Hi all
Once I decided to make a pen, my first task was to find someone who would sell me a nib, and ship overseas. I purchased a few from beartooth woods (great price + service). Unfortunately, nobody knew what the thread was! The seller didn't know... I asked here and nobody seemed to know... I took the nib to every engineering supply shop in the city and was met with blank stares!
On the advice of someone here, I contacted Elliot at penmakers, and got some of the brass threaded insert tubes - they fit perfectly!
The body is turned from aluminium (aluminum for my friends in the USA!). It's just hardware-store grade, nothing fancy.
The thread is 1/2" - .22 rifle silencer thread. It's quite coarse by pen standards, but I already had the tap and die, so no extra expense!
The completed body is sanded smooth, then polished with tripoli on a cotton buff. After a thorough clean with detergent and water, it's into the acid bath for 1 hour to be anodized. Out of the acid, a quick wash and into the dye for a few minutes. A quick boil to seal the colour in, and the body is done.
The brass insert tube is coated with Loctite, and pressed in.
Job done!
I'm pleased with:
Size, shape, weight and balance
The anodizing, mostly
Successful proof-of-concept - it appears I can build a pen!
What I will do differently next time:
Less threads - needs too many turns to remove cap
Quality of finish - some machining marks still show. I think a satin finish before anodizing would look awesome.
Some sort of pocket clip would be in order... !
Thanks to the penturners.org community for providing a wealth of info to learn from!
Pete
Once I decided to make a pen, my first task was to find someone who would sell me a nib, and ship overseas. I purchased a few from beartooth woods (great price + service). Unfortunately, nobody knew what the thread was! The seller didn't know... I asked here and nobody seemed to know... I took the nib to every engineering supply shop in the city and was met with blank stares!
On the advice of someone here, I contacted Elliot at penmakers, and got some of the brass threaded insert tubes - they fit perfectly!
The body is turned from aluminium (aluminum for my friends in the USA!). It's just hardware-store grade, nothing fancy.
The thread is 1/2" - .22 rifle silencer thread. It's quite coarse by pen standards, but I already had the tap and die, so no extra expense!
The completed body is sanded smooth, then polished with tripoli on a cotton buff. After a thorough clean with detergent and water, it's into the acid bath for 1 hour to be anodized. Out of the acid, a quick wash and into the dye for a few minutes. A quick boil to seal the colour in, and the body is done.
The brass insert tube is coated with Loctite, and pressed in.
Job done!
I'm pleased with:
Size, shape, weight and balance
The anodizing, mostly
Successful proof-of-concept - it appears I can build a pen!
What I will do differently next time:
Less threads - needs too many turns to remove cap
Quality of finish - some machining marks still show. I think a satin finish before anodizing would look awesome.
Some sort of pocket clip would be in order... !
Thanks to the penturners.org community for providing a wealth of info to learn from!
Pete
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