Taps for odd size threads

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leeko

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Feb 8, 2012
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6
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Hi all,

I'm looking to get started making some kitless fountain pens to give as gifts for my workmates at the end of my contract. I did some research on the best writing fountain pens at the lower end of the price range ( I have a bunch to make!), and picked a couple of pens that got very good reviews in their respective price brackets. I was hoping to use the nib, feed assembly and cartridge system from those pens, and build my brass and aluminum pens around it. That way, I know the writing experience will be reasonably good.

The pens I chose were:

1) pilot metropolitan ($15)
2) platinum preppy ($5)

After confirming they wrote well enough, I measured the thread size on the feed assembly. I fully expected a metric fine thread, but the measurements I got don't match any standard size I recognize.

1) pilot metro: 9.35mm, 0.75pitch
2) platinum preppy: 10.2mm, 1.0pitch

Are these standard sizes? I have a few questions for the more experienced!

1) can taps be bought for these sizes? Or even just a bolt - I can sharpen a bolt up to be a makeshift tap

2) is it possible/easy to press the feed assembly out of the plastic enclosure (which has the weird threads) and make a new housing for it? I think this would be my first choice if possible - that way I can make the whole pen from brass or similar

3) failing all of this, can anyone suggest a good economical nib/feed assembly that's actually designed for what I'd like to do? I don't mind spending $60 on one for the wife, but that's a bit much for 10-15 workmate gifts. I like my co-workers, but not THAT much!

Thanks in advance,

Lee Alkureishi
 
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Rather than buy pens, why not just buy grip sections?

Exotic Blanks sells Berea metal sections. I don't know what the threading is though.

Berea Hardwoods sells El Grande/Churchill sections (black plastic). Unless something has changed, the threading is m10-1.0 which is a readily available tap/die size

If you want to make your own section (a pretty fussy thing to do--take a look at the library tutorials), Richard L. Greenwald sells Schmidt feed/nibs as well as the required taps.

There are probably other sources for the Berea sections, but these are the ones I use.

Hope this helps,
Bill
 
Lee

Get a magnification device and take a detailed look at the threads. Pen manufactures have been known to use custom (non-standard) shaped threads as well as custom sizes.

While there are some customizations in the component market, they are fewer, and better documented for the small quantity pen maker.

Good luck and hope your pen making journey works well for you
 
king11 said:
Can someone please show me how to post a new topic. I can't figure out How!

King11
Click to expand...

Welcome to the site.

Very easy. If you want to post in the fountain pen forum just click on the forum and click on new thread left hand side of the page. Type away and have fun. This goes for any forum.
 
THere are other Nib/feed assemblies if you want to build your own front section.
Bock, Jowo, Heritance and Schmidt are popular brands
Bock at CLassinNib.com
Jowo at Meisternib.com
Heritance at Exoticblanks.com
and Schimdt at RichardGreenwald.com

Classicnibs carries the taps for the Bock feeds on their website
I carry taps for Jowo and Heritance and Schmidt on Silver Pen Parts.com and
Richard carries taps for Schmdt.
 
Hi everyone, thanks for all the replies. I didn't realize the pen sections were available separately - they look perfect for what I had in mind.

Is anyone able to comment on how well the various nib assemblies write? I was pleasantly surprised at how nice a writing experience I got with both the platinum preppy and the pilot metropolitan - if the other mibs are comparable, I'll be golden!

Best,

Lee
 
The Jowo nib units from Meister nibs write beautifully, and as mentioned above, Mike Redburn sells the appropriate taps required to thread the section for them. Those are my default nibs to use, and I've never had a problem with them or had anyone who has bought my pens complain about the quality of them.
 
The out of the box performance of most of the Berea nibs will probably be acceptable or close to it and can generally be improved with some tuning and smoothing. Jowo and Bock nibs will generally be much better on average without being worked on at all, but can still be improved.

It's kind of a case of you get what you pay for. The Bocks and Jowos are going to run you around 20 bucks each plus the cost of the tap plus the labor of making the section. The Berea sections cost 5 to 10 bucks and the m10-1.0 metric die is all you need to buy.

Not trying to get you to cheap out. Like everything else in life it's a trade-off.

You might look at edisonpen.com. Click on: Resources--Articles--IPG Nibs to see what Brian Gray has to say.

BTW I've got 50 Jowo nibs in my shop right now, so you can see what I would do.

Have fun!!

Bill
 
I realize that this is an old thread by now, but I have a (hopefully) relevant insight.

9.35x0.75mm sounds suspiciously like 3/8"x32tpi, which is relatively standard.

I may buy a tap and experiment.
 
leeko said:
Thanks again everyone! I think im leaning towards the jowo nibs.
Click to expand...

Lee -- the first semi-kitless pen that I made used a nib/section from Berea. It is completely acceptable, IMO.

I have nothing against JoWo nibs -- they are what I use on most of the pens I make nowadays -- but making sections takes some learning.

How soon is the end of your contract? It may be that using the Berea sections is the most sensible route to go.
 
king11 said:
Can someone please show me how to post a new topic. I can't figure out How!

King11
Click to expand...

Every forum has a button like this one --

Screen Shot 2017-03-22 at 7.41.24 PM.png
 
AWLogue said:
I realize that this is an old thread by now, but I have a (hopefully) relevant insight.

9.35x0.75mm sounds suspiciously like 3/8"x32tpi, which is relatively standard.

I may buy a tap and experiment.
Click to expand...

That would be a little sloppy, by my calculations. The 3/8 diameter is .007 bigger than and .002 shy on the pitch. Those sound small, but in a fine thread, could be huge. Just my thoughts.
 
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