Project and weekend work

[BeautysBeast]

I have my first commission and originally, I couldn't have been happier. 60 designer twist pens, engraved with their company logo, in Brazilian Cherry. Sounds great right? Until it went from 2 months to completion, to three weeks. Now in all honesty, If I worked anything the even resembles a normal schedule, this wouldn't have been an issue. However, my day job is 14 hours a day, five days a week, so everything had to be done on the weekend. Needless to say, I am just wrapping things up, and got to turn something other than the same pen over and over. 

This is one of the commissioned pens.

And a few just for fun.

I know I don't post a lot, But thank you ALL for all of the vast knowledge I have gotten from this site. I haven't been doing this long, and I absolutely love it.

[wtnhighlander]

Beautiful pens!

Do you have an engraver / laser, or did you outsource that part?

[BeautysBeast]

I have a laser engraver. It won't engrave all woods, but will do most of them. 90 bucks. Was well worth it. 

[Llama]

59 minutes ago, BeautysBeast said:

I have a laser engraver. It won't engrave all woods, but will do most of them. 90 bucks. Was well worth it. 

Mind posting a link? I'd like to know more about this! 

[Tom Cancelleri]

1 hour ago, Llama said:

Mind posting a link? I'd like to know more about this! 

I have a feeling it's the one from Gearbest.

http://www.gearbest.com/3d-printers-3d-printer-kits/pp_242560.html?currency=USD&vip=762116&gclid=CjwKCAjw2s_MBRA5EiwAmWIac0442aFSfj43aTCF9GMeaBsaEInAzweRQpOeJoMyGr8evme1eI08JBoCz5QQAvD_BwE

[Marmotjr]

On the pen turning forums, there's multiple active discussion about these engravers, and we have discussed them in our club meetings too.  The consensus is to not buy from gearbest, but to get the identical model from Amazon.  The reliability of the engravers is shaky at best, and gearbest has been known to draw out warranty returns over many months, or even flat out refuse them, while Amazon barely blinks an eye and the replacement and the faulty one pass each other in the mail. 

As for the rotary engraving, there is an attachment that will go on the bed of the engraver, so as the bed translates in the Y axis, it will rotate a pen body by the same amount.  You can find these commercially for a decent price, or if you have access to a 3d printer, the files are available publicly.  The commercial one is also 3d printed, and the open one was developed separately, around the same time, so there is no IP theft going on. 

All said, you can get a rotary engraver that will do upto a 1.25" or so in diameter for about $100-$120. 

With a little practice, people have been able to put out very highly detailed engravings on pens. 

[thatCharlieDude]

On 16/08/2017 at 0:14 PM, Tom Cancelleri said:

I have a feeling it's the one from Gearbest.

http://www.gearbest.com/3d-printers-3d-printer-kits/pp_242560.html?currency=USD&vip=762116&gclid=CjwKCAjw2s_MBRA5EiwAmWIac0442aFSfj43aTCF9GMeaBsaEInAzweRQpOeJoMyGr8evme1eI08JBoCz5QQAvD_BwE

This is the one he's linked to before:

On 26/07/2017 at 0:18 PM, BeautysBeast said:

I'm using this laser and the funline designer twist pen. I presented the customer with the option of a single tube, he prefered the twist in the middle option. The kit I use only uses one small tennon, on a single bushing. 

https://www.banggood.com/NEJE-DK-BL-405nm-1500mW-USB-Laser-Engraver-Laser-Engraving-Machine-p-1137183.html?rmmds=search

I didn't see any warranty info so I'm not sure if it's returnable or not. The Gearbest one is cheaper. 

[Tom Cancelleri]

1 minute ago, thatCharlieDude said:

This is the one he's linked to before:

I didn't see any warranty info so I'm not sure if it's returnable or not. The Gearbest one is cheaper. 

The laser wattage is the difference hence the price.

 

[thatCharlieDude]

1 minute ago, Tom Cancelleri said:

The laser wattage is the difference hence the price.

 

Yup they are, good eye.