Its been quite awhile since Ive posted a pen and I need to get back in the swing of things. I generally keep a few Sierra Style kits on hand in case someone, (my wife for example) goes I need a pen tomorrow for oh say a Christmas gift drawing at work. I like the Stainless kits sold by McKinzie Penworks for the weight and quality. I have really liked the Coyoty click version with the Schmidt click mechanism. In the past I found the twist versions tend to stop retracting and extending because the brass tube wears and stops grabbing the transmission enough to work. I have also found that people that work in the field and not at a desk prefer click pens for one handed use.
I made a couple recently, one for my wife, one for her Christmas drawing, and a couple more just cause I could. The blue striped pen is the one I gave my wife for her use. The scale pattern is for a co worker of hers that she will give them after Christmas when she returns to work.
On the blue stripe pen I went with the manufactured dimenesions. Im not a fan, Its not that it doesnt work but I like a thicker bodied pen. A thicker body means less chance of the tube showing through or cracking or breaking of the blank. Thats just my preference.
The pen dimensions as manufactured has a .440 at the nose cone end. and .478 at the clip. I decided I wanted a larger body and ran off the the Hardware Store to buy some stainless steel washers. I bought bopth 1/4 and 5/16 washers, Std. 1/4 washer were perfect for what I wanted. 5/16 are to large inside diameters by a smidge.
I drilled out the 1/4 washer with an "S" drill bit and it fit perfectly, I then made a brass mandrel to mount them and cut them down to .494 on my metal lathe. I ran a file over one edge to round it off as well as making the transformation from blank to kit less noticable. Because the washers add .100 to the length I need to reduce the tube that much to keep the correct length for the pen to work. If you study the two pens you will see the extra washers on the pen with the scale pattern.
This is going to become my go to procedure when making these kits.
I made a couple recently, one for my wife, one for her Christmas drawing, and a couple more just cause I could. The blue striped pen is the one I gave my wife for her use. The scale pattern is for a co worker of hers that she will give them after Christmas when she returns to work.
On the blue stripe pen I went with the manufactured dimenesions. Im not a fan, Its not that it doesnt work but I like a thicker bodied pen. A thicker body means less chance of the tube showing through or cracking or breaking of the blank. Thats just my preference.
The pen dimensions as manufactured has a .440 at the nose cone end. and .478 at the clip. I decided I wanted a larger body and ran off the the Hardware Store to buy some stainless steel washers. I bought bopth 1/4 and 5/16 washers, Std. 1/4 washer were perfect for what I wanted. 5/16 are to large inside diameters by a smidge.
I drilled out the 1/4 washer with an "S" drill bit and it fit perfectly, I then made a brass mandrel to mount them and cut them down to .494 on my metal lathe. I ran a file over one edge to round it off as well as making the transformation from blank to kit less noticable. Because the washers add .100 to the length I need to reduce the tube that much to keep the correct length for the pen to work. If you study the two pens you will see the extra washers on the pen with the scale pattern.
This is going to become my go to procedure when making these kits.
