Pen holders

[sol]

There have been comments about trying to hold pens instead of bits in the router for trial run work.
After becoming tired of taping, wiring and generally rigging pens into place I made these holders from plumbing parts and old router bits.

They are pretty self explanatory, but a few comments...

The longest one is spring loaded which allows for irregular surfaces and is made of a ½ "cap soldered (butt joint) to a ½ " coupler. A half inch pipe slides inside and holds the pen; a router bit shaft was threaded and soldered into the top. The threads of a set screw (little screw at the cap's solder joint) project into a slot in the core which keeps the core from falling out while still sliding freely. The spring is just above the pen holding screws.

The other two were made from male adapters (upper right hand corner) with 1/8" and 1/4" shafts soldered onto them. The pipe threads were ground off just for appearance. One brand of adapter fit like a glove over one type of pen so it required no holding screws

Plotter pens are going the way of the typewriter, but they are still on Ebay of course. I bought out the last of a CAD shops inventory for nickels on the dollar, they were glad to clean house and I was happy to get a deal on a lifetime supply of assorted pens...

[pen25]

when cutting why not leave bridges and route in a cut sheet #. assosiate the cut sheet # with the template or assymbly drawings so if you have multiple parts in one sheet you dont knock it out until its ready to be put together just like in a model.. if you want to # it and dont want to damage the peice and if the cutter is fine enough you can route the # or part # below or in room.

[pen25]

can someone delete this post was ment for another ;-)