# Made my first section today



## schreiber (Sep 17, 2012)

... to fit a Bock 5mm nib unit and a 1/4" converter.

It took me a good part of the day, measuring, finding bits to fit, etc. and writing everything down, but it turned out great!  I had to ink up my skeleton pen, and it worked fine.  :biggrin:

Until I went to thread it to fit a barrel, whereupon the nipple shattered.  Obviously 9mm was not enough meat for threading.  Next:  Try 12mm.

Also, I think I should try something other than acrylic, like ebonite maybe.  Acrylic seems pretty brittle.

This occurred to me:  Is there a scale which gives the relative brittlenesses of the various penturning materials?  I imagine ebonite would be less brittle than acrylic, but where do the other materials fall?

Thanks, Jon


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## lorbay (Sep 17, 2012)

Need to see pictures or it didn't happen. Lol

Lin.


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## schreiber (Sep 17, 2012)

lorbay said:


> Need to see pictures or it didn't happen. Lol
> 
> Lin.


Oh right.  Rule 32 isn't it?



Poor light, and nothing anywhere near finished about this thing.  And of course, it's well, broken.


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## oneptbuk (Sep 17, 2012)

I'm about to march down the same path, brother..... But, ebonite is pretty expensive to be practicing on though, I would save that for the keepers when your process is down.  I'm sure others with experience will weigh in.  I'm going to practice with Alumilite, as I have it in the shop and I've heard it threads nicely, and it is pretty durable.  

Not sure the sequence you used, but I think you want to thread the outer first, then drill and tap the inside threads.  That may have been your process, but it sounded like you drilled and tapped first.   

Nice work though..... I'm sure I've got plenty of busted caps, sections, and barrels ahead of me.....


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## schreiber (Sep 17, 2012)

oneptbuk said:


> Not sure the sequence you used, but I think you want to thread the outer first, then drill and tap the inside threads.  That may have been your process, but it sounded like you drilled and tapped first.


Aha!  :headsmack:

I'm pretty sure I've seen that in vids before, but I was just kinda winging it today.


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## duncsuss (Sep 18, 2012)

schreiber said:


> oneptbuk said:
> 
> 
> > Not sure the sequence you used, but I think you want to thread the outer first, then drill and tap the inside threads.  That may have been your process, but it sounded like you drilled and tapped first.
> ...



Great first try -- I'm keeping all my "learning experiences" to remind me I have to pay attention to what I'm doing.

Anyway, having cracked the threads on one barrel already, for the next one I'm going to ...

1) make a collar (using delrin or some other material) that is drilled and tapped so it can screw onto the external threads of the part I'm making

2) thread the outside

3) fit the collar to give support

4) drill and tap the inside, ream away the first few threads to account for where the threads don't reach on whatever is going to screw inside the hole.


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## IPD_Mr (Sep 18, 2012)

If you accidentally drill and tap first you can always screw in an feed unit to give it support and then go back to using the die.


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## BSea (Sep 18, 2012)

Sections are the real test of going to a custom pen.  I seem to do at least 2 for each pen.  The good news is that the need to measure everything 15 times goes down the more you do.  I think I'm at about 7.

But there is no reason that you can't do acrylics.  Yes, they do tend to be more fragile, but as long as you have the right Taps & dies, you should be fine.  My 1st pen I use a set of taps & dies from Harbor freight.  I could never get the section threads that go into the body cut.  It kept breaking.  Smaller threads make it much easier.


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