Scalloped pen take 2

[Angela S]

So I made a new sled for my table saw and attempted the scalloped pen again. I tried a steeper angle which definitely helped. I forgot to take a picture of it when it was just round. But it looked so neat with About 6 stripes in the spectraply.

C&C always welcome.

 

[Dalecamino]

Looks good to me!

 

[Alan Morrison]

Neat scallops

 

[mark james]

Well done Angela .

Scallops are pretty fussy buggers. Very challenging to get the angles correct, the spacing aligned, and the tips of the scallops to be at the same dimension from the ends. You have done extremely well.

This kit also is notorious for having a small amount of material at the ends, so your efforts to keep it intact should be commended. (I actually do like this kit for segmenting, but typically use end caps, and my segmenting ends 1/4" - 3/8" up the blank. I have more margin of error). So ya dun well!

I am enjoying your designs - looks like you are having fun.

 

[Angela S]

This kit also is notorious for having a small amount of material at the ends, so your efforts to keep it intact should be commended. (I actually do like this kit for segmenting, but typically use end caps, and my segmenting ends 1/4" - 3/8" up the blank. I have more margin of error). So ya dun well!

Thanks Mark. It has been a lot of fun. I am going to miss having all the free time to make pens once school starts back up.

I am not sure what you mean by this part of the your comment that I put in bold.

Angela

 

[John Eldeen]

Angela this is a vast improvement from your first go. Well done I meant to take a picture of my sled for your last post but here it is now. There is a couple of thing I really like on this sled. First is it has no slop in the tracks at all also the main fence is as perfectly square as possible. Second the t-tracks are really nice to have for different jigs and such. For the segmenting the adjustable fence is great. I set my angles off of the main fence. The little hold down clamps I picked up from Amazon for $10 for 5 of them. They work great and keep your fingers out of the danger zone. Hope this helps with some ideas for you and you process.

 

[magpens]

I am sure Mark will answer. . However, I will add my $0.02.

The reason I don't use the Executive pen kit more often is that the material at the nib end becomes so thin as you turn down to the bushing size.
I would think that could become a challenge when doing scallops like you show.

You have done an outstanding job and the resulting pen is very attractive !! . Keep up the experimentation !! . It is fun to follow your progress !!

 

[Angela S]

I am sure Mark will answer. . However, I will add my $0.02.

The reason I don't use the Executive pen kit more often is that the material at the nib end becomes so thin as you turn down to the bushing size.
I would think that could become a challenge when doing scallops like you show.

You have done an outstanding job and the resulting pen is very attractive !! . Keep up the experimentation !! . It is fun to follow your progress !!

Thanks that is helpful

 

[Angela S]

Angela this is a vast improvement from your first go. Well done I meant to take a picture of my sled for your last post but here it is now. There is a couple of thing I really like on this sled. First is it has no slop in the tracks at all also the main fence is as perfectly square as possible. Second the t-tracks are really nice to have for different jigs and such. For the segmenting the adjustable fence is great. I set my angles off of the main fence. The little hold down clamps I picked up from Amazon for $10 for 5 of them. They work great and keep your fingers out of the danger zone. Hope this helps with some ideas for you and you process.

John,

Thanks. Having a dedicated sled to cut angles helped. Your sled is great! I will most likely get to that point in the future. I like your t-track system. I am I just made a sled with a fixed 45 and 60 degree cut with some scraps I had laying around. I wish I had put a fence square so I didn't have to switch out sleds to cut the blank to length.

 

[mark james]

Thanks that is helpful

Hi Angela, Mal knows where I was heading!

The Outer diameter of the bushing, minus the outer diameter of the tube, divided by 2 equals the amount of "material" available for us to play with (easier than abstract harmonic analysis, Doc!).

So, some examples:

Executive Kit: .420" - .368" = .052"/2 = .026" (to play with).
Sierra (Berea): .474" - .410" = .064"/2 = .032"
Knurl: .472" - .368" = .104"/2 = .051"
Sierra Vista (Berea): .551" - .410" = .141"/2 = .070"

Please check my math, not my strong suit! But you get the idea - you picked a very nice kit, but one that has a small amount of material at the ends. I compensate with end caps. You can also have a pronounced bevel to the profile. You chose to have a fairly even match to the bushing OD - KUDOS, as you had a small margin of error.

Again, well done and I really welcome your creativity!

 

[jttheclockman]

I do not agree that scallops are fussy but the set up needs to be accurate and the drilling needs to be done dead center of the design. I shown this as one of my failures some time ago but that was because I tried using CA to glue metal to wood. That is a huge no no to me.. Some people say they get away with it but here is proof it did not work for me. Won't go into the whys but the purpose of showing you this photo is to show you the witness lines. They are dead center on a absolute square blank. 1" X 1" I feel it is much easier to do these as a square. You will also notice the point of those cuts is dead center of that blank making all those cuts equal all around. Now Skiprat has shown in your other thread that he does his on the lathe in the round but he is using a metal lathe and is set up with router to do that. You are not far off but you can see your center scallop is off center. This tells me the blank was either not true square or you did not drill dead center. But if you did not drill center the scallops would be longer on one side and if they are equal that tells me the blank was not square. You need to place the blank in your jig exactly the same as you rotate all 4 sides. I have included my sled which again I have shown. I use the solid version instead of variable because I know it is dead on every time and do not have to dial in angles for doing work like this. I have other sleds for those times when I need to vary angles. keep at it and you are progressing nicely and as you see the long scallops look better.

I have included a cut off jig that I attach to my miter gauge or have a dedicated sled like this just for cutting ends and small pieces. The key to making these type sleds and I have discussed this many times before here, is that every fence and every cut comes off the blade. The fence is set up with relation to the blade. Not the miter slots, not the edge of the saw table, or by some random marks. To be accurate they come off the blade. Very important. !!!

 

[mark james]

Angela this is a vast improvement from your first go. Well done I meant to take a picture of my sled for your last post but here it is now. There is a couple of thing I really like on this sled. First is it has no slop in the tracks at all also the main fence is as perfectly square as possible. Second the t-tracks are really nice to have for different jigs and such. For the segmenting the adjustable fence is great. I set my angles off of the main fence. The little hold down clamps I picked up from Amazon for $10 for 5 of them. They work great and keep your fingers out of the danger zone. Hope this helps with some ideas for you and you process.

NIce jig John!

 

[Angela S]

Hi Angela, Mal knows where I was heading!

The Outer diameter of the bushing, minus the outer diameter of the tube, divided by 2 equals the amount of "material" available for us to play with (easier than abstract harmonic analysis, Doc!).

So, some examples:

Executive Kit: .420" - .368" = .052"/2 = .026" (to play with).
Sierra (Berea): .474" - .410" = .064"/2 = .032"
Knurl: .472" - .368" = .104"/2 = .051"
Sierra Vista (Berea): .551" - .410" = .141"/2 = .070"

Please check my math, not my strong suit! But you get the idea - you picked a very nice kit, but one that has a small amount of material at the ends. I compensate with end caps. You can also have a pronounced bevel to the profile. You chose to have a fairly even match to the bushing OD - KUDOS, as you had a small margin of error.

Again, well done and I really welcome your creativity!

Thanks for the explanation. That isn't something that I had considered even thinking about.

 

[Aces-High]

One thing that I struggled with when I started segmenting was that my blank had to be 100% square. If i was working with a blank that I cut myself from a larger piece of wood, my tools were not accurate enought to achieve that.

 

[jttheclockman]

One thing that I struggled with when I started segmenting was that my blank had to be 100% square. If i was working with a blank that I cut myself from a larger piece of wood, my tools were not accurate enought to achieve that.

Really not hard to do. Basic woodworking always start with one side true and every other side is referenced off that one side. Tablesaw is a great tool for this.

 

[thomgarner]

Angela great work and I really like the scallops. You did a fantastic job. I am reading up on the process and hope to attempt the technique soon.