No Ring Slim Line Pen Instructions

“No ring” wood pen build Instructions Eliminating a Slim Line pen center ring provides pen design freedom. Your design is not constrained by a small narrow band in the middle of the pen. This is discussed in the April 2016 American Woodturner “Pen Turning Primer” article by Kurt Hertzog. A YouTube video by RJB WoodTurner, “Modified Slim Line Pen from Figured Cedar”, also shows an approach to eliminating the center ring. The instructions below are slightly different from the video in that the pen blank is drilled on the lathe. The pen blank is then finished without gluing tubes. The video pen design is hard to separate for refill replacement. To replace the refill you must pull on the small nib, which is tapered and works against you. In the instructions below you establish a comfortable friction fit prior to making the pen. Here are the 7 steps I use to make a “No-­‐center-­‐ring Slim Line pen”. 1. LOWER PEN ASSEMBLY: Assemble 1 tube, the pen nib, the transmission and pen refill together. It should look like the top assembly shown in Figure1. Verify the pen refill extends and retracts properly. This whole assembly is removed when a pen refill is replaced. 2. ESTABLISH FRICTION FIT: Hand press (no tools) the second tube onto the upper part of the transmission. This should look like the middle assembly in figure 1. The upper tube Figure 1 Pen Assembly lengths as measured from the top of the nib. sits on three elongated raised bumps on the transmission as shown in Figure 2. Test removing the upper tube by holding only the pen nib and the upper tube. The easiest way to do this is to twist the nib while pulling the upper tube off. Repeat to locate the exact position where you can comfortably separate the upper tube while only holding it and the nib. This establishes your comfortable friction fit. Set this assembly aside until step Figure 2 Locating the pen Transmission Nubs 6. 3. CUTTING THE PEN BLANK: If you use the tubes provided in a Slim Line Pen Kit, a no-­‐ring pen blank may be between 4 and 5 inches long. A Fisch 7mm Diameter x 7mm x 150mm L bit can safely drill a 4.5” pen blank on a lathe. That is the bit that used in this example. Therefore, the pen blank in this example is cut to 4.5”. 4/26/16 1 R. Terry Glover “No ring” wood pen build Instructions 4. DRILLING THE PEN BLANK: The pen blank in this example is drilled on a lathe as shown in Figure 3. A Jacobs’s chuck, installed on the tailstock, holds the drill bit. The pen blank is held in a Nova pen chuck. High lathe speed while slowly drilling the blank minimizes drill drift. An alternate drilling method is shown in the YouTube video referenced above. Figure 3. Drilling the Pen Blank 5. TURNING THE PEN BLANK: A tube the same length as the blank is used for support while it is being turned. Figure 4 shows the set up without a pen blank. The pen blank is mounted on the pen mandrel with 2 bushings and the support tube. The pen blank is then shaped and finished. Any Figure 4. Mandrel setup without sanding/finishing method works. Examples pen blank of pen blanks finished with the same support tube are shown in figure 5. 6. CUT THE UPPER TUBE TO LENGTH: The no-­‐
ring pen blanks may vary between 4” and 5” long. If you can safely drill a 5” blank, make it equal to the distance between nib top and the upper tube top. Then you can then skip Figure 5 Turned Pen Blanks this step. If not, determine the excess upper tube length by sliding the finished blank over the assembly built in step 2. (See the lowest assembly in figure 1.) Mark, remove and cut upper tube length to length. This example is for a 4.5” pen blank for reasons discussed in step 3. 7. ASSEMBLE THE PEN: Glue the modified upper tube to the top of the upper portion of the pen blank. After the glue has dried, square the upper end of the pen blank to assure the cap fits properly. Insert the lower pen assembly and verify that turning the nib easily extends the pen. Also check that the pen is easily disassembled. Then add the clip and cap to complete the pen. This approach was developed based on the resources in my shop. I encourage you to experiment and find what works best for you. 4/26/16 2 R. Terry Glover