# Custom plated pen caps



## glycerine (Nov 10, 2009)

I would like a few custom metal caps made, probably for the jr gent kits. I don't have a metal lathe or I would try it myself. What I would like is either aluminum or brass and I'll have the brass plated in rhodium or something similar.
Is there someone here who would be willing to turn some parts for me? I basically want the "barrel" and I'll have it plated or coat it with CA and press the "kit" parts onto it. I would like there to be a slight bow in the barrel, not just a straight cut. Or if they are slightly underturned, I could file/sand the rest of the way before plating.
If you can do this for me, please give me an estimate of what it would cost or if there's an easy way that I can do this myself without a metal lathe (ie. maybe home depot has some brass pipes that happen to be the inside diameter that I need and I just don't know about it...).


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## mrcook4570 (Nov 10, 2009)

You can turn aluminum and brass on a wood lathe with regular wood chisels.


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## johnnycnc (Nov 10, 2009)

You can turn aluminum on your wood lathe. 
It is not difficult.Different yes, difficult, no.
I have aluminum blanks available, but you can buy lots of places.
I also have instructions to get you going and/or can help if needed.
the aluminum is on my site, and the instructions are too.
From my homepage, there is a links section on the right, aluminum instructions are under that.
Blanks are under a category named aluminum pen blanks.
Not trying to sell you anything, just know that you can do this if
you are a decent turner and willing to learn a few things.
Here is a Baron in aluminum;






And a Jr Gent in copper;




These were turned on a Jet 1014 with common woodturning tools, by hand.


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## ldb2000 (Nov 10, 2009)

Jeremy , brass and aluminum turn very easily with regular woodturning tools . I have done dozens of pens in both materials , even posted a few of them here (check my photo album) . My advice is , sharpen your tools well and keep touching them up for the best cuts and keep the tool rest close to your work and a firm grip on your tools . If you get a catch the blank won't shatter like a wood or plastic blank does but it will try to yank the tool from your hands and if the tool rest is too far away your tool could break . 
Other then that they turn very nicely , kind of like a very hard tru-stone but without the chipout .


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## glycerine (Nov 10, 2009)

Ok, thanks guys.  How about material?  Other than buying pre-milled from John, are you using aluminum rods and drilling the center out?  What about brass, using pipes and drilling or filing the center larger if it's not the right diameter?  Have you guys ever had brass plated with something else after you've turned it?


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## NewLondon88 (Nov 10, 2009)

You can probably pick up some brass or aluminum scraps from a local
machine shop, but you can also get them from MSC, McMaster Carr
or just look online for brass stock, aluminum rods etc..
I picked up an aluminum lightning rod and cut it up into pieces..

As for plating brass, I think that's what most of our kits are. You might
ask a jeweler about plating.. they sometimes have equipment on site
to do plating repairs.


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## ldb2000 (Nov 10, 2009)

I use bar stock and tube stock depending on the pen design . As for plating the brass will plate without any problems the aluminum must be treated to accept the plating . 
I use a simple brush on electroplate setup to plate tubes for acrylic pens (black chrome and copy chrome) but for a surface plating that will see wear you should have it done by a professional plater or jeweler , You need a much thicker layer then you can get from a homebrew setup . Be expecting to pay over $125 to have a cap the size of an ElGrande plated by a pro depending on the thickness of the plating . Even small parts like clips and accent bands are expensive to get professionally plated .


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## Daniel (Nov 10, 2009)

My first choice would be tube stock if you can get it in the needed id and od otherwise bar stock. Mcmaster Carr has a good variety of both.


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## workinforwood (Nov 11, 2009)

Steel is strong.  If you have a set of John's bushings that are getting beat up, you can use one for a cap!  It's already turned to size.  You can make it shorter on top, round it over or run it on an angle if you want.  Put the bushing into a vise and go at the top of it with a grinder.  Then you can have it plated.


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## glycerine (Nov 11, 2009)

ldb2000 said:


> I use bar stock and tube stock depending on the pen design . As for plating the brass will plate without any problems the aluminum must be treated to accept the plating .
> I use a simple brush on electroplate setup to plate tubes for acrylic pens (black chrome and copy chrome) but for a surface plating that will see wear you should have it done by a professional plater or jeweler , You need a much thicker layer then you can get from a homebrew setup . Be expecting to pay over $125 to have a cap the size of an ElGrande plated by a pro depending on the thickness of the plating . Even small parts like clips and accent bands are expensive to get professionally plated .


 
So my best bet would probably be to just polish the aluminum or brass and coat with a clear coat, huh?
Does anyone know if a clear powder coat is more durable than CA?


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## ldb2000 (Nov 11, 2009)

Clear powder coat will work , lacquer , epoxy and CA won't last very long . The problem is the metal is hard and to get a coating of anything that will last is hard to do and once you give the metal a high polish nothing will stick to it very well . I have tried powder coat and the others with very little success . 
Powder coat will work the best but if it gets even a little chip in it it will start to peel and look terrible in a very short time . The best coating I have found so far besides a professional plating job is .... no overcoat at all . All of the custom pens I make from metal and even the parts for any custom pen are just polished to a mirror shine then left natural . This means that they must be polished on a regular basis but a wad of neverdull brings back the mirror finish in just a couple of seconds , you can also use any metal or brass polish but cleaning the white residue from the nooks and crannies is a PITA . Also remember that Silver does oxidize and tarnish as well and must be polished regularly . 
Google Neverdull wadding and get a can , you will find allot of other uses for it as well , and give your customers a small baggie of it to polish their pens with . Most customers will accept having to polish their pens regularly if the advantages are explained to them .
ALL plated metal will eventually wear and the underlying metal will show through . In the pen collecting world this is known as "Brassing" and happens to even the best expensive pens made . Once you get a scratch or scrape in a plated metal part the brassing will happen even quicker and the only solution is to replate , but by leaving the metal bare you can simply resand the scratch and repolish to a mirror shine again . I've had very few people that didn't understand the logic to this and asked for plating or some kind of over coat , which they paid extra for .


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## NewLondon88 (Nov 11, 2009)

I don't know about pricing, but I've been seeing articles on ceramic
coatings that are supposed to be pretty rugged (and optically clear!)

I think there are some that you can do at home without buying
any equipment ,but I can't remember any details..:redface:


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## glycerine (Nov 11, 2009)

ldb2000 said:


> Clear powder coat will work , lacquer , epoxy and CA won't last very long . The problem is the metal is hard and to get a coating of anything that will last is hard to do and once you give the metal a high polish nothing will stick to it very well . I have tried powder coat and the others with very little success .
> Powder coat will work the best but if it gets even a little chip in it it will start to peel and look terrible in a very short time . The best coating I have found so far besides a professional plating job is .... no overcoat at all . All of the custom pens I make from metal and even the parts for any custom pen are just polished to a mirror shine then left natural . This means that they must be polished on a regular basis but a wad of neverdull brings back the mirror finish in just a couple of seconds , you can also use any metal or brass polish but cleaning the white residue from the nooks and crannies is a PITA . Also remember that Silver does oxidize and tarnish as well and must be polished regularly .
> Google Neverdull wadding and get a can , you will find allot of other uses for it as well , and give your customers a small baggie of it to polish their pens with . Most customers will accept having to polish their pens regularly if the advantages are explained to them .
> ALL plated metal will eventually wear and the underlying metal will show through . In the pen collecting world this is known as "Brassing" and happens to even the best expensive pens made . Once you get a scratch or scrape in a plated metal part the brassing will happen even quicker and the only solution is to replate , but by leaving the metal bare you can simply resand the scratch and repolish to a mirror shine again . I've had very few people that didn't understand the logic to this and asked for plating or some kind of over coat , which they paid extra for .


 
Yes, Never Dull is my friend.  I use it sometimes on old razors, bullet casings, etc.  But it sure stinks!


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## glycerine (Nov 11, 2009)

NewLondon88 said:


> I don't know about pricing, but I've been seeing articles on ceramic
> coatings that are supposed to be pretty rugged (and optically clear!)
> 
> I think there are some that you can do at home without buying
> any equipment ,but I can't remember any details..:redface:


 
That's something I've never heard of.  I'll have to look into it.


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## NewLondon88 (Nov 11, 2009)

a couple of links..  some of them are oven cure but some might
need spray equipment or more.

First link just cracked me up.. second one is the clear coating

http://www.prismaticpowders.com/cerakote_video.php
http://www.prismaticpowders.com/clear_coatings.php


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