Make a Copper Wire Pen Without a Lathe

In this Instructable, I'll show you how I made this Copper wire pen. Hope you find some inspiration to make your own! Be sure to watch the Video. above that goes side by side with this article and Subscribe to my YouTube Channel for upcoming projects!

For this project, i used some Copper wire that I salvaged from my house when I remodeled it. It has an interesting look to it because of the contrast between the copper and the solder.

Tools used:

• Gas Torch ( a soldering iron works not that well but it is doable)
• Flat file
• Drill
• Wire Cutter
• Knife
• Clamp ( for work holding and assembly

Materials/Supplies:

• Pen Kit with matching bushings: http://amzn.to/2zXSMGh
• Hard copper wire
• a long bolt to use as a mandrel
• Lead-free solder!!!!
• Soldering Flux
• Spray Laquer
• Sandpaper
• Steel wool

Use a long Bolt that matches the inner diameter of the brass tube of the pen kit and is at least so long that you can put one brass tube and one bushing on each end, and you still can chuck it up in the drill you are using.

Take a knife or some special pliers and cut the isolation from the wire to expose the bare copper.

Important!!

Solder one end of the copper wire to the end of the brass bushing with help of some soldering flux before you put the tube on the bolt!

Afterwards, you can you can assemble the mandrel starting from left to right as follows: Bolt-washer-pen bushing-brass tube-pen bushing-washer and a nut to secure everything on the bolt.

Switch your drill to the lowest possible setting and pull the wire away from the drill while winding it up like a spring. make sure you wind up both of the brass tubes in the same direction!

When you snuggly wound up the wire and reached the other end of the tube using some wire cutters to cut the remaining wire. Solder both ends of the tubes so that the copper wire doesn't wind itself down again because of the springiness ( if that's a word) of the wound up copper.

Use a torch instead of a soldering iron you probably can't get your soldering iron to heat up this huge heat sink. I've tried to fill the spaces between the wire without turning it but doesn't work.

Pre-heat the wire and the brass tube with a torch and use the soldering flux to help the process. Add the solder to the wire and slowly turn the tubes in the drill.

After you filled all the gaps with enough solder clean up the solder flux and look for small holes that you need to fill.

You can use a flat metal piece or a Flathead screwdriver to even out the solder on the tube while it is still hot. So you have an easier time filing away the unwanted solder.

After the mess that I call the pen blank cools down you can take it from the bolt and clean and square up the ends with a file or a flush trim bit. to ensure a nice transition to the metal parts of the pen kit.

Assemble the tube again on the bolt in the same order as you have in step 2.

Now you can use the high-speed setting on the drill to turn the pen while holding a file against it you can shape both of the soft metals.

After you achieved the wanted shape you can refine the surface by using some sandpaper from p80 grit all the way up to even a p1000. And finish up with some steel wool to achieve a mirror-like finish.

Use some Spray lacquer to prevent the solder and copper from oxidizing. Use at least 2 coats of finish with a light sanding in between before you assemble the pen.

Use a Clamp or a Vise to assemble the pen as the instructions say that comes with the pen kit.

I hope you enjoyed this article and found some inspiration to make
your own and if you want to see more great projects you can subscribe my YouTube Channel too!

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