Fosfor Cumberland Piston Filler-Fully Modular.

[hari317]

Fosfor is a pen company based out of Pune, in India.

 

Manoj Deshmukh is the person behind Fosfor who actually handcrafts the pens on his manual lathe.

http://www.fosforpens.com/about.html

 

Manoj has gone from strength to strength. He started off as a hobbyist pen turner showing his work on FPN and today has developed expertise with which he can realise your pen ideas with finesse. You can see a lot of his early work here.

 

I repair a lot of pens including piston pens. A modular piston filled pen which can be fully taken apart without needing any tools is a sure plus. Additionally if the whole piston filler is replaceable as a component like say an ink converter is, the advantages are obvious.

 

In middle of 2017, I approached Manoj with some sketches involving the design of a pen based around the Schmidt KFH450 piston unit. The design features were tool less disassembly, no gluing of any pen part to the piston unit, differential piston knob. Meaning the piston knob will screw out as the piston is extended. The last part is very conventional today thanks to Pelikan and later MB but somewhat tricky to do with the KFH450. Since it involved some machining techniques I had a brief initial discussion with Manoj and he assigned me a slot no on his work queue.

 

My slot finally became live this month. After a long wait of nearly 22months.

 

I received the pen and I am happy to state that Manoj has exceeded all my expectations. He has taken the idea and created a pen which is uniquely his. I am very happy with the work. Well done Manoj and thank you.

 

Here are some pics:

 

The functional Fosfor packing. Practical and compact.

 

 

The pen is made of NYH Red Black Cumberland ebonite with solid silver fittings.

 

 

 

Ink view window and the Fosfor logo on the hand made silver clip.

 

Showing the differential action. Piston seal is visible in the ink window when the piston knob is screwed out.

 

The pen disassembled showing the KFH450 piston unit. In case of any serious maintenance requirement in future, the entire piston unit can be changed out very inexpensively.

 

Notice the hand knurling done by Manoj on the knob.

 

Size compared to a Pelikan M1000:

 

 

Thanks to Manojs mastery over the lathe, he is able to cut Multi start threads and the cap takes just 1-3/4 turns to cap-uncap.

 

The KFH450 uses the Schmidt FH452 nib units which are quite commonly available with a choice of nib widths.

 

Manoj charged me a very reasonable amount despite the amount of work involved.

 

I hope this brief write up is useful for others considering a custom job.

 

Cheers,

Hari

Edited April 23, 2019 by hari317

[T4TEXAS]

Great idea and great work! Congratulations to both of you.

[Freddy]

The two elements {Ag/Ebonite} combine beautifully with your outstanding design. Well done..Hari.

Hats off to Manoj! Will the "Hari Pen" be available for sale to others?

Fred..

who has a few one-off pens made by Manoj.

[hari317]

Great idea and great work! Congratulations to both of you.

Thank you.

 

The two elements {Ag/Ebonite} combine beautifully with your outstanding design. Well done..Hari.

Hats off to Manoj! Will the "Hari Pen" be available for sale to others?

Fred..

who has a few one-off pens made by Manoj.

Thank you. Yes it should be available to anyone who asks for it.

Best

Hari

[Sagarb]

It's Gorgeous ..Which number nib is it Hari bhai?

[hari317]

It's Gorgeous ..Which number nib is it Hari bhai?

Thanks Sagar. The FH452 nib size is equivalent to western no 6. It is the largest stock nib made by Schmidt with their 2500m altitude buffering capable feeder.

 

I am discussing some ideas with Manoj, in future, it should be possible to create this piston filled pen using any nib unit one desires.

Edited April 24, 2019 by hari317

[mhguda]

That looks like a wonderful pen Hari. Congratulations to both you and Manoj. And I must say I admire your patience. Waiting 22 months for a pen, especially a pen made to your own specifications... you must be a very patient person, sir. I salute you for that.

[hari317]

That looks like a wonderful pen Hari. Congratulations to both you and Manoj. And I must say I admire your patience. Waiting 22 months for a pen, especially a pen made to your own specifications... you must be a very patient person, sir. I salute you for that.

Thank you. I am not very patient but here patience was the only option, Manoj is deservedly busy and his queue has to be respected. My design was purely technical. The aesthetics and realisation are all Manojs. He deserves the credit. I have updated the write up with some more pictures.

 

Best

Hari

Edited April 23, 2019 by hari317

[amk]

Wow, what a great little beast. Manoj is a master!

[AidenMark]

That is a handsome pen.

[markiv]

Your patience has yielded a beautiful result. Great idea and equally successful execution by Manoj.

[hari317]

Wow, what a great little beast. Manoj is a master!

 

absolutely. Even the silver parts are all cast and created by him only, not outsourced.

 

 

That is a handsome pen.

 

Thank you.

 

Your patience has yielded a beautiful result. Great idea and equally successful execution by Manoj.

Thank you Markiv.

[Abhik]

Hello Hari, this pen looks fabulous! Have you started using it? Replaceable piston unit definitely a wonderful idea to start with. Knurling around piston is a nice touch. Handmade silver cap ring and clip makes it al the more gorgeous! What nib you have added? Can this nib-feed combination be changed like Pelikan?

My only concern would be size! Larger than Per M1000! Why? Is that piston assembly that big?

Please post more of your lovely pictures.

Enjoy.

Best.

Abhik

[hari317]

Hello Hari, this pen looks fabulous! Have you started using it? Replaceable piston unit definitely a wonderful idea to start with. Knurling around piston is a nice touch. Handmade silver cap ring and clip makes it al the more gorgeous! What nib you have added? Can this nib-feed combination be changed like Pelikan?

My only concern would be size! Larger than Per M1000! Why? Is that piston assembly that big?

Please post more of your lovely pictures.

Enjoy.

Best.

Abhik

Thank you Abhik.

 

The nib units can be changed at home. My pen accepts only Schmidt FH-452 nibs. But future versions should be able to take any nib unit that the buyer specifies at the time of ordering. I feel the nib units can even be from Pelikan like the M1000 or M800.

 

I have finally settled on an old style Schmidt in M, I prefer the shape of the old style compared to new. The pics show the pen with a new style B nib which I was using initially. The pen is in my daily rotation, holds about 1.52ml which is quite decent for a modern piston pen.

 

I think the pen's length and girth can both be tweaked lower as per custom requirement. Manoj can answer this question the best. M1000 has the advantage of being injection molded so wall thicknesses can be kept quite thin. When you machine a long barrel of ebonite, better to keep a minimum wall thickness for durability.

 

I will try to post more pics.

 

Best

Hari

[fountainpagan]

Another beauty.

 

Enjoy it.

[hari317]

Another beauty.

 

Enjoy it.

thank you.

[hari317]

Sharing a new version made for M1000 nib units and the Schmidt piston unit. Pen remains fully dismantlable by hand without needing any tools.

 

 

 

 

[Abhik]

Lovely! Modular piston with screwed in replaceable nib unit: a dream pen! Kudos to you and Manoj! Enjoy!
May I ask about cost of this pen?

Best regards,

Abhik

[hari317]

Lovely! Modular piston with screwed in replaceable nib unit: a dream pen! Kudos to you and Manoj! Enjoy!

May I ask about cost of this pen?

Best regards,

Abhik

Thank you Abhik. I will email you reg how much it cost.

Best

Hari

[bobje]

What a functional and elegant design! The silver furniture and the knurling make me think of precision tools ... Starrett, Snapon, Leica.