I'm Curious, How Many Of Us Have Kaigelu 316's?

[magnus919]

The longing for this pen has gone on too long, and in a moment of weakness I bought three Kaigelus (different colors) instead of just one. I'll be sure to cover them in my blog after I've had some time to appreciate them.

[richardandtracy]

I need another charcoal myself.

 

Regards,

 

Richard

[sanyalsoumitra]

I made a study today sharing as follows. Has anyone removed the barrel end unit ?

 

[richardandtracy]

Yep. I have made and sold a couple of hundred polyester resin finials.

 

In most cases the finial comes out after soaking in near boiling water. In the few remaining cases, the finial needs to be machined out on a lathe.

Ebonite would be a good material, but needs 100% machining. I have used polyester resin to allow me to cast the barrel spigot and central hole. It is just too cold in my unheated workshop to make any at the moment. The weight saving is 10g and makes the pen feel exactly like a Duofold centennial.

 

If you look at my K316 charcoal review, you'll find a drawing of a replacement finial, it's half way down the first review page.

 

 

Regards

 

Richard.

[sanyalsoumitra]

Yep. I have made and sold a couple of hundred polyester resin finials.

 

In most cases the finial comes out after soaking in near boiling water. In the few remaining cases, the finial needs to be machined out on a lathe.

Ebonite would be a good material, but needs 100% machining. I have used polyester resin to allow me to cast the barrel spigot and central hole. It is just too cold in my unheated workshop to make any at the moment. The weight saving is 10g and makes the pen feel exactly like a Duofold centennial.

 

If you look at my K316 charcoal review, you'll find a drawing of a replacement finial, it's half way down the first review page.

 

 

Regards

 

Richard.

Hi Richard, thanks for the input- very helpful.

[katerchen]

I've installed Richard's endpieces on a couple of pens and the difference is remarkable.

[TLab3000]

Amber, and inked up at the moment. A beautiful pen and a good writer. I like the nib and see no reason to replace it.

[cubfanbob]

Charcoal. Very happy with it.

[islandink]

Mine happens to be in use right now. I really like the nib but found it a bit wide so have done a wee bit of nib grinding to make it a bit smaller.

[AndyKeir]

Well I've just joined the Kaigelu 316 club ... sort of.

After a couple of weeks of anticipation mine arrived yesterday.

Unfortunately it's gushing ink ... constantly dripping ink from the nib ... and is therefore unusable as it stands.

I've spent several hours so far but I'm not making any progress.

Hopefully I can fix it as I love the look and feel of the pen but I have to admit to being a bit disappointed considering that I've had no issues with the host of less expensive Chinese pens I've bought in the past.

[dcwaites]

The converter screws in. But you need to be gentle. Make sure it is seated properly. I also use a teeny, tiny dab of silicone grease.

[AndyKeir]

The converter screws in. But you need to be gentle. Make sure it is seated properly. I also use a teeny, tiny dab of silicone grease.

 

Yes ... I've been through all the usual suspects. I've had the nib collar, nib and feed out and can't see any obvious problems other that a bit of excess glue on the spigot, which I've cleaned. The converter does seem to be a somewhat loose fit on the spigot so I've tried some silicon grease but it hasn't fixed it. There seems to be air getting in somewhere but I can't find it.

 

The nib collar is only a friction fit in the section and comes out easily ... far too easily I think. I suspect that perhaps screwing the converter into place is pushing the entire nib unit up through the section so I've now stuck the collar in place with some clear nail varnish. I'll see if things improve a little later when I have the opportunity.

 

After filling, the pen will write for around a paragraph before it starts gushing. Once it starts there seems to be no stopping it except by holding it vertically, nib up. If I hold it vertically, nib down, visible globs of ink will appear under the "wings" of the nib and the entire contents of the converter will drip out through the nib over a minute or two.

 

I love the colour, feel and appearance of the pen so if I can't get a result I'l go down the path of the Bock nib unit replacement as mentioned elsewhere on these forums.

[colormyalphabet]

Have they changed their acrylic for the white version or is it just luck of the draw? I remember five years ago every photo looked like this one

 

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51TkF8XL%2BVL._SX450_.jpg

 

But a more recent photo shows a much much much nicer looking barrel with the lines moving vertically instead of horizontally. The one in this photo is absolutely stunning

 

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2874/11680842203_0c905c35f7_c.jpg

Edited February 18, 2016 by mynamesricky

[AndyKeir]

My new one seems to have something of a combination ... predominantly horizontal on the cap and predominantly vertical on the body ...

 

[colormyalphabet]

either way it seems like there's a lot more greys and maybe tans than in the older photos. Looks like I gotta get one now!

[AndyKeir]

either way it seems like there's a lot more greys and maybe tans than in the older photos. Looks like I gotta get one now!

 

There are some pearly greys but no tans that I can see in mine. Perhaps that's an illusion from the gold coloured highlights on the internals showing through.

[richardandtracy]

I reckon it's luck of the draw. These are turned from pen blanks as used for custom pen manufacturers, and I think the way the pen blank is manufactured means that no 2 can be identical. The black stripe is cured as a separate thin sheet until it's flexible and probably a bit tacky, then one or more of these sheets are spludged, draped & poked about in a tray of white resin about 15-20mm deep and up to 1m square (as was visible when the Conway Stewart stock was auctioned off when they went bust). The poking causes the folds that are so interesting. It is possible they are just getting better at poking the sheets into parts of the resin that will be more interesting, or may be using more sheets. I dunno. Either way the white does seem more interesting than it used to be.

 

Once the tray has cured, the slab produced is sawn into square rods, which are then turned into circular rods, before being turned by hand or automatic machinery into the pen barrel, cap and cap lip.

 

Regards,

 

Richard.

[magnus919]

Tracking says that my 3x 316's are on my continent so I'm hoping to have them by the weekend. Are the resin finials still available for purchase?

[richardandtracy]

Not at the moment. It's too cold to make or machine them. I'd get a failure rate approaching 100%.

 

Regards,

 

Richard.

[sanyalsoumitra]

Yep. I have made and sold a couple of hundred polyester resin finials.

 

In most cases the finial comes out after soaking in near boiling water. In the few remaining cases, the finial needs to be machined out on a lathe.

Ebonite would be a good material, but needs 100% machining. I have used polyester resin to allow me to cast the barrel spigot and central hole. It is just too cold in my unheated workshop to make any at the moment. The weight saving is 10g and makes the pen feel exactly like a Duofold centennial.

 

If you look at my K316 charcoal review, you'll find a drawing of a replacement finial, it's half way down the first review page.

 

 

Regards

 

Richard.

Dear Richard Sir, taking a cue from this advise I tried it in a little different way- I drilled out the metal and added an acrylic plug of similar material- reduced the weight by about 6.,5 gm and found the balance nicely restored. However while polishing the plug with micro-mesh the black lacquer of the metal was wiped off. If I can re-paint it nicely I will keep it or else I will machine a body colour finial complete. The point to mention here is that 6.5 gm reduction restored the balance- 10 gm will definitely give it a boost.

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Edited February 20, 2016 by sanyalsoumitra