# Kitless pens: friction fit feed and nib without housing



## AWLogue (Dec 4, 2016)

Hello all,

I'm here today with a few questions. How would one go about making a section that does not use a housing? As far as I can guess, it should be as simple as drilling a hole that matches the diameter of the desired nib+housing. Am I entirely wrong? If I am wrong, how would one go about accomplishing such a thing?

As I continue down the kitless road, I want to include less and less pre-made parts. The housing seems like an easy one to eliminate. 

Thanks in advance for your help.

**note- this would be a piston filler; there is no need for a stub to break the seal on a cartridge.


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## Dalecamino (Dec 4, 2016)

I THINK, you're exactly right. Drill a hole on one part, and turn the other part to fit snugly in the first part. You've answered your own question, and I approve. :wink: Let us see it when you have it finished.


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## Curly (Dec 4, 2016)

I'll sit corrected if wrong but isn't the feed tapered to fit in the housing? You would need to be able to ream the hole in your section to match the feed taper.


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## AWLogue (Dec 4, 2016)

Dalecamino said:


> I THINK, you're exactly right. Drill a hole on one part, and turn the other part to fit snugly in the first part. You've answered your own question, and I approve. :wink: Let us see it when you have it finished.



Will do! gotta find some scraps to test the theory. 



Curly said:


> I'll sit corrected if wrong but isn't the feed tapered to fit in the housing? You would need to be able to ream the hole in your section to match the feed taper.



According to my calipers, none of my #5 feeds are tapered.


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## Curly (Dec 4, 2016)

Like I said I'll sit corrected. . I do recall seeing an old pen that had a slight taper to the feed and nib that fit directly into the section. That was the basis of my response.


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## bmachin (Dec 4, 2016)

I'm taking your word for it that the feed diameter is uniform, but if you are planning on mating the nib up to a cartridge or a converter (at least in the case of Jowo feeds) you are going to have a problem:  The feed nipple is actually in two parts.  There is a fine sort of semi-circular part that is attached to the feed, and a hollow cylinder that is part of the housing.  I doubt  that the part attached to the feed all survive puncturing a cartridge without breaking and will almost certainly not seal to a converter due to its small diameter.

I believe that Bock feeds are similarly constructed.  Schmidt nibs have a built in housing and cannot be disassembled.  As to other feeds that might be available, I have no clue, although many vintage pens and modern ones as well are assembled with the the feed being friction fit into the housing.

If you look at some of the videos of Japanese master pen turners you will see that they fit their nibs directly into the sections, although most of them appear to be eyedropper fillers.

For what it's worth.

APOLOGY:  Just saw your note about piston-filler.  Face is red, but I'll leave this up as general info.  Sorry


Bill


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## BRobbins629 (Dec 4, 2016)

I've done a bunch with friction fit. Should work fine.


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## AWLogue (Dec 4, 2016)

Here's what I came up with:










Feed and Nib from an El Grande. Stepped 1/4, 6mm, and 5mm holes for the nib, feed/nib stop, and to stop the feed, respectively. Seal with the converter is made by a 6mm hole on the other side of the 5mm hole. Here's another 1000 words describing it...







I'll call this experiment a success. Thanks for the help, everyone. Next thing to do is get some drill bits and feeds for #5 nibs.


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