My Latest Pen...

[CameronPotter]

Hi all,

Here is my new favouritest pen (until the next one I make)...;)

Same block of pseudomicarta as my present avatar...

Cam

[ss_11000]

wicked cool stuff. what pen kit is it ( looks like the expensive one from ct? )also, what finish are u using on your homebrew stuff

[CameronPotter]

It is the RL 101. Not that expensive.

As for finish, all I need is every grade of wet and dry (sanded wet) then finish with EEE.

Voila!

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

It may be a cheap(ish) pen kit, but it's a goodie. :)

Some of my better profit margins, pen-wise, came from matching it with a clutch-pencil kit, using the old red'n'gold (no longer available :( ) crushed velvet blanks.

If ever find another source of the blanks, I'm gonna by a palette load... and the kits!

[ss_11000]

thanx cam

[CameronPotter]

Yeah, I really like it. I quite like the look of the pen 2 kit, but as the lid won't go on the end of the pen I find that to be a bit annoying.

Thus, I must say I really like this one (first RL 101 I have made) - and it is super easy to make too.

As for the clutch pencil - do you mean the wood workers one where you get lead that are several mms thick? That seems like a strange combination - but obviously one that worked for you.

Now I just need to find a way to make a little money for myself from this kind of thing. :confused:

Cam

[Nuggett]

Hi Cam.
Very Nice work.How do you cut the notch for the pocket clip? Mine's done after the finish with a Dremel -but I'd love to find a jig that would produce the same results every time.

Regards Nuggett:)

[CameronPotter]

Thanks Nuggett. The problem with a Dremel is that it leaves rounded edges. There is an easy jig that I have heard about (gluing block of wood to a file of the right thickness to set the depth, then just filing the hole).

However, I do it by hand using jeweller's files. Much more accurate.

I reckon you would need a magnifying glass to see any gaps around the join - but then I am a damned perfectionist... :o

Cam

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

As for the clutch pencil - do you mean the wood workers one where you get lead that are several mms thick? That seems like a strange combination - but obviously one that worked for you.

No, 'tis a std. clutch pencil, the fittings matched to the RL-101. There's also a fountain pen to the series, which went down well with my older customers. All 3 make for a very classy set but are hard to find/make a decent presentation box for.

I just tried doing a search on p/t paradise and a couplke of other sites to find the part #'s but no-one seems to carry 'em now!?? :confused: Don't tell me they've gone the way of my favourite blanks? :(

[CameronPotter]

Sorry Skew, but I am afraid so...

I guessed the other kind of mechanical pencil as I have never seen an RL 101 style pencil (or fountain pen - although the Pen 3 looks similar).

However, you could do a pencil mod. by chopping up all kinds of bits and pieces...

Hmmm...

Cam

[bdar]

Skew go to Carroll's site www.cws.au.co They have both styles, Pen 2 Roller Ball 5 for $20, Pen 3 Fountain Pen for $8 each, RL101 Roller Ball 5 for $26 and RL102 Fountain Pen for $11 each. Gary Pye do the RL101/RL102 but are out of stock at the moment. Carb-a-tec's catalouge has the RL101 Roller Ball 5 for $26 or 50 for $229 and Pen 2 Roller Ball 5 for $26 or 50 for $175 and Pen 3 Fountain Pen $8 each or 10 for $60. There are still a few places that cary all or some, hope this was some help for you Skew.
Cheers
Darren

[CameronPotter]

I must have missed the RL 102 (mind you I wasn't looking for it so that isn't surprising. However, Bdar, your post doesn't mention the RL mechanical pencil - which is what Skew was after I think.

Cheers

Cam

[bdar]

Cam, no such thing as a RL mechanical pencil, I've been mucking around with pens for 26 years and have not seen any in that time. What I think Skew was mentioning that he did what I did, match the RL's with the slim line mechanical pencil with similar clip design. Skew said it was a standard cluch pencil with fittings to match the RL's. Yeah I started turning when I was 12 , simillar age to SS_11000, but one thing he is doing a better job at 12 than I did. Keep it up SS
Bdar
Sorry SS I just saw that your age is 14 mate sorry about that. Still it is good to see a young fellow getting into it early

[ss_11000]

Yeah I started turning when I was 12 , simillar age to SS_11000, but one thing he is doing a better job at 12 than I did. Keep it up SS
Bdar

thanx..................did u get into it at school or saw some work?

[bdar]

Hey SS how are you mate? Yeah started at school, sort of. We weren't allowed to use the lathe until grade 10 so every time I was in the workshop in grade 8 & 9 I 'd be at the lathe and find myself in detention for not doing what the teachers wanted me to do. So I bought my first lathe just after I turned 12. I have 5 different lathes now.

[ss_11000]

bdar, dont suppose they left u unattended in detention next to a lathe did they

[bdar]

Hey Stirlo have you been to The Pen Shop at all, they are a great bunch check it out it's www.thepenshop.net all you have to do is register, doesn't cost anything to join. If you do then you have to check out Eagle's gallery, he has turned his pens into works of art.
Cheers
Darren

[ss_11000]

looks like a good site, i'll check it out properly tommorow


ps...sorry cam for hijacking your thread

[bdar]

No mate opposite side of the school, but always had a diamond hone in my pocket. I think the teachers hated the fact that I could sharpen the chisels better than they could. If you ever want to email me feel free.

[ss_11000]

. If you ever want to email me feel free.

rightio

[bdar]

Hey Cam sorry bout' the hijack, it is great to talk with a young fellow that is interested in turning. A lot of them think it is an old person's hobby, which it is not. On you pen, I really like what you are doing there. Have you thought of trying a closed end form of it, I think it would really show the layers of fabric like the end grain of timber. I am working on an all paper pen blank, hopefully it won't blow up when put chisel to paper. We'll see how it goes.
Cheers
Darren

[CameronPotter]

Hey Guys, don't worry about hijacking - that is the norm here isn't it? It is when a post doesn't get hijacked I get concerned! :p

As for a closed ended pen... it is on the to do list. I think that I will use a Pen 2 kit and try turning it closed ended. However, how is this done? I know that you still use a mandrel, but it obviously doesn't go all the way through. How do you make the lathe still impart the spin to the blank - any tips?

Cheers

Cam

[ss_11000]

www.thepenshop.net (http://www.thepenshop.net) you have to check out Eagle's gallery, he has turned his pens into works of art.
Cheers
Darren

your not wrong..... how the hell do u turn a pen like that
http://www.thepenshop.net/forum/forum_photos.asp?Eagle

everybody (if u want to), look at the first pen in the link

[bdar]

Hi Cam on the site I told Stirlo about, there is a guy called Fangar and he makes pin chucks for Barons, Jr Gents and Jr Statesman pens, I adapted the idea to the RL pens and made mine out of some boxwood. You turn a mandrel to fit up the tube of the roller ball about 2" long and enough length to hold in a collet or jacobs chuck then I cut a keyway about 1" long in the middle of the pin that fits into the tube. I cut an 1 1/2" nail for the pin. When you slide the tube onto the mandrel have the pin top center and then twist the tube and in theory it will lock the tube in place so you can work the closed end. I still use the tailstock for support until final finishing. So any pen with a cap and seperate barrel you can create a pin chuck for. You just have to work out how far to drill the blank so the hardware will still fit up. I use Pens 2&3 for closed end pens because they are cheaper to buy and I cut the tube to the same length as the RL101/2 tubes. I drill the length of the RL101/2 tube and the the rest of the way that just fit the spring and ink cartridge to gain a bit of weight in the end of the pen. Sorry for the length Cam, if you know anyone with a metal lathe you are in business
Cheers
Darren

[dazzler]

What language are u lot using:confused:

cool pen cam:D

cheers

dazzler

[bdar]

Hey Dazzler you tells us the words and we will try to translate
Cheers mate
Darren

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

You turn a mandrel to fit up the tube of the roller ball about 2" long and enough length to hold in a collet or jacobs chuck then I cut a keyway about 1" long in the middle of the pin that fits into the tube. I cut an 1 1/2" nail for the pin. When you slide the tube onto the mandrel have the pin top center and then twist the tube and in theory it will lock the tube in place so you can work the closed end.

Interesting idea!

I approached it from a different angle... I had a mate turn down the end of #2 MT so I could mount the mandrel and still fit my chuck (Teknatool's Midi Precision & std. pin-jaws) over it. I fitted a normal mandrel shaft and then cut it to length, so just over half the length of a tube extends past the end of the pin-jaws.

The mandrel simply centres the tube, while the pin-jaws hold it. This only lets me turn the closed end, but after doing that I simply mount both tubes on the normal mandrel with suitable bushings & tailstock support to turn the band-end and other half of the blank as per normal. It works for me, anyway. :)

[CameronPotter]

Bdar,

That sounds like it would create an off centre way to hold the wood. ie Where the pin slides down the side of the homemade mandrel, the blank would be slightly off centre - or have I misunderstood?

Also, how exactly would you take it off the chuck again?

Skew, as for your way, how can you slide it onto a "normal" mandrel (as the tail end is closed)...

Cam

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Skew, as for your way, how can you slide it onto a "normal" mandrel (as the tail end is closed)...

I slide it on until the closed section hits the end. I measure the length of exposed mandrel, remove the blanks and add bushes to take up the gap. Replace the blanks and bring up the tailstock with a small bit of protective scrap, dimpled to both protect and centre the end of the pen. I use a bit of 1/4" ply for this.

It's the tailstock pressure rather than the mandrel nut which provides the "grip" to spin the blanks. Not as secure a grip as usual, but more than enough to finish the pen. The mandrel does have to be dead straight, of course. But if you're working with one that's bent... you're not really making good pens in the first place, eh? ;)

[bdar]

Cam the pin chuck fits inside the tube and the pin in the key way is top dead center so the tube should slid on the mandrel the pin is level with the out side diameter of the mandrel. Once you slide it on you twist the tube and blank against the rotation of your lathe. With the mandrel and the inside of the tube being round it can't be off center. Cam have a look at Fangars explanation and photos on The Pen Shop he probably can explain it better than me.

Skew that is the beauty of turning, totally 2 different methods of how to get to the end result, but we get the end result. I like your idea will give it a go when I get some shop time.

Darren

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Skew that is the beauty of turning, totally 2 different methods of how to get to the end result, but we get the end result. I like your idea will give it a go when I get some shop time.

Yep. There's always the jam-chuck method too, but who wants that many different sizes lying around.? :D

One of the reasons I enjoy turning is that 5 different people can be given the same problem and come up with 5 different solutions. Give the same 5 blokes identical tools & timber and they'll turn 5 completely different items. Hell, give me 5 identical blanks to turn 5 chessmen and I can guarantee they'll all be unique. :o

[bdar]

Yep. There's always the jam-chuck method too, but who wants that many different sizes lying around.? :D

One of the reasons I enjoy turning is that 5 different people can be given the same problem and come up with 5 different solutions. Give the same 5 blokes identical tools & timber and they'll turn 5 completely different items. Hell, give me 5 identical blanks to turn 5 chessmen and I can guarantee they'll all be unique. :o

Yeah different people see different things inside a piece of timber but on thing that we have over people that don't work with wood is we know what it is like to bring something back to life. A tree is a powerful thing when alive and to be able to cut beneath the surface and reveal the colour and swirling grain it becomes alive. It makes me feel alive, there has not been a piece of timber that has not made me go wow look at that.
Darren

[arose62]

I've been toying with the idea of adapting some sort of expanding thingy (sorry about the technical term) based on a cross between a win bottle sealer, and an expanding wall anchor, for use when putting the tubes into the blanks, and sort of wondered if it would work on the lathe also.

And I said to myself, "Self, there would be problems with rigidity on the lathe."

Does anyone else bother with any sort of tool for inserting the gluey tubes into the gluey blanks?

Cheers,
Andrew

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Yep. I bought a set of cheap drifts down at the local $2 shop. One of 'em is sized nicely to fit inside a slimline tube and the angled shoulders allow it to push the tube a mm or two past the end of the blank.

It's hardly a necessary item, but it does make things a bit easier and at $2- for the set... :)

For mounting on the lathe (eg. doing closed end pens) I tried making a dyna-bolt type mount but had troubles keeping it from turning into a propellor. :rolleyes: I have some ideas to improve on the concept, perhaps using the bolt from a much longer dyna-bolt with the sleeve from my "short" one and using a length of pipe/tube as a spacer. The pipe section could then either be held in pin-jaws or welded to a faceplate - although the latter would mean:the pipe needs to be pretty beefy you'd need to remove the faceplate every time you wanted to tighten/loosen the mount.

I also haven't found any dyna-bolts of quite the right diameter... but a shim material brazed/soldered onto select spots can easily make up the difference.

[Simomatra]

I just use a center punch keep the glue of my fingers and allows me to roll the tube

[rodent]

Skew draw it up and have a talk to richard or david ( have you been sniffing the sanding sealer again ?
http://arizonasilhouette.com/Closed_End_Pen_Mandrel.htm
(http://arizonasilhouette.com/ClosedEnd_Pen_Mandrel.htm)