advice, thinking of buying

[RobS]

Good morning

Looking hard at buying a pen wizard. I just like the idea of making polygon pen and pencil shafts, along with helical ones, and just the crazy patterns you can make.

I was thinking about buying the combo set with bits.
I checked out the pricing at Foredom, McMaster Carr, and after putting it all together I'd likely only save about $10 buying the tools elsewhere in this case.

What are your thoughts?

Ball-end bits make cuts with curved bottoms
• 1/16" Ball-end Mill
• 3/32" Ball-end Mill
• 1/8" Ball-end Mill
Square-end mills produce flat-bottomed cuts suitable for filling with inlay material. Include with this offer:
• 1/16" Square-end Mill
• 3/32" Square-end Mill
• 1/8" Square-end Mill
Engraving Bit: this 60 degree bit is useful for delicate work or checkering

Thank you
RobS

 

[stuckinohio]

Santa got me the wizard with bits and I'm loving it. I intend on doing a hexagon and played around with a twisting hexagon, but it was with a resin blank and wasn't the greatest finish of course. I'm gonna do the twisting hexagon on some wood to see what it is like.

My wife is ready for me to do a blank in a pattern then have me fill it with glitter and epoxy or the like. She just has to figure out what pen and what pattern she wants. Truthfully I did one already with the guilloche pattern on my very first attempt, but the blank wasn't tight enough and it slipped on the mandrel, thereby messing up the blank. I filled it in with epoxy and resin, but hated the look with the mistake since the pattern twisted around the barrel.

My mistakes have been from the blank not tight enough on the mandrel.

 

[PenPal]

Santa got me the wizard with bits and I'm loving it. I intend on doing a hexagon and played around with a twisting hexagon, but it was with a resin blank and wasn't the greatest finish of course. I'm gonna do the twisting hexagon on some wood to see what it is like.

My wife is ready for me to do a blank in a pattern then have me fill it with glitter and epoxy or the like. She just has to figure out what pen and what pattern she wants. Truthfully I did one already with the guilloche pattern on my very first attempt, but the blank wasn't tight enough and it slipped on the mandrel, thereby messing up the blank. I filled it in with epoxy and resin, but hated the look with the mistake since the pattern twisted around the barrel.

My mistakes have been from the blank not tight enough on the mandrel.

First thing I did with my Pen Wizard was extend the threads either end of the mandrel to allow for a brass locking nut either end and to modify with another disk for counting the notches.

The pic of the existing method when you buy the Wizard I chucked in the bin ,Pic 2 shows a piece of threaded rod, drilled for a firm fit the size of the thread on the mandrel. I recessed a hole in the rod to act as a Mandrel Saver 3/8 recess. fitted a nut either side on the rod through the black upright, fitted a locknutted Knob on the outer end for quick setting up.

The other picture shows my fitted dust extractor. There were several other mods as well.

The locknut either end of the mandrel eliminated SLIP. Always do away with the point contact to the mandrel my way.

Kind regards Peter.

 

[stuckinohio]

Good ideas!

 

[RobS]

Keep the gold coming. Thank you for the tips.

RobS

 

[BKelley]

I have been a Pen Wizard owner/user for about 5 years now. It is truly a wizard!! The machine does a wonderful job. I think it is well worth the 3 bills + change. Mr. Beall is a remarkable person who admits that even he does not know what ail his little machine will do. I don't think you will regret buying one.

Ben

 

[KBs Pensnmore]

Congratulations on getting one for Christmas.
What I did with mine, as I was "playing around" with it, was to make up a heap of blanks from solid timber. As you do a pattern, write on the blank the gearing, guilloche pattern etc., so that you have a record of how you did it. I've something like 40 different set ups to show people, some I don't like but it helps with sales. If you don't, eventually you'll be racking the brain how you did that pattern, spending/wasting time to redo the pattern.
I also have modified the gearing so that I can do a chevron pattern for making toy wheels for what we call tractors here.
I found that I had to use the larger Dremel unit as the smaller one wasn't powerful enough to do a lot of continuous work. I can also fit a laminate trimmer for heavy cutting as in my wheels.
Kryn

 

[RobS]

Kryn,

Any chance you can post the pictures of some of your patterns? Thanks for the tips.

RobS

 

[stuckinohio]

Congratulations on getting one for Christmas.
What I did with mine, as I was "playing around" with it, was to make up a heap of blanks from solid timber. As you do a pattern, write on the blank the gearing, guilloche pattern etc., so that you have a record of how you did it. I've something like 40 different set ups to show people, some I don't like but it helps with sales. If you don't, eventually you'll be racking the brain how you did that pattern, spending/wasting time to redo the pattern.
I also have modified the gearing so that I can do a chevron pattern for making toy wheels for what we call tractors here.
I found that I had to use the larger Dremel unit as the smaller one wasn't powerful enough to do a lot of continuous work. I can also fit a laminate trimmer for heavy cutting as in my wheels.
Kryn

Good idea!

 

[KBs Pensnmore]

I'll post some pics tomorrow of some of my blanks, it's after midnight here now. By the way, I drilled 1/4" holes in the blanks, no brass tubes fitted.
Peter, where did the dust hood come from please? Really like the idea of it.
Kryn

 

[geffre]

My Beall

I like the machine, but it does take a lot of setup. I have not done a ton of work with it because it adds an hour onto making a pen. Since I sell them locally, adding an hour of work will not add an hour's worth of value to the pen. If I used it more, I might get faster at it which would give me more options.
Anyone with ideas on how to speed up the process of using the machine, I would appreciate it. I use a dremel to mount tools. Is there a better tool to use that speeds up the setup?

Brian Geffre

 

[RobS]

So I pulled the trigger, arrival expected next Thursday
I just realized I forgot to add on the rope cutter, and shipping is $12 ;(

Looking forward to making straight polygon vertex pens, pentel pencils and twisted polygons.

Appreciate all the info and advice. This just seemed like a natural progression to my pen making, since I already stabilize. It was either this, casting or segmenting. I choose the PW.

Cheers

 

[k3usr]

So I pulled the trigger, arrival expected next Thursday
I just realized I forgot to add on the rope cutter, and shipping is $12 ;(

Looking forward to making straight polygon vertex pens, pentel pencils and twisted polygons.

Appreciate all the info and advice. This just seemed like a natural progression to my pen making, since I already stabilize. It was either this, casting or segmenting. I choose the PW.

Cheers

Did you get it yet Rob? If so, how is it going so far?

 

[RobS]

It arrived safe and sound. But the winter storms knocked down 5 fence posts and the corresponding fence so I'll be fixing that first.

 

[RobS]

Also Rockler has Honduran rosewood on sale for $1 so I bought 20 pieces to practice with. I figured why not. Plus it usually looks awesome.