Making Pen parts by casting resin.
Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2015 10:57 am
As some of you may be aware, fountain pens are my main hobby.
A couple of years ago I bought a Chinese copy of an expensive Parker Duofold fountain pen, the Kaigelu 316. It was a beautiful pearlescent charcoal grey. Two things spoilt it, the nib wasn't perfect and the finial at the end of the pen was too heavy, being made from brass. The nib was easy to change, and I found a bit of acrylic rod to make a finial from. After making a 2gram finial instead of the 12g brass one, swapping the finial, my £20 Chinese pen felt as wonderful at the £400 Parker.
I showed what I had done on another forum, and got inundated with people asking me for ones for their K316. I made 30, sold them all and still hadn't satisfied demand, but was very bored of making the bits on my lathe as it took around an hour for each. So I tried to mould them. After 9 months of experimentation, it worked...
I have 60 perfect ones.
40 less perfect
And 150 waste finials.
An amazing journey. And I now know a little about casting polyester resin too.
Regards,
Richard.
A couple of years ago I bought a Chinese copy of an expensive Parker Duofold fountain pen, the Kaigelu 316. It was a beautiful pearlescent charcoal grey. Two things spoilt it, the nib wasn't perfect and the finial at the end of the pen was too heavy, being made from brass. The nib was easy to change, and I found a bit of acrylic rod to make a finial from. After making a 2gram finial instead of the 12g brass one, swapping the finial, my £20 Chinese pen felt as wonderful at the £400 Parker.
I showed what I had done on another forum, and got inundated with people asking me for ones for their K316. I made 30, sold them all and still hadn't satisfied demand, but was very bored of making the bits on my lathe as it took around an hour for each. So I tried to mould them. After 9 months of experimentation, it worked...
I have 60 perfect ones.
40 less perfect
And 150 waste finials.
An amazing journey. And I now know a little about casting polyester resin too.
Regards,
Richard.