# another Pentel conversion



## duncsuss

I gave the demonstration at the turning club last night. I'd been threatening to show them the Pentel mechanical pencil conversion for a while but it kept getting delayed, finally got to it ...

A simple piece of curly maple, just a couple of wipes with Woodturners Finish. I'd forgotten that it's water based, and thus it will raise the grain slightly. Rather than sand it down again and re-apply the finish, I just assembled the pencil to show the end result, and I'll disassemble it and finish it properly over the weekend. Think I'll change it to a CA finish, maybe pop the curl with BLO first.

One quick photo ...

Reactions: Like 4 | EyeCandy! 1 | Way Cool 2


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## Schroedc

duncsuss said:


> I gave the demonstration at the turning club last night. I'd been threatening to show them the Pentel mechanical pencil conversion for a while but it kept getting delayed, finally got to it ...
> 
> A simple piece of curly maple, just a couple of wipes with Woodturners Finish. I'd forgotten that it's water based, and thus it will raise the grain slightly. Rather than sand it down again and re-apply the finish, I just assembled the pencil to show the end result, and I'll disassemble it and finish it properly over the weekend. Think I'll change it to a CA finish, maybe pop the curl with BLO first.
> 
> One quick photo ...
> 
> View attachment 91537




Cool, is this a pretty decent mechanism to use for this? I'd love to see how you do it!!!


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## duncsuss

Schroedc said:


> Cool, is this a pretty decent mechanism to use for this? I'd love to see how you do it!!!


The Pentel mechanical pencils are one of the better mechanisms IMO.

The entire trick to this is getting a special step-drill and mandrel. A guy on IAP regrinds a "taper" length drill bit into a step-drill; it's recommended to drill most of the way with a regular drill bit (since step-drills don't clear chips as effectively and it's a long barrel you're drilling in one piece), then swap to the step-drill for the last 1/2" to 3/4". The important thing is that there should be a nice square lip inside the bore, this is what the mechanism clamps onto when the nose-cone is screwed onto the mechanism stem.

The tool kit seller is John Grounds, IAP name "Chuck Key". THIS is his website where you can see the options.

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## ripjack13

I love it. I've been wanting to try to grind a bit to get it to work with that pencil. I have a couple of old kreg bits, but now that I see it's for sale....awesome.

I like what you have done. Nothing fancy. Nice job Duncan....

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## rdabpenman

Nicely done.

Les

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## Wildthings

Gorgeous!! I really like the Pentel conversions and have tried it numerous times without the modified stepped drill which has resulted in complete failures on every occasion!

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## duncsuss

Wildthings said:


> Gorgeous!! I really like the Pentel conversions and have tried it numerous times without the modified stepped drill which has resulted in complete failures on every occasion!


Even with the step drill, I've had a couple that went wrong. It's really easy to cut through the material (at the internal step) when shaping the nose of the barrel -- I haven't figured out what I'm going to do with that piece of DIW, maybe insert a contrasting plug and drill it again


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