What?

Slimline Pencils and Pens

Who?

Cody, Sam, and I were the group that was on the lathe over the same period of time, but our projects were seperate.

So what's the point?

The goal of the project was to make a slimline pen or pencil from a kit and a pre-made turning blank. When I made more pencils later, I made my own blanks.

What did I end up creating?

I created a total of 6 pencils.

What was my role?

Since I did my project individually, I played all the roles: I designed the blanks that I turned, turned them on the lathe, sanded and finished them, and assembled the pencils.

What role did CAD play in the project?

The role CAD played in the project was that I designed my blanks on prodesktop and made negatives of them so that I could make a template for when I was turning the blanks.

Where did the design process come in?

Define the Problem - I wanted to make a slimline pencil. Later I decided to make the pencils for Christmas presents.

Research The Problem - I searched google for suppliers of pen kits and found then at http://www.pennstateind.com/

Develop Possible Solutions - I designed 3 possible solutions for the pen blanks.

Choose the Best Solution - I decided to use 2 of them for my pencil.

Create a Prototype - My prototype was actually a negative template of both blanks, that I used to make it easier to accurately turn the blanks.

Test and Evaluate - The only test that I did was assembling the pencils. When it fit together well, I knew that my design was successful.

Communicate - Besides talking with Mr. Conners about my project, there wasn't much to communicate.

Redesign - I didn't have to redesign my pencil blanks.

The documentation!!! ClickHere for photos.

P.S. Hard copies of the drawings for the pen parts are in my portfolio!