I too think it is the pie plates. Try another source for aluminum.
I am still turning simple pens. I went to your website and your segmentations are outstanding. Can you just tell me how you square your wood or whatever? Table saw? Chop saw? I have been experimenting with a wide blade on my band saw but it just doesn't work. The first problem I have is starting with a squared up side on a tiny blank.
Carmen
Just tonight I was cussing under my breath about my inability to square up my latest pen blank... sometimes I nail it and get it square and keep it that way and other times (like tonight) I can't get it square for nuthin!
If you don't own an engineer's square, go get a small one. Make sure it's one of those heavy ones from India or even the more expensive USA made ones. It won't be cheap, but it's an indispensable tool. I check my blanks as I build them with this tool on the X, Y, and Z axis.
For squaring, I use a table saw with an 80 kerf blade, a home-made sled, and an Incra jig screwed down to it. I can slice totally square and ultra thin slices of materials and do it in repeated fashion if I need to do it. I'll take pix of it and post it here so you can see what it looks like.
I also use my table top disc/belt sander to grind material down to proper angles, but you gotta be so careful because every half second shaves off tons of material. I've screwed up lots of work with the sander.
BTW, the pen in question (pie tin) was completed tonight after it repeatedly blew apart at every single stage of the process. What a pain in the butt. It's also nice enough for my private collection, but not really nice enough to sell for the amount of time I put into it... I've got nearly 15 hours in it and I don't think I could get more than $125 for it, so it will stay in my case for show.
I'll post pix of the pen here too.