Finalised "fpr" Fountainbel Bulk Fillers

[fountainbel]

Hi all,

 

We just finished the assembly of the first 10 "FPR Fountainbel Bulk fillers"

 

As explained earlier ,these pen are now engraved as follows :

 

1-On the cap ring : FOUNTAINBEL BULK – FILLER CONID

 

2- On the Cap/clip enclosure screw : CONID ANTWERP BELGIUM

 

3- On the Filling knob : First Production Run 2012 FPR 01-60 to 60-60

4- On the clip end , a second number marking : FPR 01-60 to 60-60

 

On the attached pictures you can see these new details.

 

Note the clip of the pen shown has not yet the cap engraving, will be done next week.

 

The titanium clip is extremely flexible although with an astonishing memory.

 

Shirt/winter jacket thicknesses up to 2.5mm are easily coped with.

 

Titanium can't be bend properly , so we made the clip starting from a bushing and cut the final form using EDM.

 

The internal concave -pinching finger features the disered remarkable flexibility / memory we aimed for.

 

The pen shown is also equipped with a titanium BOCK nib, which matches perfectly with the titanium furniture.

 

As written before, the transparent parts of the pens are made from Polycarbonate, which is much stronger as Plexiglas.

 

Demonstrating the flexibility and the memory of this material I've also attached a picture on which I deform the thin part of the cap end to an oval shape –using a set of pinchers.

 

The material returned fully to its perfect cylindrical shape after doing so.

 

Please don't try doing this on a Plexiglas - acrylic cap !

 

I've also thrown the cap using maximal force sevearal times on a tile floor, I've even stand on the cap end with my full weight, no problem at all !

 

Although Polycarbonate is very difficult to polish to its full transparency, we finally found an approach which allows us doing so.

 

Plexiglas to the contrary is very easy to polish, but – as with all aspects of our design - we did not want any compromises in strength.

 

We also decided to install a second O ring around the nib unit bushing, just in the front of the section.

Benefit being that no ink can penetrate from the front, when putting the section in the ink during filling.

This guarantees that no ink can penetrate - from either side - between the section bore and the nib unit bushing.

Hence no risks for crusted dried ink between section and nib bushing which guarantees the nib unit can easily screw out even after years..

I've already repaired to many pens on which the screw in nib unit was seriously blocked due to crusted ink......

 

Thanks for reading so far !

 

Francis

 

 

 

PS Pictures are not so sharp, sorry I'm a bad photographer....

BTW: I was lucky a friend hobby photographer came vist me today with bringing his sophisticated camera.

You can see these better pictures in my more recent posting in this forum

 

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h89/fountainbel/Fountainbel%20Bulk%20filler/BULKFPR1002Kopie.jpghttp://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h89/fountainbel/Fountainbel%20Bulk%20filler/BULKFPR1008Kopie.jpghttp://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h89/fountainbel/Fountainbel%20Bulk%20filler/BULKFPR1005Kopie.jpghttp://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h89/fountainbel/Fountainbel%20Bulk%20filler/BulkFPR010Kopie.jpghttp://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h89/fountainbel/Fountainbel%20Bulk%20filler/FPRClipengraving.jpghttp://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h89/fountainbel/Fountainbel%20Bulk%20filler/BULKFPR1004Kopie.jpghttp://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h89/fountainbel/Fountainbel%20Bulk%20filler/BULKFPR1009Kopie.jpghttp://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h89/fountainbel/Fountainbel%20Bulk%20filler/BULKFPR1003Kopie.jpg

Edited April 29, 2012 by fountainbel

[superfreeka]

Looks great. Very clean design.

[raging.dragon]

Francis, I've become a fan of your designs! With each update the pens have improved and gotten more tempting. This and the Benjamin Graham have become a mortal threat to my budget.... You're attention to making your pens easily to repairable (no doubt coming from your experience as pen repairman) is a rarity in this industry (the only other examples which comes to mind being the TWSBI 530 and 540) and something I very much appreciate in your designs.

 

What size of Bock nib is being used in these pens: 380, 250, 220, or something else?

[Aslan]

Francis, this pen is elegant, functional, extremely well thought out, classic-yet-contemporary, and oh so desirable! My credit card as gone into hiding.

[fountainbel]

Thanks all for your nice comments.

The BOCK nib size is 250, being a size 6

Francis

[hari317]

Francis, have you considered the UV susceptibility aspects of Polycarbonate while choosing this material?

 

The engraving and the pen looks sharp, congratulations.

[georges zaslavsky]

very nice pen

[raging.dragon]

Thanks all for your nice comments.

The BOCK nib size is 250, being a size 6

Francis

 

Thanks! That's what I thought, but just wanted to make sure as having that known reference helps me to get a sense the pen's size.

[mongrelnomad]

Francis - it is gorgeous and a very impressive feat of engineering. Congrats to everyone involved.

 

I originally had an order down for this first run, but looking on the Conid site I see there are plans for future series of non-demonstrators. Can you tell us a bit about these as some of them look so gorgeous I fear I may have to postpone my order...

[fountainbel]

Francis, have you considered the UV susceptibility aspects of Polycarbonate while choosing this material?

 

The engraving and the pen looks sharp, congratulations.

 

Dear Hari,

You are fully right

We evaluated pro's and con's of plexiglas versus polycarbonate and decided for polycarbonate for its strength

The biggest drawback of Plexiglas being its brittlerness.

We made " 1.5 m height dropping tests" on a tile floor of Plexiglas caps and found 3 on 10 caps shattered/broke when falling on the cap edge.

To the contrary with polycarbonate caps : these just bounched up several time with no harm at aall

The UV susceptibility is a fact, but we think a limited "ambering" risk is a lesser problem as brittleness .

It could even be an advantage , giving the pen a 'vintage" look over time'.

Francis

[fountainbel]

Francis - it is gorgeous and a very impressive feat of engineering. Congrats to everyone involved.

 

I originally had an order down for this first run, but looking on the Conid site I see there are plans for future series of non-demonstrators. Can you tell us a bit about these as some of them look so gorgeous I fear I may have to postpone my order...

 

Hi mongrelnomad,

Thanks for your compliment !

Note it will surely take another 1.5 years before CONID start making "non demonstrators" Bulk fillers

Given the extra work in making these ,hese pens will also be considerably more expensive.......

 

Francis

[ExcaliburZ]

That looks slick.

[hari317]

Francis, have you considered the UV susceptibility aspects of Polycarbonate while choosing this material?

 

The engraving and the pen looks sharp, congratulations.

 

Dear Hari,

You are fully right

We evaluated pro's and con's of plexiglas versus polycarbonate and decided for polycarbonate for its strength

The biggest drawback of Plexiglas being its brittlerness.

We made " 1.5 m height dropping tests" on a tile floor of Plexiglas caps and found 3 on 10 caps shattered/broke when falling on the cap edge.

To the contrary with polycarbonate caps : these just bounched up several time with no harm at aall

The UV susceptibility is a fact, but we think a limited "ambering" risk is a lesser problem as brittleness .

It could even be an advantage , giving the pen a 'vintage" look over time'.

Francis

Excellent Francis, Thanks for sharing.

 

Regards

Hari

[InkyWinky]

Time to vote for the Conid-Fountainbel Bulk Filler for the Pen of the Year!

 

http://goldspotpens.blogspot.com/2012/11/vote-for-goldspot-pens-2012-pen-of-year.html

[emiliovillegas]

The pen looks beautiful!

[Dillo]

Hi,

 

This is a problem with UV and Polycarbonate. While yellowing is an issue, I'd be more worried about crazing since that often happens when polycarbonate ages from UV exposure. Given enough time, the yellowing and crazing will cause the material to leak and crumble. You should be wary of this. Another problem is environmental stress cracking which could be another issue you need to worry about. This is caused by chemicals in close contact to the material that causes it to crack at any stress points.

 

Dillon

[raging.dragon]

Hi,

 

This is a problem with UV and Polycarbonate. While yellowing is an issue, I'd be more worried about crazing since that often happens when polycarbonate ages from UV exposure. Given enough time, the yellowing and crazing will cause the material to leak and crumble. You should be wary of this. Another problem is environmental stress cracking which could be another issue you need to worry about. This is caused by chemicals in close contact to the material that causes it to crack at any stress points.

 

Dillon

 

Of the various materials pens are made from, only metals are immune to damage from UV, and then only Gold, the Platinum Group metals, and Titanium are (mostly) immune chemical damage.

[Dillo]

Hi,

 

I don't think we are looking for a material that is immune to UV. We want something that will take a moderate amount without having issues. Most materials can be damaged by UV, but polycarbonate is one of those that is known to have problems with UV if not made with a UV protectant.

 

Dillon

[raging.dragon]

Acrylic then?

[Dillo]

Hi,

 

I'm thinking along the lines of UV protectant treated polycarbonate. We have to make sure that there are no points of stress though, as stress cracking in polycarbonate is not a good thing. I personally like solid color acrylic as a pen material. We could probably look into other polymers as well. Delrin tears if it is used in sections that are too thin. Polystyrene isn't just out, I think it's not such a good idea to even consider it.

 

Dillon