Cwalker935
Member
I broke down and ordered a triple start tap and die that arrived yesterday. I went out to the shop this morning to try it out. I grabbed three pieces of discarded fluorescent blank sections that I had cast and discarded because the original blanks were was too translucent. What started out as trying out the triple start tap and die turned into an exercise in self critique. The tap and die is great by the way, I should have bought one a long time ago.
I made a rollerball pen (my second kitless rollerball)
using the discarded sections. The blank sections forced certain design parameters given their length. The end result was a pen that had promise but was not quite there. This made me think about the subtle things that can make or break a pen.
Here are some thoughts on how this pen could have been better:
-slightly shorten the nose cone and increase the length of the cap
-increase the diameter of the nose cone near the coupler to produce a slight taper to the sharper drop off to the cartridge.
-add some taper toward the end on the lower barrel
-give the cap a slight convex shape, and, of course
-don't use a translucent blank.
I welcome additional thoughts or contrary views.
I made a rollerball pen (my second kitless rollerball)
using the discarded sections. The blank sections forced certain design parameters given their length. The end result was a pen that had promise but was not quite there. This made me think about the subtle things that can make or break a pen.
Here are some thoughts on how this pen could have been better:
-slightly shorten the nose cone and increase the length of the cap
-increase the diameter of the nose cone near the coupler to produce a slight taper to the sharper drop off to the cartridge.
-add some taper toward the end on the lower barrel
-give the cap a slight convex shape, and, of course
-don't use a translucent blank.
I welcome additional thoughts or contrary views.