Innovative 3D Printed Eyedroppers

[Djehuty]

I love the double helix! Do please let us know when you're ready to offer them for sale.

[kestrel]

Biologist, here. That double helix is the first modern pen that has set me to drooling since I saw my first "jules" squid pen. If that one is ever offered I will buy one even if it takes my entire annual pen budget.

[eharriett]

Hello there, I am the author of Additive Pens - I found this topic by analyzing website traffic.

 

To answer some of the questions here:

- burping - I am yet to experience, but from current testing Bock nib and feed produces a very wet nib, but Jinhao feed and nib is much better behaved, surprisingly enough. Printed section may just not be precise enough. Testing ongoing!

- Polish level on par with TWSBI? It may happen for the outside, will not happen for the inside, since technology needed to achieve that does not exist yet to mu knowledge.

- The cap is a bit heavy. This is partly because of 3D printed nature I need more wall thickness than you could use with injection molding. This is area where I'd definitely want to improve. Since the spiral design is by far the most popular out there, I just might design something especially for it

- cleaning is surprisingly easy. Diamine Oxblood did stain it ever so slightly red, evenly all way round, but as long as there is any ink inside this is not visible.

 

Thank you all for kind words!

 

Hi llothar! I hope you'll join our community. You may have hit upon something that we here find somewhat exciting (well, at least I do). Hope you keep at it. I have subscribed to your newsletter too and look forward to seeing more of your pens with an eye to purchasing one should you make the jump to production.

 

One of my favorite writing pens had a Bock nib on it. Not sure why, but it was smooth and adapted well to my writing style.

 

Burping only seems to be a big issue on some pens; not sure why but I'm sure there's a scientific reason for it. My Noodler's Charlie pen was horrible with burping. But I turned a couple Sheaffer school pens into eyedroppers and neither have had a single instance of burping.

 

Again, welcome. It's a great community here.

[Newjelan]

I love the double helix and the bubble pens & will be watching your progress with interest.

[visvamitra]

Incredibly cool ☺

[llothar]

I'll try to be here as often as I can, at least on this thread!

 

Neverposter - yes, actually a hybrid design is something worth considering. Just keep the barrel 3D printed and the rest could be injection molded or machined. Former requires higher quantities and the latter would probably double the price.

 

I am working hard on making this project happen both at good scale as well as good price.

[Ian the Jock]

Just stick to what you are doing.

Many are very interested in your pens as they are, including myself.

A bit of refinement...yes, but your process and pens are unique and that will make them special and desirable.

 

"If you build it, they will come"

 

Ian

[Ian the Jock]

Oh! And I especially like the bubble/bead one.

Picture it with a bright red ink...oh yes!.

 

Ian

[Inkantadora]

Very cool. Just signed up for the newsletter! Thank you for sharing this project with the world.

[kkshadow]

Also subscribed to the newsletter. Have tried eye droppers in the past and have had a real mess on my hands (and elsewhere!), but these pens seem really interesting. Will wait to see if they come to fruition, and what the price point is.

 

llothar, look forward to see what you come up with. Best of luck!

[benbot517]

Your designs are wicked cool. I'd definitely be interested in getting one, as I love eyedropper pens. Keep up the awesome work!

[dcwaites]

In order to fix the burping of an Eyedropper filler, you need to minimise the transfer of heat from the hand to the air in the ink reservoir.

This can be done in a couple of ways --

• keep the reservoir as full of ink as possible to minimise the amount of air
• keep the walls of the barrel as thick as possible to insulate the reservoir.

In your case, you might want to think of a double-walled system, with an air gap between the outer wall and reservoir, and the reservoir only attached at the back and front of the barrel.

 

The gap would not need to be very large, of the order of a millimetre or so.

[Bo Bo Olson]

It is interesting. Those three D printers are going to changing the world.

[Miaxina]

These pens are so pretty! The double helix reminds me of the glasses I used when I was little with straw attached around which mum would warn to use it to only drink water, because it would be hard to clean other drinks the bubbly one also looks pretty cool, love it! Good luck on your journey!

[deepak23]

The beads pen with a BSB fill will look awesome

[eharriett]

Just in case you all are interested and haven't followed yet, he is now taking preorders on these pens.

 

I still have some questions I need answered (like what kind of nibs they are, what, if any, is the warranty, what is a "frosted" vs glass pen), but the cost isn't too bad. Be curious if anyone else is considering trying one too.

[eharriett]

Just in case you all are interested and haven't followed yet, he is now taking preorders on these pens.

 

I still have some questions I need answered (like what kind of nibs they are, what, if any, is the warranty, what is a "frosted" vs glass pen), but the cost isn't too bad. Be curious if anyone else is considering trying one too.

[mhguda]

I've placed a pre-order, opting for a fine nib and the bubbles design in frosted finish. Not paid yet - I'm slightly nervous about that, since the shipping date will be so far in the future that the Paypal time for reversing the payment will be passed. I am considering a two-part payment, but have not talked to him about that yet.

[eharriett]

Not paid yet - I'm slightly nervous about that, since the shipping date will be so far in the future that the Paypal time for reversing the payment will be passed. I am considering a two-part payment, but have not talked to him about that yet.

That's a good point I had not considered. Thanks for bringing that to my attention. Hopefully that will get addressed.

[llothar]

Just in case you all are interested and haven't followed yet, he is now taking preorders on these pens.

 

I still have some questions I need answered (like what kind of nibs they are, what, if any, is the warranty, what is a "frosted" vs glass pen), but the cost isn't too bad. Be curious if anyone else is considering trying one too.

Today the aim is to use Bock nibs. If we run into any issues we will go for JoWo or Meisternibs.

 

As for warranty we will do everything to make things right, so if anything cracks, breaks or there is an engineering defect expect a replacement of affected parts.

 

Frosted is treating the pen with five sandpaper (frosted glass effect) and "glass" is high shine polish.

 

As for the long lead time - this is only due to its finalising the design and extra time to sort any issues, if they appear. In the future that will be reduced significantly and we should have stock on hand.