Beautiful pen yet poor writing!

[outfitter]

Hey guys, I have been making pens for a few years and always love to try new styles. Recently I have moved away from rollerball and fountain pens to try a few ballpoints. The last 2 styles I made were Atrax and Cigar.

My turning skills are continuing to improve and the pens look beautiful, but my big issue is with the annoying click of the ballpoint ink against the nib of the pen. It makes a beautiful finished product feel cheap and annoying to write with! The ink casing is smaller than the nib opening and every time i pick up the pen from the paper and replace you hear the "click" of metal on metal. It feels like there is a little "slop" in the nib end of the pen.:at-wits-end:

Has anyone noticed this before and does anyone have a recommendation to take the "slop" out of the pen? Thanks!

 

[panamag8or]

Well, I hadn't noticed before, but now it's going to bother me, grr...

 

[chriselle]

YES!! I've been ranting about this for years. About 80% of the Sierras I make have this issue. I order from many sources and it really seems to make no difference. I think it really depends on your writing style as to whether you notice the slop or not. Due to the nature of stroke-lift-stroke in writing Japanese ...ALL of my customers comment on the "click". I've tried every kind of replacement ink but the issue is never remedied.
Really annoying...!!

 

[76winger]

I've noticed it most on the Polaris pens, which I made a lot of early on. I haven't really noticed it on Cigars, but I haven't wrote with many either. Executives and Gatsbys, as I recall were quieter than the Polaris, and I haven't noticed it as much on Sierra Elegant Beauties either.

 

[johncrane]

l'm not sure what noise! you are talking about,sometimes if you shake the pen, you can get some rattling of the refill, if so just stretch the spring a tad.

 

[outfitter]

Well, unfortunately I am not the only one who notices this! It kills me to say this, but I don't see myself making anymore ballpoints. I want my pens to be precision writing devices that hold up to not only the eye test, but the use test also.

 

[joefrog]

Your hearing is much better than mine. I have never heard it once!

 

[Smitty37]

Hmmmm

This really sounds like "much ado over nothing" Not only have I never noticed it, no one who has used one of my pens (whether made by me or by someone else) has ever noticed.
If you hear a click be thankful for your super good hearing.

That I never noticed isn't a surprise because my hearing has never been acute, but my wife's is and she's never noticed it either.

 

[mmoncur]

I've noticed this and it seems peculiar to certain pen kit types. The only pen I have that has this issue is a Cigar pen. I can't hear it on my Wall Street II (Woodcraft) or Slimline Pro (PSI) pens that use Parker refills, or on ANY of the pens that use Cross refills (Slimline, Streamline, etc.)

 

[longbeard]

I've made several cigar style pens, have one in my hand now, can't hear a thing. I've been shaking it pretty good now and can't hear any clicking noises. Been writing with it to try and get to make a noise, but can't. The refill seems to be tight with no play. The only clicking noise i do hear is the clip clicking against the blank.

 

[Buzzzz4]

I had a customer once go through all of my styles looking for one that didn't have a click to it. He said all the ballpoints did it. I haven't had any other customers that concerned about it. Many times I will stretch the spring to make it tighter, but I do still hear the slight click. Nothing I'm going to worry about though.

 

[JMCU]

Dang i wish you had not brought that to my attention. I never noticed it before. I think normally i swing the point down to contact the surface is the reason i don't notice it.

 

[maxman400]

Try switching to a plastic Gel refill and see if you notice any difference, I have ton of customers who request the Gel refills.

 

[Whaler]

I just went through a few pens and I could make some rattle others didn't. All of them that rattled still had the crappy stock refill in them the ones that I had switched to a Schmidt easy flo 9000 didn't. I also stretch the spring out a little when I switch to the Schmidt refill.
To me it's a non issue, I don't think you will ever hear on rattle under normal use.

 

[Penultimate]

Noise

My sierra's don't make any noise but my new Virage ball point does. I'll try stretching the spring.

 

[ed4copies]

I would venture a guess that this is another case of too many pens having the same name, made by different manufacturers.

I sold thousands of cigar pens---my best seller by far---all from Berea or CSUSA or Woodcrafter of Oklahoma (where the WCO part number came from). ALL high quality and never had problems---but there were no "click" versions available (just in case I missed something in the description of kits with the problem).

There are many "less expensive" versions of the Cigar available now. And most refills are made in China, to less than exacting standards.

 

[Smitty37]

I would venture a guess that this is another case of too many pens having the same name, made by different manufacturers.

I sold thousands of cigar pens---my best seller by far---all from Berea or CSUSA or Woodcrafter of Oklahoma (where the WCO part number came from). ALL high quality and never had problems---but there were no "click" versions available (just in case I missed something in the description of kits with the problem).

There are many "less expensive" versions of the Cigar available now. And most refills are made in China, to less than exacting standards.

This seems to me to be "danged if ya do, durned if ya don't" - we have with Sierra Style the complaint of too many names for the same kits. Then we have cigar's with too many "different manufacturers" selling kits with the same name. Also, as you have warned me, all cigars might not have interchangeable parts. I recently received a beautiful cigar pen, I decided to put a Schmidt refill in it and I found when I opened it, the worst looking Parker stle refill I have ever seen - it didn't write very well and I'm surprised that it wrote at all.

 

[StephenM]

My wife hates rollerballs - only likes ballpoints. However, I don't particularly like making ballpoints. I found that the Waterman ballpoint refill fits into any pen that takes a Schmidt rollerball refill. The end sticks out a bit further than the rollerball (I'm still working on that one) but it makes a good substitute for those who want ballpoints.

 

[Hexhead]

I think I'm deaf ,my TV so loud it blows my hair, no click from my pens