| Project by RetiredCoastie | posted 41 days ago | 517 views | 1 time favorited | 8 comments |  |
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I got the idea for this pen press from USCJeff’s project http://lumberjocks.com/projects/20873 I hope you don’t mind Jeff.
I used synthetic material used for cutting boards from Tap plastics in Portland OR. for $3.00 for a 8”x8”x1” piece.
I turned both to a #2 morse taper with a tapered hole for pressing the pen nibs. They fit and work great. I prefer this over the lever type press that I own. I have a Buddie that I’m slowly bringing to the dark side of pen turning, I’m trying to help him with some tooling and I plan to loan him my lever press but I needed a press also so I made this version.
Sorry for the out of focus pics but you get the idea.
Thanks again Jeff for the idea.
-- Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines! Mike D.
8 comments so far
interpim
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457 posts in 357 days
posted 41 days ago
just curious, but why do you prefer this method over the lever type press? It seems to me that I would get annoyed with having to swap out my mandrel and live center to pop these in every time I wanted to assemble a pen.
-- San Diego, CA US Navy
RetiredCoastie
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245 posts in 82 days
posted 41 days ago
The lever press I have slips sometimes and I’ve cranked the knob down tight and scored the rod in several places, with the tail stock crank I can apply even pressure when pressing the components. I also will turn several pens and assemble them at one time when I’m done turning so it’s not a problem swapping out the tail stock. Probably the biggest reason is so my Buddie can have a pen press until he gets outfitted and this was a cheap solution, plus I learned how to turn plastics which is a pain in the butt.
-- Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines! Mike D.
Sawdust2
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1188 posts in 986 days
posted 41 days ago
I just use my bench vise.
But this is a neat idea.
Lee
-- No piece is cut too short. It was meant for a smaller project.
yarydoc
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49 posts in 43 days
posted 41 days ago
I use my drill press. I place a bolt in the chuck and press. This has worked great for me.
Ray
-- Ray Cody, Florence Alabama
a1Jim
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17140 posts in 476 days
posted 41 days ago
Looks like a great job.
-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop, custom furniture ,maker, woodworking school, heirloomwoodshop.com
thelt
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168 posts in 278 days
posted 40 days ago
Looks great and an outstanding idea. I can’t find any of the cutting board material anywhere around here. I’ve looked at the flea market for some of the cutting boards but they are more expensive than buying it from Rockler or other suppliers.
-- There are three signs of old age. The first is loss of memory. I forgot the other two!
stefang
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1656 posts in 233 days
posted 40 days ago
Good idea. I don’t know anything about pen turning, but I would think an appropriate hardwood might also work well for this if you can’t get the plastic.
-- Mike, American in Norway
drbyte
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60 posts in 961 days
posted 40 days ago
This looks like it would do a great job. I have a home-made lever press that works okay. I bought a small cheap arbor press from HF and it works the best for me. I have a piece of counter-top with 6 sets of two metal rods, one for the top and one for the bottom halves. After turning, I slip 1-6 pens on the little base then head to the arbor press to assemble.
-- Dennis, WV, http://mysite.verizon.net/drbyte