Ready or not ... I had to show this ...

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magpens

magpens

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... because Sandsini was in the same line of work and posted already this morning !!

This is my first attempt at a kitless. . I used a 5" Alumilite blank so being limited by the available length, the cap is a bit shorter than I would like.

I chose to "copy" an El Grande because it seemed fairly easy with the tools I have (taps and dies).

Like Sandsini, I kept it very functional, straight lined and square shouldered.

I didn't make the section ... it's borrowed from an El Grande kit.

The cap and body are not flush, and overall it's a bit on the fat side. Plus it is unpolished but I like the matte look. . All of that can change at a whim !

I decided to make it postable as you can see.

I can still change a few things, like adding a clip and a feature cap to extend the length of the screw-on cap.

This being my first kitless is a practice pen and I won't say what mistakes I made ! . Not the same finesse as Eric's posted this morning but it's a start ! I must say that I had a lot of fun making it up to this point.

As always, C & C are very welcome.

 
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Congratulations Mal!

Honestly I didn't think I was up to making the section but the 10 x 1 tap for the El Grande section didn't arrive until after I started working on the pen. I would have much preferred to take the challenge of the section and postpone it a week or so!

Anyway your pen looks great and you made it post! Very cool.
 
WOW!! You just walked right up to the edge there...and jumped!! Eyes wide open and all. Way to go. Happy day for you. Scary day for me. :eek:

Why scary for me? One less person in line in front of me before I take the plunge. :eek::eek::rolleyes:

Nice job on your first effort, and may there be many more as your skills develop. :smile::smile:
 
Well, Chris ... truth be known ... I *did* have an extra blank !

But I measured carefully and set myself the challenge of doing this first kitless with just one blank.

I have an existing El Grande assembled, and measurements showed I could do it with a slightly shortened cap.

So, I turned the whole 5 1/4" blank round, then used a parting tool to cut into 2 pieces, the longer of which was just a few thou longer than the minimum necessary for the lower barrel. The shorter piece was for the upper barrel (cap), of course. I did not ever need to shorten either piece.

Needless to say, I drilled the two pieces very carefully to the correct depth based on my measurements of the existing El Grande pen.

My finished pen, closed, measures 4 15/16" long. Screwing the cap on results in the threaded ends overlapping by 3/16".
So the total material length is 4 15/16 + 3/16 = 5 1/8", just 1/8" short of the blank's starting length. . The 1/8" missing from the blank's starting length is the width of the parting tool !

The kit pen has an overall length of 5 3/8". . Its cap is 7/16" longer than my kitless cap. Everything is accounted for !

Next time I make one of these, I will make the cap longer by adding a clip and a contrast band at one end or the other. . I try to get as much mileage as I can out of each blank !
 
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Congratulations! on your 1st kitless. Using up the whole blank is a good thing in my opinion..throw in a couple 1/4" finials of contrasting color and you have a normal size pen.
 
Thanks for the postive comments, "likes", and encouragement, everybody !!! :smile::smile:
 
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