My first button filler

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Texatdurango

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I became infatuated with several of the filling mechanisms I saw at the Dallas pen show a few weeks ago so I decided to try my hand at a few of them. The first is a button fill pen. The ink is held in a rubber sac which is compressed with a pressure bar. To expand the pressure bar, a button at the end of the pen is pushed in hence the name "button filler".

Instead of just guessing at everything, I decided to make this pen from clear acrylic so I could see what was happening and where I would need to make changes as I went along. I made the section and it is a little different in that it cannot accept a converter or cartridge. It has a small nipple at the bottom which the rubber sac is attached using special cement. I tried making the button from several materials before deciding on titanium rod stock which I thought was going to be a nightmare but turned out to be quite pleasant to turn and notch.

Below is the completed pen, it writes just fine, holds almost twice the ink of a normal converter or ink cartridge and is just fun to use. It's a bit long at 6" when capped so I'm planning on shortening it a bit before making a few more in various colors.

This is a prototype, not meant to be a pen for sale so I spent little time polishing it.

Comments, critiques and suggestions are welcome.
 

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Texatdurango

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PTJeff said:
Wow.....
you've been busy.

This is quality stuff George
Click to expand...

I WAS busy until I had to stop saturday because I couldn't thread the small end threads for the blind cap. UPS delivered the taps and dies today so it was playtime once again this afternoon. I think I have enjoyed making this pen more than any other I have ever done.
 
el_d

el_d

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Very Nice work George.

Excuse my ignorance but what are the metal components in the tube and at the end of the pen for?:confused:
 
nava1uni

nava1uni

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I have an old fountain pen of my mother's that has a bulb at the end and you push it in to fill it with ink. The bladder on it needs to be replaced, but I have not taken it
apart. This reminds me of that pen.
You always fascinate me with the pens that you make and how easily you make it seem, even though I know better.
 
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Texatdurango

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artme said:
Great work on that see through George.:):):)

I wonder what the life span of the bladder is.

Remember the good old days when perished bladders burst and left you with a blue patch on your shirt.???
Click to expand...

That's a good question, to which I have no answer but I need to know if I am going to be making some of these and selling them!

I also have some silicone bladders which I assume are better and possibly will last longer.
 
dgscott

dgscott

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Very exciting work, George. In addition to the gorgeous threads, the lever mechanism is an impressive piece of work. Definitely a winner.
Doug
 
workinforwood

workinforwood

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Ok George, here's the button click pen I made, black with crushed gold!:biggrin:

but seriously...

This is a Mentmore button clicker with 14k gold nib. I bought it for $20, mostly because I wanted to steal the nib, but maybe to re-vamp the pen into a new life, who really knows. I can unscrew the final on the pen obviously, but when I push the button, I dont think anything is happening inside. It's like the button is stuck and won't push in. The nib has a section that is seperate from the body of the pen. The seam is darn good because you can barely see it, but it is there and the section is solid black where as the body is black and gold crush. So I would assume I just unscrew the section, but as mighty as my little fingers are, I can't get it to unscrew. Any suggestions on how to get it apart beyond using a hammer? Also, the cap section has 3 tiny holes drilled in it. Why? I can't say for sure, but I think there is something wrong with the cap other than the obvious bent clip. There is no visible cracks in the cap and the pen screws in to the cap beautifully, but with the cap on the pen doesn't look straight. I can push on the pen and straighten it out. It's like there's too much slop in the threads.

Then I got this other pen, a stylus for a buck on ebay. I actually got two of them for that dollar. What the heck, so I bought it. The first pen I think has absolutely nothing wrong with it other than it has no ink in it and I don't have a bottle of ink on hand to test the pen. The second pen though, I can't get the cap off. It is seazed on just like the nib section on the fountain pen. Also, I notice the stylus pen has a little hole drilled in the cap, but only one hole. Any suggestions?
 

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workinforwood said:
Ok George, here's the button click pen I made, black with crushed gold!:biggrin:

but seriously...

This is a Mentmore button clicker with 14k gold nib. I bought it for $20, mostly because I wanted to steal the nib, but maybe to re-vamp the pen into a new life, who really knows. I can unscrew the final on the pen obviously, but when I push the button, I dont think anything is happening inside. It's like the button is stuck and won't push in. The nib has a section that is seperate from the body of the pen. The seam is darn good because you can barely see it, but it is there and the section is solid black where as the body is black and gold crush. So I would assume I just unscrew the section, but as mighty as my little fingers are, I can't get it to unscrew. Any suggestions on how to get it apart beyond using a hammer? Also, the cap section has 3 tiny holes drilled in it. Why? I can't say for sure, but I think there is something wrong with the cap other than the obvious bent clip. There is no visible cracks in the cap and the pen screws in to the cap beautifully, but with the cap on the pen doesn't look straight. I can push on the pen and straighten it out. It's like there's too much slop in the threads.

Then I got this other pen, a stylus for a buck on ebay. I actually got two of them for that dollar. What the heck, so I bought it. The first pen I think has absolutely nothing wrong with it other than it has no ink in it and I don't have a bottle of ink on hand to test the pen. The second pen though, I can't get the cap off. It is seazed on just like the nib section on the fountain pen. Also, I notice the stylus pen has a little hole drilled in the cap, but only one hole. Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

Don't even confuse me with a vintage pen repairman because I am FAR from being one but from what I have read, many of the older pens were assembled with cement which, when heated to around 140 degrees, becomes pliable and will allow joints to unthread. I have also heard of putting a pen in warm water to help break things loose but don't try anything because I said so or you might ruin a pen. The rubber sacs in the button fillers get old and hard and I'm guessing that the might have gotten hard and the pressure bar froze along with it so the button isn't doing anything.

When you get the section off you can dig outthe old sac and pressure bar, both of which can be replaced with brand new parts.

If you are going to be dinking around with old fountain pens I might suggest buying "Frank Dubiels' Repair Manual", it has helped me figure out how some of the filling systems work.
 
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