I have issued myself a mini pen challenge.

[wiz9777]

I have only been turning about 5 months now and I wanted to do something ridiculous. I wanted to see how ridiculously small I could make a fountain pen with a #5 nib that I pulled off an old kit. That was the 1st criteria because that is nib I had. As I was sketching out some designs I decided that using a cartridge would make the pen to big. So my 2nd criteria became that the ink capacity would be no more than 1/4 of a cartridge. Then I realized that I could save some space if I made a smaller feed. Voila, my 3rd criteria.

Here is my attempt:
This was made with one Aquapearl White Pearl 3/4" round by 5" long blank. I made a very small (peg) jam chuck for the section/barrel, and a small (screw) chuck for the cap. The chucks where made from the same blank and used to sand the ends of the pieces.

The cap is 0.75" at its widest, and 1.25" tall. I used a 7/17" drill and tapped with a 1/2"x20 thread.

The section/barrel is 1.25" long, 0.688" at the base and 0.485" at the threads. The hole was drilled 1" deep with a 13/64" bit and widened a little at the top to fit the nib with a 15/64".

The feed is the (peg) jam chuck that I used to sand the bottom of the section. Then I carved it based on Lewis Edson Waterman's 1881 design as described in Richard Binder's webpage " RichardsPens.com • Pens That Write Right! ". I also carved it so the nib sits flush with the circumference of the feed.
The nib and feed are pressure fit into the section. This gives about a 6.35mm by 5.16mm empty cylinder that is used as the ink reservoir. If I did my math right that gives an ink capacity of 0.133 ml. The pen is filled by removing the nib and feed and dropping a FEW drops in. (BTW, When you put the nib an feed back, use a paper towel. You WILL put to much ink in.) Just to make it even more ridiculous, I gave it a Mario Brothers paint job.

The math that I used for ink volume:
volume = Pi * radius squared * length
132.79 cubic mm = 3.14 * (2.58mm * 2.58mm) * 6.35mm
1 ml = 1000 cubic mm
133 cubic mm / 1000 = 0.133 ml

I have to say this was a lot of fun. Not just turning it, but the whole design and calculations also. The biggest laugh I got was when I inked it up AND IT WORKED!!! The ink stayed in the pen and it worked better than the kit that I took the nib from.

Please feel free to critique this. I can't learn unless someone points out what I have not seen.

 

[Jjartwood]

That is some kind of cool!!!
Your math is questionable,the correct formula is ADD INK TILL IT SPILLS OUT,
now the pen is full LOL!!!!
Key ring fountain pen,there's a thought. LOVE the paint job
Mark

 

[wiz9777]

Your math is questionable,the correct formula is ADD INK TILL IT SPILLS OUT, now the pen is full LOL!!!!

I tried that first... Then I had to sleep on the couch because I got ink all over the wife's dresser. Lol

 

[keithbyrd]

Very cool! It sounds like there was some learning done in this project! Very creative!

 

[Jjartwood]

Very cool! It sounds like there was some learning done in this project! Very creative!

Yea!!! Don't get ink on swmbo's dresser.
This would be something that could develop in to a series, it would be a gotta have for the fountain pen collector who likes different pens.
Just keep painting the caps differently.
Mark

 

[Sataro]

Nice job! Cool paint job! That is really thinking out of the box...

 

[Dan26]

Sure is neat! Now, I want to see Mario and Luigi.

 

[Buzzzz4]

That is fantastic. My kids and I thought of Mario right away.

 

[Displaced Canadian]

That's cool.

 

[watch_art]

Does it write??

 

[wiz9777]

Does it write??

Yes, it writes great. :biggrin:
When I first inked it up, it wrote right away. I wrote about 1/4 of a page with a nice clean line. There were no drops, splatters or blobs. Then I held the pen nib end down for a little over one minute. Around then I could see the nib slit getting very saturated (but some of my store bought pens do the same thing). I wrote a few more lines and still had a lot of ink in the pen.
My handwriting was not up to par with this pen. It was a bit clumsy to hold while writing. But, I never planned on writing with it much. I really just like the way it looks on my desk at work.

 

[mikespenturningz]

That is a very cool pen. Great job and idea!

 

[Dulos]

That pen is awesome. Totally unique! It made me lol.

I have a question: Does the cap post? Can't tell from the pictures. Seems like it would make it easier to write with if the cap will post.

 

[wiz9777]

That pen is awesome. Totally unique! It made me lol.

I have a question: Does the cap post? Can't tell from the pictures. Seems like it would make it easier to write with if the cap will post.

No it doesn't post. I intentionally did it that way, so it would be as small as possible. But you got me thinking, I may try a mini pen that the cap posts on the same threads that it caps to.

 

[pensbydesign]

very nice like the design you woundnt know it was a pen looking at closed

 

[Dustygoose]

That's cool.