Simple Kitless

Is there sucha thing? Yes there is.

To follow on the last kitless request and wanting to know how to make one.

This is a pen done today of a "simple kitless" yes, basically all it is is a piece of acrylic, drilled out and tapped, then turned down and threaded.

Turned using a pin chuck made from some transfer punches.

The feeder is done to suit a bock nib made out of Derlin.

The acrylic is the coffee mocha from Davy Gee, nice blank to work with and threaded really well.

Its a longer than most at 150x20x20

The reason why I say its simple is that when you start making the end caps, clips and center band fittings then its a little more complex. but still within the capabilities of any turner.

Finished with W&D along with MM's and T-Cut and resin polish.

I didn't quite get the feeder recess on the thread right but will make that right next time in the cave.

As usual C&C welcome.

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Very nice Eamonn mate

I like the lines and look of the pen Eamonn, not tried a kitless yet but seeing this one I think I shall have to add it to my things to make list.

Robin

I must try one of these. That is super Eamonn.

Earlier in last year we had a competition when I made a double ended pen from Cocobolo using a commercial nib assembly, ink feed and magnetric cap.

How did you get on making your feeder Eamon I felt that would be a big challenge for me?

Like your double ender and the second one made with two open ends using caps top and bottom with a clip two different styles, both pens are beaut.

The blank for the double ender is very special carrying the pattern through, the black one a good strong black indeed.

Thanks for sharing.

Peter.

Penpal said:

How did you get on making your feeder Eamon I felt that would be a big challenge for me.

Peter.

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Used a Bock feeder with Bock nib Peter.

The feeder holder was made with Delrin, turned out of a 10mm rod. Just not as easy to polish as acrylic feeder holder but nice to machine.

Turned down and threaded at 9x.75 then drilled and threaded to suit the Bock feeder.

It does help if you have an ER chuck that you can use to turn the small items easier, but can be done with a standard chuck.

You say "simple" well, even a simple kit-less looks stunning to me. I didn't think I was ready to try kit-less pens but having seen the simplicity of these it might be worth a try.

I didn't think you could thread acrylic....

A couple of question if I may? The end of the cap, (the part that's threaded) did you polish it or leave it natural? If you did polish it did you do it before threading or after?

Simple? as Simon says stunning.

Sgreen said:

You say "simple" well, even a simple kit-less looks stunning to me. I didn't think I was ready to try kit-less pens but having seen the simplicity of these it might be worth a try.

I didn't think you could thread acrylic....

A couple of question if I may? The end of the cap, (the part that's threaded) did you polish it or leave it natural? If you did polish it did you do it before threading or after?

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I fully understand where you are coming from, the reason I did this today was to show the simple ones are easier than you guys / girls think.

When I had turned the tenon for the pen body to accept the thread I polished that first before threading as I wanted the threaded "but end" section to have some shine as that is going to be on show.

All the other parts are drilled, threaded and then finished just the same as you would for a kit pen, its finished the same way as a normal acrylic.

This blank was 20mm thick so pen body turned down to around 14.5 to 15mm, the cap is turned to around 16 to 17mm.(ish)

All of this was done on the wood lathe but you need a steady hand and good eyesight (Or good glasses and no morning after the night before)

I have a couple of pics that I took today of turning on the wood lathe with the pin chuck so hopefully get some pics together of it being done.

There is little that will take a thread, however it keeping a thread and a decent one hard enough to be able to use and not too hard that it will break.

Don't get me wrong there is a little investment for taps and dies along with suitable drills, Die holders you don't need to buy them as they can be turned out of a piece of wood, ally or plastic.

If you were to buy all the bits in one go and all the engineers tools then you won't get much change out of £150. but can be done much cheaper if you make your own.

What I wanted to do is remove the myth that kitless pens are difficult to do, all you need is a little knowledge of drilling and threading as well as the tools to do it.

I normally do the threading and shaping on the metal lathe as I have carpal tunnel and struggle to keep the chisels really steady, but this one was all done on the wood lathe.

Hope that helps.

A pair of beauties Eamonn.

Eamonn, this is a very inspirational post. I am certainly thinking of having a go. Thank you.

Looks great Eamonn