Greetings from Oregon newbie!

[amtechrs]

Hello all,

I'm fairly new to pen turning (actually any lathe work). Definitely have the bug! I've initially used hybrid blanks that I've poured, using brown or red malee(?). I recently started using my laser cutter to make pen blank 'boxes'. There's a very cool website for laser users that helps you make all kinds of boxes and other things, it's https://www.festi.info/boxes.py/ . I love that site. Anyway, I make the box/blanks according to specific pen dimensions, and embellish in different ways. I'm still experimenting! Here are some pictures of a few finished pens, and some of boxes in progress. I look forward to learning a lot from this group!

Best,
Richard

 

[Hippie3180]

Wow! Very cool!

 

[egnald]

Greetings from Nebraska and welcome to the IAP community. Cool Beans! - I love your creativity. Great looking Pens! - Dave

 

[sorcerertd]

Wow, those are really beautiful pens, and great designs! Welcome from NC!

 

[KMCloonan]

Welcome from Northern Illinois! You have some really cool stuff there! I love the pens you made from the blanks, Great match of the blank and the kit. Can't wait to see more!

 

[Jim15]

Welcome Richard. Great looking pens.

 

[d_bondi]

Holy cow Richard, those are crazy cool designs/blanks/pens!

Greetings and welcome from Utah!

 

[tomtedesco]

Welcome from Colorado, well done.

 

[wolf creek knives]

Welcome from Montana. Nice work!!!

 

[Alan Morrison]

Welcome to the forum, Richard.
Lasers certainly open up a whole new possibility for segmented design.
Seems a lot easier than me having to cut everything manually and trying to glue up accurately.
Looks fun.
Do you need to be very computer literate to use your laser?

 

[amtechrs]

Welcome to the forum, Richard.
Lasers certainly open up a whole new possibility for segmented design.
Seems a lot easier than me having to cut everything manually and trying to glue up accurately.
Looks fun.
Do you need to be very computer literate to use your laser?

Thank you all! Alan, you are right! I hadn't utilized the laser for pens previously, other than to make boxes to put pens into. I think just basic computer literacy should get you by. Plus, just experiment and see what happens. The workhorse in what I made in these pic's is the website I mentioned (you can make TONS of stuff) and the laser cutter software for the embellishments. Cheers!

Oh, forgot to mention, you can (and I have) make boxes with more than four sides, so polygons I guess? I've done a six sided and eight sided blank. They're a little more work to get the 'fingers' seated completely and since they're not at 90 degrees, the openings need to be filled. I use black CA. I can post pics of those, if you're interested. I just wasn't overly impressed with my results in those efforts.

 

[Lew]

First, welcome from Texas. Wow! You talk about learning from others, but if you're just beginning you'll be able to teach us some master classes soon. Beautiful work and great craftmanship.

 

[jttheclockman]

Ok. You keep referring back to boxes and now I see it. You are basically making a small box with tabs and within each side wall you laser a design which I am guessing is a lot easier to do on a flat surface than it is to do on a round surface like we see for so many other laser inlay kits. You could technically sell these as a kit and the buyer can assemble. Have to say I have never seen this type approach to segmenting. You could easily make a matching pen display box to go with each pen too. This is quite clever. Is there a special way that you have to drill the hole for the tube? Also do you have to make the sizes differently for the tube sizes which I assume you do? The tube for a slimline is alot smaller than a Majestic kit. Very nice. Can not compete with these kind of things and my segmenting has to go other routes for sure.

 

[amtechrs]

Ok. You keep referring back to boxes and now I see it. You are basically making a small box with tabs and within each side wall you laser a design which I am guessing is a lot easier to do on a flat surface than it is to do on a round surface like we see for so many other laser inlay kits. You could technically sell these as a kit and the buyer can assemble. Have to say I have never seen this type approach to segmenting. You could easily make a matching pen display box to go with each pen too. This is quite clever. Is there a special way that you have to drill the hole for the tube? Also do you have to make the sizes differently for the tube sizes which I assume you do? The tube for a slimline is alot smaller than a Majestic kit. Very nice. Can not compete with these kind of things and my segmenting has to go other routes for sure.

Hi John! You are correct. Just making the boxes/blanks specifically to the particular pen specifications for tube diameter and outside diameter of the bushings plus a little wiggle room. The bigger the diameters, the harder it is for a four sided box material to overlay the entire circumference. For those, you can go with more segments, or walls of the box. I've filled the box/blanks with epoxy to help stabilize for drilling, but found it isn't necessary for smaller blank diameters. I laser cut small holes in the center of each box end that brad points can locate themselves on and the drill generally follows the center of the blank. You certainly don't need a large laser to make these box/blanks, something strong enough to cut through 1/8" wood (what I use). Plenty of desktop units can accomplish this, I believe!

 

[Alan Morrison]

Yes, show some boxes please.

 

[amtechrs]

Yes, show some boxes please.

Hi Alan, okay, I'll make up a box or two this evening and will post some pics.

 

[amtechrs]

Here are a few screenshots of the process involved. One is the website I use to create the basic box geometry. You enter the dimensional parameters, number of sides, etc.. The next is of the output it generates. In this case an SVG file. Next is an autocad window where I verify the output will provide the ID and OD I am looking for. I don't think you have to do this, I just have it so use it to confirm. The last pic is of the interface program for a BeamBox laser. Here I am playing with just offsetting the geometry of the sides to create inlays. This is just a four sided box.

 

[Sataro]

Welcome from Texas! Fantastic looking work!

 

[RGABEL]

Welcome and thanks for sharing your process. I got a new 20W laser at the end of 2023 and now have another rabbit hole to go down and try. I am impressed with how well your inlays fit with no visible gaps.

There are simply not enough hours in the day to work on everything going on in my head right now.

 

[amtechrs]

Welcome and thanks for sharing your process. I got a new 20W laser at the end of 2023 and now have another rabbit hole to go down and try. I am impressed with how well your inlays fit with no visible gaps.

There are simply not enough hours in the day to work on everything going on in my head right now.

Hi Rob! Can't wait to see some of your stuff! For the inlays, I size the graphic or shape to the actual size I want, then offset that geometry to account for the laser kerf. So, for the base side piece, I'd offset inward .1 mm, and for the inlay pieces, I offset .1 mm outward of the original geometry. This seems to allow a snug-ish fit, with enough gap for CA to seep in.