Brass Pen Blank

[crokett]

I have a couple brass blanks that a friend of mine machined round for me a few years ago. i was thinking of drilling and pressing the parts directly into the brass, but all my drill bits (and the mandrel) are sized according to the tube diameter that comes with the pen kit. So... would it work to solder a tube into place, or would the heat needed to solder ruin the tube? I would probably do a kit with a larger diameter tube so that taking of

 

[Terredax]

If you don't have the proper sized reamer, just epoxy the tube in, just as you would with any other blank.

 

[More4dan]

Your mandrels will work, they fit inside the tubes. You would just need drill bits to Mach the ID of the tubes. Or you just glue the tube in like you do with wood.


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[KenV]

Solder works also if you have a snug fit. Tubes are often soldered into brass shell casings used for pens. Very secure, but not much stretch in the tube plus the brass.

 

[jttheclockman]

I have made pens from aluminum blanks and still used the tubes because the components will sinch nicely in the thin brass. My suggestion is drill for the tubes and use epoxy.

 

[Skie_M]

The outer diameter of the mandrel is just a bit too short of 1/4" ... and I feel that it would be a little too much wobble if I went without the tube.


When making my custom length mandrels to use for myself, I take some 1/4" aluminum rod stock and sand it down to the correct size (using the 7mm bushings for the test sizing). Once that's done, the mandrel saver will be used to keep pressure on the actual work pieces rather than the aluminum mandrel.

Now ... if you wanted to, you could drill 1/4" straight through and then just about 1/4" into each end you could sand the inner barrel to fit for your components ... and turn between centers for the outer parts of your barrel, or use a 1/4" rod for your mandrel, with custom made bushings to fit it.