Vintage Montblanc 149 "full Demonstrator" Replica

[Skopa]

The pen is really impressive, congratulations ! (But I am sure it would be a million times more impressive would it be full of ink )

Edited August 31, 2019 by Skopa

[peroride]

Not sure if ease of replacement is a consideration, but I like the original version.

 

And joining the choir your work is phenomenally beautiful !

 

I particularly like your maker's mark in the greek key icon style.

[fountainbel]

Thank you all for your encouraging comments , much appreciated !

best regards,

Francis

[jeffraffe]

I also prefer the 1st finial. Would love to see your updated clip resonating with the custom silver cap band. Lovely work!

[PENRob]

Hello Francis, Pensei yes, sorry I'm late with my reply... I was busy making a demo Conklin, you can see @penturning chapter. Below the pic from our pens together. Thank you for the honor and compliments, thank you for being such a good team too, we enjoy our mutual trigering and challenges wich make me grow !

Ofcourse I prefer the inlay logo as it is also a wink to the "brand"...

Edited September 1, 2019 by PENRob

[LudVinPen]

PenRob and Fountainbel, both fantastic work ! Splendid team!

 

 

 

(But I am sure it would be a million times more impressive would it be full of ink )

 

Partly filled with MB Lavender Purple in it, would give a very nice viewing seeing the stains inside.

 

Greetings,

 

LD

[PENRob]

Hi, LudVin, thanks for the support and comments ! How about filled with Akkerman "Shocking Blue"...

[LudVinPen]

Very Nice 👍.

 

Shocking Blue, reminds me of my youth...

[tosakarinn]

Wow is all I can say. Astonishingly superb!

[Ben Looijesteijn]

just speechless… Works of art, by both of you!

 

Ben

[Skopa]

Very nice, thanks!

[fountainbel]

Great work Francis, congratulations !

 

I like your logo (replacing the star here) ... I am not at all into MB 149 and I prefer MB L 139 although its weakness is the telescopic filler.

I guess you could do something to ameliorate that and keeping the cork, isn't it ?

 

Hi Ariel,

Thanks for your friendly comment!

My personal favorites are also the 13X range of pens and more specifically the 139

I fully agree the weakness of the 13X pens lays in the filler design making complete disassembly of a defective filler mechanism nearly impossible.

The only approach to get the filler completely disassembled is to cut the housing between the housing body and the filling knob.

This implies the housing has to be repaired before installation of the repaired filler mechanism.

Luckily the 13X telescopic filler mechanism are only occasional defect !

I always use a 14X telescopic filler on my MB139 replicas.

Although I've also designed an improved MB13X filler housing which can easily be disassembled.

So after cutting the housing I can install a new screw-in elongation which allows at least easy maintenance - whenever needed - in the future !

Best regards,

Francis

[christof]

In my opinion, the telescopic fillers of the 13x series have another weak spot: the need of friction of the cork seal to work properly. If the cork applies to much friction, the piston will not rectract completely and if the cork applies lesser friction, it will leak. So it's quite difficult to grind a new cork to the correct diameter. This is one of the reasons why my 138 doesn't see much use.

c.

[KAC]

I think MB should hire both of you as artisans and designers. Simple. Elegant. Classic. Your work simply dwarfs most modern pen designs.

 

KAC

[siamackz]

In my opinion, the telescopic fillers of the 13x series have another weak spot: the need of friction of the cork seal to work properly. If the cork applies to much friction, the piston will not rectract completely and if the cork applies lesser friction, it will leak. So it's quite difficult to grind a new cork to the correct diameter. This is one of the reasons why my 138 doesn't see much use.

c.

I had experienced this with my 134

[fountainbel]

In my opinion, the telescopic fillers of the 13x series have another weak spot: the need of friction of the cork seal to work properly. If the cork applies to much friction, the piston will not rectract completely and if the cork applies lesser friction, it will leak. So it's quite difficult to grind a new cork to the correct diameter. This is one of the reasons why my 138 doesn't see much use.

c.

 

Hi Christoph,

Thanks for bringing up this potential problem !

I fully agree the radial pretension of the cork can be delicate : a too high radial pretension may trigger slipping of the slipping clutch inside the filling knob before the system is fully retracted.

This potential problem is however not limited to the 13X pens but can occur equally on the 14X vintage pens since the mechanism is technically completely identical.

I make my corks with a radial pretension of 0.15-0.2mm, the free cork being 0.15-0.2mm larger as the barrel bore, and rarely suffer from this problem.

This occurs only when the barrel bore is slightly un-round or slightly conical due to irregular shrinkage of the celluloid.

However one easily forgets the slipping clutch should be armed properly before one starts to retract the piston.

This occurs by "backing-up" the piston at its end stroke firmly against the section.

Don't be afraid to apply some torque, the system will not get damaged.

Doing so the axial back-up pretension will create enough axial/radial friction on the slipping clutch and the higher friction torque will ensure a full retraction of the telescopic system.

On the section view below you can see the piston arrived in its end postion and "backed up" against the section

Further on I want to point out that since approximately a year - and after thorough preliminary tests - I've started applying a special food grade grease on the cork to reduce the friction of the piston in the barrel.

This USDA H1 approved "Fin Food grease EP" made by Interflon, contains micronized teflon particles which considerably reduce the axial friction of the piston in its barrel bore, allowing to cope with barrel diameter variations.

Hope this helps !

Francis

 

[christof]

Thank you Francis.

Of course you are right, this is a problem of the telescopic mechanism in general, independant of the pen model.

 

 

 

This occurs only when the barrel bore is slightly un-round or slightly conical due to irregular shrinkage of the celluloid.

 

I see the problem exactly here, but must admit that I only had a handfull of this pens on my workbench and that your experience is much wider.

 

I also use a foodproof silicon grease to reduce the friction. I only use pure paraffine to seal the cork (no beeswax-mixture) since beeswax is much more sticky than paraffine.

 

But still, I am not that fond of this system like others are.

 

C.