Penultimate
Member
Greetings
Here is my Bash entry and a slightly longer description than 500 characters.
My wife gave me a Mont Blanc Classique rollerball many years ago. It is the finest writing instrument I've used. So why not try to replicate it? Maybe I could learn some design secrets.
I started by measuring the MB and drawing it in Fusion 360. I had some Lucite from member Gerry Rhodes that would look good with Aluminum parts. After making the design drawings I started machining. There were design challenges along the way like making the snap cap part, the clip and cap rings. This was my first time making rings and the second time making an Al clip. The Birthday Bash and Summer Extravaganza encourage me to try new things.
Making the section, nib, threaded section were straight forward. The body presented a challenge with the trim ring. My original two piece body design didn't work so I had to swage the ring. After some prototyping I got the sizes right and swaged the ring on using my collet chuck. Then I made three protos of a snap cap, I got close but bought some nib units from R Greenwald and one of the snap caps fit perfectly. The trim rings on the cap are slipped over a tenon. I hogged the clip from 1/8" thick Aluminum finished it with rotary tool, files and wet sanding then bent around a transfer punch.
What did I learn? Dimensionally, my pen is very close to the MB so it fits in my hand as well as the MB. The MB is weighted at the section that makes it feel better than my copy. My pen writes well but MB brand refills are superior to the Schmidt 5888 refills. I like my pen, it sits next to my MB on my desk and I use it daily for work.
Thanks for reading and looking.
Here is my Bash entry and a slightly longer description than 500 characters.
My wife gave me a Mont Blanc Classique rollerball many years ago. It is the finest writing instrument I've used. So why not try to replicate it? Maybe I could learn some design secrets.
I started by measuring the MB and drawing it in Fusion 360. I had some Lucite from member Gerry Rhodes that would look good with Aluminum parts. After making the design drawings I started machining. There were design challenges along the way like making the snap cap part, the clip and cap rings. This was my first time making rings and the second time making an Al clip. The Birthday Bash and Summer Extravaganza encourage me to try new things.
Making the section, nib, threaded section were straight forward. The body presented a challenge with the trim ring. My original two piece body design didn't work so I had to swage the ring. After some prototyping I got the sizes right and swaged the ring on using my collet chuck. Then I made three protos of a snap cap, I got close but bought some nib units from R Greenwald and one of the snap caps fit perfectly. The trim rings on the cap are slipped over a tenon. I hogged the clip from 1/8" thick Aluminum finished it with rotary tool, files and wet sanding then bent around a transfer punch.
What did I learn? Dimensionally, my pen is very close to the MB so it fits in my hand as well as the MB. The MB is weighted at the section that makes it feel better than my copy. My pen writes well but MB brand refills are superior to the Schmidt 5888 refills. I like my pen, it sits next to my MB on my desk and I use it daily for work.
Thanks for reading and looking.
