25-08-2012, 05:45 PM
This is going to have to be in two parts as there seems to be a limit on the number of pictures in one post.
There is plenty of information, and some great videos, about pen turning on the internet and I usually wouldn't see any point in adding to it. However, all these techniques require twenty-odd quids' worth of equipment.
Inspired by Col's ingenuity and refusal to take 'No' for an answer I have devised a way of doing it on the cheap.
The actual gubbings of the pen comes as a kit.
I used pyracantha and the first thing I did was to turn the bits roughly round so I could get them in the chuck to drill. I found it important to leave them as thick as possible otherwise the heat generated will split them. I used a home-made drive centre for this.
The drill bit I used was a 7mm spur point thing from PoundLand. The standard advise is to go steady but I quickly found the only way to do it was bang it in as fast as I could turn the handle. After going half way I switched off, withdrew the bit to clean it and allow it to cool. I then put it back into the hole just shy of the bottom and then drilled the rest.
The next thing is to stick (I used epoxy) the brass tubes into the bits of wood. I made sure that they were below the surface so that the end could be faced-off square without damaging them.
When the glue had set I cut them to length, again allowing about an eighth of an inch over the length of the tubes to allow for facing-off.
After facing one end back to the end of the tube the only special tool was brought into play. This is a bit of ¼" bar with a few thou skimmed off and put in the drilling chuck. Quarter of an inch of so then goes into the brass tube to support it while it is turned to the correct size.
After doing half I had to turn it 'round to do the rest so wrapped insulation tape around the bit I'd done to stop the chuck marking it and tightened it as softly as I dare.
I started sanding with my sanding stick.
This has 26 grit on one side and 80 (which is what I used for this) on the other. It was then a case of using gradually finer papers until a decent finish was achieved.
The final sanding was done by hand along the grain with 600 grit.
There is plenty of information, and some great videos, about pen turning on the internet and I usually wouldn't see any point in adding to it. However, all these techniques require twenty-odd quids' worth of equipment.
Inspired by Col's ingenuity and refusal to take 'No' for an answer I have devised a way of doing it on the cheap.
The actual gubbings of the pen comes as a kit.
I used pyracantha and the first thing I did was to turn the bits roughly round so I could get them in the chuck to drill. I found it important to leave them as thick as possible otherwise the heat generated will split them. I used a home-made drive centre for this.
The drill bit I used was a 7mm spur point thing from PoundLand. The standard advise is to go steady but I quickly found the only way to do it was bang it in as fast as I could turn the handle. After going half way I switched off, withdrew the bit to clean it and allow it to cool. I then put it back into the hole just shy of the bottom and then drilled the rest.
The next thing is to stick (I used epoxy) the brass tubes into the bits of wood. I made sure that they were below the surface so that the end could be faced-off square without damaging them.
When the glue had set I cut them to length, again allowing about an eighth of an inch over the length of the tubes to allow for facing-off.
After facing one end back to the end of the tube the only special tool was brought into play. This is a bit of ¼" bar with a few thou skimmed off and put in the drilling chuck. Quarter of an inch of so then goes into the brass tube to support it while it is turned to the correct size.
After doing half I had to turn it 'round to do the rest so wrapped insulation tape around the bit I'd done to stop the chuck marking it and tightened it as softly as I dare.
I started sanding with my sanding stick.
This has 26 grit on one side and 80 (which is what I used for this) on the other. It was then a case of using gradually finer papers until a decent finish was achieved.
The final sanding was done by hand along the grain with 600 grit.
