Acrylic Style Pens

[Shambam1962]

I started turning pens 2 months ago, and started with wooden pens to learn, and made a few mistakes along the way.

I really like turning the wooden pens and trying different techniques and styles of pens.

I purchased a pack of 5 acrylic blanks off EBay to try, but was disappointed in the quality as some were hit and miss and 2 out of the 5 was satisfactory, as pictured in an earlier post.

Since then I’ve been searching for some quality acrylic blanks, and finally found a supplier in Newcastle, selling such blanks.

I purchased 3 Erinoid Acrylic blanks to try out and when I went searching for other blanks on his website, I found he was selling genuine Conway Stewart acrylic blanks, which he had purchased when Conway Stewart in Plymouth went into liquidation back in 2014 and he purchased the stock.

He has a very good selection of colours in the Conway Stewart blanks and I opted for 3 blanks in 2 different colours.

The blanks arrived in the post last week and I found a good quality pen kit, for the blanks to be fitted to.

The blanks were very good to turn and polish, and had very good even colour throughout the blank unlike the cheaper ones I purchased a few weeks back.

I’m very pleased how well they turned out and  have placed another order for a larger quantity for future pens.

Please see the before and after photos.

 

[oldypigeonpopper]

hello, very very nice work 👍,  

[Shambam1962]

Thanks oldypigeonpopper for your reply, and I’m very pleased with the results.

This is the set of 3 Erinoid acrylic blanks I ordered fist to try out, before I found the Conway Stewart acrylic blanks.

I have only turned 2 of the 3 as I plan to use the last one on a fountain pen kit.

 I have seen many fountain pen kits advertised, but they are quite bulky in size and look very short.

Axminster Tools have a nice fountain pen kit for sale, but it’s quite expensive at £35 plus another £5 for the pen bushes to turn the pen blank.

I’m still looking at the moment for an affordable classy fountain pen kit to try out, and in no rush.

One of the pens in the photo is actually a rosewood pen I turned and coated with superglue and sanded with micro pads, and polished to give a hard gloss finish, which is quite effective.

[Old Boggy]

Brilliant workmanship there Shambam1962 as always.

I do admire you for trying new types and styles.

Keep the photos coming, always a joy to see and many thanks for posting.

OB

[Shambam1962]

Thank you Old Boggy, very much appreciated.

[Shambam1962]

I have just received a set of different coloured Erinoid acrylic blanks to try out.

I’m very impressed with the colours and quality, and look forward to seeing how they look on the pen kits.

[TIGHTCHOKE]

Now they may well lead to something truly impressive.  

I look forward to you posting some progress shots.   

[Loki]

Hello Shambam1962

Wonderful Craftsmanship with associated commentary, which makes all the difference to the photos - thank you for sharing.

L

[Shambam1962]

Thanks TIGHTCHOKE & Loki for your comments.

The photo doesn’t show the true colours, but close.enough.

Once I turn the blanks over the next few days, I will post the photo of the completed pens, and see the true effect.

Two of the pens will be a Christmas gift for a farmer and his wife, whose farm I’ve shot over for the past 37 years, along with his usual bottle of malt whiskey and box of chocolates for his wife.

I’m down his farm next week shooting, so will have to complete the pens.

I haven’t done any turning this week as I’ve been out on the ducks and out again later today.

[oldypigeonpopper]

On 20/11/2023 at 08:15, oldypigeonpopper said:

hello, very very nice work 👍,  

A long life school friend who is near house bound has started making pen blanks just to keep busy,  

[Shambam1962]

I turned the pen blanks yesterday, and very pleased with the results.

The acrylic is good to turn, but the 1st blank started off easy but as I reduced the size, the acrylic was harder in the middle.

I don’t think the cold weather helps when turning acrylic as it has a tendency to chip and break easily.

The acrylic blanks sand well and finished off with 9 different grit micro pads and finally polished, before assembling.

This is the before and after photos.

[Sussexboy]

That honey noire colour is gorgeous.

[TIGHTCHOKE]

Lovely stuff.  

[Gordon R]

Those are scarily brilliant.

[Shambam1962]

Thank you Sussexboy, TIGHTCHOKE and Gordon R for your comments.

The Honey Noire pen does look very nice, but my favourite is the Azure blue colour pen which looks very different in the daylight.

I can see why Conway Stewart, use this type of acrylic on their pens, and they are fairly easy to turn and look impressive , once completed.

My daughters have ordered me a set of carbide tipped chisels for my Birthday, which are supposed to be very good for turning acrylic, but I will have to wait until Christmas Day to open and use.

I have received them and checked them out, and they look very good quality, and my daughter snatched them away, until Christmas.

[Shambam1962]

Honey Noire and Azure Conway Stewart acrylic pen blanks.

[TIGHTCHOKE]

How wonderful to have really useful presents bought for you.   

 

Put them to good use and show us just what you can do.  

[ditchman]

superb....love to see some pics of the machinary and tools you use.....do you use some sort of watchmakers lathe ?

[Shambam1962]

In all fairness TIGHTCHOKE I’m not the easiest person to buy presents for and my daughters did mention if I wanted anything tool wise, and I showed them the link on the website, and they did the rest.

Well ditchman I was given a Record DML 24 wood lathe by a mate of mine, which had belonged to his father, but while I had to wait a few weeks to collect it, a small 5 speed Scheppach DMT 450  came up for sale on EBay buy it now £65 or best offer.

I made a cheeky offer of £50 and to my amazement the offer was accepted and I paid immediately and collected net day in Ludlow.

The lathe was in working order but advertised as tatty and had a belt guard missing and just needed a bit of clean up.

When I went to collect the lathe, the owner had just purchased an all singing and dancing Myford lathe from an old gent who was going into a nursing home, and had boxes of tooling, which he had accumulated over the years.

On arriving home I stripped my lathe and masked the decals and sanded and repainted and made new belt guard.

The lathe is now like new and is a very nice machine for me to learn on.

I purchased a small 4 jaw chuck and added bits of tooling as required over time.

I’m very pleased with the little lathe and it has a cast iron bed and solid construction, not flimsy tin plate like the newer model.

 

 

[ditchman]

really simple bit of kit....love it ..

[Shambam1962]

Simple is what I like, just like me.

[old'un]

 

The pens look fantastic, make great Xmas/Birthday presents, be nice if you could get them engraved with someone's name and then filled with gold or silver leaf, do you sell them?

Looking at your lathe I see you only have a tool steady so I presume you are profile turning the outside by hand, so how are keeping the dimensions/profile accurate?

[Shambam1962]

Thank you old’un for your comments, sorry it’s against PW posting rules for me to sell them.

I started making them for my daughter to sell at craft fairs and started off making wooden pens an recently turned a few better quality acrylic pens.

The size diameter is determined by the pen bushes you use.

Each pen model will have different size steel bushes to turn the pen to size.

The current acrylic pens use a 8mm drill bit to drill the pen blanks out before gluing brass tubes to fit the bushes.

The pen when completed has a wall thickness of roughly 1mm - 2mm wall thickness, which doesn’t give a lot of room for mistakes.

The pen is turned on a pen mandrel, which the bushes and blanks are turned on, and this has a morse taper fitting and live centre fits into the end of the tailsttock of the lathe.

It’s the same process on wood or acrylic, but acrylic is drilled and tubes fitted and glued the day previously, before turning.

 

[old'un]

I was talking more about the outside profile/shape, or are they all parallel?

Selling, you can sell on PW but you will have to pay them £10 per month to-do so

[Shambam1962]

Pen clip end and middle is 10mm O/D as per bushing

Pen nib end is 9.5mm O/D

Mine are more or less parallel as it’s easier to assemble., the pen kits.

You can turn the profile, any shape you want but you are governed by O/D of the bushes, or the Pen clip won’t fit the pen and also the front of the pen has to fit the nib without a visible step when assembled.

They are quite straightforward to turn and build, and look nice when finished.