no longer a mock up - The Antares Click

[Russianwolf]

Need to do a bit of tweaking yet, but.......

It's REAL.
It WORKS.
It's ALL ME.

I give you the Antares Click
(wrapped in a defective Dichro blank that I had handy)

Parts are all Aluminum (made by a machine shop) and works on a 3/8 inch tube (same as the long click but shorter at about 69.5mm). Accepts either Parker refill OR Pilot G2 (and trying to get a Pilot V5 to work too, slight dif in the back end).

I'm planning to have these made for me in Alum, Brass, Copper and Stainless. The clip is still a question mark but will likely be powder coated black to work with all the metals.

She's 12mm in diameter so slightly larger than the long click.

Key things I wanted to achieve were, 1) no plating, and 2) adaptability.

 

[longbeard]

very nice Mike, i like it
brass and copper should be real nice as well.

 

[Penultimate]

Looks great.
What did you use or how did you make the click mechanism?
Thanks

 

[thewishman]

Sweet pen! Congrats on the design.

 

[Russianwolf]

Looks great.
What did you use or how did you make the click mechanism?
Thanks

The Click mechanism is the popular one from Schmidt that Richard Greenwald sells. It works great, smooth and quiet.

 

[jd99]

The prototype looks good, I personally would like to see a smoother or blended transition from the straight section to the angles, but thats just my take on it.

Looks like some screw machine work for someone..... Hey I know someone with a screw machine :biggrin:, Just kidding I'm swamped I can hardley keep up with the orders I have now..

Good job can't wait to see the other materials and coatings.

Being out of aluminum you going to try doing some in anodize colors?

 

[Mike of the North]

If a mandrel was made available the shape of the ends could be shaped to your own preference, adding beads or grooves, overall a nice idea.

 

[jking]

The top end of the pen (with click button) looks too long to me. I'm also not sure about the conical shape on the top components. Perhaps it's the conditioned response from seeing most click pens with a short squared off top end.

The adaptability concept is cool, though. Are you planning to try to produce these, or, is this a limited run just for your use?

 

[Russianwolf]

If a mandrel was made available the shape of the ends could be shaped to your own preference, adding beads or grooves, overall a nice idea.

That is one nice thing about solid parts. you can make adjustments, or change the finish to suit your purpose without worrying about the plating.

For example, in the pic above one of the tweaks is I want less meat at the tip (it came from my guy about 5mm). So I chucked it in the collet and trimmed it down a bit to about 3.5mm and it looks much better now. So as long as you take the internal steps into account, yeah you can mod these type parts all you like.

 

[Russianwolf]

The top end of the pen (with click button) looks too long to me. I'm also not sure about the conical shape on the top components. Perhaps it's the conditioned response from seeing most click pens with a short squared off top end.

The adaptability concept is cool, though. Are you planning to try to produce these, or, is this a limited run just for your use?

The length of the finial parts are dictated by the length of the refill. If you look at the Parker top, it's very short. But the Pilot refills are about 12mm longer, so more length needed. I was also trying to keep the pen balanced. But one of the other tweaks that needs to be made is the taper at the top is a little too severe making the top surface about 8mm, it needs to be about 9.5 to make the clicker look right.

The plan is to make these for me (I'm working on getting the first hundred pre-sold). BUT, if there is interest I can always have more made.

 

[BSea]

Once people use those click mechanisms, you'll have a lot of interest depending on cost. I know the only click pens I make anymore are the clicker, and a custom using the same mechanism.

My favorite daily use pens are my 1st Clicker, and my custom click with the Schmidt mechanism.