Story:
A few days ago I found myself in the unenviable position of needing a pen - for the first time this term - and not having one. Now, this is a problem which is solvable in any number of ways, but since I had some spare brass stock and a left over Parker insert I decided to take the opportunity to try my hand at making one.
Dimensions:
The pen is 4.1" long and made from 3/8ths inch brass stock (filed a bit to smooth it out). The inner bore is 0.222" across and 3.5" deep with a 0.1" hole drilled to meet it from the other end and 0.7" of 1/4-20 threads on the cap side. The nose of the pen was hand filed to about a 7-8 degree slope and the grip is composed of 14 grooves at 0.050 spacing. The decorative groove by the cap is 0.164" distant from the top of the cap and the end of the pen has a 45 degree chamfer to smooth things out.
Operations:
These are a summary of the operations that I used to complete this project. I've recorded them since the pen is generating a lot of interest and I want to be able to provide some amount of guidance to others who are interested in making a pen as-well. That said, like all first attempts this one resulted in a fair few "learning opportunities" so if you are considering making a pen yourself please take the following with a grain of salt and be sure to check the notes for any updates.
- Chuck and Face the piece.
- Use the tail-stock to drill main 0.222" bore (peck drilling becomes really important here).
- Tap the end of the piece. At this point you can also add a chamfer if you so desire.
- Screw a screw into the end of the work piece and turn it till it is concentric (if you have the ability to turn between centers that would work to).
- Flip the piece around with 1" sticking out of these chuck and face.
- Use a center drill to make a hole for use with a live center.
- Put a live center in your tailstock and mount the piece with the screw gripped in the chuck and the front end on the center.
- This part is a bit tricky, you want to measure out the location of your grip (and any other ornamentation ) and cut it. This is also a good time to do as much of the surfacing work as is practical.
- Next, re-chuck the work piece with the end exposed. Face/cutoff the end till you are at nearly the final length of the pen.
- Use a 0.1" drill (or similar) to make the pen-tip hole.
- Use a file to make the taper and then sand to match the rest of the finish.