Inaugural "kitless" Pen

[stwilliams]

A few months back I decided to go kitless. First step was to procure a couple nibs and the appropriate tap to fit the nib to the section. I got the parts after a short delay due to the change in ownership of Classic Nib.

 

Then I set about to buy some triple start taps. Turns out nobody is carrying them. Without any group buys on the horizon, I decided instead to learn how to do it on my own on the lathe.

 

So rather than buy several hundred dollars of taps and dies (in limited sizes) I instead bought the tooling to cut inside and outside threads. I chose M12.5 x 0.6 triple start thread for the body and cap. The beauty of cutting threads on the lathe is you aren't stuck with one or two sizes.

 

Here are pictures of my first endeavor. The section is ebonite and the body and cap Galalith. I went with stainless threads for the body, but cut the cap threads into the galaltih. If you've worked with galalith you know its brittle, but the threads actually turned out very nice. Caps are polished stainless steel.

 

 

[Inspector]

Way nicer than my first and subsequent few pens. What alloy of stainless did you use?

 

Pete

[Joseph B]

Really nice work. Beautiful pen.

[jjlax10]

Love that acrylic...do you have more?

[mbankirer]

Very nice!

Though brittle, do you think the threads will hold up 'against' the steel threads?

[Oruc Gazi Kutluer]

Ashes to ashes, steel to steel This must be the most important issue on threading.. Steel may eat galalith threads.. must be careful

 

Good work

[mivox]

Oh, that is gorgeous! :-)

[stwilliams]

Way nicer than my first and subsequent few pens. What alloy of stainless did you use?

 

Pete

 

 

I used 303 stainless for the end caps and body threads.

[stwilliams]

Love that acrylic...do you have more?

 

It's actually not acrylic. It's galalith. A sort of predecessor of plastic made from milk protein. Its is beautiful and lustrous, but has some flaws I've found. Its very brittle and turns to powder when drilled or machined, but I have found using regular machine cutting oil helps significantly, and I haven't found a downside to using oil. Just cleaned the parts when I was finished.

 

The other issue I found when I made a pen kit with it once is that the epoxy must have seeped into the material as it caused some weird distortion and shrinkage.

 

If you search the web there are a few suppliers out there for galalith. In former times it was used in costume jewelry and other items like napkin rings, etc.

[amk]

Lovely galalith. Reminds me of French classic era pens - Meteore, particularly, had a run of these lovely swirly patterns. The metal cap and barrel ends set it off really well.