A little problem with alumilite… oops.

Every now and then I run into a problem.  Usually the problem is a slip – something I did wrong – a step I left out – going too fast or too slow.  Yesterday I had a problem with a cap.

  • Sandstone color explosion blank.

Turned round between centers.
Stuck in 20mm collet.
drilled for cap
23/64 to make room for nib
17/32 to make room for section and to thread it

There. That’s it. The pen screws in but it’s wobbly. Instead of the barrel going in straight it goes in crooked.

So I’m thinking the problem is that I didn’t make any steps between the two drill bits and possibly didn’t keep things cool enough. Drilled too fast.

I ordered two more blanks but it stinks that I had to do all this.

  • It didn’t go crooked until the section meshed with the shoulder inside the cap. If I put just the section in and pushed it against the inner cap shoulder the section was all wonky. For some reason the inner shoulder was out of whack.
  • I tried a different cap on the pen so I know the problem is in the cap. All I can figure is the shoulder in the cap got messed up somehow. It looks smooth and clean so I have no clue why it behaved this way. I also tried this section in another pen and it all went together fine. As far as I can tell that narrows it down to a bad cap. Don’t know how I did it, but I did. I’m thinking when I drilled the 17/32 out I must have gotten it too hot. I didn’t pull out and clear waste as often as I usually do. This stuff is deceptively easy to turn, drill, and thread, and that got me into trouble. :)At least I think that’s what happened. Next time I’m going to drill and thread it before I turn it round.