Tools you have made or need (but don’t exist) for pen repair

[FarmBoy]

First no so much a tool but a part  made long before they were available in bulk from others  

 

Taps made to Parker specifications for a variety of tasks. 
 

[VacNut]

The bands on a cap become loose when the celluloid caps shrinks. Does anyone have a DIY method to swage the bands? I would be most appreciative. 

[es9]

21 hours ago, FarmBoy said:

Taps made to Parker specifications for a variety of tasks. 

I’m supremely jealous of those! I really want to step my threading game up. I’m not sure my mini lathe would be up to making those, however. What kind of steel did you use? 

Here are a few of mine: 

Jig to hold Vacumatic pumps while reattaching new pellet pockets:

 

PFM connector wrench:

 

 

Parker 51 connector centering jig. (I didn’t fabricate this one. Unfortunately my lathe skills are not quite up to triple-lead internal threading. Laurence Oldfield kindly made it for me based upon my design ) The tool lets you replace soft sac nipples on aerometric 51s without needing a lathe. You cut the original off, screw the connector into the threaded end, and drill out a pocket for a replacement. Note that the internal diameter of the non-threaded end is actually 6mm because it’s very easy to find replacement tubing in a variety of materials with that diameter. You just cut the tubing to size, sand it a little, and epoxy it in. It works so well that I hardly use my lathe for this purpose anymore. 

 

 

 

I guess I do still use the lathe to cut grooves in the finished sac nipple, but that’s really more perfectionism than anything else. In the following picture, the top is an NOS connector while the bottom has had the sac nipple replaced.  
 

 

 

 

 

[txomsy]

What I would need is Aladdino's magic lamp.

 

What I've done are trivial tools to clean, apply shellac, adjust, etc.. but too trivial to be even worth mentioning.

[eckiethump]

I made this recently, thanks toC Ring removal tool from Francis Goosens.doc

[es9]

On 7/14/2023 at 11:57 AM, eckiethump said:

I made this recently, thanks toC Ring removal tool from Francis Goosens.doc

That’s really neat! Thanks for sharing. 
 

On 7/13/2023 at 3:11 PM, VacNut said:

The bands on a cap become loose when the celluloid caps shrinks. Does anyone have a DIY method to swage the bands? I would be most appreciative. 

This has been discussed pretty extensively on old threads. I believe the consensus is that the only safe method involves collets and various compressible rings. See here for a design shared by @fountainbel.

[VacNut]

Yes, the swaging (?) of bands has been previously discussed, but the level of tools needed to fabricate the colletts and mandrel are beyond the capabilities of most DIY enthusiasts. I have also seen pictures of the floor mounted tool they may have used to set the bands.
It seems like a simple task, there must be a more simple option, since the band only needs a minimal amount of “swaging”

[es9]

57 minutes ago, VacNut said:

the level of tools needed to fabricate the colletts and mandrel are beyond the capabilities of most DIY enthusiasts

 

I don’t think a ton of fabrication is necessary per se. Rather, I think you mostly need the right collets/Chuck. Turning the PEEK ring wouldn’t be a hard operation on a lathe. 
 

57 minutes ago, VacNut said:

It seems like a simple task, there must be a more simple option, since the band only needs a minimal amount of “swaging”

Unfortunately, in my relatively limited experience, the simplicity of the task is often not directly related to the tools/techniques needed—e.g., removing triumph nibs, pulling inner caps, etc. The swaging operation here actually seems pretty complicated. You have to apply precisely the right amount of force to all 360 degrees of the ring at the same time. Even if it’s simple in concept, it seems like one of those things it takes quite a bit of practice to get good at. I haven’t tried it yet, but I have a hunch there’s a reason so few people do it.