16. Wild Card¶
Overview¶
This week I made a wooden pen and engraved my name using a rotary engraver and a laser cutter.
Finding my wood¶
I decided to try and create the pen using multiple pieces of wood as the base of my pen. The pen needs two parts each 2 inches long. When creating mine I decided to make one of my pieces out of 2 different kinds of wood. 2 pieces were 0.5 inches while the other was 1 inch. I needed to cut out the code to the correct sizes so my friends and I used the table saw and the bandsaw to cut our wood pieces out. After this I used super glue and clamps to hold the three pieces together.
Wood Lathe¶
A wood lathe is a power tool that shapes wood into desired shapes. It works by rotating a wooden block and using stationary cutting tools to change the wood.
Pen Holes¶
I used the lathe to drill the holes in the blocks of wood to glue the metal holder in. And then I also used it to modify the pens to get the shape and smoothness of the pen I wanted.
Lathe Workflow¶
Thank you Cooper Cumbus for helping me with the workflow.
- Wear a face shield to protect yourself from loose wood chips.
- Plug in the machine** and make sure it has power.
- Loosen the chuck** using the lathe chuck key, then secure the wood piece into the chuck.
- Make sure its the chuck that spins not the drill.
- Install the drill bit into the holder.
- Make sure the extender stays between 1 inch and 6 inches.
- Unlock the carriage and slide it until the bit is just touching the wood.
- Turn it on and select the feed rate, and wait for the chuck to reach the right speed.
Drilling¶
- Once the lathe has the correct speed slowly turn the crank to move the bit into the wood.
- Stop once you’ve reached the 6 inches deep.
- Rewind the drill bit to the 1 inch position.
- Slide the carriage forward to where you left off.
- Repeat until the the hole is through both sides.
- Remove the wood from the chuck and vacuum the machine up.
Brass Tubes¶
After drilling, I used superglue to seal brass tubes from the kit into the holes. This holds the wood in place on the pen.
Shaping the Pen¶
To shape the pen:
- Insert the rod between the carriage and put a metal receiver in the holder, this way both sides are connected and spinning.
- Mount both wood pieces back onto the lathe.
- While the lathe spins, use a carving tool to carefully modify the wood.
- Once the right shape is found, sand the surface to make the pen smooth and comfortable to hold.
Assembling the Pen¶
I used a pen press to assemble the parts:
- Pressed the pen head into the thinner wood piece.
- Attached the twist mechanism to the opposite side of the same piece.
- Pushed the butt of the pen and grip into the thicker wood piece.
- Added the metal ring to separate the two wood segments.
- Pushed in the ink cartridge into the twist mechanism.
- Finally, pressed the thicker piece onto the twist mechanism to complete the pen.
Engraving the Pen¶
To engrave my name, I used the rotary engraving chuck attachment with the laser cutter.
Setup¶
- !Turn off the laser cutter! before plugging in the rotary tool.
- Plug in the rotary device on the left side of the machine.
- Turn the laser cutter back on and wait for the bed to lower and the laser to reset.
- Move the rotary tool to the top-left corner of the bed for correct axis alignment.
- Insert the pen into the chuck and tighten it using the silver wheel.
- Manually focus the laser onto the pen using the red dot
Creating the Design¶
- Open CorelDRAW and create the text or design you want engraved.
- Send it to the Epilog Laser software.
- In the laser software:
- Set X=1, Y = 4.5
- Select the upper-left grid box
- Use a DPI of 300 for engraving text
Test and Engrave¶
- On the laser screen, change the diameter value from 7 to 0.5 to be more accurate .
- Use the test outline button in the lower-right to preview where the laser will engrave.
- Adjust X or Y values in 0.1 increments.
- Once aligned, press Print to begin engraving.
Here is the final engraved pen:
Reflection¶
This week was a nice break before starting my final project. Each step was comfortable and easy to follow long with and I am happy with my finnished product.