Kaigelu 316 Charcoal

[Whitepomfret]

Richardandtracy, you've written an outstanding objective and balanced review. Thank you for doing it. I've been inspired to buy myself one. Probably the white one.

 

However, 4 years have passed and by the photos on ebay and Aliexpress, i looks like the gold plating seems to have skewed off a bit in terms of accurate placement over the etching.

 

I'll keep on looking though.

 

Kudos and cheers!

Edited October 30, 2015 by Whitepomfret

[Shubhranshu Das]

Hi, I recently bought the 316 Celluloid White/Black.... Similar problems with the C/C... Doesn't fill completely and there was significant leakage via the nib when I used Noodler's Burgandy.... I switched to Diamine Graphite and the problem stopped... Cannot think of any reason why that happened.... But it wrote very well out of the box....I used it daily for a week at work.... Very happy with its performance... I am tempted to get another one.... But first I will have to try the one I have with other inks and see the results.... I will try the silicone grease and get a better seal and hopefully more ink filled in the c/c....

 

The pen has a solid heft but is not uncomfortable even with extended writing sessions... I like the feel of the pen in my hand and nib probably needs some tuning ... Will get to that soon...

 

But thank you for this review.... Very useful

[Precise]

 

I removed the Kaigelu barrel finial in the way Flounder suggested in his 'accidental disassembly thread' (here - https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?/topic/232530-kaigelu-316-accidental-disassembly-photos ), by dipping the finial in nearly boiling water for 2-3 minutes, then pouring some of the hot water down the barrel & finally twisted hard with my fingers protected from the heat by a cloth. The finial was quite stiff, but came out in my fingers without the need for section pliars.

 

The brass finial weighed 12g (weighed on an old balance scale with an error of up to +/-0.5g), which is quite a remarkable weight for such a small item.

 

After an hour or so on my lathe (that's right, I'm not very quick on first off's..!), I had a lovely little finial fully polished, which friction fitted into the Kaigelu and weighed 10 grams less than the old one.

 

Richard.

 

Hello Richard,

 

I can see that you have a lathe. Perhaps you want to further improve your Kaigelu like this:

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/297091-fixing-a-pen-which-takes-a-zillion-turns-to-un-cap/

 

In this post I reduced the uncap turns from 4.7 to about 0.8. Next I'll replace the silly weight at the top, as you have done.

 

My pen wrote beautifully out of the box. It's among my best writing pens.

 

Alan

[Precise]

Following Richard, I replaced the brass fitting at the top of the barrel with plastic. Next I replaced the brass fitting at the top of the cap with plastic. Now my 47 gram pen weighs 32 grams, which I much prefer for carry.

 

Also in the link above, I removed some threads, greatly reducing the number of turns to cap and uncap.

 

It's fun hacking these Chinese pens, and the results are quite nice. This is one fine pen.

[OCArt]

I'm using a K316 with the plastic finial right now. Outstanding improvement. I replaced the nib because I like broad pens and I really enjoy writing with it now.

[bobje]

Precise and OCArt, what was the process you used for replacing the brass finial with plastic?

[Precise]

Precise and OCArt, what was the process you used for replacing the brass finial with plastic?

Richard described replacing the finial earlier in this thread. I did pretty much the same thing. Then I went on to replace the top of the cap, which was brass, 7.5 grams. Unlike the glued finial, the cap was crowned by a glued and threaded brass fitting. I didn't know it was threaded and yanked it out after warming in 160F water. Despite the threads, no damage incurred to the cap.

 

I have a lathe and made replacement parts of plastic. I found some colored acrylic in my shop for the barrel finial, but it was too skinny for the cap top. For that I found some clear polycarbonate. Both of these plastics were glued with acrylic solvent, which melted the parts against the acrylic of the pen.

 

Alan

 

 

[bobje]

Alan, a remarkable commitment by many people to make a good pen even better. Nice work!

[richardandtracy]

Only just seen the comments posted in 2015.

 

Precise, I do think a 2.5 degree taper (exactly like the original) looks better on the barrel finial, especially given the fact that the end of the barrel is tapered too.

 

I have always preferred tapered cap finials too, but that's a matter of aesthetics. I want to make a cap finial too, just to try, but think it's less important than a barrel finial to getting a really nice pen.

 

Regards,

 

Richard.

[Precise]

I wasn't quite satisfied with the squarish ends on my modified Kaigelu (see photo above).

 

Here is the latest form, with the ends slightly tapered and rounded.

 

 

 

The purple end would not be my first color choice, but it was the only solvent bondable plastic rod that I had lying around in my shop. I wanted to solvent bond the endpiece to the barrel.

 

Incidentally, the converter died. The piston detached from the push/pull rod. I found an offer of two for $5 on ebay. They are the only screw-in converters in my collection.

 

Regards,

 

Alan