17. Wildcard Week¶
Individual Assignment¶
- Design and produce something with a digital process (incorporating computer aided design and manufacturing) not covered in another assignment, documenting the requirements that your assignment meets, and including everything necessary to reproduce it.
Pen Turning¶
Amalia has a great workflow for this week. If you want a good example of a clear and well-documented pen turning process, I highly recommend hers. She details every stage — from cutting the blanks and accurately drilling the center hole using a pen vice, to gluing the brass tube and using bushings on the lathe to match dimensions perfectly. Amalia also highlights the importance of progressive sanding (starting from 150 up to 600 grit) and applying CA glue finishes for a polished surface. Her documentation provides an excellent reference for maintaining precision and achieving a professional finish.
1. Bandsaw¶
This was to cut the wood into 2 inch blocks.
2. Lathe: Making the Hole¶
Next I had to drill a hole into the wood to make space for brass tubes.
3. Brass¶
Next I glued in the brass tube for the pen.
Glue:
Pen:
4. Lathe: Rounding the Wood¶
First I mounted the wood.
Then took a chisel and removed excess until I got desired shape.
After turning
Here are my final wood pieces after sanding:
5. Assembling the Pen Kit/Using Pen Press¶
Tyler Russel helped me with this process.
Right here I made the mistake of putting the brass cap on the end. This wouldn’t cause major issues, but I had to be careful on where I engrave.
Here is my fully assembled pen before engraving:
6. Engraving¶
I used a rotary engraver to engrave my pen. Noah Smith taught me how to use it. He also has a great workflow for this process. Noah’s workflow covers the setup and calibration of the rotary engraver in detail — including aligning the pen with the rotary axis, adjusting the focus height, and setting the engraving speed and power in the software. He also explains how to use vector versus raster engraving modes effectively and how to avoid slippage during rotation. His documentation was crucial for understanding how to achieve clean and consistent engravings around curved surfaces like a pen barrel.
I decided to go with one of my friend’s name so I could give it to them as a gift.
After engraving, this is what it looks like:
Reflection¶
I found this week really easy because I already did this in Pre Fab. Also the support from my classmates helped me finish this week faster. If it wasn’t for Noah, Tyler, and Cooper nearly electrocuting themselves trying to get the rotary engraver to work, I probably wouldn’t be here right now. Noah also really helped walk me through the process of using the rotary engraver. Without him I would not have gotten everything done on the first try.