As I am just getting started with kitless pens, I decided to "ease in" to it a bit. I recently purchased a couple of these:
https://www.woodturningz.com/Fountain_Pen_Conv_Kit_-_Black_Chrome
to at least get me started. But - I need to know what size tap to get, to drill the inner threads of the pen body. Does anybody know either a.) What size thread this product has, or b.) how to figure out what size tap I would use to accommodate this product?
First, the components you have purchased are intended to convert a kit rollerball from a specific manufacturer into a fountain pen. Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that the threading used by the manufacturer of this line of kits is the same as that used by other kit manufacturers. Or even that this manufacturer will continue to use the same threading in the future. So what that means is that while you can set yourself up with the tooling required to use
these components in kitless pens, you may have to switch to something else in the future if you buy components from some other manufacturer or it the manufacturer changes his design. That's not a showstopper - just something to be aware of.
The other issue is that some kit manufacturers are 'vertically integrated' meaning that they make all of the components that go into their kits. In that situation, you basically have to either get the thread specification from the manufacturer, or you have to measure it yourself. And this is the situation where the threading might change on components that you buy in the future. On the other hand, some kit manufacturers opt to purchase components (and especially fountain pen components) from one of the major suppliers (notably Bock or Jowo), and in that case, the threading is well known. Also, if the kit manufacturer is sourcing sections from a speciality supplier, it is less likely that the threading would change in the future - and that also means that there are many other places where you can purchase those components.
Because most pen kits are made in Asia, its a good bet that the threading on the section is metric, and in metric shorthand,, would be specified as M
X-
Y. To determine the tap required to make a pen body for this section you need to determine two measurements.
X is the diameter of the cylinder over the peaks of the threads - that's easily measured with a caliper, preferably one with a digital readout. I think that in most cases,
X will be an integral number, eg 8mm, 9mm, etc.
Y is the pitch in threads per mm. You can purchase thread gauges to measure thread pitch, but the problem is that most gauges are designed to work with standard metric screw/bolt threading. Unfortunately, the threading used on pen components does not have to confirm to standard nut/bolt threading, and may be an 'odd' number. That's where things get tricky. One option is to measure the pitch by counting the number of threads over the length of the threaded portion of the section, and then divide by the measured length (in mm) of the threaded portion. Do that several times and average the results.
But the bottom line here is that it is likely that the tap you will need is not a standard metric tap that you can find at the hardware store or in a tap and die kit from one of the tooling supply houses, and in particular, the non-standard aspect will the the pitch,
Y. Periodically, someone organizes a group buy on this site to obtain specialty taps and dies for kitless penmakers and that includes the more common threadings used for pens. That might be your best bet for sourcing the tap you need. But because its special, it will be more spendy that a tap from the hardware store.