Titanium and Brass Pen (pic heavy)

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Tofty

Tofty

Member
Joined
Jul 18, 2011
Messages
6
Location
Surrey, UK
Hi all,
This is my first attempt at turning a pen which i think went ok.
The pens diameter is around 14mm and the construction is solid grade 5 titanium with CZ121 brass knurled sleeves and a hardened silver steel glass breaker on the tip.

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A bit of a departure from some of the more conventional writing instuments i'm sure you'll agree.

Any comments welcome,
Tofty
 
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Super awesome pen in my opinion. I could only nit pick that all the little side holes don't line up, but that's really minor. I love the shapes and contrast and decoration, heck, I wouldn't mind if I had to stare at your pen all day long! Welcome to the IAP too!
 
Thanks everyone,
Of course penturning is the pursuit of fuctional and asthetic perfection to satisfy the individual and a thousand artisans will come up with a thousand different interpretations of their own personal perfection. i wasn't attempting to imply my work is uniquely unique, but merely a departure dimensionaly relative to the more accepted proportions of the pen.

Weight wise it is quite heavy as the brass cancels out any savings in weight from using titanium leaving it weighing about the same as a steel pen of the same size. replacing the sleeves with anodised aluminium/magnesium/hard plastic/hard wood or even carbon fibre would make it a much more manageable weight but i really like the colour of the brass....at least for now, but since i haven't lock-tited it all together alterations are still very possible.
Having said all that the weight of it is actually quite reassuring especially in an emergency situation where its impact abilities were needed.

I decided from the start not to try and get the holes to line up as it requires control over exactly where the threads start which isnt really possible, alternatively i could have tried to cut the holes after fitting all the pieces but that would have been almost as difficult without damaging the body a fair amount while gripping it.
 
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Nice clean machine work Tony. I like the bevel on the parts. Is the titanium expensive material? I wouldn't even know where to get the stuff over here. Nice work!
 
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Thy is a great looking pen. I work with titanium fairly often at my work. You did an awesome job on this pen and the brass does look great. That is a great pen and safety pen
 
I like it. Very tactical looking. Switch the brass with carbon fiber and you could probably sell a few to the Formula 1 teams over there:biggrin:

Did you single point cut the threads or use a die? I'm assuming (which I know is dangerous) that you used a tap for internal threads?
 
Some people have been asking exactly how this pen is made, so this picture ought to help:

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The main body is a single piece of turned titanium with the brass sections just being sleeves that can be easily changed. They are partially threaded so that the drilled titanium nut isnt the only thing holding it in place.
The cap is a little different as the top titanium piece acts as a bolt that secures the pocket clip, another drilled nut and the top section of the brass tube that acts as a stuctural component down to the main bodies thread
All parts were turned from round bar stock with everything silver being made of titanium except the glass breaker point which is threaded and screwed into place.

Titanium is quite expensive but i only buy small amounts off ebay, the titanium stock cost was about £45 with a fair amount left over, in fact i couldn't get 14mm rod so i had to get 16mm, but when it arived it was actually 19mm so i had a lot of wasteful machining to do before i could start.

More than a day? more like a solid week, cutting threads in titanium is no fun. I used taps and a die on both the M7 and M10x1.25 threads, i could have used a single point on the main body thread but the set up is a hassle. I have tap and die holding tools for the lathe to make sure they cut straight which makes it alot easier.

I plan on experimenting with other materials for the sleeves starting with copper.
 
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Looks nice. If you really wanted to line holes up, all it would take is some fine sanding of the brass sleeves if that's what you stay with. A couple thousands would be enough to align the holes right up.
 
The clip was rough shaped from 1mm ti plate with a step drill and hacksaw then heated with a blowlamp and beaten into shape. Its not perfectly straight but sometimes you just gotta know when to give in as it'll never get any better.
It's actually not a bad clip and goes over jean pocket edges fine while never feeling like its going to deform. Alot better than i expected it to perform.

As for the holes, yes the two end nuts couod be lined up that way but the cap would be a lot harder as i couldn't skim the pocket clip in the same way.
Anyway i'll keep it in mind for any others i make, but i have a feeling it would look worse if the holes lined up and one was a tiny bit out rather than the way it is now so i'd have to be incredably careful.

Thanks everyone
 
Very cool pen/personal protection device! Your planning must have taken a while, your execution is well done. The materials look very good together and the knurling adds a lot to the design. Your photos are spot on.

Original, interesting, functional, well designed and good-looking - congratulations on a great pen!
 
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