Titanium and Brass Tactical Pen (pic heavy)

[Tofty]

I recently bought a Mosquito Tactical Wasp Pen just to see what all the fuss was about in relation to tactical pens, however i feel the wasp has a couple of things wrong with it:
1. The knurling is too high up the neck compared with where i like to grip the pen.
2. It claims to take standard parker refills but the cavity is actually too short and the supplied refill is non-standard.





Despite these problems i generally like the wasp due to its chunkiness (14mm diameter) which makes it a pleasant change from the plasticy biros i'm used to using.

I have since modified my wasp to accept standard parker/fisher refills with a bit of drilling but the knurling position cant really be changed so i thought i'd have a go at making my own pen using some of the wasps dimensions as a template.

This is my first attempt:














Only the knurled brass pieces, the glass breaker point and the three drilled nuts are not made from titanium, everything else including the pocket clip are made from grade 5 titanium.
The drilled nuts will eventually also be made from titanium but i just wanted to get finished so aluminium was the quick choice.

The glass breaker is made of hardened silver steel and is replaceable.

[ryan1835]

that is very nice. how much? 

[Essexman]

oh that is very nice. If that's your first, I can't wait to see what you make next.

How did you find machining the Ti ?

[sparky415]

that is very nice. how much? 

Oi Ryan, 
Not everything in this world is for sale! Not everything has a monetary value!

I guess in a way you can be forgiven as you are quite young

You have grown up in a world of fast food, instant food from a microwave, fizzy beer from a can, Entertainment beamed directly to your home without lifting a finger, every whim catered for at the touch of a button

I suppose I'm looking back to a better time, an era of the craftsman, where every man was proud of the work he produced

Where a man was rewarded not just for doing his job but doing it well

I guess I'm trying to say that's a great job Fatchappers!  Ummm and how much are you knocking them out for Mate? 



Sorry Ryan   

[Tofty]

Thanks, not considering selling any time soon but perhaps i'll make a batch after some further design iterations.

The next step is obviously a sonic screwdriver pen.

Machining titanium is actually a very enjoyable experience on the lathe with carbide cutters, the metal just peels off smoothly in long thin ribbons and a half thou final pass leaves a very acceptable finish.
Drilling is where you have to be careful as titanium gets very hot very quickly as seems to work harden easily making tapping then impossible. I discovered alot of the heat was created by the swarf jamming in the flukes and causing friction on the hole walls, so much so that a couple of times the swarf has caught fire which burns with a similar ferocity to magnesium with the same incredibly bright white light.
The solution is to nudge cut (to break up the swarf) only a couple mm at most then draw the drill fully out of the hole to ensure swarf removal and repeat. Considering this pen has a 80mm deep centre bore patience is the key to success, also be careful with cutting lubricants as they help cause fluke blockage.
All the holes were however drilled with normal HSS drill bits and i'd say working with titanium isn't much more difficult than working with 300 stainless, in fact for external lathe work it can be easier....and it parts off better too.

[jekostas]

That's damned nice work, it really is.  Very well done.

[J-sews]

Fabulous bit of lathemanship there FC!



Did you also make a couple of little assembly/spanner wrenches?

[Tofty]

i should do but i cheat and just use drill bits to tighten the nuts

[J-sews]

i should do but i cheat and just use drill bits to tighten the nuts

I wondered if maybe that's what you did!

Drill bits are fine for the prototype, but when you go into production (making ones for the rest of us) you'll need proper spanners.

[Tofty]

Some more photos without the aluminium nuts and polished up i bit more:

[J-sews]

Oooh! I didn't think it was possible FC, but it looks even better now! Very nice!


A question: Did you make the clip from scratch, or...?

[sparky415]

That really is a work of art! 

I hardly ever use a pen but 

Great work FC! 

[Tofty]

yeah, the clip was rough shaped from 1mm ti plate with a hacksaw then heated with a blowlamp and beaten into shape. Its not perfectly straight but sometimes you just gotta know when to give in as it'll never get any better.
It's actually not a bad clip and goes over jean pocket edges fine while never feeling like its going to deform. Alot better than i expected it to perform.

Cheers guys.

[Vladimir]

Extremely nice!
  

[edcgear]

Woow man... That's awesom pen!!

I can see a CEO of some multi billion global company signing very important contract with that pen!!!