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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 workflow for this week I recommend her.

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

Pen Kit

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 ahd 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.

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 Fab. Also the support from my class mates helped me finish theis 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 through the process of using the rotary engraver. Without him I would not have gotten everything done on the first try.

People Who’ve Helped me


Last update: June 2, 2025