making finials - 1, 2, 3

[watch_art]

Would anybody mind sharing the order of operations they use for turning a cap and finial?

I've tried a couple things and I'm not really satisfied with any of them.

I've done it a couple ways, this being the most recent:

Drill out blank to make a cap - including threading and all the inside bits. Round the blank if it's not already round, and drill the end of the cap where the threads will go. Part it off.

Make a tenon 5/16" for male threads and cut with a die. Round off about an inch of material and part it off.

Put cap in collet and do my best to center it. Try to center again. Daggum it! Okay - try the threaded part holder. Center that..... CENTER THE HOLDER!! AUGH!!!! Okay, it's kinda centered. Yeesh. Thread the end of the cap with 5/16" tap.

Put the finial on there. Round the whole cap nice and pretty. Finish and polish. Take finial off to get ready for a clip. WHAT?? Okay - the whole cap is out of round now.

Great....

 

[watch_art]

Does anybody have any other methods?

 

[Lucky2]

Sorry, I can't help ya.
Len

 

[Dan_F]

I'm going to post a couple of pics to make the following directions clearer, sorry that I don't have step by step photos.

I haven't made a kitless pen in a long time, so not sure of the sequence, but I had everything put together before turning to final shape. So I think the sequence went something like this:

Round the finial stock to slightly thinner diameter than cap blank will be, (I usually use black) turn a tenon and thread it then part it off at desired height. Set it aside.

Round the blank, but leave fat as possible. Do this carefully so that sides are as close to parallel as possible, as this will mostly eliminate any wobble in the collet. Needs to be just thicker than the finial.

Drill for finial and thread. Drill a very shallow recess for the clip to fit into ( depending on the blank, I do the slot later, so that I can position the clip to best advantage. At this point, the blank can change by time it is down to final size). Remove from collet, screw on finial (without the clip), trade ends and return to collet. Since you haven't turned anything to final shape yet, you need not worry about getting exactly centered. Drill with 1/2" bit for just about 1/4 or 3/8", to avoid starting the threads right on the lip. Drill rest of cap with 7/16" bit, then tap the cap threads. I have usually had to drill a bit into the finial "post" to allow for nib clearance, unless the cap is pretty long. If you do the barrel first, you can see if this is necessary before taking the cap blank out of the collet. Just don't go too far, or you will lose all of the threads. If you want to do a cap band...

I have always done a band out of black and silver, tapped the cap threads in it, part off to length, then glue into cap with epoxy.

Now you have all the components on the same "blank". Flip this again in the chuck, so that the finial is facing out. Mount a small center drill in the Jacobs chuck in the tailstock, and drill a shallow 60 degree cone indentation for the live center. Now drill or turn a recess about 1/16" deep into the top of the finial. This will be filled with a "jewel" to cover it up later. Size the recess so that when finished, you will have about 1/16" of finial showing around the jewel.

Now take the cap/finial/band our of the collet chuck, and mount it between centers. I don't recall whether I made a center drilled threaded plug to screw into the cap threads, or just mounted the open end of the cap on the dead center. I know I made a plug for the barrel, as it was thinner where the section threads on. Anyway, I just turn to final dimensions between centers, with band and finial already mounted, so I can do it all in one go, and don't have to try to line things up in a collet in stages. Last steps are to turn a jewel to cover up the hole in the finial, and cut the slot for the clip to stick out of. I've done the slot with a file, or a Dremel cut off tool, but that's a little dicey, one slip and have to make a new cap.

I hope that all makes sense. It's a little more rigamarole to go through, but the advantage is being able to turn between centers, and not having to worry about alignment in a collet or mandrel. I do the barrels the same way, except the barrel finial is just glued in, not tapped.

Hope this gives you some ideas, just one of many ways of doing things.

Dan

 

[Dan_F]

See also this thread http://www.penturners.org/forum/f56/adding-clip-94535/

And this one http://www.penturners.org/forum/f56/just-another-way-making-pen-51646/

And this one http://www.penturners.org/forum/f56/making-accent-bands-pens-91842/

Dan

 

[watch_art]

Thanks!
I can't believe I don't have a dead center yet. That sounds crazy simple.

**runs off to internet store to buy a fat dead center**