# Making Pen Blank inlays



## jasonmac73 (Jul 31, 2017)

I see blank inlays for sell everywhere but I can't find anything about making them.  I assume it requires a laser engraver.  

Do the $100 - $200 chinese laser engravers have the power to cut the wood blanks or do they only have the power to engrave?  

If the Chinese engravers are not powerful enough, what is the entry level for cutting own inlay blanks?

I have looked online and these things go into the stratosphere on cost.  Is it realistic to make own pen blank inlays?

I apologize if this has been answered.  I have searched and not really found anything about creating own pen blank inlays.  I keep finding pen blank inlays for sell.


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## keithncsu (Jul 31, 2017)

The $75-110 "NEJE" style Chinese lasers would NOT be strong enough. Not sure about the next step up (40w).  Can't speak to that one. 


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## Wildman (Jul 31, 2017)

We had a very talented pen turner here from Canada that did out standing inlays with his scroll saw.  He posted pictures and tutorial here many years ago.  You had to see this gifted artist’s work just unbelieveable!


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## jasonmac73 (Aug 1, 2017)

I have tried every search I can think of to find out how inlay pen blanks are cut and what equipment and all I get returns on are sellers of inlay blanks.  That seems to be the best kept secret.  I find them so interesting and would love to learn how to make them.


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## SteveJ (Aug 1, 2017)

Try this from the library:

Making Pens with inlays


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## dogcatcher (Aug 1, 2017)

SteveJ said:


> Try this from the library:
> 
> Making Pens with inlays



That is a good tutorial, but requires the purchase of a $2000 inlay machine.  There has to be cheaper solutions.


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## jasonmac73 (Aug 1, 2017)

I am really interested in learning to make my own inlays but i can't spent that amount of money for the machine. If I tried to make enough money to live on, I will then invest in an expensive machine. 


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## thewishman (Aug 1, 2017)

A 40 watt laser will cost MUCH more than $2000. And I think it would take a long time on that machine. A higher wattage machine would be much better, to eliminate burning the woods and adding sanding steps to get rid of the char.

Here is a video from LaserLinez - show making the kit and then making the laser inlay blanks:

https://vimeo.com/57164081


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## EBorraga (Aug 1, 2017)

40 Watt won't do intricate designs. I had some made and he uses a 60 watt. He is also cheaper than paying $5,000 for a machine


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## dogcatcher (Aug 1, 2017)

jasonmac73 said:


> I am really interested in learning to make my own inlays but i can't spent that amount of money for the machine. If I tried to make enough money to live on, I will then invest in an expensive machine.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Penturners.org mobile app



Over the years I have played with inlays of all kinds.  With pens you have 2 things to deal with, they are extremely small and they are round.  Most inlay information that is available is for flat objects and they are larger.   The round issue, that means you have to create a rotary system that moves the blank as you cut.  That will take some math and engineering skills.  Is it possible?  Yes.  But can the average home shop create a system that will do it? Again yes, that is if you have the funds to invest in tooling and the time to figure it out.  

These are my suggestions if you want to work farther into this deep hole.  The best and I think the most information is the area of "pool cue inlays" and "luthier inlays".  Both the cue makers and the guitar makers have been pretty inventive with inlays.   Most cue makers, at least the professional ones use CNC equipment for inlays, again expensive, real expensive, but some are homemade and cheaper and still functional.  But to get information from them is next to impossible.  These are their trade secrets, they will go to their grave before they disclose them.

That leaves the luthiers, or guitar makers, but their stuff is FLAT.   When you make an inlay in the flat mode and turn it, it will distort the image.   If you could make pen that is a 6" in diameter, the distortion generally would not matter, but as small as pens are it won't float.   

There is a luthier homemade inlay jig that is made of plywood and uses a Dremel or Foredom hand piece.  If properly built it does a pretty good job making flat inlays.  2 problems I have found, the Dremel bearings are sloppy and the slightest error on the build will eat you alive.  The Foredom handpiece 44T is better.  That set up can set you back about $200 if you find a good used Foredom unit.


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## dogcatcher (Aug 1, 2017)

Finally found the video of the one that I sort of followed.  https://youtu.be/8PQlDAg971c 

I watched dozens of videos about pantographs, read every article that I could find, even dreamed about them.  More cheap advise, buy the best drawer slides you can afford, they will be smoother moving and have less slop in the movement and still not be good enough.  Building your own drawer slides using a slick plastic like Delrin would be better, but expensive.  As I watched the videos, I kept notes and pictures of ideas, the same with the articles I read.  Off and on I spent a lot of time designing my version, to do what I wanted, but it is useless in making inlays for pens.  

I actually used this one for making inlays on the top of box lids.  I also used it to do decorative cuts on the box lids, sort of like an ornamental lathe operation, but using a pattern instead of the rocking motion created by the disks.  Again this was in the flat mode, no need for a rotary system to turn the item being cut.


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## jasonmac73 (Aug 1, 2017)

That guy is really creative to make that duplicator. That was awesome.   So getting into creating inlays as a hobby sound very cost prohibitive. I see why there is very little available. Getting a high wattage laser engraver could open up business opportunities I see.  I may have to explore this idea further if wife ends up taking a job in a little community that would pretty much screw me from working in my career field.  I will definitely keep researching this. I can see so many opportunities with a laser engraver well beyond pen blanks. 


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## dogcatcher (Aug 6, 2017)

I think if I build another one I would use parts from this system.  500X8mm 3D Printer T8 8mm Rod Lead Screw Nut Z Axis Linear Rail Bar Shaft | eBay

You wouldn't need the lead screw, the mounts or the nuts for it.  Just the sliding parts, but I would need 2 sets to get the XY movement.  That still does NOT cover the rotation of a turned pen blank, which would be needed.  The rotary application is not needed on flat work, which is what I use mine for.  

I think using the slides, rods and the mounts would be more accurate than any drawer slide.  I have used these for a couple of other jigs, there literally is no side movement like in drawer slides.  The end mounts are stable and the mounts that slide on the rod have convenient mounting holes.   They will have to be perfectly square to each other


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## Wildman (Aug 6, 2017)

Dogcatcher intriqued by you idea and would like to see pictures your other jigs using these rods.

I really enjoyed draw slide video you posted and was starting to look into making one.


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## dogcatcher (Aug 6, 2017)

Sorry no pics, all of this is at my shop in Texas.   I have just began playing with the CNC and 3D printer parts a few months ago.  But I have proven to myself it is the way to go, more accurate and less slop than drawer slides.  

This pic here is what gave me the idea of using those parts.  






When I got the idea of inlaying guitar MOP inlays in box tops, I started Google research for ideas.  One was the drawer slide machine.  That was an easy one to make, but a little sloppy in it's movements.  I had watched a CNC router, so I knew there was better slides.  Research lead me to the 3D parts kits off of eBay.  

Using the above cross slide with a homemade indexing jig. I should be able to cut flutes in pen blanks, for with inlays, or rounded bottom flutes. even square or  hexagon etc. shaped pens.  Sort of a poor man's Pen Wizard.  Just a slightly different method of skinning the cat.  

It is getting to be an expensive quest.  I bought several of the 200mm 3D printer kits, a few of the 400mm 3D kits and a lot of extra parts.  So far I have made only rough versions of the  ideas I want to try.  Using maple and the kit parts.  Eventually I will switch to aluminum blocks instead of the blocks of maple for the final versions of the jigs.   But right now all of this is on hold, I went off on another project a few weeks ago.


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## Wildman (Aug 7, 2017)

Think you are onto something great!

Thanks for sharing and good luck with it.


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## Ken Wines (Sep 20, 2017)

jasonmac73 said:


> I see blank inlays for sell everywhere but I can't find anything about making them.  I assume it requires a laser engraver.
> 
> Do the $100 - $200 chinese laser engravers have the power to cut the wood blanks or do they only have the power to engrave?
> 
> ...


Jason, you're probably not going to find a lot of information online on this topic.  I know this because I have tried.  I'm one of the proverbial "new kids on the block" in laser inlay and segmenting.  I'm a Guest Artist that makes laser processed blanks for Signature Pen Supply.  This past weekend I did a tutorial on Laser Inlay at the Mid Ohio Valley Pen Turners Gathering in Belpre, Ohio.  My intent was to demystify the process for those who were interested.  The topics I covered were Blank Preparation, Seamless Patterns, Laser Kerf Compensation, Helical Segmentation (spirals), Ring Segmentation, Puzzle Pens and whatever else I could fit into the 45 minutes that they allocated for me.  Steve Kondo, a friend mine from Florida, along with others will be hosting the Southeast Pen Gathering in Augusta, GA in May 2018.  He asked me to do the same demo for that gathering.  First let me say, I'm not expert on this topic nor do I think that anyone else is.  Here is the equipment I use to make the blanks pictured above.  1. 60 watt Epilog Helix  2. A mandrel based rotary for the Helix that I built specifically for pen work.  3.  A 1940 something SouthBend Metal Lathe to make my consistently sized pen blanks.  Let's talk about the blanks first.  I turn all the blanks between centers on the metal lathe so that the wall thickness is approximately 1/8".  I use drill sized bushings that I make to do the turning.  If you viewed Chris's video you will see that is one of the first steps in the process.  Now, lets talk about the laser.  Do you really need 60 watts to cut 1/8" thick wood?  No.  I usually cut most blanks at 30% power (18 watts on a 60 watt machine) and vary the cutting speed between 15% and 30%.  This will work for most of the dosmestic wood that I use.  When you get into exotics you have to zone it on what power and speed you need to reliably cut the wood in a single pass.  The denser and harder the wood the more power and less speed.  Next to the rotary.  Epilog doesn't make a chuck style rotary for the Helix/Mini/Legend series.  They do make one for the Fusion series at the tune of $2800 for the rotary and the Fusion would cost probably another $30,000.  The surface driven rotary that they supply should work ok for engraving glasses and Yettis.  Surface driven meaning that the object be engraved sets on 2 wheels that are equally spaced off the centerline of the laser and the object rides on them in the gap between them.  As the wheels turn it drives{rotates) the surface of the engraved object.  This type of rotary is utterly useless, IMO, for doing precise indexing.  I searched the internet far and wide to try to get the numbers of how many inches where represented by one rotation of the stepper motor on the stock rotary.  I bought a used surface driven rotary from my Epilog Distributor and took the time to figure it out.  Knowing that "magical number"  I can now manipulate timing pulley ratios between the motor and spindle and get about any circumference that I want. (I cut my own timing pulleys out of acrylic with the laser).  Right now I have the circumferences set at 2", which seems to work well for most pens.  If I scale artwork (either lines to cut or a photo to engrave) to 2" I get a seamless 360 degree wraparound every time.  So ... the third requirement to do this type of work would be an accurate rotary device that you can set an exact circumference.  I hope this answers at least some of your question.  If you will check out my Facebook page (Kenneth Wines) I have posted some videos there of laser cutting pen blanks.


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## Gwatson50 (Sep 20, 2017)

Great stuff, thanks Ken


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## jimmyz (Sep 20, 2017)

I've been able to make several nice inlaid pens using various "low tech" options. Personally, I can't justify the high cost of a laser for what is essentially a hobby for me.

My first attempts were using the scroll saw. Look up threads for "Master Scroller" and you'll see some ideas on using a scroll saw. Basically, cut your blank in half, lengthwise. Then draw a design (that will fit on the finished pen!), cut it out, glue the two halves back together, fill the void with colored polyester resin/epoxy/inlace, and turn/finish the blank.

Lately, I've been using my homemade air-powered carving tool (search "Piercing on the Cheap" on youtube). For this option, I turn the blank round but a little larger than the finished diameter. Draw a design on the blank, cut it out with the carving tool, and fill as described above. The tool cost about $80 and I can use the same setup with my airbrush.

You can also create some very interesting inlays using the techniques described by Mark James in his chevron tutorial.

Good luck!


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