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Over the past few months, we've been playing with the Axidraw to bootstrap a handwritten card service, so I loved reading about the way you solved some similar

Over the past few months, we've been playing with the Axidraw to bootstrap a handwritten card service, so I loved reading about the way you solved some similar problems – especially the jigs. For us, this has been much more challenging than expected...thanks for sharing your process, it was encouraging. For what it's worth, we're making FountainCards.com, which will be the easiest way to send a card written in fountain pen. If anyone is up for trying out the beta, my email is stephen@fountaincards.com.

aarondf 5y ago
Moloch! Glad you enjoyed it. I feel like the jigs were one of my best inventions. Especially the pen alignment jig that gave me a reference point for dead reckoning. When I figured that out I was pretty tickled. Good luck, reach out if you need anything!
- iambateman 5y ago
  Ha! Moloch indeed. Fountain was born out of my utter avoidance for writing cards. After my wife had our first child, I had a whole list of people to write and thank…but didn’t…and I still feel bad. Soon, I will have invested a whole year of development time to avoid spending an hour writing cards. Engineering is a curse ;) Thanks Aaron!
- HeyLaughingBoy 5y ago
  Why did you do alignment via jig? I've done this kind of manual configuration in the past when I needed to align two independently-controlled axes to each other (a pick & place handing off an object to another pick & place) , but for registration of a single axis, I'd normally use a "home" sensor.
  - aarondf 5y ago
    The jig aligns two axes! The jig is placed at a specific tooth (x) with a known Y offset. By placing the pen in the hole on the jig, both x & y are resolved
wombatmobile 5y ago
Fountain pen? I love them. But suddenly 15 years went past, and when I opened up my Parker 45, the ink reservoir plastic had perished. I've bought a number of replacement wells, but none of them work. They use a screw to draw the ink, which gets the ink into the reservoir OK, but it doesn't flow, presumably because there is no ventilation? What fountain pen mechanism are you using? Do you know of a way to rejuvenate a Parker 45?
- iambateman 5y ago
  Oh no! Sad to hear that...I'm not sure how to fix that problem, sorry. We use Pilot's "Varsity" fountain pen, which is certainly lower end from the 45, but easier to switch in and out.

aarondf 5y ago

Moloch! Glad you enjoyed it. I feel like the jigs were one of my best inventions. Especially the pen alignment jig that gave me a reference point for dead reckoning. When I figured that out I was pretty tickled. Good luck, reach out if you need anything!

iambateman 5y ago
Ha! Moloch indeed. Fountain was born out of my utter avoidance for writing cards. After my wife had our first child, I had a whole list of people to write and thank…but didn’t…and I still feel bad. Soon, I will have invested a whole year of development time to avoid spending an hour writing cards. Engineering is a curse ;) Thanks Aaron!
HeyLaughingBoy 5y ago
Why did you do alignment via jig? I've done this kind of manual configuration in the past when I needed to align two independently-controlled axes to each other (a pick & place handing off an object to another pick & place) , but for registration of a single axis, I'd normally use a "home" sensor.
- aarondf 5y ago
  The jig aligns two axes! The jig is placed at a specific tooth (x) with a known Y offset. By placing the pen in the hole on the jig, both x & y are resolved

wombatmobile 5y ago

Fountain pen? I love them. But suddenly 15 years went past, and when I opened up my Parker 45, the ink reservoir plastic had perished. I've bought a number of replacement wells, but none of them work. They use a screw to draw the ink, which gets the ink into the reservoir OK, but it doesn't flow, presumably because there is no ventilation? What fountain pen mechanism are you using? Do you know of a way to rejuvenate a Parker 45?

iambateman 5y ago
Oh no! Sad to hear that...I'm not sure how to fix that problem, sorry. We use Pilot's "Varsity" fountain pen, which is certainly lower end from the 45, but easier to switch in and out.