I posted these pictures in my welcome thread, but then I saw this forum. I figure I am more likely to get feedback here.
This is the first pen I have made. It is made from ebonite and silver. It was also my first endeavor in making things out of silver. I made a small brass insert for the section because I wanted to use a threaded converter and I also wanted to limit the pen's diameter to 14mm. Trying to do both caused the wall of the threaded portion of the section to be too thin, so I made the brass insert because it can handle having a wall thickness < 0.5mm. The section to barrel thread is M9x0.75 and the cap thread is M12x0.75. I'd love to have a triple start tap/die for the cap, but I don't plan on selling these, so I really can't justify spending the money on that.
I think I am going to remake the cap because in bright light the middle of it is slightly brown. I'm not sure if it was just a bad section in the ebonite or if I got it too hot while turning, but none of the other black parts had that happen. I tried sanding it down a bit, but it appears to be brown all the way through. I also didn't follow my original plan of making the ring for the clip first, turning the cap to be flush with the ring, and then soldering the clip portion onto the ring last. I was impatient and too excited to try out my clip idea that I completely assembled the clip before turning the cap. Then when I turned the cap, the clip ring ended up being slightly proud of the cap surface. I would prefer everything be smooth as you run your fingers down it. Another thing I would do differently are the threads on the barrel. I made the barrel flush with them because I think it looks really good, but after adding the cap, I think having a very slight step at the base of the threads would make it look better when capped.
The whole thing definitely took some trial and error.
This is the first pen I have made. It is made from ebonite and silver. It was also my first endeavor in making things out of silver. I made a small brass insert for the section because I wanted to use a threaded converter and I also wanted to limit the pen's diameter to 14mm. Trying to do both caused the wall of the threaded portion of the section to be too thin, so I made the brass insert because it can handle having a wall thickness < 0.5mm. The section to barrel thread is M9x0.75 and the cap thread is M12x0.75. I'd love to have a triple start tap/die for the cap, but I don't plan on selling these, so I really can't justify spending the money on that.
I think I am going to remake the cap because in bright light the middle of it is slightly brown. I'm not sure if it was just a bad section in the ebonite or if I got it too hot while turning, but none of the other black parts had that happen. I tried sanding it down a bit, but it appears to be brown all the way through. I also didn't follow my original plan of making the ring for the clip first, turning the cap to be flush with the ring, and then soldering the clip portion onto the ring last. I was impatient and too excited to try out my clip idea that I completely assembled the clip before turning the cap. Then when I turned the cap, the clip ring ended up being slightly proud of the cap surface. I would prefer everything be smooth as you run your fingers down it. Another thing I would do differently are the threads on the barrel. I made the barrel flush with them because I think it looks really good, but after adding the cap, I think having a very slight step at the base of the threads would make it look better when capped.
The whole thing definitely took some trial and error.
