* Pen making

Sorry about last week, I had fun. It was good seeing friends. Anyway, on with the update.

So a few things have happened. I have bought a new chuck for the lathe and it is [MASSIVE!](https://i.imgur.com/fPL5tbc.jpg) The plan is to use the key chuck for something I use all the time and don’t need to change, so in my case that is my centre drills. I use them for starting off holes all the time. The keyless chuck will be used for drill bits and things I need to swap out often. This should speed things up a bit when making sections and whatnot. I will eventually have multiple chucks for different jobs so I can just mount them somewhere and pick up the one I need.

I am working on 6 pens at the moment, I have started 5 of them but the other has some exacting specifications which I need to print out for reference. I like it when clients know what they want and give broad specifications but nothing too exacting, I need tolerances. Anyway here are the [5 blanks](https://i.imgur.com/7hdnpG0.jpg) I have started. So from left to right we have a diamond cast blank, a clear acrylic (yes I am making a demonstrator), a brooks blank, a black and glowing blank of my own creation then finally a tq blank. The diamond cast one if for a customer order. The clear one is going to be a crystal clear (hopefully) baetylus pen. The other three blanks are going to be made into a slim pen like the ones I am going on to. I have started the [sections](https://i.imgur.com/kVRIVAL.jpg) already.

So, I have been asked to make some sections to fit schmidt nibs. It’s my first time using a new nib unit in a while but I just followed the technique I use with the other nib units. Giving them about 0.5mm wiggle room for the most part and getting the threaded portion dead on. SO here is the section I made with the nib [fitted](https://i.imgur.com/HuBueIF.jpg). And here is it in a pen I made to test out how thin I could push the material of [the barrel](https://i.imgur.com/f8qWD1d.jpg). And here is the pen with the [cap on](https://i.imgur.com/VpEBbUz.jpg).

Finally I have the pens I was making last time including the one [I messed up](https://i.imgur.com/tVi10Rh.jpg). How did I fix it? I filed down the broken end until I got to a part where there was no damage, I turned and rethreaded the outside and then re threaded the inside. What I ended up with is quite nice. Both of these pens are my Gaea model however they are much smaller than what I normally make the part of the barrel by the threads is about 14mm and tapers down to quite thin at the end, less than 10mm. The cap threads are still13mm and the cap is normally about 1mm bigger than the section giving it a small step down to the barrel. One is fitted with a silver roll stop, the other is fitted with a steel clip. Let me know what you think. I am going to be making the brooks blank, the black and glowing blank and the tq blank into this model.

[Cap on ebonite](https://i.imgur.com/tmT95uG.jpg)

[Cap off ebonite](https://i.imgur.com/TD6pwWo.jpg)

[Cap on blue acrylic](https://i.imgur.com/sXDEBz0.jpg)

[Cap off blue acrylic](https://i.imgur.com/rA8CV4L.jpg)

As usual, take care of yourselves and your loved ones, stay safe and I will see you around.