Lovely ! Thanks for posting these pictures , Skip ... I am interested in your method so will try to figure it out.
What angle does the axis of the router bit make with the axis of the pen blank ? .. Maybe that's not the right way to ask the question but hopefully you will know what I mean. Also, at what angle do you set your compound cross-feed ?
Mal, the router is tilted to 45 deg. The corner of the bit is set on the center line. The compound does the cut at 15 deg.
The carriage is locked to the leadscrew from start to finish and rotating the leadscrew gives the spacing. My leadscrew has pitch of 3mm, so the numbers on the paper....and on the bench

refer to rotations of the leadscew.
I find it very easy to lose my sequence, so have to write it down and tick off each step....:redface:
The sequence on the paper is just for one blank.
The earlier made double ended zigzag bits in the first pic are simply cut in two.
When the uncut longer parts are put in the chuck and cut, they don't move till all the cuts are done. Have a look at the sequence on the paper....
First I chuck up the long piece....then index cut the six vees and glue the next part on......rotate the leadscrew x turns and repeat.
Looks a little complex but it's actually pretty basic really. :wink:
Thanks for all the comments. :biggrin:
Edit: The numbers on the bench are the spacings in millimetres and the ones on the paper are turns of the leadscrew. Multiples of 3mm