| Project by Sawdust2 | posted 1212 days ago | 4163 views | 4 times favorited | 5 comments |  |
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A few weeks ago I got the Beall Pen Wizard. And I decided to try to organize one area of my shop just for pen making. And for me that means trying to keep things associated with one task close at hand.
For those of you who have not seen the Pen Wizard I suggest that you go to Beall’s website and look at the good stuff that JR makes. He also has videos on how to use his devices.
The PW comes with additional gears and you can buy additional bits so that you can make a wide variety of designs on pens. So I decided that I needed a better way to keep them organized other than in plastic bags. I came up with a rough layout that works. I took my Forstner bits and drilled recesses to keep the gears, slots to hold the bits, holes to hold the round boxes that hold little stuff like O rings and I freehanded a space for the depth gauge and the hex keys needed.
A friend had ordered the kit from Woodsmith to build the box joint jig and he brought it over Wed nite so we could play. We decided to make a stand to hold the PW and parts. The box joints came out pretty good. One thing we learned is that a 50 year old dado set does not clean box joints make. It was good enough for this shop project but I will be buying the boxjoint TS blades (1/4 and 3/8) at the Wood Show next week in Atlanta.
So the project is now drying. Just a plain shellac coat. You can see how the drawer will fit in and keep everything close at hand and hopefully not get too dusty.v I’ll probably put a second coat of shellac on tomorrow AM and then put the PW on top.
This project will of course rapidly advance the learning curve for the PW and I should be an expert by Sunday afternoon.
Thanks for looking.
Lee
-- No piece is cut too short. It was meant for a smaller project.
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5 comments so far
ShannonRogers
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534 posts in 1954 days
#1 posted 1212 days ago
Great work station and great idea to dedicate a spot to pen turning. Thanks for the intro to the Pen Wizard. I’m not sure how I missed that but what a cool product. Have you made anything with it yet?
-- The Hand Tool School is Open for Business! Check out my blog and podcast "The Renaissance Woodworker" at www.renaissancewoodworker.com
Karson
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34367 posts in 2566 days
#2 posted 1211 days ago
Lee: Congratulations on the pen wizzard. Great looking workstation and organizer for the parts.
-- I've been blessed with a father who liked to tinker in wood, and a wife who lets me tinker in wood. Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †
a1Jim
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86945 posts in 1743 days
#3 posted 1211 days ago
Unique project it should make things easier.
-- W James Brokenbourgh Custom furniture maker http://artisticwoodstudio.com/
Douglas Bordner
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#4 posted 1211 days ago
So this is the antecedent to the Beall “Lathe Wizard” that I lusted after about a decade ago. That model was driven by the lathe’s motor and briefly sold by Woodcraft. This looks like fun!
Not to strike a negative note, but I would buy all the accessories you might want now. I understand that JR has discontinued the Hinge Wizard, which had individual templates for different brands and types of hinges. I never got around to buying more than the Quadrant hinge template. I know of at least one LJ that is attempting to make his own template inserts out of polycarbonate.
Good to see you are still hosting play dates in the shop. I hope the New Year is treating you right, Lee.
-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.
Sawdust2
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1467 posts in 2253 days
#5 posted 1211 days ago
I have a friend who has a Legacy that I can use whenever I want for big stuff. It’s the big one with all of the bits and accessories. This has fewer gears to mess around with so pens look a little better with less work. I only have the rope bit left to acquire.
One nice thing if you watch JR’s videos. He talks about people switching the position of the bars so that the Dremel is in the front. I’m left handed! I don’t have to change a thing to have everything right in front.
Best wishes to you and your faimily, Doug.
Lee
-- No piece is cut too short. It was meant for a smaller project.
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