New Pen Today

[TB Roye]

Made a new pen today it is a Woodcraft Platinum Cigar with Mazzucchelli Cebloplast "Serpent" blank bought the blanks from a guy at Penturner.org. Different material, from Italy and evidently used by Shaffer Pen co. It was difficult to drill as the shaving would melt and stick to the bit, used water to cool and lube it tried 900 and 1200 rpm and didn't seem to make a difference. It turned and finished easily. It smelled like melted plastic while drilling other wise it is fine just need to ffind the correct drilling speed. Will probably do one with black Acrylic or Ebony bottom blank and use some for embellishiments on other pens.

Tom

[Whaler]

Great looking pen Tom.
I had problems with the acrylics melting when drilling. I now run the DP at 900rpm and drill the blank in 3 passes pulling the bit all the way out between passes. This seems to cool things down a bit and no melting.

[DonHo]

Great looking pen. I've turned a few acrylics, haven't had a problem with them melting durning drilling but they sure stink while turning. I've heard that the acrylic pens sell best but since I'm not into selling them, I'll probably stick to mostly wood.
DonHo

[leehljp]

Great looking pen! I almost ordered a couple of those blanks, but then looked at my stash and realized that I only do one a month at the most on average.

I haven't done a cast pen in a while. The last one I did was cast with coffee beans.

[Uncle Cracker]

Nice looking piece, Tom. Ditto Dick's advice on the drilling... I run at 900, and advance the bit slowly, and in increments, pulling it back frequently to clear shavings, but mainly to let it cool. It helps to go slowly on the bottom end, with some sacrificial surface pressed firmly against the bottom of the blank, as many blowouts occur as the bit exits the blank, grabbing that one last big chunk... You can also cut the blank longer, and stop the drilling just short of the end, and take the excess off with the band saw or sander. That will eliminate the bottom end blowouts completely.

[TB Roye]

Thank for the nice compliments I have had no trouble drilling other Acrylics or Plastic, this stuff if different. I was clearing the bit often but even at the slower speed it was melting. I did the lower blank in 4 passes starting with a 1/4 in bit and working my way up to 10mm seem to work better and the water seemed to help. I think it has a very low melting point. The material seems to be softer than the other types, real easy to turn and finish. The guy I bought them from lives about 45 miles from me and is going out of the pen business. It was cheaper to mail them than to drive out there with gas at $4.47 a gallon. It is a nice drive through farm land and a nice little town but would rather buy pen stuff than gas.

Tom

[Russianwolf]

Looking Good Tom.

I was tempted to get some of those blanks too, but bought a batch of casting supplies instead to see what I can make on my own.

[jking]

Very nice.