Apollo Infinity Kit- copper body pen- Revisit.

Apollo Infinity Kit- copper body .

This is a kit pen , made from Apollo infinity Chrome kit.  Originally I had made a wooden  pen using this kit [ a photo is given] but somehow did not like the fat looks. So broke that up to salvage the kit and in the process destroyed the brass tubes. As you don’t get any supplies on the ship, I decided to make a tubeless body. By now I had turned many brass rods , so wanted another material. Took up a pure copper  rod- only learn later how difficult machining copper can get!  If  you are turning or drilling at slow speed the tool tip or drill bit will stick and braek [ I was not using any coolant] and if you raise the turning speed the metal will over heat and the shavings will melt and stick [ unlike brass] and eventually the hot job-piece would bend. Given a choice, I would not make another pen like this again. !!

The pen came out in good shape, fit and finish. But bad luck, it popped out of my boiler-suit pocket and fell through a height of 25 feet onto steel floor, thus shattering the cap finial inner bush. Had no replacement, so stuck with Loctite 396 and it is going on. Do not want to buy a full kit to replace only this part. May be some retailer can give me one, but have not yet approached anyone.

In spite of the relatively heavier weight the pen has an excellent balance in writing. However posting the cap makes the pen too large and heavy for me to control. The iridium tipped nib of this kit is very smooth [ medium point]. I particularly like This kit, for the good looks and the nice shape of the section.

Maintaining the shine on the body is a regular problem as the copper tarnishes [ I personally do not like that dark look, see a photo] , so every time I pull out the pen from the underworld, I give it a good shine with brasso. Even the chrome plating on the decorative cap-band has started to look like gun metal after so many brasso polish.

Later if I have time, I would want to machine a bush and repair the cap finial. Somehown the extra work carried on the pen has created a bond, so this pen would stay in my collection..

 

Posted below are some photos and writing sample.

 

Put the pen on a notebook cover photo, liking the result ! Sample Writing using Sulekha Pink ink.
 
 

Tarnished in storage.

 

 

After Brasso polish :

 

 

This was the fat old original !! Good riddance.