Nibs For Handmade Pens...

[chugbug]

Hello All,

 

I have a few questions about fountain pen nibs, for those of you making your own pens.

 

1. Do you typically buy your nibs with or without the holders?

 

2. Those of you that make your own holders, do you buy the nibs absent the holders, or do you buy them complete and then replace the holder?

 

3. When it comes to nib colors, does it matter if you use gold-toned nibs with silver trimmed pens, or do you always try to match the nib colors to the rest of the trim?

 

4. Can anyone suggest nib suppliers that sell the nibs without the holders?

 

I found one supplier, where I've purchased a few, but they only have gold-toned. I'd like to have some siver-toned nibs to go with a few silver trimmed pens I want to make. I'd also prefer to buy them without the holders, so I can color match them to the rest of the pen as well.

 

I've visited the sites from the supplier page (Meister and Heritance), but those nibs all seem to come with the holders. Also based on some nibs I have from kit pens, unless those may be different, they don't look like the holder can be easily replaced.

 

Thanks...John

[richardandtracy]

1) I am experimenting with making the section without a nib holder, and seem to have got it just about right now.

I use the 35mm nibs (large) & appropriate feed. The hole for the nib needs to be drilled & reamed 3/4" deep & 1/4" diameter.

 

I've been told that I'm creating un-necessary work for myself, but it does seem to work quite well and minimises the bought in parts.

 

2) No, I just buy the nibs & feeds.

 

3) As yet, I haven't got to the stage where I need to concern myself about matching nib to furniture, but I think I shall.

 

4) I get my nibs & feed in the UK from The Turner's Workshop, here: http://www.theturnersworkshop.co.uk/store/view_category.php?pid=45&cat_id=75 . When I eventually get to the point of needing better nibs I shall get them from Oxonian on FPN who stocks the same steel nibs as are sold by Meister Nibs, but without needing to import from the US.

 

Regards,

 

Richard.

[chugbug]

Hi Richard,

 

Thanks for your reply. First, my apologies if I may not be using the correct Fountain Pen terminology or with my explanations. I've only been doing this for a little while, and I'm still working through them all.

 

So far on the pens I've made with my own holers, I've been using a nib assembly that is threaded (similar in style to the gold nibs PSI started selling). I can simply screw them into my holders. So when I make my holders, all I need to do is drill two holes, a larger for the thread section to slide through, then a smaller in the bottom I tap for the threads. So now I'm kind of in new territory.

 

If you only buy the nibs and feeds (two separate parts):

 

1. What type of machining must you do to the inside of your holders? Do you only need a single size hole? Stepped holes?

 

Some of the kit pen nib assemblies I've taken apart have an additional groove down the sides, that I assume is necessary for ink flow. Do you have to add anything like this?

 

2. How is the nib and feed secured in the holder - just a pressure fit?

 

3. Assuming the answers to Q1 is only thru holes, and Q2 is pressure fit... could I then buy the nib assembly with a holder and just replace it with my own?

 

Thanks...John

[richardandtracy]

If you take a look at the photo below of my second prototype:

http://i771.photobucket.com/albums/xx356/richardandtracy/Prototype4.jpg

The section is transparent, so you can see the nib and feed inside the section. (Ignore the white arrow, I'm re-using a photo used to illustrate something else)

 

The feed hole was drilled 3/4" deep, with a diameter of 6mm. I then reamed it to a diameter of 1/4". From the cartridge side I drilled a 1.5mm hole for the little bit at the end of the feed to poke through into the cartridge, then machined the cartridge nipple using a home made rose cutter that machined away the space for the cartridge go into while leaving a peg sticking out for the cartridge to plug over.

 

Then, I put the nib on the feed and pushed the two into the 1/4" hole. This appears to work well.

 

Regards,

 

Richard.

[chugbug]

Hi Richard,

 

Thanks for the additional information! The clear pen does a nice job of showing all the internals.

 

My biggest concern of making a holder that would only take the nib and feeder is whether the ink would flow properly. Maybe it's easier than I think it is, so I may take a stab at it.

 

I'm doing all my work on wood lathe, so getting some of the real precise measurements required has been tough, but I've been sucessful so far with other parts. Guess it's just that last hurdle to jump.

 

Thanks again for the help...John

[richardandtracy]

John,

 

If you are using a wood lathe, then I think you are going to have difficulty with getting the precision necessary when drilling out the feed extension hole. It needs to be dead central and circular. If there is the slightest amount of flex in your lathe a 1.5mm hole is going to be triangular and the flow will be too high. Having said that, there are people so skilled I can hardly believe what they can produce - just have a go.

The larger central hole for the feed needs to be the correct depth +/-.5mm (otherwise the feed & nib seem to sit wrong) and it needs to be reamed to the correct diameter. This can be done on a wood lathe with a tailstock chuck, but only if it's correctly co-axial with the headstock to better than 0.1mm (0.01mm preferred) and if you are very careful. The D-Bit reamer can be made with the correct diameter silver steel (drill rod in the US), and hand tools, so no need for a metal lathe there. I use a disposable end mill as a drill for my initial drilling, so I can get a flat bottomed hole - the end mill cost £3 from an industrial tooling stockist.

 

Making a rose cutter for the c/c interface may well be beyond a wood lathe, so you may be forced to go for an eyedropper or a fixed sac filler of some type.

 

The normal taps & dies will be needed for the section-barrel connection. Here I use 3/8" x 26 tpi (the size is a British Standard Cycle thread & is available relatively cheaply on UK E-Bay), as that's the size that suits my design.

 

Regards,

 

Richard.

[chugbug]

Richard, thanks for the additional information. It sounds as though I may be over my head on this part with my current equipment. Then again, I didn't think I would get to the point that I would even be consider making it. But I may just have to wait until I can spring for a little metal lathe.

 

Cordially...John

[silverhand]

Hello All,

 

I have a few questions about fountain pen nibs, for those of you making your own pens.

 

1. Do you typically buy your nibs with or without the holders?

 

2. Those of you that make your own holders, do you buy the nibs absent the holders, or do you buy them complete and then replace the holder?

 

3. When it comes to nib colors, does it matter if you use gold-toned nibs with silver trimmed pens, or do you always try to match the nib colors to the rest of the trim?

 

4. Can anyone suggest nib suppliers that sell the nibs without the holders?

 

I found one supplier, where I've purchased a few, but they only have gold-toned. I'd like to have some siver-toned nibs to go with a few silver trimmed pens I want to make. I'd also prefer to buy them without the holders, so I can color match them to the rest of the pen as well.

 

I've visited the sites from the supplier page (Meister and Heritance), but those nibs all seem to come with the holders. Also based on some nibs I have from kit pens, unless those may be different, they don't look like the holder can be easily replaced.

 

Thanks...John

John,

 

I am going to assume by your questions that you are asking about the nib holders and not sections. I would just order the nibs you want, and if they come with a holder that you don't want to use, take the nib and feed out and use them separately. I only use gold Meister nibs in my pens, but their steel nibs are excellent as well. I turn my sections and thread them to accept the nib holder. It is just too convenient to have standard holders to design to.

 

As to the question of colour, I tend to use dual tone white and yellow gold nibs. I prefer the look.

 

Hope that helps.

[chugbug]

Hi Chris, thanks!

 

Yes, when I was refering to the "holder", I ment the outer section. I wasn't sure how they were sold. Some of the nib assemblies I've had from kit pens, I couldn't get them apart, and didn't want to buy some that were the same way.

 

I've since email and got info from Meister on their nibs and purchased a few. They were exactly what I was looking for. And he put me onto someone that sold the tap I needed for them so I could use my own "holders".

 

I just posted a pen I made that includes a Meister #6 steel nib.

 

Thanks again...John (chugbug)

[silverhand]

Hi Chris, thanks!

 

Yes, when I was refering to the "holder", I ment the outer section. I wasn't sure how they were sold. Some of the nib assemblies I've had from kit pens, I couldn't get them apart, and didn't want to buy some that were the same way.

 

I've since email and got info from Meister on their nibs and purchased a few. They were exactly what I was looking for. And he put me onto someone that sold the tap I needed for them so I could use my own "holders".

 

I just posted a pen I made that includes a Meister #6 steel nib.

 

Thanks again...John (chugbug)

 

Glad to hear you hooked up with Brian. I haven't found better quality nibs.

 

To avoid confusion in the future, the black part around the nib and feed is the nib housing, and the part around that, which you hold onto, is the section.

 

I just checked out your pen, and it looks good.

 

Chris