Pen making

[evoman76]

Good morning

I have recently acquired a lot of pen blanks and am going to try my hand at making pens for the first time, but I am stuck before I start !

How do you mount the pen madrel ? I have a Record Power DML305 lathe, I assume you take the chuck off and there is a morse taper that it goes into ?

Any advise on this and top tips for pen turning would be appreciated.

Thanks

David

 

[CHJ]

Depends upon which brand and style of Pen Mandrel you acquire, some have straight shanks that can be gripped in the chuck.

There are numerous threads on UKW showing folks differing setups and methods if you do a search.

Here's a link to my home made mandrel and setup from a few years ago that is still the basis of my method.

 

[nev]

PM sent David

 

[marcros]

Have you only got the blanks and are wanting to know some more about what else you need to buy?

I have been doing a few pens recently, but before I launch into a full answer, i will just check what question you are asking!!!

 

[evoman76]

Thanks for the responses and messages.

I have a pen madral that came with all the other stuff but the taper looks bigger than the tail stock end of my lathe, assume the head end will be the same, will check tonight.

I have wood blanks, pen tubes and pens, and a mandral that looks like the wrong size for my lathe, anything else I need ? Looking at a few clips on youtube I think I am about good to go ?

David

 

[marcros]

the mandrel goes in the head stock end. i am not sure what the MT on your lathe is, but it will either fit or be obviously too large or small.

you may need a set of bushings for the kits and you need to get something to use as a finish for the pens. But as you say, you seem to have most of it.

I am using this method for finishing
http://www.beaufortink.co.uk/achieving% ... finish.pdf but there are countless other options.

 

[hawkeyefxr]

I have the same lathe as you do. Your Morse taper on a no.2 for the headstock and tailstock. The mandrel goes in the head stock and you will need a tailstock centre to support the end of the mandrel shaft. You can get away with a fixed centre but it is best to use a revolving centre, better still a hollow revolving centre, this will put the pressure on the bushing rather than than the end of the 1/4 shaft.

Look on youtube for videos there are countless videos there. There is also a very good pen turning forum http://www.penturners.co.uk//url] ... lathe itself and bi a little time consuming.

 

[Dalboy]

Have sent you a PM David.

Remove the chuck and check to see if the mandrel set up fits will be the first thing.
Once that is found to be OK then that will be the first step to making a Pen.
You will need pen kits and the correct bushes to match the pen you require to make not all are the same size.
You will also need tome way of drilling the blank either on the lathe or a drill press, this can be done with a hand drill but the likelihood of enlarging the hole is guaranteed.
glueing is something that will need to be considered three main glues people use are CA, gorilla glue and epoxy glue. Ca is fine if the hole is a nice fit to the tube. where as the last two will fill any gaps between the blank and the tube. I prefer the two part epoxy. Making sure you don't get glue on the inside of the tubes when doing this as it will effect the assembly later on.
Once the glue is dry
Before mounting the prepared blanks onto the mandrel the ends will need to be squared off this again can be done in two or three ways, using a barrel trimmer but these have a limited number of centre shafts which in turn limits the pens you can trim the ends of. Using a disc sander and transfer punches which will need to be set at right angles to the dis and sliding the blank up to the dis and sanding the ends and lastly on the lathe again using transfer punch and a disc mounted in the head stock. which ever you go for it must be left square to the tube and also don't sand the tube shorter than it is as they are the correct length for the kit you have chosen.
Now you can mount the prepared blanks on the mandrel. This is another thing to watch out for as stated above by hawkeyefxr you ideally need a revolving centre at least to support the free end of the mandrel but be aware that too much pressure on this can slightly bend the mandrel and make the pen blanks of centre to the tube and lead to a bad fit on the components. The better option is to buy a mandrel saver which pushes against the bushes and prevents this problem.
Now you can turn the pen blanks and add a finish finally assembling your wonderfully created writing instrument.
Lastly have fun and all the above does not sound as bad as it first appears.
Hope this is of some help towards you first pen

 

[evoman76]

So on inspection last night I have a morse taper 1 on both head and tail stock ! They must have changed it since I brought it a few years ago. So now I have a pen mandrel that I need to sell and purchase the correct size before I can get going.

 

[marcros]

you can turn the tubes between centres. you will need a dead centre for the headstock end to do so though, and a live centre for the tailstock end. I would hazard a guess that you dont have a dead centre, although they are cheaper than a mandrel- probably about £3 compared with £15-20.

 

[chaoticbob]

Proops do a MT1 male - MT2 female adaptor for about a tenner if you have space between centres to accommodate and the economics work. Proops Adaptor

Rob

 

[marcros]

here are a few made the other night- London Plane, Acacia, Mahogany, Tiger Oak and Indian rosewood, all using an Epsilon kit.

 

[evoman76]

Thanks for that, might get the adaptor as a cheaper option.

WHats the best thing to use to finish pens ? On bowls I tend to use friction polish and a wax, is that suitable ?

 

[marcros]

"best" is hard to answer. friction polish isn't really hard enough for pens. That said, there will be some people out there using friction polish, and happy with the results and for the first few cheap kits that are practice, and used around the house, give it a try! wax really needs to be carnauba or microcrystalline.

The most popular finish seems to be ca glue, but things like melamine lacquer are becoming popular recently. I am using the latter because for me it is much quicker, and retains a bit more of the wood feel, and I suddenly started to struggle with getting a good finish. The melamine avoids needing to buy micromesh, and saves going through the 9 grits of that polishing the CA. Melamine is 4 coats, CA was 8, so both of those differences add up to a decent time saving per pen for me.

http://www.beaufortink.co.uk/achieving% ... finish.pdf is the method that I use. For CA, have a look online, but stick to a method if it works for you- picking bits of one method and bots of another (probably) won't work. It is like sharpening- everybody has their own preferred way of doing it!

 

[Dalboy]

As Marcos said melamine Lacquer is fast becoming the norm here in the UK among pen turners Ca is still used and like any finish both can produce a good finish. The thing is that you need a hard wearing finish as a pen is something that is used on a regular basis. The only time no finish is applied is when turning arylics and the like.

 

[evoman76]

Thanks for all the help, this is my first attempt at pens !! Let me know your thoughts

 

[marcros]

4 nice pens there. You seem to have hit the vital dimensions at the important points and the hardware fits squarely. Well done, you should be proud of those.