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No-Measure Brass & Aluminum Ballpoint


professorguy

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Here's a pen I made for my friend Jegs. With the cap on, only aluminum is visible:

 

http://professorguy.com/fpngallery/jegspen/jegspen1.jpg

 

Once the engraved, friction-fit cap is removed and placed on the other end, the brass is revealed:

 

http://professorguy.com/fpngallery/jegspen/jegspen3.jpg

 

After testing the pen body, I found the finish so slippery, I couldn't keep a good grip on it. I added some milled circles so there's some texture that provides grip:

 

http://professorguy.com/fpngallery/jegspen/jegspen4.jpg

 

It takes a Fischer Space Pen refill, so this pen writes upside-down and when it's negative forty degrees (I've had pens in my glovebox freeze solid) and underwater and on greasy paper. It'll even write on a potato chip bag--those are hard to write on.

 

http://professorguy.com/fpngallery/jegspen/jegspen6.jpg

 

The interesting thing about manufacturing this pen: I measured absolutely nothing. How long is the pen? The cap? What about the diameters of the body or cap? I have no idea. Every dimension is whatever looked good to my eye. The only thing I know is it's approximately the size of a Bic Round Stic, which I think has a good proportion in the hand:

 

http://professorguy.com/fpngallery/jegspen/jegspen2.jpg

 

Even the threads, which are precision made on my lathe (no taps or dies, I thread old school) were cut without any measurements. I threaded the inside of the aluminum tube (with a tool I made myself... also by eye!), then threaded the outside of the brass until it fit. Size? Who cares?

http://professorguy.com/fpngallery/jegspen/jegspen7.jpg
I engraved the cap with a simple flat endmill while the pen was in a chuck on a vertically-mounted rotary table. I wanted to make the name smaller, but my smallest endmill is 1.5 mm so that line thickness determined the overall size. I painted the cap with 9 coats of enamel, then sanded it, leaving the enamel only in the letters.
http://professorguy.com/fpngallery/jegspen/jegspen5.jpg
I put a nylon spacer in my lathe and cut it down until it fit into the cap, then I glued it into place. Then I drilled out the spacer to leave a nylon o-ring inside the cap. I didn't measure the through hole, I just used successively larger bits from my set until the pen almost fit, then I sanded it the rest of the way. The nylon was so tight, the cap wouldn't slide on because the air pressure sealed inside would pop it back off. I resorted to drilling a tiny hole (about 0.7 or maybe 0.8 mm) in the side opposite the engraved letters, which worked great:
http://professorguy.com/fpngallery/jegspen/jegspen8.jpg
I know you guys like the fountains built on a giant scale, but you've gotta admit this is a neat little piece.
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  • 3 weeks later...

Most importantly, you had a great time and made a nice pen.

Fountain pens are my preferred COLOR DELIVERY SYSTEM (in part because crayons melt in Las Vegas).

Create a Ghostly Avatar and I'll send you a letter. Check out some Ink comparisons: The Great PPS Comparison 

Don't know where to start?  Look at the Inky Topics O'day.  Then, see inks sorted by color: Blue Purple Brown Red Green Dark Green Orange Black Pinks Yellows Blue-Blacks Grey/Gray UVInks Turquoise/Teal MURKY

 

 

 

 

 

 

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That's sone pro skills right here.

 

I used to have classes in high school where we students had to turn simple objects. My lathe had half a turn of just about anything turntable bit of play, the speed couldn't be pushed past 800RPM using it was a pure nightmare. Had to double check everything to avoid messing all my work up.

 

Still, it was fun. I remember it fondly.

 

The teacher had a CNC lathe, brand new. He used to demonstrate how you could turn anything, from screws to other intricate pieces: he used to turn little statues out of bronze: very futuristic (1920s) like.

 

Sadly, we were never taught how to turn pens.

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