# Pen Kit Tube Sizes



## CHJ (28 Oct 2007)

And I guess other project kits as well,

It may pay to check the actual diameter of the insert tubes when selecting suitable drill, some of them are thinner walled than others and a quoted 7mm may be as small as 6.75mm, results in a lot of gap for any glue to fill especially if you use CA.

And of course can result in the wood veneer being 0.25mm thinner on one side which can be significant with a slimline pen only being some 1mm of veneer in the first place.


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## shedhead (28 Oct 2007)

I have this problem i mainly make the slimline pens and the Artisan rollerball pens. After drilling using the suggested drill size ie 7mm and 10mm the gap was way to much to use CA glue. I have now changed to Polyurethane glue that expands when drying.
I went onto a woodturning forum from Australia and they have a section on Pen Making and in Australia the same pen kits are sold and a 6.5mm and 9.5mm drill bit is recommended there.


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## shedhead (28 Oct 2007)

While we are on the subject of Making Pens. Does anyone have any plans or ideas for making a jig for drilling out the pen blanks. 
I normally do this job on the lathe, but i have had some wondering of center at times? This usually happens when i am using a blank that i have bought and was one of the more expensive ones.
Also if i could use my pillar drill this would save a lot of fiddling around on the lathe.


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## Anonymous (28 Oct 2007)

I think Chas posted his set-up on another thread... there are several methods, the one I use is two pieces if scrap, hinged at one end, each 'leg' has a 'v' cut about 50 to 70 mm from the hinge (think old fashioned nut crackers).... sorry don't have any pics


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## CHJ (29 Oct 2007)

Yer tis

I currently am using an imperial letter H (0.266")drill to fit but I found I had to grind a 6.5mm (0.2562) a little off centre to get the right size.

The 8mm tubes I have are on size.


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## shedhead (29 Oct 2007)

Thanks Graham i will look back to see if i can find this thread


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## oddsocks (30 Oct 2007)

shedhead":23t4vptq said:


> While we are on the subject of Making Pens. Does anyone have any plans or ideas for making a jig for drilling out the pen blanks.
> I normally do this job on the lathe, but i have had some wondering of center at times? This usually happens when i am using a blank that i have bought and was one of the more expensive ones.
> Also if i could use my pillar drill this would save a lot of fiddling around on the lathe.



Here's my version







The wood nearest the front is screwed to the baseboard, the one at the back is free and fitted with M10 studded rod that is tightened with a nut and spanner - simple and effective. The V grooves were put into the dimensioned timber using a table router and then the wood sliced to give the two pieces (ensured the Vs were perfect and equally spaced).
To be accurate 90 angles on the key timbers are needed. Put both halves of the blank in and tighten (not overtighten) the nut. The baseboard is big enough to use spring clamps to keep it in place.

Axminster sell a dedicated vice for this but its £38 and only holds one piece! Mind you I do recommend getting their blank cutter - http://www.axminster.co.uk/product.asp?pf_id=580415&name=600623&user_search=1&sfile=1&jump=0


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## colin macdiarmid (30 Oct 2007)

Found this pen making video on Youtube looks good to me but I've never made a pen so I am open to correction
(hope its okay to put links into youtube apologies if not)

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=9TA-U6iEUN0


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## La Truciolara (31 Oct 2007)

After having tied many gigs, I noticed that the main problem with bought blanks is that the section is not square but rectangular, at least on one end .
Therefore I tried, and like, to do it another way.
I first rough out the pen blanc in order to have a cylinder, then I take this piece with the 35 mm pin jaw of the chuck, holding the blanc in its centre and I drill on the lathe. So far the result is spectacular.


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## shedhead (1 Nov 2007)

Thanks everyone for your tips. I tried to make a jig yesterday. I got the idea from one of my pen making books. I cut 2 lengths of B&Q pine 2"x2" X18", mounted on lathe between centers and round about 8" handle on each one. Then i cut ( no very well )on bandsaw" V " notches, half on each side of the squared part, to make a void just a bit smaller than the blank. The idea is to hinge the square ends and pull the handels closed, wedging the blank. If you see what i mean.
A bit crude and i have not tried it out yet.


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## CHJ (1 Nov 2007)

*shedhead *, You can't get much simpler than this which was linked about 6 posts back.

You seem to be making hard work of it.


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## shedhead (1 Nov 2007)

No CHJ, i saw the post when it was pointed out to me, but at that point i had already started to make the one i mentioned. So i thought that i would finish it.
I am not making hard work out of it, just being pleasant and letting the forum members that had offered me advice know that i have made one, not that far away in design from your suggestion. 
Sorry if you think i am dragging on and on.


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## Anonymous (1 Nov 2007)

shedhead":121mwi24 said:


> ... just being pleasant and letting the forum members that had offered me advice know that i have made one...



...always happy to help :wink: 

looking forward to seeing the fruits of your labour... in your own time :wink:


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## boysie39 (1 Nov 2007)

:? I have seen quite a fw Ref. to woodturning videos on Utube, I tried to view the pen making one + some others but they just keep stopping and starting every few seconds, Is there some other sites I could see wood being turned without this happening.
I got my new chuck from Rutlands today,Jeez it looks too good for me to use.I've ordered 3 DVDs from ebay havent arrived yet, thats why I want to see some Turning before I make a Bollo of the first try with the new chuck. I havent felt like this since I first heared of SANTA.


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## oddsocks (1 Nov 2007)

boysie39":37mqyr1x said:


> :? I have seen quite a fw Ref. to woodturning videos on Utube, I tried to view the pen making one + some others but they just keep stopping and starting every few seconds, Is there some other sites I could see wood being turned without this happening.
> .


Normally this happens because the connection between you and the youtube server is too slow so the file is downloading , buffering enough for a few seconds of play then needing to buffer again. The cause can be a number of things....
your internet connection is too slow
your PC is busy and taking CPU power (e.g doing a routine backup, virus or spyware scan etc - check the hard disk light when not going to Youtube)
the Youtube server is busy / slow 
the www has a fault and you are being routed via India (it happens!)
you've been downloading illegal music or videos with torrent type software and your ISP has invoked the 'fair use' policy (slows you right down)....move to ZEN if that is your problem
you are on a basic package DSL and have exceeded your monthly download limit - typically you get dropped to modem speed so that the ISP can email you a buy more option!

they are just some of the options!!!
finally try again when the US are asleep - frees up a lot of www bandwidth


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## colin macdiarmid (1 Nov 2007)

robert sorby have a few videos on their website mainly demonstrating tools


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## boysie39 (1 Nov 2007)

Dave it could be all of these things I've gone a bit haywire lately, thanks for your help Regds. Boysie


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## CHJ (2 Nov 2007)

Sorry *shedhead*, not made my thoughts clear enough, not casting aspersions at your efforts only I read the comment:


> I cut 2 lengths of B&Q pine 2"x2" X18", mounted on lathe between centers and round about 8" handle on each one.


and 18" long to me seems rather ungainly for the purpose of holding the small blank sections, I think you will find it easier to have a much shorter 'lever' which means that you will have more positioning control and the 'hand grip' side will not spread so far with differing blank section sizes (saves having to cut blanks to a precise size) especially if you intend to join with a hinge.


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## TEP (2 Nov 2007)

Hi *boysie*, reference watching videos on the internet.

As has already been said it is probably down to the slowness of your connection. Also You-Tube and others really need broadband to watch them properly. If you are on dial-up you won't have much of a chance as the download speed is usually slower than the play speed, so they stop. Also if using MS Explorer I don't think you can download the file to your computer to watch at a later date.

*BUT*, if you use the Mozilla Firefox browser instead of MS Explorer you can also download a add-on that will download all these videos for you. It is called DownloadHelper and integrates totally with Firefox. I've been using this set-up for ages now and have had no problems.

http://www.mozilla-europe.org/en/products/firefox/


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## jpt (2 Nov 2007)

HI

A handy site for downloading videos from any web site is http://keepvid.com/

Paste the URL of the film into the box and it will download it to there site so you can then save it to your PC.

You will also need a FLV player which there is a free one on there as well. 

john


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## Paul.J (2 Nov 2007)

I have the same problem as Boysie with the clips stopping and starting,mainly with the WoodWhisperer and You tube.I was able to watch the Woodright clips no problem :? 
Paul.J.


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