Home and Office supplies fountain pen

This is a heads-up on this cheap $2 pen which i have shown earlier. while it is cheap and writes well, but it has a major flaw; it is a cartridge killer.

I have put in one long cartridge initially, standard international, and it worked for a while. after a couple of weeks, the pen suddenly leaked on first writing, and i realise that the cartridge's mouth had split. no matter, could be a cartridge issue, so i had it swapped to another short international cartridge. same thing happened, it was working initially, then the cartridge's mouth split opened. the pen leaked and created a whole mess. I am now trying the china standard international cartridge, or the daiso pen refill, which has a bigger mouth and seems to be made of a sturdy material, but i'm not betting much money on it. and no way am i going to sacrifice a converter.

my verdict: buy the pen for the nib, stay clear of using it. the grip isn't very good btw too.

 

 

Monami - Olika

well, this pen is kinda complicated to me.

First, it is ergonomically well made for the hand. using the same design as a parker urban, but yet lighter, it does not wear the hand down when writing for long.

Secondly, it employs a wick. That disappoints me a little thought. But just a little, as the wick can be removed for easy cleaning. same goes for the nib which can be removed easily. since the wick and nib can be removed, they can be adjusted to allow wetter or drier ink flow by adjusting the distance of the wick, which is like a fountain pen. you can also make the nib finer or flexible, like a fountain pen. on top of that, that orange ink used feathers, and after much thought, i reckon this wick should stop the feathering. and it did. the pen writes well with no feathering. the theory is sound.

the other plus point of a wick is that there will no leakages due to change in pressure, i.e. in a flight. So, although i am reluctant to consider it as a full fledge FP in theory, but it seems to be one in practice.

as a side note, the ink fits the pen!

A pitfall of disassembling fountain pens

A simple demonstration of why disassembling the pen is not how hard it can be disassembled, but how simple it can turn bad and hard to assemble.

key takeaway: it is not the hardest to disassemble, but to assemble.

the 2 pens are the same brand and model. hero 373. the original nib depth is the black one. notice that the "GP" does not go into the pen body. the distance from the tip of the nib to the feed is as shown. the silver one is disassembled and the nib is pushed in much deeper.

the result?

the pen with the nib pushed in inner writes without hard start as the tip is nearer the feed, even when i was using a pigment based ink. however, the cap of the pen rotates on the pen as the nib's design contributed to the tightness of the cap.

now, ask youself, do you actually take note of this relationship before disassembling a pen that writes well initially? most people don't, and may end up needing to continue to disassemble and assemble the with it being inked to regain the original state.

and eventually spoil something called mood among other things like the nib, feed and the holder.

modern sheaffer twist converter - one problem you should know.

The modern sheaffer converter, the twist version, has a problem which even some sheaffer sales personnels do not know. 2 words, they break. When they break, the converter will leak ink into the pen body and most notably turn with the piston when you twist the piston while it is inserted into the pen. It is not tight in the sheaffer pen.

Frequency of that happening ? i have a broken one, and i have already found 4 broken ones in new sheaffer pens sold over the sheaffer counters. I conclude it is quite high.

And i had thought a lot of people knew about this. Apparently not. And therefore this post.

How then do you detect it? First, twist the piston while the converter is inserted into the pen. if the converter twists, do a visual check, the confirmatory one as shown below;

This is broken converter. Notice the break line on the inner and second ring in black? that means it will not be tight.

This is a working converter. the 3 rings, the inner black ring, the middle black ring, and the outer metallic ring are complete. this is a working converter which will sit tightly in the pen and not leak.

Pilot kakuno - customs. Universe, pure and bronze edition.

Pilot kakuno - customs. Universe, pure and bronze edition. Made quite some time back, now playing around with the colors matching...

The Slim : Version 1

I can finally close the chapter for this pen! a metallic body, with a colorful and air tight cap! took me a long while to find that right cap to lego every thing together (and getting scorn at by Tony for being dull because it is always lying there all this while). it does not take a genius to realize, just needed that touch from The Creator above. I now prove to myself that I am stupid. :p

Nothing fanciful, all parts are not created nor bought. Marrying them together creates a pen of its kind. very light weight, durable due to its metallic body. the details are in the pictures.

Now to probably more with a green cap, a red cap, a pink cap...wait, a kakuno family?! No.......

cap: as shown.
nib, feed and holder: daiso $2 pen.
body: a not needed body part from a cerruti pen.
uses a china international cartridge converter or those standard cartridge.

 

When the direction is right, the flow cannot be stop. So I have made one pen using a daiso pen parts. I can also make another one using the daiso sold platinum rivere pen too! And they look different.

I am seriously running out of parts... 

Comparison between twsbi AL orange and AL lava.

comparison between twsbi AL orange and AL lava. I am satisfying my own curiosity too.

i have an orange and 2 lava versions. this is 1) to ensure i am fair to 2 dealers, 2) face it, lava will be snapped up in no time, 3) it is easier for comparison.

To the naked eye, their color tone is similar. Too similar. However, a close up will show that the orange AL is coated in a straight line fashion. The lava on the other hand, has a finer coat and is very much uniform. that is the biggest difference. I attribute that not due to a change in color pigment but a different method used in coating.

 

the picture will have the details.

the orange AL. note the "grains".

the lava AL. First pen.

the lava AL. second pen.

PSMKII - pen stand - mark 2

yup, it is done. using PSMK1 as its base design, it retains all its features - mobility, cheap, and fully functional - and removes all the unnecessary stuff. It is a little bit shorter than PAMK1, and removes all the protruding items which makes the keeping of the stand a little tough. grooves are added instead to the body, some a bit rough at the moment since this is a first prototype, but will certainly be smoother with its replicate. anyway, the details are in the pictures.

simple enough isn't it? you can make it yourself, i am sure. But if you live near me and wants a replication of this, i don't think it will be a problem.

Now to move on the PSMKIII. the one with the whistles.

basic internal structure of the stand.

slightly shorter than a twsbi eco. top side

another side.

bottom view.

the stand transformed.

Takes an eco. No problem

takes a short muji. note the different groove used.

even if the pen is rounded at the edge. no problem.

can be used in this way too as a "desk pen".

bottom of the pen stand.

the 2 grooves made.

the drain on top to ensure the pen stays in place.

2 piece structure, again.

comparison with PSMK1. sleeker design.

 

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i needed another pen stand, so i made another. This time with the prototype as the example, the parts are made more properly (the grooves are cut at the right depth!) and in a shorter amount of time. i think this design is starting to mature.

The top is the new one, the bottom is the prototype.