Making clips

[Texatdurango]

I'm looking into making some clips for some pens and got to thinking....

Instead of always using expensive precious metal such as silver or having other metals plated, I could also make some clips out of the same acrylic the pen is made from.

Has anyone ever made clips from either wood or plastic?

I am thinking of a shape similar to an upside down "L" where the short leg would slide into a laser cut slot in the top of the cap. If the leg went in to at least the center of the pen then glued in place, I think it would be sufficient to hold the clip in place.

I got with my laser engraver a few weeks ago and was successful in cutting some perfectly rectangular thin slots in acrylic and can go all the way through the pen if necessary.

So, am I chasing my tail or does it seem doable?

 

[Monty]

You mean clips like these????
http://www.penmakersguild.com/articles/penclip.pdf

 

[Aderhammer]

Just discussed this,
http://www.penturners.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=33538
Give me a week, i'm trying something different by using 2 metal pins in the clip that then get glued into the body. Now if my wood from chris (Kalai) "wood" show up...

 

[workinforwood]

That's not bad, but won't work on a tubeless pen, although if you stop your drill half way or so into the cap then switch to a smaller bit the rest of the way you'll increase the meat on the walls up top. It's just a matter of making sure your nib fits into the cap at the same time.

I was just reading up on a recessed clip where the top of the clip is altered so that instead of being round with a hole in it, it was ground open like a J shape. The transmission is slightly altered. You don't have a transmission. I was thinking the same sort of deal, only out of wood and you spin a small dowel with a nipple on it basically and that goes up the barrel to glue/secure the clip in place. That make sense?

 

[ed4copies]

Look out George,
Here comes the devil's advocate:

Pens have had metal clips since their inception. We make pens, hoping to sell them to the public, who have seen metal clips since pens' inception. WHY would we want to change their minds on something so fundamental??

Define a market, where your end product will be enthusiastically embraced and I will agree to help develop the "improvement". HOWEVER, if we are just making things to PROVE we CAN ???????????? Why????????

Devil is leaving now.

 

[workinforwood]

Here's a guy thinking the same thoughts as myself. Just sorta surfing around with the "clip" idea on the internet. On the right pen, this type of idea would be perfect.
http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/Knife-style_20pocket-clip_20for_20pens

WOW WOW WOW !!! Check this website out, it is a MUST SEE !

http://www.davidreedsmith.com/Articles/LaminatedPenClip/LaminatedPenClip.htm

 

[bjackman]

WOW WOW WOW !!! Check this website out, it is a MUST SEE !

http://www.davidreedsmith.com/Articles/LaminatedPenClip/LaminatedPenClip.htm

Didn't we see that same pen/method in Woodturning Design Magazine recently?
I remember thinking the same thing then as I just thought now.....no disrespect to the skill and enginuity of the Mr Smith, but to my eye, that thing is hideous. [xx(]
I guess I'm showing my extreme preference here for simple clean lines. Again, I respect his ability to devise and execute a method that solves a specific want, I've spent a good deal of time myself ways of pushing out some of the walls on this penmaking box. I do wonder how much his method could be toned down?

 

[R2]

Beat me to the punch Jeff. I've had several reads of David Reed Smith's article.

 

[workinforwood]

I can see not liking the Reed pen, but I like it because I like different.

I think the metal clips that clip on are nice too, and could be a nice look on the Tex green acrylic pen. I saw two places that have them or make them and other custom clips.

http://www.idealmetal.com/

This second one is in the UK. http://www.fisherspacepen.co.uk/index.php?function=list&category=Y3K Pens

Lots of different options at least.

 

[ed4copies]

Of course I wouldn't beat a dead horse, but since you insist.

Since David Reed Smith published this article in early 2005, why isn't the "pen-turning world", ie us, aflush with wood clips?????????????????


Oh, maybe cause they didn't SELL!!!!!!

Just a radical thought, of course.

Devil leaving again.

 

[Aderhammer]

The problem with davids is the actual clip is to big and gaudy and it's not rounded over, too square, which alot of people would not like.

 

[mrcook4570]

Originally posted by Texatdurango
So, am I chasing my tail or does it seem doable?

I vote doable. http://www.penturners.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=30148

 

[Texatdurango]

Originally posted by ed4copies

Look out George,
Here comes the devil's advocate:

Pens have had metal clips since their inception. We make pens, hoping to sell them to the public, who have seen metal clips since pens' inception. WHY would we want to change their minds on something so fundamental??

Define a market, where your end product will be enthusiastically embraced and I will agree to help develop the "improvement". HOWEVER, if we are just making things to PROVE we CAN ???????????? Why????????

Devil is leaving now.

Ed, Ed, Ed… First off, I’m not trying to IMPROVE on anything and am not trying to make something just to PROVE I can do it! I’m simply having fun trying different things and could care less if I end up with a shoebox full of pens because I miscalculated their salability.

Can you imagine what it would be like if everyone designed their pens based on “what sells� We would have a world full of Bic Pen look-alikes and just think how boring the SOYP would be! Where is your sense of adventure and artistic creativity?

Actually, until I retired and started making pens, a pen with metal parts on each end with a metal clip was far from the norm in my world. I think you have been around kit pens too long if you think America is used to metal clips. When I retired I emptied my desk drawers and put all the stuff in a cardboard box. Here are the pens I pulled out of that box a few moments ago. I think this is more in line of what people are used to, and making a clip from plastic isn’t going to be a shock to anyone.

I’m having a ball experimenting with new ideas (at least new to me) and refuse to go back to cranking out 5 pens an hour…. Because they sell! Ya gotta remember, this is a hobby to me, not a livelihood.

Remnants of the 9-5 days... "Office Supply" specials!

 

[Texatdurango]

Originally posted by Monty

You mean clips like these????
http://www.penmakersguild.com/articles/penclip.pdf

Now that's interesting! I think I'll try a similar approach with some acrylics.

 

[avbill]

I'm a retired photographer. There was one photograph I did with the lady standing upside down. Every time I brought out the photograph to display it three or four people would walk into my shop and tell me I had a picture upside down.(per week) One person even took it off the wall to hang it correctly. The idea of have a wooden clip and marketing it as a "special deal" might not fly in the cash draw-- but it just might bring in new customers that will buy a cigar pen or a emperor pen. And that is money in the draw.

I'd make one or two and go from there.

Bill Daniels

BTW Not one person ever wanted to be photograph upside down. but it was a great marketing idea at the trade shows.

 

[DocStram]

Originally posted by Texatdurango

Originally posted by ed4copies



Remnants of the 9-5 days... "Office Supply" specials!

Now THAT is a classic photo!

 

[Rudy Vey]

I don't think that acrylics are flexible enough to be used as clips, its too brittle. Other plastics, like the ones on the picture, are more flexible and will not break as easy as the acrylic.

 

[ed4copies]

"Ed, Ed, Ed… First off, I’m not trying to IMPROVE on anything"

George, George, George!!! (I call him George, you know)

How many pens can you WRITE with, at one time?? So, if you are creating pens and you already HAVE enough to occupy every finger of each hand, it makes sense to consider what you will DO with the pens you create. MY choice is to SELL them. So, someone has to WANT them. So, I have to have ideas that make SENSE!!!

Your beautiful assemblage of pens does show that a plastic clip CAN be MARKETED!!! YIPPEEE! NOW, add together the cost of all the pens you show with a plastic clip and you will get CHANGE FROM YOUR DOLLAR if you go to BUY them.

BIC=PLASTIC=CHEAP!!!

I have struggled with this equation since I started selling RESIN pens. If you make your pens look EVEN MORE like a BIC, you will identify yourself with what might be described as the "CHEAP CROWD" - which is not the optimum market for MY pens (or YOURS, my friend - I call him that when I'm not calling him George)

Just food for thought - now go forth and do as you darn well please!!!

 

[Jarheaded]

Ed, trying and failing is okay, but failing to try is a big mistake. I'm not sure if I just made that up or if I read it somewhere, but it sounded good in this case. A lot of new products are made by mistakes. For me, I'll watch for a while and then modify it to fit me.

 

[ed4copies]

Johnnie,

You also shall go forth and do as you darn well please!!! And so it should be.

Good luck to you both.

 

[Ligget]

I would work on the steel rod idea that Skiprat has in his album, may be easier than standard clip shapes.

I`ve seen this method on a few pens in office supply shops etc...
http://www.penturners.org/forum/photo_album_view.asp?cname=Pens&mid=3197&cid=3626&page=3

The one with closed.jpg.