Withdrawn Custom mechanical pencil

[Sporky McGuffin]

Hello! I was wondering if there are any pen makers here who'd be willing to take on a mechanical pencil job for money. I could offer some sort of wooden box in exchange if you're a fan of the naïve/untalented school of making wooden boxes.

Basically I need something that takes a 0.5mm lead, and fits neatly into my centre-marking thingy, which has a 10mm hole through the middle, so it'd need to be a simple straight-sided 10mm barrel, with the lead right in the centre. It'd live pretty much permanently in the pencil so doesn't need to be fancy. I have pen blanks or am happy to pay for a bit of wood (or other suitable material) as well as the mechanism and your time and expertise. I can also post the jig to make sure everything fits together nicely. I am not up against a strict deadline.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Inspector]

I'm too far away but if nobody here steps up let me know by way of a message/conversation and I will send you a link to a British pen turning forum. One of them might help you.

Pete

 

[Sporky McGuffin]

That'd be most helpful - thank you.

Of course, if anyone knows of an off-the-shelf solution I'd be all ears.

 

[Droogs]

@Garno may be interested as he has being doing a lot of pens lately

 

[toolsntat]

.

 

[Alpha-Dave]

I’m not sure if a custom-barreled pencil is the best option; there are many designs of mechanical pencil and just choosing one with a consistent shaft diameter to go inside a bushing of 10 mm diameter and an appropriate central hole seems like an easy option to me.

 

[gog64]

I’ve got some 0.5mm kits “in stock”, but have absolutely zero free time for the foreseeable! Give me a shout if you aren’t sorted by mid Jan and I’ll happily help.

The only thing is: exactly how precise does the 10mm have to be? I’m fairly good, but I’m not .1mm accurate on a wood lathe Also, will wood be sturdy enough for your purposes? I guess that depends on the securing mechanism your jig uses.

I wonder whether you need someone with an engineering lathe to knock you up a pencil from Corian or similar?

 

[Sporky McGuffin]

Thanks all. Not urgent, and the sleeve idea had just occurred to me too. I'm not actually sure how accurate the 10mm hole in the jig is, which rather complicates things, but as I mostly use it to mark the centreline of stock to resaw into box sides, and my resawing isn't very accurate, absolute precision isn't critical.

My new plan is to measure the hole and a Staedtler 925, and have a go at turning a simple sleeve which may not be entirely beyond my abilities. I will return on my inevitable failure.

 

[paulrbarnard]

Why not a standard 0.5 propelling pencil? I bought a pack of three for a couple of pounds. I’m not in my workshop but from memory they are very close to 10mm diameter. I’ll put the callipers on them tomorrow and if they are 10mm I’ll post the link to them.

 

[Garno]

I have some mechanical pencil kits that I will check on tomorrow for sizes etc,
If the sizes are good I will get it to you by middle of next week (Royal mail)
PM me if interested.

@Droogs thank you for the mention.

Edit:- I meant to say If the sizes are ok I will get the pencil out to you lol

 

[Sporky McGuffin]

I have many, many mechanical pencils, and none are anywhere near 10mm - that'd be very chunky. Definitely interested if anyone does have an option.

 

[Alpha-Dave]

This is 9.75 mm according to my EZ Calipers, a wrap or two of masking tape would sort it:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mechanical...8213607&sprefix=Rotating+mech,aps,172&sr=8-10

 

[Richard_C]

The hasty bodger approach:

Inexpensive pencil, roll of masking tape or something wider. Roll tape tightly round, and round, and... Etc in the right place, until it is a snug fit?

Inexpensive fairly slim pencil, 10mm dowel, use lathe to drill pencil-sized hole through dowel? Or if jig is a bit over 10, start with 12mm dowel and sand it.

 

[Alpha-Dave]

Kurotoga:


Incra freebie:


Pentel:

 

[Sporky McGuffin]

I sit corrected!

The Kurutoga looks an excellent prospect. Thanks again.

 

[Sporky McGuffin]

I am delighted to report that the Uni Kurotoga fits darned near perfectly - the little o-ring it has near the tip is pleasantly snug in the 10mm bore, and the grooves on the grip took a little O-ring from my collection so that the body of the pen is perfectly aligned in the overall jig. If anyone is interested, this is the jig I have, other fine solutions are available from other fine vendors.

https://smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08P42RQ21/
Much obliged (again) to Alpha Dave.

 

[Lons]

Thanks for posting, Interesting jig, it would be pretty simple to make something like that.

 

[Sporky McGuffin]

Thanks for posting, Interesting jig, it would be pretty simple to make something like that.

Absolutely. I'll probably make a smaller version on the CNC machine.