Best Material? and Mandrel??

[Focushere]

I am tooling up and need to know what's the best material for a newbie trying to make a fountain pen section. I need something fairly forgiving. What do you think about Delrin, Nylon. Ebonite or Aluminite??? Also can someone recommend a mandrel for making the body and cap or should I just try making my own one out of aluminum.

 

[Mike Powell]

I got my mandrel from Wood Craft.

As for Material, I really like Olive Wood. It is pretty easy to turn and the smells while drilling and turning are great. Cocobolo, I have a real hard time drilling, I like the looks of it, but it is such a pain to drill. Fairly easy to turn though. Acrylic IMO is difficult to turn early in the beginning, I turned my first one about my third pen and it took me a while, just go slow and easy, youll be ok no matter what you decide to turn.

 

[PenMan1]

Delrin is the perfect "practice" material and extremely useful to have in the shop to make "jigs, special tooling, bushings, etc". It's super cheap and machines easily. The problem with Delrin is that it is UGLY and feels REALLY CHEAP.

Ebonite machines and threads nicely, holds a nice shine looks elegant and expensive. The problems with Ebonite is that if too much heat builds up in the drilling, threading or lathing process, it is RUINED. Additionally, it IS expensive and is getting more difficult to find.

Alumilite is cheap, easily lathed and somewhat easy to thread. My problem with Alumilite is that when you make thin walled pens with no tubes, it becomes sorta "see through" and feels light and cheap. There are ways around this. So Alumilite is a decent material to work with.

Contrary to what many may say, YOU CAN make a component less pen from Casein, Bakelite or Polyester resin, IF YOU HAVE ENOUGH TIME AND MONEY. A BIG emphasis on Money, as you may break it 30 times before you can ever finish a pen from these materials.

Personally, I like brass and aluminum rods. They are a little more difficult to machine, but more difficult to destroy. The shine up nicely, will accept all sorts of "embellishmebts" and finally feel rich, elegant and custom made.

Good luck and have FUN!