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I loved fountain pens when I was a kid at school but don't use them much as an adult, although I still have a small collection. A couple of years ago I got int

by Lio 4y ago

I loved fountain pens when I was a kid at school but don't use them much as an adult, although I still have a small collection. A couple of years ago I got into making pens from scratch using a model maker's lathe. I mainly work in aluminium, brass, delrin or silver steel but do occasionally work in wood on a bead lathe. It's fun mainly because a pen is mechanically complex enough to be interesting but also simple enough that you can easily design and make them yourself. I'd encourage anyone even vaguely interested to give it a go. I think the pinacle is probably Nakaya[1]. I've spent a bit of time looking at their designs just trying to work out the operations needed to produce them by hand. CNC or 3D printing could of course make something fairly similar pretty easily but that's not how they do it! ;) Instead they have a group of retired old boys working only when the want to. Very simply and very, very carefully. True works of art. Having said all that, if I was to write on paper I'd probably just use a Parker Jotter[2]. They're cheap, readily availible and I think they got the design just about right way back in 1954. It actually reminds me of how Casio got the design of the digital watch just right with the F-91W 1. https://nakaya.org/en/ https://nakaya.org/en/ 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jotter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jotter 3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casio_F-91W https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casio_F-91W

idoh 4y ago
Can you elaborate more on making pens with a lathe? I'm a total newb but have some ideas on what I want (steel pen with a knurled grip, for example). What am I looking at if I get into this?
- Lio 4y ago
  Where to start… Metalwork is a big subject and there’s some great videos on YouTube. “This Old Tony” is the king. Really the easiest way to start is probably with a pen kitI think. They’re usually very simple and fun (but maybe a bit boring.) With kit pens you’re only making the cladding of the pen. That’s usually wood, acrylic or ebonite and shaped by hand on a wood or beed lathe with chisels. For steel you’d need a beefier metal lathe. To knurl the grip you need knurling wheels. They’re pretty cheap but it all mounts up. I like to work with rod bar stock. I’ll work up a design in a notebook and cut/bore the various parts. Holding up the work is really important. There’s various ways to do it but I’d suggest either an ER collet set or a 4 jaw chuck. With aluminium instead of steel I can just about shape the metal with a high speed steel chisel. Steels too hard. I don’t use CNC which limits accuracy and repeatability. What I end up with is “good enough” and I’m ok with that. I’d suggest getting a second hand lathe, which will come with some accessories, and turning some metal into scrap. It’s great fun, especially if you’re a software engineer.

by Lio 4y ago

idoh 4y ago

Can you elaborate more on making pens with a lathe? I'm a total newb but have some ideas on what I want (steel pen with a knurled grip, for example). What am I looking at if I get into this?

Lio 4y ago
Where to start… Metalwork is a big subject and there’s some great videos on YouTube. “This Old Tony” is the king. Really the easiest way to start is probably with a pen kitI think. They’re usually very simple and fun (but maybe a bit boring.) With kit pens you’re only making the cladding of the pen. That’s usually wood, acrylic or ebonite and shaped by hand on a wood or beed lathe with chisels. For steel you’d need a beefier metal lathe. To knurl the grip you need knurling wheels. They’re pretty cheap but it all mounts up. I like to work with rod bar stock. I’ll work up a design in a notebook and cut/bore the various parts. Holding up the work is really important. There’s various ways to do it but I’d suggest either an ER collet set or a 4 jaw chuck. With aluminium instead of steel I can just about shape the metal with a high speed steel chisel. Steels too hard. I don’t use CNC which limits accuracy and repeatability. What I end up with is “good enough” and I’m ok with that. I’d suggest getting a second hand lathe, which will come with some accessories, and turning some metal into scrap. It’s great fun, especially if you’re a software engineer.