Jump to content

What's going on with Conid ?


fountainbel

Recommended Posts

Dear Conid fans
Let me give you some more Insight on what is going on at Conid.
Conid was a small spin-off of Komec,  a machine design and building company for the pharmaceutical industry.
Lonza - a Swiss multinational- acquired Capsugel, the world leader in medical capsule manufacturing two years ago 
Komec being the main supplier mechanical parts and machines of Capsugel , Lonza eagerly wanted also to buy Komec…. 
And since 18 months Komec has effectively been sold to Lonza..
Werner Helsen  - the previous owner of Komec and still the director  -obtained however  the rights to continue making Conid pens in the Komec workshop.
However with one limitation : Conid parts should only be made when the production for Lonza allows it, so in time slots when the machines are available.
Given the hectic transition period, coupled to the Corona  pandemic and the overwhelming requests for pharmaceutical machinery, the Komec workload has been enormous.
This is the main reason why the re-start of Conid was delayed several times….
Note however Conid already made a large stock of the the main parts in the mean time , so once they restart delivery will occur within reasonable time.
Only the standard Bulkfillers - regular Flat top , Minimalistica and Kingsize pens will become available in small series, no custom features will be offered (except for nib grinding) 
Werner worked hard towards the Conid re-start and has nearly finished to re-struct the Conid manufacturing and assembly process as well as creating a proper customer service.
Within a few months Conid will send out a news letter with all further details.
So please stay tuned,
Best regards,
Francis
 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 17
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • es9

    5

  • Karmachanic

    4

  • fountainbel

    3

  • hairlame

    1

Thank you so much Francis for the full story.

Add lightness and simplicate.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks so much for the update! 
 

One question about this: 

 

4 hours ago, fountainbel said:

Only the standard Bulkfillers - regular Flat top , Minimalistica and Kingsize pens will become available in small series, no custom features will be offered (except for nib grinding) 


Does that mean Conid will not be able to mix and match standard parts? For example, will they be able to do a half demonstrator with titanium finials and filler knobs? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've heard that Lonza very much maximizes their production output. Is it likely that there will be spare machine time for parts to be made? Will that remain the case, and will Conid still be sustainable one or two years from now?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Surely this has always been the case to some degree, right? I had assumed that the Conid project was used to ensure that Komec's eye-wateringly expensive machinery was never sitting idle and effectively wasting money. In any machine shop, no matter the sophistication, it's always a very high priority to keep the machines fed with work at all times.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 6/21/2022 at 3:45 PM, Harold said:

Surely this has always been the case to some degree, right? I had assumed that the Conid project was used to ensure that Komec's eye-wateringly expensive machinery was never sitting idle and effectively wasting money. In any machine shop, no matter the sophistication, it's always a very high priority to keep the machines fed with work at all times.

Thanks for your "to the point" reaction Harold , this is effectively the fact!

Francis

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Great to anticipate Conid back selling again fountainbel !

I decided I wanted to buy a Kingsize just before you went out of production :(

I assume your regular newsletter will start up again to let us know.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 minutes ago, es9 said:

Are the black delrin pens substantially more durable/less prone to cracking than the acrylic demonstrators? 

 

What evidence have you of cracking Conid demonstrators?

Add lightness and simplicate.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

None whatsoever. That’s why I’m asking! In my limited experience turning acrylic, however, it can be pretty brittle. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For what it's worth, My Conids are still going strong. They are very nice pens. 

 

"One can not waste time worrying about small minds . . . If we were normal, we'd still be using free ball point pens." —Bo Bo Olson

 

"I already own more ink than a rational person can use in a lifetime." —Waski_the_Squirrel

 

I'm still trying to figure out how to list all my pens down here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, es9 said:

None whatsoever. That’s why I’m asking! In my limited experience turning acrylic, however, it can be pretty brittle. 

 

Neither my PMMA Parker 51, nor my Sailors, or any my MB Meistestück's have ever cracked, but I treat them gently. :)

Add lightness and simplicate.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Karmachanic said:

Neither my PMMA Parker 51, nor my Sailors, or any my MB Meistestück's have ever cracked, but I treat them gently. :)


 

Have you ever looked very carefully at well-used P51 hoods, including with illumination from within? Or have you ever looked carefully at the lucite collectors? Or have you ever had TWSBI threads crack? Acrylic is rigid, and stress cracks can form even without mistreatment. I treat my pens gently, too. I assume CONID uses very good acrylic, but I’m just trying to gather possible data to inform which version of pens I will purchase from them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi all,

Allow me to go in somewhat deeper on invisible aspects of acrylic 

Acrylic bar stock is produced using two different processes 

1- Direct extrusion in round bars or tubes

Advantage : relatively cheap production process

Inherent drawback: the process creates internal and external material tensions which make the material  brittle and prone for  cracking / breakage at diameter transitions after machining.

Note  injection moulded  pens equally suffer from enclosed internal material tension which make them prone for cracking at diameter transitions 

2 -Casting in sheets

Advantage: no enclosed material tensions 

Inherent drawback : Expensive production process : casting in sheets , cutting in strips & turning round.

Hope the clarifies the differences!

Best regards,

Francis

 

OHH, I almost forgot to mention:

Conid only uses CAST acrylic barstock

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

33 minutes ago, fountainbel said:

Expensive production proces

 

Precious!!  :D

Add lightness and simplicate.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Most Contributions

    1. amberleadavis
      amberleadavis
      43844
    2. PAKMAN
      PAKMAN
      33501
    3. Ghost Plane
      Ghost Plane
      28220
    4. inkstainedruth
      inkstainedruth
      26627
    5. jar
      jar
      26101
  • Upcoming Events

  • Blog Comments

    • Shanghai Knife Dude
      I have the Sailor Naginata and some fancy blade nibs coming after 2022 by a number of new workshop from China.  With all my respect, IMHO, they are all (bleep) in doing chinese characters.  Go use a bush, or at least a bush pen. 
    • A Smug Dill
      It is the reason why I'm so keen on the idea of a personal library — of pens, nibs, inks, paper products, etc. — and spent so much money, as well as time and effort, to “build” it for myself (because I can't simply remember everything, especially as I'm getting older fast) and my wife, so that we can “know”; and, instead of just disposing of what displeased us, or even just not good enough to be “given the time of day” against competition from >500 other pens and >500 other inks for our at
    • adamselene
      Agreed.  And I think it’s good to be aware of this early on and think about at the point of buying rather than rationalizing a purchase..
    • A Smug Dill
      Alas, one cannot know “good” without some idea of “bad” against which to contrast; and, as one of my former bosses (back when I was in my twenties) used to say, “on the scale of good to bad…”, it's a spectrum, not a dichotomy. Whereas subjectively acceptable (or tolerable) and unacceptable may well be a dichotomy to someone, and finding whether the threshold or cusp between them lies takes experiencing many degrees of less-than-ideal, especially if the decision is somehow influenced by factors o
    • adamselene
      I got my first real fountain pen on my 60th birthday and many hundreds of pens later I’ve often thought of what I should’ve known in the beginning. I have many pens, the majority of which have some objectionable feature. If they are too delicate, or can’t be posted, or they are too precious to face losing , still they are users, but only in very limited environments..  I have a big disliking for pens that have the cap jump into the air and fly off. I object to Pens that dry out, or leave blobs o
  • Chatbox

    You don't have permission to chat.
    Load More
  • Files






×
×
  • Create New...