A couple of questions for the more advanced kitless, Bespoke pen makers

[Paul-H]

Hi all

As subject, I have a couple of question for I suppose the more advanced of you.

Question 1.

Anyone fitting cap bands to their pens, like the vast majority of commercially made pens do.

Mainly talking about silver or gold either solid, plated or just plane metal coloured like brass or copper.

If you what What method do you use to add them, I was thinking of using some form of compression tool to think the ring into a pre turned groove, what do you do for yours.

Question 2

When I used to collect vintage pens I was always attracted to the pens that had a more unique willing system, no bar fillers for me, I went for the likes of Parker Vacumatics, Sheaffer Vac, touchdown and snorkel fillers or the piston fillers like Pelikan or Montblanc.

So the question is, has anyone designed their own unique filling system like those listed above.

Looking at the options listed I suppose the Sheaffer Vac filler would be the easiest to implement.

Anyone got any thoughts on this.

Thanks in advance for any input and help with this.

Paul

 

[Displaced Canadian]

Hi all

As subject, I have a couple of question for I suppose the more advanced of you.

Question 1.

Anyone fitting cap bands to their pens, like the vast majority of commercially made pens do.

Mainly talking about silver or gold either solid, plated or just plane metal coloured like brass or copper.

If you what What method do you use to add them, I was thinking of using some form of compression tool to think the ring into a pre turned groove, what do you do for yours.

Question 2

When I used to collect vintage pens I was always attracted to the pens that had a more unique willing system, no bar fillers for me, I went for the likes of Parker Vacumatics, Sheaffer Vac, touchdown and snorkel fillers or the piston fillers like Pelikan or Montblanc.

So the question is, has anyone designed their own unique filling system like those listed above.

Looking at the options listed I suppose the Sheaffer Vac filler would be the easiest to implement.

Anyone got any thoughts on this.

Thanks in advance for any input and help with this.

Paul

Do you mean like the band at the base of the cap? I use stainless steel because it can be highly polished but, it does take some work.

 

[PatrickR]

#1 - is called swagging. Doable, but not easily at the hobbies level,
I'm pretty sure the handmade ones replicate the look by working over a tenon.
#2 - no help here. I have no interest in this aspect

 

[its_virgil]

How to add Bands to Your Caps

Add decorative bands to the pen caps. Click on the image below to begin download of PDF. Author: Charles Hutchings

www.penturners.org

 

[Paul-H]

Do you mean like the band at the base of the cap? I use stainless steel because it can be highly polished but, it does take some work.

Yep, the bands around the base of the caps.

How do you fit yours

 

[Paul-H]

How to add Bands to Your Caps

Add decorative bands to the pen caps. Click on the image below to begin download of PDF. Author: Charles Hutchings

www.penturners.org

Thanks for the link

 

[duncsuss]

"Swaging" is reducing the dimensions of a part by compression. I've swaged a couple of bands onto pen caps, it's not easy but I didn't make much effort to learn the skill properly.

I found details of the tooling required and method from this post on the Fountain Pen Network website a long time ago by a user named fountainbel. Since I already used a collet chuck (highly recommended, by the way - much more consistent and accurate than a regular wood scroll chuck) all I had to buy was the material, PEEK.

 

[Displaced Canadian]

Yep, the bands around the base of the caps.

How do you fit yours

I don't remember the specifics on that one. Basic process is I used a tap with a very shallow thread depth for the outside ring and for the threads inside for the cap. I did the inside first and made a plug to support the blank when I cut the outside threads. I glued the ring on to give the threads for the cap more support. It leaves that section of the cap a bit delicate. I was thinking next time I try it I would see about a friction fit and use a bit of glue to hold the ring in place. If you make the cap bigger than the pen the threads aren't a problem but, I like it when the cap and the pen are the same size. I've done it a few times you will need sharp dies, cutting oil and clean the die out often and be patient.

 

[Penchant 4]

#1 - is called swagging. Doable, but not easily at the hobbies level,
I'm pretty sure the handmade ones replicate the look by working over a tenon.
#2 - no help here. I have no interest in this aspect

As noted indirectly in an earlier post, the process is swaging...only one "g". The word with two "g"s is something entirely different. Good luck.

 

[Penultimate]

Greetings.
I've added rings to caps and the pen body. Swaging requires some experimentation to get the thickness right to be able to smush the ring into the groove. A collet chuck is good to use.

I've designed and made two type of fillers. A syringe type fill system is easy to make using o-rings. Unfortunately, half the body is taken up with syringe rod.
The other is a plunge filler. This requires more effort because the seal must be flexible enough to expel air out of the body before pushing the plunger down toward the nib. That action causes a vacuum behind the seal. When the seal reaches a relief at the end of the plunge ink flows into the reservoir. It is so fun to watch the ink flow into the body.
I recommend checking out vintagepens.com for filling systems. Also, searching for patents is really helpful. Good luck.

 

[Paul-H]

Thanks for all the replies.

Looking at the filler options I suppose two of the easiest (for me) is either the Parker Vacumatic type (easy because a similar pump mechanism is available on Aliexpress at a very reasonable price, I think its from a Wingsung pen, or the Vac filler that Sheaffer used, ( easy ish because I have repaired original Sheaffer Vac fillers so do understand how it works and do have some seal kits. But unsure how the make the inside of the barrel smooth enough for the rubber gasket on the end of the rod to seal from end to end of its stroke until it expands at the bottom of the stroke to let vacuum suck the ink up.

Just wondering what others used

 

[sorins]

Hi, check this tutorial: https://www.penturners.org/resources/adding-bands-to-your-caps.235/

 

[duncsuss]

... unsure how the make the inside of the barrel smooth enough for the rubber gasket on the end of the rod to seal from end to end of its stroke until it expands at the bottom of the stroke to let vacuum suck the ink up.

I suggest a hand reamer. Typically drill the hole 3 or 4 thou smaller than the reamer size, use lubrication and only ever turn the reamer clockwise (unlike a tap, where you back off a quarter turn each time you cut forward a full turn to clear the chips.)