17. Wildcard week¶
Weekly 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¶
This week, I decided to do something related to pen turning and engraving. This would be different than any other of the weeks we have done because it involves a lathe as well as a rotary machine with the laser cutter.
In the pre fab academy program at our school, we actually made a pen before. Here is my documentation for that assignment. For this new one, we needed to make one that is harder and more advanced and I did that by using multiple pieces of wood and gluing them together into a pattern.
Originally, I wanted to do a checkerboard pattern as per this tutorial but I was told our band saw was not stable enough for it (it would wiggle around at times and you have to exert some force to make sure it cuts in one consistent line in the direction you want). Instead, I went for more like a multiple-pieces-put-together pattern, like a mix and match.
For that plan, I used three different but similar colors of wood.
I used the band saw to cut out 6 1/4 inch pieces of each. This would be more than I needed but I made extra just as a failsafe.
Each of the two parts of the pen was 2 inches, so I would need 8 pieces of the small chunks of wood. Because some of the wood actually varied in width, it was good that I had extra to pair with others and match the length requirement. I used superglue to hold each of them together and used a clamp to secure them while the superglue dried.
Lathe Workflow¶
The lathe is a potentially dangerous woodworking machine to be using, so we went over safety precautions before using it.
Safety: Make sure you have taken these appropriate measures:
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Wearing a face shield, safety glasses, and earmuffs
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Securing loose clothing, jewelry, or hair. To the best of your ability
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Ensure your work area is clean, well-lit, and free from obstructions
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Inspect the lathe for any damage or unusually loose components
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Familiarize yourself with the emergency stop mechanisms.
Workflow:
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To put your wood on the lathe, use the chuck key to loosen the jaws of a lathe chuck that holds the workpiece by turning clockwise
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Rotate, align, and adjust your wood so that it fits in the jaw and is centered where you want to drill a hole
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- Make sure the wood piece is not entirely flush with the back and has a distance of 1-1.5 in away from it. This is so you will be able to easily see when the drill goes through the wood completely and has an alternate benefit for step 11
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Once satisfied, use the same chuck key to hold the workpiece by turning it counterclockwise
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Unlock the body of the drill by turning the side lever from pointing up to being loosely downturned
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Move the drill so that it is touching the wood, if not done so already when checking if it aligns with your marked point of contact
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Turn the handle towards you until the lathe's measure at the top reaches 1.5 inches (varies depending on the length of the wood)
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When satisfied, re-lock the body of the lathe
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Press the switch so that the lathe turns on. At this point, the wood should be turning
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Turn the handle of the lathe away from you, faster to suit the speed you want the wood to turn and how quickly you want the process to be
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Once the drill has gone completely through the wood, or to whatever length you wanted, turn the switch off
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Once the wood completely stops spinning (will take a few seconds), unlock the lathe and push it out of the wood
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- Alternatively, if you left enough space from the back of the lathe in the beginning, you could do step 12 first, make it easier to remove the wood and not have to pry it off
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Use the chuck key to loosen the jaws of the workpiece again, enough so to remove your wood
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Inspection of the drilled wood for accuracy and quality after removing it from the lathe, which hopefully has been drilled to your specifications!
Cleaning:
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Unplug the lathe to ensure safety during cleaning
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Remove any wood shavings, dust, and debris from the lathe and surrounding areas
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Inspect tools and drill bits, cleaning them of debris
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Store everything properly
Lathe Processes¶
The first time Angel and I drilled a hole, the bit we used was too small and when we tried to force the brass tube through, it caused the wood to crack. After that, I used an extra piece to test the drill bit to make sure it was the perfect size. The best fit is when it can slide in and out easily but not fall out.
I used that drill bit to drill into my wood using a lathe.
Before I superfglued the brass tubes into the hole in the wood, I had to make the surface more abrasive so that it would hold. I did that using 60-80 grit sandpaper rubbing in circular motions.
After that, I placed the wood onto the lathe, this time with the proper appliances for wood turning and not drilling.
As seen in the video, I faced some issues where my wood was loose and that would make the turning process harder. The first time, it was because the superglue did not properly adhere to the wood and would literally allow the wood to slide (surprisingly). I thought re-gluing it would fix my issue, but I then realized that the brass tube itself was a bit wide and would not be tight against the bar that held it for turning.
Garrett Nelson and Mr. Dubick both took a look at it. There wasn't really anything to do about it and I found that when I reassembled things, it would be tighter. And, when I was turning more slowly and at a certain angle, it would not act up as much. So I just pushed through with that issue and it still worked out.
When I finished shaping and sanding smooth the wood, I took the two pieces of and they looked like this.
Pen Engraving¶
Angel and I referenced Cooper's documentation heavily in this step of the project.
For engraving the circular pen, we had to use a rotary machine. We plugged it into the laser cutter and moved it into the upper left corner. When I loaded my text file into the laser cutter software, I selected the upper right corner of the grid on the left side panel. For X, I used 1.7; for y, 4.5, and for z, 1.733. Before I engraved, I would always load in the file and do a trace to see if it was going to be in the right location. Once I got that right, I clicked print to engrave it.
Assembly¶
Finally, I used a pen pen press to assemble everything.
Overview¶
This week was one of my favorite week because I, again, was able to make something I'd use a LOT in daily life. I think I began using it right after I finished assembling it and it was really satisfying to use. If I get the chance and more time, I think I'll be making more of these, probably for father's day. It was also nice to learn how to use the rotary machine because I had no idea it could be paired with our large laser cutter.