# Ode to a Vacumatic



## BRobbins629 (Sep 10, 2008)

My version of a vacumatic blank with a clip tribute to Parker.  Home brew PR resin sliced too many times to count, with hand fabricated sterling silver fittings.  All comments welcome.


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## holmqer (Sep 10, 2008)

Fabulous! I love the vintage look!


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## wdcav1952 (Sep 10, 2008)

Holy Toledo, Bruce, are your eyes permanently crossed?!?!?

That is a clever segmentation.  Great work!!


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## desertyellow (Sep 10, 2008)

Excellent work


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## papaturner (Sep 10, 2008)

That is just way too cool................Excellent job.


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## OKLAHOMAN (Sep 10, 2008)

Bruce, WOW
BTW I tried to count the segments but ran out of fingers.


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## VisExp (Sep 10, 2008)

Bruce, that looks beautiful!  I still aspire to building some kitless pens and seeing work like this really motivates me.


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## dntrost (Sep 10, 2008)

I have to just agree with the rest that is really something...Great job


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## cowjelly (Sep 10, 2008)

That is very nice! Well worth the effort..
________________
Keith


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## thewishman (Sep 10, 2008)

Great job! The fittings are nicely subdued to let the segmenting draw the eye. Top shelf!


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## JayDevin (Sep 10, 2008)

wow! nice work!


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## toolcrazy (Sep 11, 2008)

very cool


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## gerryr (Sep 11, 2008)

Really nice work Bruce.


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## Ligget (Sep 11, 2008)

Awesome pen Bruce, the amount of work involved in those barrels is amazing!


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## workinforwood (Sep 11, 2008)

No doubt a major amount of Labour.  The home brew Kit and clip look great, but I'm off on a limb by myself in that I don't like the blank.  Too busy, perhaps it's all the black so close together.  sorry.


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## BRobbins629 (Sep 11, 2008)

To all who commented - many thanks. To Jeff, the blank actually came out a little more busy than I hoped, but maybe it will patina like the old ones and in 50 years it will look like this vintage inspiration.


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## bitshird (Sep 11, 2008)

Nice Job Bruce,  very retro looking pen, nice work on the hardware.


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## Firefyter-emt (Sep 13, 2008)

Wow, that is some serious work!  Did you use the translucent amber PR so the blank was see thru like the original?

BTW, I have the same pen and color as the above Parker, but with out the tassie jewel.  They are even more stunning than that photo shows.


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## rherrell (Sep 14, 2008)

VERY cool Bruce Excellent job!:highfive:


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## BRobbins629 (Sep 14, 2008)

Firefyter-emt said:


> Wow, that is some serious work!  Did you use the translucent amber PR so the blank was see thru like the original?
> 
> BTW, I have the same pen and color as the above Parker, but with out the tassie jewel.  They are even more stunning than that photo shows.


Thanks - Mine is not translucent. Was just trying to get a similar effect.  Also has a center core to keep it together so even if the amber was see thru the pen would not be.  Perhaps in a different version, but I really need a better way to make these.  This one fought me all the way.


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## Firefyter-emt (Sep 14, 2008)

What if you were able to level some plate glass and pour a thin swirled PR onto that and allow it to make a thin sheet? Maybe a few layers of masking tape to make a "dam" to keep the thickness?

Then a lightly tinted amber in the same method for the inserts.  This way you might be able to cut it into thin strips, drill the holes in the sheet and then cut them apart and build it on a brass tube.

I like the pre-drill idea to keep the hole straight compared to the lines of the blank.

Make a wood board with four t-nuts in each corner, install pan head 1/4-20 bolts and place the glass ontop of that. This will allow you to adjust each corner to level.  Just thinking here.


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## BRobbins629 (Sep 14, 2008)

Firefyter-emt said:


> What if you were able to level some plate glass and pour a thin swirled PR onto that and allow it to make a thin sheet? Maybe a few layers of masking tape to make a "dam" to keep the thickness?
> 
> Then a lightly tinted amber in the same method for the inserts.  This way you might be able to cut it into thin strips, drill the holes in the sheet and then cut them apart and build it on a brass tube.
> 
> ...


Even with that setup which is a good idea, I think it would be really difficult to make a uniform thickness sheet.  This one was sliced from a turned cylinder and randomly oriented to get a similar effect to the Parker.  If I cast a sheet, I think I would want to pass it through a thickness sander to make the pieces uniform, but I don't have one.  The other idea is to make the colored section, turn it round, and with a thin parting tool on the metal lathe make grooves that can be filled with a second cast of black PR.  The trick with that one is perhaps to make multiple pours at angles of the colored section to lose the grain effect.


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## PR_Princess (Sep 15, 2008)

Bruce, I like it!!! 

*A Lot!!!*:worship:

That offset shimmer effect as always drawn me to that pen.

I hate to say it though, but I think that the pattern it is not busy enough! Now, when did you say you were going to have those blanks available for sale??:biggrin::tongue:

Hmm... If you do what Lee is suggesting.... Do you think that you can make a blank patterned off of what (I think) they used to call a "snake skin" pen? I think something like that paired with the snake clip you made would be dynamite!


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## BRobbins629 (Sep 15, 2008)

PR_Princess said:


> Bruce, I like it!!!
> 
> *A Lot!!!*:worship:
> 
> ...


Why thank you Princess.  Don't think these will ever be for sale, but I could be talked into a trade for a kringle.


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## magpens (Mar 12, 2018)

Hi Bruce,

What a lovable pen !!!

Thanks for reviving it and posting a link to it.

Perhaps my post here will result in that thread becoming active again and result in some of that Vacumatic material breaking its head through the surface. . Hope so.

I tried to make a blank like that but it was a failure.  

Yours is absolutely beautiful !!!


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## Curly (Mar 12, 2018)

Might have been 10 years ago but you are still ahead of the curve.


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## stuckinohio (Mar 13, 2018)

Good revival. I hadn't seen this before. Very cool!


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