Making a Glass Nib Fountain Pen?

[691175002]

I'm hoping of making an all aluminum glass nib fountain pen. So far I've just been experimenting with making the nibs and feed such that they work reliably.

 

On the plus side, it seems that the feed is pretty foolproof. I machined a small piece of aluminum to connect the glass nib to an ink cartridge and it worked fine.

http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/8446/dsc0077s.jpg

 

I am having problems thinking of a way to reliably set the glass nib into the aluminum though. Since I make the nibs by hand, the diameter can vary and they are not very consistent. I am fine with machining a new feed if I ever need to replace the nib; however I don't think it is possible to get a press fit between glass and aluminum just because the glass will always shatter.

 

I threw in some Teflon tape and it worked well enough, but it isn't very permanent and the nib wobbles slightly. At the moment I am probably going to use a set screw but am hoping for suggestions.

 

http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/2226/dsc0074bfk.jpg

 

Since this was just a test the nib was done in a hurry but they don't seem to be very finicky. The pen writes a tad wet with a mediumish/fine line. The feed seems to work perfectly after I squeezed the cartridge to prime it. The nib was scratchy but I didn't polish it, just snapped it off. Line thickness varies with angle to the paper, and to a lesser extent, which side of the nib is against the paper (some of the grooves may be deeper than others).

 

My goal is a thin modern tube-like pen such as the Aurora Hastil except with a glass nib. I think glass nib fountain pens are cool especially since they are so rare, and a transparent nib works well with the modern look. Plus I can make the entire pen myself and the feed is simple.

 

Anyone have any information/pointers so that I don't do anything stupid? Reliably mounting the nib looks like the hard part for now.

[Passion]

No clue about any of the questions you asked, but I have to say that your pen nib looks amazing. I hope you find a way to make it work. And I agree about the modern look thing

[Ann Finley]

Hope someone can help you with this! I love the looks of my all glass pen, but it writes too broad and I'd love to have an EF or F glass nibbed pen. Certainly, a modern fountain pen would be great. I was never lucky enough to snag a vintage glass nibbed FP.

 

Best, Ann

[publius]

The coefficient of thermal expansion of aluminum is considerably more than that of common glass. Accordingly, you ought to be able to heat the metal collar up some, slip it over the nib, then let it cool down, & it'll jam in there very firmly if you have the dimensions right. The cool inner diameter of the collar should be just about exactly the same as the outer diameter of the nib tail, to avoid putting too much pressure on it ; I suggest that you make three or four, each with a slightly larger hole diameter than the last (perhaps by drilling & then using abrasive), start with the biggest one, & work your way down.

[Chthulhu]

Okay, you make your nibs from glass rod of a uniform diameter, right? Reduce the outside diameter of your feed unit in the area where the nib fits, slit saw that end into four or six fingers, with the bore just on the diameter of the nib stock. Leave the shank of your nib round, squeeze the feed's new fingers inward a bit, and slide the nib shank home. The slots between the fingers should transport the ink down to the body of the nib in places of the grooves in the shank you have now, and should hold the nib more firmly than Teflon tape.

 

What do you think?

[691175002]

I like the idea of heating the aluminum and glass to make them fit since it is simple and sounds like it would make a very strong join. Two possible problems are the aluminum discoloring and the glass thermal shocking but you never know until you try.

 

Attaching the nib to a glass rod of precise diameter would also work very well but I don't think I have the tools to pull the slits off properly.

 

Since I have the thread anyways, I'll post some progress shots of me making some nibs. I do it the poor mans way; normally one would use an optic mold for this kind of thing.

 

http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/7176/dsc0001gas.jpg

Melt up some clear glass...

 

http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/4594/dsc0003t.jpg

Cover it in blue glass. Having a core of clear glass does some weird stuff with refraction and makes the nib change intensity of color at different angles.

 

http://img44.imageshack.us/img44/9431/dsc0009bqu.jpg

This is the weak point in the process. Without a mold I need to take a bread knife to the gather and smoosh in the cuts one at a time. When the glass is hot enough to smoosh it is also hot enough to goop all over the place so getting accurate cuts is nearly impossible.

 

http://img44.imageshack.us/img44/5761/dsc0011rms.jpg

This step is a bit of a jump, but basically you stretch out the blob of glass so you end up with a long rod with ridges in it. To make a nib you heat a small section of the rod and stretch it into a point.

 

http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/4789/dsc0029z.jpg

I only have two hands so I couldn't get any pictures of the nib-making process. I ended up with 4 nibs that I like and which write well. All four write pretty fine. Right now they are polished to 1500 but I'll break out the cerium oxide polish for the finished pen.

 

I am going to anneal the nibs overnight and then work on putting them into a pen tomorrow.

[wykpenguin]

Beautiful nibs. I'm sure it took a tonne of skill to stretch the glass blob. 3 ideas come to mind.

 

-- Would it be easier to grip the fattest part of the nib instead of the end? At least that "feels" firmer to me.

 

-- If your groves are deep enough, maybe you could partially sand the ridges to come up with something perfectly circular and of known diameter. Jamming that in would result in a series of holes in the section. Am I making sense?

 

-- 3rd idea, seems that plastic against glass might be a better option for friction fits.

 

Of course I know nothing about making pens and less than nothing on lampwork.

[eric47]

Very nice, you even make those nibs. :clap1:

 

I have some early Viscontis with vintage glass nibs, Classics (C/C) and Ragtimes (piston). Flow on them can be hit and miss: none, half the nib, or all of it. When the flow is right, they're wonderful to write with, leaving wet fine lines -- not much flex though. I sent one that didn't flow at all to Visconti, and they told me getting the flow right on them is always a bit tricky; so not a quick turn around like a gold nib.

 

I've never taken them apart, but I know they used a plastic collar -- actually looks like nylon -- around the nib, then inserted it into the section. Similar to what you did with the tape, but more stable. I know the collar is there because it's white, while the section is black. That give you any ideas?

Edited August 28, 2009 by eric47

[691175002]

I've never taken them apart, but I know they used a plastic collar -- actually looks like nylon -- around the nib, then inserted it into the section. Similar to what you did with the tape, but more stable. I know the collar is there because it's white, while the section is black. That give you any ideas?

 

My first attempt was with some HDPE but it was too slippery to hold a nib. I tried a second time with derlin, but I have a feeling the real glass fountain pens have threads so that the tip can screw in. I have no way of machining internal threads on something so small so I ended up falling back to using a set screw. A set screw might not be the most elegant solution, but it is easy and works fine. In the final pen I will put some threadlock on it and machine it flat to the surface of the pen. It can become a nice steel accent for the pen

 

On the plus side, aluminum seems to do quite well with some tweaking. This test is basically a bunch of different diameter holes drilled into a piece of aluminum.

 

http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/2885/dsc0031cfy.jpg

 

To get it set up, slide in the nib and fix it with a set screw, then jam on the cartridge. It takes a bit of work to prime but a dip and a squeeze gets all 8 ridges connected to the cartridge.

 

http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/7809/dsc0033ong.jpg

 

As is, the pen writes pretty wet but otherwise works flawlessly. There is probably too much space between the glass and the aluminum, a closer fit might fix that.

http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/2933/dsc0035dat.jpg

 

I had a hunch that some Teflon tape might help dry it up though and it seemed worth a shot.

 

http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/2513/dsc0036typ.jpg

 

This picture also reminds me how much I like glass nibs. There is just something I love about writing with a pen that looks like a cross between a brush and a marker from some science fiction movie.

 

Jammed the nib back in and writes much better. Line went finer and drier, but I would still call it wet (in a nice way).

http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/2296/dsc0037y.jpg

I did a really (really) rough sketch of the aluminum feed at the bottom. Basically a bunch of holes drilled in to approximate the shape of the nib. All done by eye and test fits, accuracy really isn't necessary.

 

You may have noticed that the nib is not completely straight. Turns out this one has a slightly bent base (handmade...). I'll use another tip for the real pen.

 

Overall the feeds for glass nibs seem to be pretty foolproof. Just drill a hole in some plastic/aluminum and fiddle until it works. Assuming I have enough time tomorrow to machine the entire pen out of aluminum there should be no problems.

[dsymonds]

Great work!!

I like to see new inovations.

Glass nibs have been around for a long time but it nice to see someone putting a new twist (pun intended) on using them.

 

Cheers

Dan

 

[Vintagepens]

Why not use hard rubber for the section, or at least a hard rubber liner if you want to use aluminum for the section? Hard rubber won't corrode and has excellent wetting properties. It can be easily heat-molded, and is also easy to machine.

[pathobby]

This is a fascinating topic. I use a Haro glass-nib pen (lever-fill, self-restored) on a daily basis and I find it very useful indeed. A wonderfully even fine line.

 

It is marvelous that there are people out there making new ones. I shall follow this with great interest.

 

PH

[691175002]

I finished machining the pen today. I'll admit it is an extremely simplistic design, but this was what I was going for from the start. Also, since this is the first pen I have made, (and the first pen with a glass nib) I didn't want to put in a huge amount of time. In future pens I would like to make a piston or plunger fill as well as include more glass.

 

http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/4282/dsc0133doz.jpg

I polished the surface to 1500 grit but I am not planning on having this anodized and bare aluminum scratches pathetically easily so there wasn't much point going farther.

 

http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/5282/dsc0135r.jpg

Pen writes as expected, the first word is a little wet since I had just primed the pen.

 

http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/5848/dsc0140x.jpg

And disassembled. In future pens I would get rid of the "grip" section because it needs to be way too thin to fit inside the cap.

 

 

Unfortunately, after about 20 minutes of writing/scribbling the nib snapped where it was held by the set screw. I attribute this to both the thinness of the nib at the back and that the edge of the screw has a sharp edge (I didn't think to sand it out). Glass also becomes several orders of magnitude weaker when wet and I had tightened the screw pretty well.

 

I am going to make a much thicker nib and perhaps stick a small piece of rubber under the set screw. I'm probably going to make a clear nib next time as well since the ink gives a touch of color to the nib anyways.

 

Still a few kinks to work out, but I am pretty confident the next attempt will work 100%.

[Vulcan1066]

You might have to do some searching but they sell ribbed glass rod for making glass nibs. I have seen lampworkers at a local crafts fair using the ribbed rod to make the nib then fusing it onto plain glass rod they had prepared earlier. They were making dip pens and selling them for about 40 dollars each.

I would suggest that you try making a plastic or derlin collar to ge around the bak as someone else suggested then inserting that part into the aluminium handle.

Good luck on your endevour and keep us up to date with the progress.

Edited August 31, 2009 by Vulcan1066

[691175002]

You might have to do some searching but they sell ribbed glass rod for making glass nibs. I have seen lampworkers at a local crafts fair using the ribbed rod to make the nib then fusing it onto plain glass rod they had prepared earlier. They were making dip pens and selling them for about 40 dollars each.

I would suggest that you try making a plastic or derlin collar to ge around the bak as someone else suggested then inserting that part into the aluminium handle.

Good luck on your endevour and keep us up to date with the progress.

 

I've seen the ribbed cane, but unfortunately it only comes in clear and in a single diameter. I was going to buy some for this pen but I didn't feel like waiting for shipping and since I can make it myself I can play around with different colors and shapes.

 

If this attempt at a setscrew doesn't work, I'll make a plastic collar that loosely press fits the nib, and then force the plastic collar into the aluminum. The aluminum should compress the plastic and produce a tight fit evenly around the entire nib (plus with plastic around the glass the feed might work better too).

 

Since the original nib snapped, I decided to make the back of the nib thick. When researching how glass pens fed ink to the nib I found some cross sectional diagrams that had a constriction at the back of the nib. I assume that this is to control the flow, but Teflon tape does that in an adjustable way and it is easier to make and mount nibs that have an even diameter.

 

Made a bunch of nibs in a few colors. The leftmost blue nib is going into this pen:

http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/5428/dsc0151n.jpg

 

I also played around with a few colors. The green nibs were made using a glass that produces an iridescent effect. Its hard to photograph but you can see some blue/purple reflections off it in the picture (I found it too gaudy so I only made two). The blue nibs actually have one side blue and one side gray, but the effect is subtle and you can't see it in the photo.

 

All the glass is going to anneal overnight and hopefully I'll be done tomorrow.

[dsymonds]

The pen looks great.

It seems to write quite well.

What size was the hole you drilled down through the cartridge piercing pin? I saw your sketch and it appears that it's just a simple single hole through the pin.

 

This is great stuff. Keep up the good work.

 

Dan

 

[Passion]

I love the new nibs. Great job on the pens

[691175002]

Finished up the pen with a new nib.

http://img523.imageshack.us/img523/152/dsc0147h.jpg

It is mounted with a set screw padded by a piece of elastic band. Works well enough, but I would not mount the nib like this again.

http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/9071/dsc0002f.jpg

 

One interesting property of the nib is that I did not sand it down evenly so one side is thicker than the other. You can vary the thickness of the line by which side of the nib is against the paper. This would be easy to fix but I'll leave it as a curiosity.

http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/1434/dsc0004m.jpg

 

A bigger problem is that the feed eventually dries up after about two pages of writing. I have a feeling the link between the cartridge and the nib is the culprit.

 

If you read about how real fountain pens work, their feed has a grooved side and a flat side. The grooves attract the ink leaving the flat side open for air to travel. Since all I can do is drill a hole, all the sides are smooth and the ink completely blocks off the passage, much like how a liquid in a straw wont let any air past.

To deal with this, I am going to try placing a very thin piece of ribbed cane in the feed in hopes that the thin grooves will get some capillary action going on and break up the ink.

http://img523.imageshack.us/img523/1251/dsc0006hpt.jpg

You could also avoid the problem altogether and avoid any major constrictions, but if the nib broke or fell out it would be a disaster.

 

 

Still not quite there, but I have a few tricks planned and a second pen in mind. Ideally I would like to keep the feed as simple as possible but it looks like for perfect reliability I am going to have to add some more stuff.

[richardandtracy]

This is absolutely amazing. I am in awe of what you are doing.

 

Regards,

 

Richard.

 

[691175002]

Whew, today was busy. First job was getting the flow of the glass nib working consistently and reliably. I chose too try two methods at once, first I switched to a wetter ink (Aurora Black from Lamy Blue). The Aurora ink is hilariously wet, in fact it went straight through the set screw and covered the grip.

http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/8721/dsc0009mzs.jpg

(Note this picture isn't representative of how the pen writes, I just filled it)

 

The second step was to add a very thin piece of ribbed cane to the feed to give the liquid something to grab on to. The thicker end prevents the glass from falling back into the converter.

http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/8819/dsc0007ymg.jpg

http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/5679/dsc0008lna.jpg

After reassembling the pen (and including some silicone grease to keep the grip ink-free), it works much better.

It is incredibly wet but slides nicely because of the extra lubrication. The pen rarely has flow problems, but when it does a single shake seems to bring it back to life every time. I don't think there is anything more I can do with this pen, and it works well enough that I will be using it daily.

 

I am still convinced the flow problems stem from the connection between the cartridge/converter and the nib.

 

 

The majority of my night was spent machining this guy:

http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/2415/dsc0013w.jpg

The pen is an eyedropper fill and holds about 7mL of ink in a pyrex tube which will be siliconed into the aluminum housing. There is a long window cut into the side of the housing and a circle cut into the top. The picture is a little sketchy but the pen looks beautiful assembled.

 

The nib will be mounted in a plastic collar, like many of you suggested. I did a trial run without a feed (so it doesn't actually write) and the mounting works incredibly well:

http://img44.imageshack.us/img44/7940/dsc0011oix.jpg

 

The plastic nib slides easily into the plastic, and then the plastic is forced into the aluminum. This way I avoid applying any pressure to the glass and I get a tight and even fit. The plastic should also have better wetting properties so we will see how it writes. As long as the ink doesn't drizzle all over the floor I think this pen will be perfect.

 

Anyways, its 4:30AM here so I'll leave the final assembly till tomorrow. (And then the silicone will have to cure for at least a day before testing...) I'll also throw up some pictures of the first pen and how it writes after the modifications.