Parklandturner, you were kinda harsh. You sked a lot of questions, why did you not give any answers?
Hi John - Not sure what you think was harsh, but I accept that you do. I'll make sure to use a very gentle tone in this response.
I did in fact ask questions, but I also provided very clear and direct answers to the first and third questions. It's the parts after the question marks. Maybe read them again.
The second question I asked got more of a "hint" response from me than a direct answer. Part of learning how to make kitless pens is learning how to figure out how and why things work. The spring in a rollerball confuses a lot of new penturners. Some pen turners ultimately end up deciding that the spring is to give the pen a softer writing feel, maybe closer to a fountain with a flex nib (although there will be no comparison to the scripts written by each). That's an adequate level of understanding for someone assembling kit pens. All they need to know is the it won't work without the spring.
But to a kitless pen maker, the spring serves a very specific purpose and solves a large number of design challenges. Someone following an ABC kitless tutorial will know to put the spring in the pen, but if they don't understand why, can they ever really advance as a pen maker?
Ed