Staying organized during turning process

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paulbt1975

paulbt1975

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Joined
Jul 6, 2023
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111
Location
Winthrop Harbor, Il
I have seen many different ideas on keeping bushings, kits together. I am trying to figure a better way to keep things organized during the making of a pen or multiple pens. I started to mark the bags with painters tape as to which blank that kit belongs to. I work on drilling blanks then I glue them at let them sit over night. I thought my process was working but last night I tried to put together a 4 way pen and I couldn't get it together, the blank was too small! I can't figure out what happened the only thing I can think of is I perhaps had started to make a cigar pen and possibly got a barrel mixed up for the 4 way pen. Hope all this makes sense, does anyone have any suggestions on how to keep things organized as they make a pen? Maybe I am trying to work on too many at a time. Do you use maybe a tray or something to keep things organized, I usually just keep the kit in the original bag (tube of course now glued into blank. I hope this all makes sense again any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated and I am just interested in how everyone keeps things organized during the process. Sometimes I can go days between gluing up to actually turning the pen.
 
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I am not a, for profit, pen maker (I dont mass produce). I am a retired Manufacturing Engineer. If I was going to do something like that, I would probably make a set up like a tray that would have sections just large enough to hold the kit parts (probably still in the bag). Glue a dowel (glued vertical in each section) that would allow me to store the drilled blank (or the barrel inserted blank, or the turned and finished blank) all in one spot. That tray would have 10-15 sections (or as many as I would be starting). That would keep all the parts and pieces together with the blank.
Or buy (make) some containers that would attach by hanging from the back and make a stacked carousel to hold them all.
Shop Hardware Storage
DIY Hardware Storage
 
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I separate the kits and put them in the deli meat boxes which I believe are Hillshire products. I include a sticky note with the drill bit size, blank and the folded instruction sheet if it's only one style. If doing several styles as Slimline, the instruction sheet is put on a clipboard and hung over the workbench.
Organizing kits.jpg
 
I have small pencil boxes that hold a single kit & blank. They're numbered 1-24, and I also write the number, species, and kit on both halves of the blank in case something drops before I've started turning.
 
paulbt1975 said:
I have seen many different ideas on keeping bushings, kits together. I am trying to figure a better way to keep things organized during the making of a pen or multiple pens. I started to mark the bags with painters tape as to which blank that kit belongs to. I work on drilling blanks then I glue them at let them sit over night. I thought my process was working but last night I tried to put together a 4 way pen and I couldn't get it together, the blank was too small! I can't figure out what happened the only thing I can think of is I perhaps had started to make a cigar pen and possibly got a barrel mixed up for the 4 way pen. Hope all this makes sense, does anyone have any suggestions on how to keep things organized as they make a pen? Maybe I am trying to work on too many at a time. Do you use maybe a tray or something to keep things organized, I usually just keep the kit in the original bag (tube of course now glued into blank. I hope this all makes sense again any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated and I am just interested in how everyone keeps things organized during the process. Sometimes I can go days between gluing up to actually turning the pen.
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I use the clear tubes from uline. I cut the tag off the bag and use packing tape to affix to the tube.
 
Similar to the above, I use trays. Mine are 3"x6"x2" and 3"x9"x2" acrylic drawer organizers. I put the kit, kit bag, blank cut offs, bushings etc in the tray until I'm done. At 2" deep they are reasonably stackable with the parts in in case I need to set them all aside for a bit. I also have a stack of takeout containers for larger jobs.
 
I don't do "production" quantities, I generally only have somewhere between 1 and 3 pens at any stage of progress at any given time.

What works for me is keeping my bushings in plastic box with dividers, and each "cell" labeled with the bushing type. While the blank is not on the lathe, it's sitting right next to or inside of the ziplock bag the kit came in. I don't take the components out of the plastic bag until I'm assembling the pen. Don't think I've ever gotten things mixed up using this method. Might not scale well if I was trying to make 10 different types of pens at the same time.
 
BHuij, I will put the components in the storage "box" and make sure I have everything in the kit. BTW, I will also measure the components with calipers to determine the diameter of parts that meet the blank/blanks. I record them on a $$$ Tree dry erase board for reference while turning as I'm getting away from bushings.
When assembling, I lay out the parts on the lid according to the photo in the instructions. If it's really complicated, I call on my wife as a consultant to assist me.
 
I also don't do "production line" quantities with kit pens, but when I have more than one going, I use sandwich bags. I just keep the kit and blank in the sandwich bag throughout the process.
 
d_bondi said:
I also don't do "production line" quantities with kit pens, but when I have more than one going, I use sandwich bags. I just keep the kit and blank in the sandwich bag throughout the process.
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raising my hand for sandwich bags. I reuse the bags that come with my orders from Exotic Blanks. If I'm doing a "run" then I'll put the components and blanks in the baggie and use a sharpie along with (sometimes) painters tape to keep things straight.

I've found a few times a year where I'm drilling or doing something for several pens at once and will try to do all of the same style at the same time so I can't confuse the bushings.

Along those lines, the only time I have more than one set of bushings out is when I realize I haven't put away a set. I try not to have more than one out a time.
 
I don't do large numbers of pens at once. I use little plastic boxes I bought from Amazon. I do as someone above said and cut the label from the bag the pan came in, put the parts in the box along with the blank materials and a sticky note with the species or other blank description. It works for me, keeps me from getting confused.

Mike
 
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