# Custom engraved finials for Jr. series pens



## jsolie (Sep 2, 2016)

I was hoping that someone could point me in the right direction for this one.

My wife's boss really likes pens and he tends to give them away as Christmas presents.  Last year, I made (cast and turned) a bunch of cigar pens with his different company logos.  Then he saw a pen that I cast for my wife and decided he needed two rollerballs.  He loves them.

I've been hearing from my wife that he wants to give out pens for Christmas again, but this time he'd like his logo to be on the cap finial.  I don't think that casting a label will be the way to go for doing a bunch of custom cap finials.

So here's where I need the direction:  I need to find someone who can etch or otherwise engrave his logos on a small piece of metal that can be used to replace the stock finial on a Jr. series pen.  Each finial would have one logo, but there would be three different ones with different quantities per each.  And yes, I know they would be tiny.  And no, I'm not expecting them for free.

Thanks for any tips.


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## duncsuss (Sep 2, 2016)

Perhaps consider getting inserts 3-d printed? (Shapeways print in a number of different metals)


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## KenV (Sep 2, 2016)

Sounds like a cnc project.   

Perhaps a conversation with Fred Weissen (pt subbie) would be worth while.

Expect the upfront setup and programming costs to be significant with either cnc or metal printing.  Finish will probably be better with cnc


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## jsolie (Sep 3, 2016)

Would these have sufficient resolution?  The finial on a Jr. is barely a half inch across (if that).


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## KenV (Sep 3, 2016)

John 

CNC is capable of repeating very fine detail with engraving burrs.  Lots of detail wears burrs.  But trying to get a large complex logo into a very small space means the lines become very fine and it is hard to get visual  detail sans magnification.  Monograms are a snap.  Small size and simple graphics are a good matchup.


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## jondavidj (Sep 3, 2016)

Hi John, 

I buy mine from Pinline, PinLine - manufacturer of custom lapel pins, keychains, coasters and golf accessories. I take a punch tool and knock out the one on the George and then use loctite to replace it with mine.  If you go to my site, Signature Pen Company, you will see some examples. 

But contact Dave Wehr at Pinline. There is a minimum order quantity and die fee. The die fee is only one time though. 

Hope that helps, 

Jon David Jones


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## jsolie (Sep 4, 2016)

Yes it does.  Thank you.


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## KenV (Sep 4, 2016)

Minimum order quanity makes a huge difference in unit cost.  5 vs 500 vs 5000 translates to very different processes and very different unit costs.


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## Curly (Sep 4, 2016)

Laser engraving a logo into the existing finials should be possible. Take a cap finial assembly (as you get before pressing it) to a few trophy places and see what they can do for you. Knock one apart so they know how thick the inserts are. It won't have the depth of engraving you get with the previous suggestions but for a small batch might be the most cost effective.


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## Sappheiros (Sep 4, 2016)

Does anybody have any examples of their own custom finials like that?


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## jsolie (Sep 4, 2016)

KenV said:


> Minimum order quanity makes a huge difference in unit cost.  5 vs 500 vs 5000 translates to very different processes and very different unit costs.



Hi Ken,

I totally get that.  Many moons ago, I had to create a number of costing programs for a medical procedure tray manufacturer.  The order quantity will be less than 100.  Ain't no way I'm making 5,000 pens by myself by Christmas. :biggrin:

  -- JS


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## jsolie (Sep 4, 2016)

Curly said:


> Laser engraving a logo into the existing finials should be possible. Take a cap finial assembly (as you get before pressing it) to a few trophy places and see what they can do for you. Knock one apart so they know how thick the inserts are. It won't have the depth of engraving you get with the previous suggestions but for a small batch might be the most cost effective.



Thanks!  I'll keep that in mind should I have to go that route.


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## jsolie (Dec 15, 2016)

*Followup*

Just wanted to post a follow up to this thread.  I found something that works great as finials: lapel pin flats!

After contacting several custom pin manufacturers, I finally found one who wouldn't just dismiss me as someone wanting them to make pens for me.

The company I worked with is US Pin (Custom Lapel Pins & Emblem Jewelry - U.S. Pin).  I worked with Cassie Lennox there.  We had a number of back and forth emails, confirming what can be done, pricing and sizing.  My client liked the design, and I placed an order for 100 finials.  The first batch didn't quite fit the cap on a Jr. Gent, but they worked with me and I have 100 really nice little Jack in the Box logos.

The cost was $120, which included the die fee and such.  One way to think of it was that each finial cost me 12 cents.

The lead time was about 2.5 weeks or so.







What's cool about these is the back has a hatch pattern which helps with the epoxy in holding them in the cap pieces.






You don't need much epoxy to hold these in






It also helps using a good structural epoxy.  Just give it some time to cure.






And the squeeze through forms a nice little plug to help with holding the finial in place:






On the finished pens, they look quite striking.


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## KenV (Dec 15, 2016)

Very well done!!!


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## Jdubfudge (Dec 15, 2016)

What a great idea. These look really nice. Did you do these for Jack In the Box? My high school buddy's grandfather is Jack (well founder of the company).


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## jsolie (Dec 15, 2016)

Jdubfudge said:


> What a great idea. These look really nice. Did you do these for Jack In the Box? My high school buddy's grandfather is Jack (well founder of the company).



Not for Jack directly. My wife works in the office for a fairly large Jack franchisee.


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## jttheclockman (Dec 16, 2016)

Nice work around on that project and thanks for following up on it here. Many times things like this get discussed but we never get to see the final results. This is good info for others too. Thanks again for showing. Great choice on epoxy.


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## jsolie (Dec 16, 2016)

jttheclockman said:


> Nice work around on that project and thanks for following up on it here. Many times things like this get discussed but we never get to see the final results. This is good info for others too. Thanks again for showing. Great choice on epoxy.



Hi John,

That's one of the main reasons I wanted to follow up.  I know someone is going to need to do something like what I did and if I can pay it forward, even if just a little bit, I'm for it.


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## LouCee (Dec 16, 2016)

Very cool, thanks for the update. The pens and finials look great!


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## CrimsonKeel (Dec 16, 2016)

Love them.  but your math is off a bit. 100 finials divided by 120 dollars is 1.20 each not 12 cents


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## Dan Masshardt (Dec 17, 2016)

So, is it safer to say that if others of us know work with the same seller, they will know the exact size based on their experiences with you?     Thanks for posting and sharing so much information.  


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## CrashmanS (Dec 17, 2016)

CrimsonKeel said:


> Love them.  but your math is off a bit. 100 finials divided by 120 dollars is 1.20 each not 12 cents


I wasn't going to say anything, but since you brought it up. Simple mistake. He got carried away moving the decimal over. [emoji2] [emoji2] [emoji2] 

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## thewishman (Dec 17, 2016)

Sweet idea! Did the boss like them! I would have been over the moon about how great those look!


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## jsolie (Dec 19, 2016)

CrimsonKeel said:


> Love them.  but your math is off a bit. 100 finials divided by 120 dollars is 1.20 each not 12 cents



I are gud at maff. :biggrin:  You're absolutely correct, a buck twenty.  Still, not that much per pen, especially if you factor that into your pricing.  And use something other than my brain to do the arithmetic.



Dan Masshardt said:


> So, is it safer to say that if others of us know work with the same seller, they will know the exact size based on their experiences with you?     Thanks for posting and sharing so much information.



I'm sure if you contact Cassie, she'll remember our conversations -- especially if you tell her they are finials for pen caps.  I did send her the top piece where the finial goes so she'd have something beyond just my measurements.  The finial size might be different for other pens that take the same tubes as the Jr. Gent II.



CrashmanS said:


> I wasn't going to say anything, but since you brought it up. Simple mistake. He got carried away moving the decimal over. [emoji2] [emoji2] [emoji2]



Yeah, that!  :biggrin:  :biggrin:



thewishman said:


> Sweet idea! Did the boss like them! I would have been over the moon about how great those look!



He's thrilled with them.


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## duncsuss (Dec 19, 2016)

jsolie said:


> He's thrilled with them.



Not surprising -- these look great :biggrin:

Did you knock out all the buttons from the kit finials yourself? (I wonder if CraftSupplies have the components with no button in them.)


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## jsolie (Dec 19, 2016)

duncsuss said:


> Did you knock out all the buttons from the kit finials yourself? (I wonder if CraftSupplies have the components with no button in them.)



Yes, I did.  It didn't take too long once I got things sorted out.  The 10K gold ones tended to be much tighter and harder to knock out than then chrome ones.


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