Wood pen wall thickness?

[Hippie3180]

Now that I'm going down the rabbit hole of wood pens, I have questions. My cap threads are 13mm, so I'm wondering what the avg wall thickness is for wood handcrafted fountains? I think I may need a smaller drill for my wood cap and body so I can make my sleeve diameter a bit smaller to increase my wood wall thickness, I'm wondering what the normal/average thickness is?

 

[Fred Bruche]

For the "style" I've been working on (to eventually develop to make them as identical as possible and call it a model, like the pro makers do), I aim for a cap outer diameter of 15.3mm +/- 0.05mm at the widest (body/cap junction) for an inner drilled diameter at that location of 14mm. Thus a wood thickness of about 0.65mm; this is the thinnest the wood gets in the entire pen for this style. The cap threads are M13x0.8T.

 

[Hippie3180]

For the "style" I've been working on (to eventually develop to make them as identical as possible and call it a model, like the pro makers do), I aim for a cap outer diameter of 15.3mm +/- 0.05mm at the widest (body/cap junction) for an inner drilled diameter at that location of 14mm. Thus a wood thickness of about 0.65mm; this is the thinnest the wood gets in the entire pen for this style. The cap threads are M13x0.8T.

It's so crazy how the wood is like the thinnest veneer,right? That is super thin.

Are you using a wood or metal lathe? I'm on a wood lathe.

 

[Fred Bruche]

It's so crazy how the wood is like the thinnest veneer,right? That is super thin.

Are you using a wood or metal lathe? I'm on a wood lathe.

I'm on a wood lathe as well.
I went through similar issues you are uncovering and have described here and in previous posts. I "wasted" a lot of time testing the limits of what I could do and shouldn't pursue, eventually getting to a point where I was reasonably confident I would get a pen at the end of hours spent on making it. There are still bumps but like they say, sometimes you win, sometimes you learn.

 

[Hippie3180]

I'm on a wood lathe as well.
I went through similar issues you are uncovering and have described here and in previous posts. I "wasted" a lot of time testing the limits of what I could do and shouldn't pursue, eventually getting to a point where I was reasonably confident I would get a pen at the end of hours spent on making it. There are still bumps but like they say, sometimes you win, sometimes you learn.

This.

So many hours last summer in the 100 degree garage…learning. Making pens over and over…repetition is the key for me.

 

[d_bondi]

Hi Michele,

I am also using a M13x0.8 tap for the cap. For the few I have made so far, the largest bit I use to drill the cap out is 37/64" which is 14.72mm. The smallest cap diameter at the threads has been 15.65mm. This leaves 0.93mm total, so 0.465mm thickness of wood around the sleeve at the thinnest point. As I think I shared in another post, I am step drilling my cap blank in 3 steps so that I have some room to taper the cap.

For the barrel, I am using a M10x1tap. The largest bit used here is 15/32" which is 11.97mm and the smallest barrel diameter at the threads has been 14.36mm. This leaves 2.39mm total, so 1.195mm thickness of wood around the sleeve at the thinnest point, not nearly as thin as on the cap. Like my caps, I step drill the barrel, but only 2 steps (smaller for the part of the converter that turns) which again allows me some wiggle room to taper them.

The above are for the smallest of the few I have made. The first of them was the narrowest and I have been leaving a little more meat on the bones as I like the look, but still, the tolerances are very tight here, I can see how easy it would be to go right through.

David

 

[Hippie3180]

Hi Michele,

I am also using a M13x0.8 tap for the cap. For the few I have made so far, the largest bit I use to drill the cap out is 37/64" which is 14.72mm. The smallest cap diameter at the threads has been 15.65mm. This leaves 0.93mm total, so 0.465mm thickness of wood around the sleeve at the thinnest point. As I think I shared in another post, I am step drilling my cap blank in 3 steps so that I have some room to taper the cap.

For the barrel, I am using a M10x1tap. The largest bit used here is 15/32" which is 11.97mm and the smallest barrel diameter at the threads has been 14.36mm. This leaves 2.39mm total, so 1.195mm thickness of wood around the sleeve at the thinnest point, not nearly as thin as on the cap. Like my caps, I step drill the barrel, but only 2 steps (smaller for the part of the converter that turns) which again allows me some wiggle room to taper them.

The above are for the smallest of the few I have made. The first of them was the narrowest and I have been leaving a little more meat on the bones as I like the look, but still, the tolerances are very tight here, I can see how easy it would be to go right through.

David

Helpful information, thank you. I've learned wood variances matter too, dense wood less likely to sand through, you gotta watch the soft stuff.

 

[d_bondi]

Helpful information, thank you. I've learned wood variances matter too, dense wood less likely to sand through, you gotta watch the soft stuff.

I didn't think about the wood density/hardness, but you are right there for sure. So far I have been working with very hard woods, probably saved me

 

[Pierre---]

For me, it depends if the cap is sleeved or not : Unsleeved, wall thickness is 1mm or more, so for a M13, cap OD is 15mm, 15.5 is safer. I can make the wood thinner, but I would not bet on a long lifetime. I sometime use M12, then cap OD is 14/14.5mm.
If sleeved, M13 means that cap OD is at least 16mm : the wood can be thinner than 1mm here because it is glued on the sleeve.

 

[Hippie3180]

For me, it depends if the cap is sleeved or not : Unsleeved, wall thickness is 1mm or more, so for a M13, cap OD is 15mm, 15.5 is safer. I can make the wood thinner, but I would not bet on a long lifetime. I sometime use M12, then cap OD is 14/14.5mm.
If sleeved, M13 means that cap OD is at least 16mm : the wood can be thinner than 1mm here because it is glued on the sleeve.

I'm just so in awe of how very thin the wall actually is, honestly, I was worried I wasn't doing things right, but turns out I am-it's just so wild..less than 1mm.

 

[Pierre---]

When straight-grained, wood is incredibly sturdy. It helps to turn other things than pens to know what you can and can't do: this trembleur is less than 1 mm thick.