weld or solder it. I cut them out of sheet metal with a jeweler's saw. I get rods, drill them out, and part off the rings.

I like the disc cutter because it reduces my waste and the time needed to make rings. It takes me less than a minute to create a trim ring and finial coin. I use the washer for my ring and the center that was cut out for my finial coin. I use silver, and realized that when I cut out a ring with a jeweler's saw, my scraps contain more silver than the ring I just cut out. The disc cutter eliminates this for me. Silver is becoming too expensive to waste, and I do not have the equipment to reprocess the scraps. The Pepe tools disc cutter had the most extensive range of sizes when I purchased it, which is why I chose that one. It may not be the ideal tool for everyone.

I use an end mill right in my Rick Herrell tailstock holder collet, and I typically do that procedure on a Jet 1014. It works perfectly. It is a very small amount of material you are removing.

Regarding ink windows, my preference is to thread. I believe that gluing an ink window in is a high-risk point of failure if the pen were to drop. There is minimal surface area there for the glue to adhere. I believe that threaded ink windows, although requiring more work, are a more elegant and robust solution. I avoid using glue on my pens as much as possible now.

I used glue early on when trying the ink window. When I experimented with eye dropper fillers, I noticed that the ink stained the glue line, making it slightly visible—just another potential reason to avoid glue at this connection.
 
I don't have any input, but will be following the thread closely.

Kevin - I have been thinking about all these same next steps for a while now.
 
Sorry @hooked - my wording was less than precise on the term 'preferred'. I like your stuff and your workmanship, and I guess subliminally was addressing my question to you about the cutter. I do appreciate you taking the time to reply to each question.

I love the idea of using the center for a finial - it increases the value of the tool in my eyes - just have been trying to justify the expense, especially after a few major penmaking expenses I just incurred, so proceeding carefully as this is a fun hobby for me and not a source of income.

My feeling in gluing the ink window was also a hot NO, for the same reasons you expressed, but I needed a bit of validation. I can handle the extra work and time of threading - just wasn't sure if I was wasting time on an unnecessary process.

I'm going to give the end mill idea some thought, figure out appropriate sizes, then probably give it a try.

Again - sorry if I misspoke, but truly appreciate yours and everyone else's input!

Kevin
 
I've made a few ink windows, when I did it I used overlap to increase the mechanical strength of the joint. I glued with DevCon 2-ton epoxy (the slow cure type).

The clear part was grooved around the outside, the opaque part grooved around the inside (kind of like ship-lap joinery). This effectively prevented anyone from seeing a potential ink stain at the interior glue line, because that was rebated almost 1/8" inside the barrel.
 
duncsuss said:
I've made a few ink windows, when I did it I used overlap to increase the mechanical strength of the joint. I glued with DevCon 2-ton epoxy (the slow cure type).

The clear part was grooved around the outside, the opaque part grooved around the inside (kind of like ship-lap joinery). This effectively prevented anyone from seeing a potential ink stain at the interior glue line, because that was rebated almost 1/8" inside the barrel.
Click to expand...
Duncan -
Your method was close to what I was considering vs threading the window in. I was drawing out a tenon and matching body recess for each end of the window, allowing a reasonable connection for the gluing of the window to the pen body versus a simple end to end bond. My struggle is that I really haven't gotten a really good bond with any adhesives I have tried so far - but will give the DevCon-2 a shot and see how it goes. Thank you!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom