Old Meets New - 3D Printed Pen Finished In Urushi Lacquer

[Joseph B]

I like the simplicity of the Japanese pens finished in Urushi lacquer with little hardware. I decided to print a pen cap and barrel on a Makerbot Replicator 2 with PLA filament and finish it with Vermillion Urushi lacquer. The cap posts deeply and it is a very comfortable writer. The nib is a Jowo number 6. Comments and questions are welcomed.

[Mathemagician]

Wow that is amazing! PM me if you are ever thinking of selling these!

[Mathemagician]

How complex can you get with those 3d printings?

[Joseph B]

Wow that is amazing! PM me if you are ever thinking of selling these!

 

Thank you.

 

How complex can you get with those 3d printings?

You can get very complex but some times you have to try the details, revise and try again. For the lesser expensive printers details like threads may get, for lack of a better word, "fuzzy" , so I cut the threads with tap and die.

[cattar]

Beautiful pens. I think the first one would be more comfortable to my hand.

Got me thinking about painting and lacquering some pens.

[ZoidbergFr]

Amazing....you filled the last point I am really bad at....finishing.

 

Few questions:-)

 

where did you get the lacquer from ?

Is this your design ? what precision did you print ?

Did you post process the PLA before applying the lacquer ?

The question behind is : did the lacquer filled the tiny steps due to the 3D print? or did you sand the parts?

 

 

The last , not the least I guess...you did lacquer the threads too right? how did you cope with the additional thickness of the lacquer?

 

Nevertheless Congratulations!

Edited December 24, 2016 by ZoidbergFr

[Aysedasi]

Wow that is amazing! PM me if you are ever thinking of selling these!

 

Likewise for me.......

[Joseph B]

Thanks folks,

 

This was done three years ago and I am afraid that I no longer have the 3D model nor access to a 3D printer now.

 

However, I have already given information on the finish to two people by PM. And I will continue to covey any information that I can as requested. So, hopefully soon someone will be ready to provide a similar pen.

 

Again, thanks so much for your support.

 

Joseph B.

[swannjie]

Hi Joseph B, its very interesting that you applied urushi to PLA 3d printed fountain pen. Could you please tell me did you apply urushi directly on the pla? Or you put a based finishing coat of something else on first? I dont mind seeing the printed lines, but I see you have zero lines. Its a v fine finish indeed. After you applied the urushi, did you "bake" the urushi or left to dry by air naturally? Thanks. Beautiful pen! and beautiul workman ship, I would like to make one too.

[Joseph B]

Hi Joseph B, its very interesting that you applied urushi to PLA 3d printed fountain pen. Could you please tell me did you apply urushi directly on the pla? Or you put a based finishing coat of something else on first? I dont mind seeing the printed lines, but I see you have zero lines. Its a v fine finish indeed. After you applied the urushi, did you "bake" the urushi or left to dry by air naturally? Thanks. Beautiful pen! and beautiul workman ship, I would like to make one too.

 

Thank you.

 

The lacquer ( <a href="https://www.amazon.c...=urushi lacquer">https://www.amazon.com/Toho-Japanese-Lacquer-Special-Orange/dp/B00B5P5SOC/ref=sr_1_18?ie=UTF8&qid=1482634425&sr=8-18&keywords=urushi+lacquer</a> ) I used for this pen was labeled in advertisement and package as Urushi but in retrospect, to me, it behaved more like a lacquer paint. Most of the text on the package is in Japanese so I don't know many of the ingredient particulars. In any case, in my opinion it behaved very differently than traditional urushi that I have since begun using. However, to be safe, I definately would treat it as urushi with respect to skin exposure.

 

As you can see, the post is about three years old. I modeled on Autodesk Inventor and a coworker did the 3d plot so I can't speak to the precision used, but yes, I did a lot of sanding to blend the layers and many coats of lacquer. It was applied directly to the plastic. Although the tube was small, I did have some lacquer left.The lacquer did fill some of the imperfections but not so much as traditional Urushi lacquer would have, I believe. As I recall, I did enclose in a room temperature high humidity box, though I am not sure this was necessary for this lacquer.This lacquer has worn through some at the threads showing some of the underlying white. I have dealt with the threads differently in more recent attempts, and am still experimenting.

 

Thanks so much for your interest, good luck.

 

Joe B.