alexkuzn
Member
Does anyone knows where I can get some good quality stainless or titanium clips? It is for for my kitless fountain pens.
Thanks,
Alex
Thanks,
Alex
High quality clips source
- Thread starter alexkuzn
- Start date
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
I doubt that you will find universal good stainless or titanium clips. Best solution is to get sheet and cut them out yourself. Other choice is to get stock clips and have them plated but that is not an easy path either.
alexkuzn
Member
How do you cut them out of sheet of metal? I doubt that you can use sheet metal snips on such small pieces. Do you cut out rough shape and then grind it off on you bench grinder?
What steel grade do you use? It has to bendable yet springy. I suppose that no one heat treats their clips?
What steel grade do you use? It has to bendable yet springy. I suppose that no one heat treats their clips?
bitshird
Member
Use a jewelers saw, for say 20 ga. stainless I would recommend either a 2/0or 3/0 blade, for TI a coarser blade would be acceptable it's not as hard as stainless possibly a # 1 or 2 with out the ought.
By the way DO NOT GRIND Titanium on a bench grinder unless you like fires a lot.
You can also buy strips the approximate width and use hand files to shape.
alexkuzn
Member
Where do you get your sheet stainless or titanium?
Texatdurango
Member
Then you doubt wrong!:biggrin:
I use aviation snips on titanium sheet then use my Foredom tool to grind and shape the clips. A bench grinder is way too big for grinding intricate shapes.
Titanium Joe's is a good source for titanium.
alexkuzn
Member
Texatdurango
Member
That clip is from a Rhodium plated Atlas (polaris) kit.
The last titanium clip I made is shown along with a titanium centerband at the end of the first post in this thread.... http://www.penturners.org/forum/showthread.php?t=51646
I tend to stay pretty plain with my clips so far since I still have plenty of kits to steal clips from.
With so many ideas in mind, clip making has sorta taken a back seat to other things I want to do but they are easy to make and take about 30 minutes to make.
workinforwood
Member
Building your own clip can be fun. You also have to have a way to attach it. Rules don't exist so much when you fabricate your own pen! This pen has a custom brass clip and it does have some flex but not so much that it just bends. The clip was cut to look like an arrow. I sandwiched the brass sheet between two pieces of wood. I drew the arrow on to the top of the wood and then proceeded to cut it out with my scroll saw. After a few minutes letting it cool down some, I then sanded the edges to refine the shape and remove any saw marks. I clamped a 30/06 casing to my work bench. I notched out a piece of wood into a v shape. Holding the clip with some vice grips and wearing gloves too, I used a propane plumbing torch to heat the end of the clip. I place the end of the clip over the bullet and with the notched wood I pressed down, causing the end of the clip to bend around the clip. The idea was to use the back of the arrow to secure the clip. I then drilled two small holes through the clip into the scrap brass bullet to hold the clip in place...the arrow head facing in the opposite direction that I wanted it to be..so it was facing away from me. I found a scrap rod of metal laying around the shop somewhere and mounted it over the clip. I re-heated the brass and pulled it over the scrap rod. Down by the arrow head, I heated it up and bent the arrow upwards a bit, then went back the the back of the clip and heated it up and pushed it down more . Once the shape was right, I unscrewed the clip, then heated it up one more time and bent it just a tiny bit more so that the clip would lay against the body of the pen nice and tight. Using my rotary tool, I polished the clip with brasso to remove all the burn marks from the torch..heck, that's more work cleaning the finished clip than making it! I then screwed the clip into the finished pen along with a couple drops of epoxy in the holes. I realize this isn't the clip you want for all your pens, but I tell you this Alex, to stimulate your imagination as to what you can do by yourself. I am not a metalworking shop. I am a woodworking shop.
