# What is the point of separate fountain pen sections and housing?



## FGarbrecht (Nov 27, 2019)

Maybe a dumb question, but now that I'm making fountain pens it occurs to me to design a combined section/housing as a single piece instead of making a custom section to house a purchased housing.  The housing is just a tube with some threads, seems simple enough.  A combined unit just needs to have an appropriately sized hole to friction fit the nib/feed assembly (how hard can that be?), and a threaded tenon to attach to the pen.  Am I missing something obvious?


----------



## mredburn (Nov 27, 2019)

IF I understand you correctly, The two pieces allow you to remove and replace the cartridge or refill the converter. You could use one piece if  you refilled the pen from the back by taking the pen body finial off.


----------



## DrD (Nov 27, 2019)

If you look at some older (from 1930s & 1940s) pens, I believe you will see the "front end" of a fountain pen consisted of a nib, a feed, and a thingamajig holding both the nib and the feed, attached to a barrel, within which was a gizmo to hold ink which then attached to the rear of the feed contained in the thingamajig.  Various documents called the entire "front end" thingy a "section" while others denoted the thingamajig the "section".  If you look at the front end of a Chrurchill/El Grande fountain pen, this is exactly what you will find.  

DrD


----------



## darrin1200 (Nov 27, 2019)

FGarbrecht said:


> Maybe a dumb question, but now that I'm making fountain pens it occurs to me to design a combined section/housing as a single piece instead of making a custom section to house a purchased housing.  The housing is just a tube with some threads, seems simple enough.  A combined unit just needs to have an appropriately sized hole to friction fit the nib/feed assembly (how hard can that be?), and a threaded tenon to attach to the pen.  Am I missing something obvious?




You are correct, in the same vein as a cabinet maker just attaches pieces of wood to make a coffee table.  

The hole in he housing is not actually round. On some its oval and on others, it has a flat spot in it. This is because the feed is usually round, but when you add the the nib along side it, it becomes oval.

One advantage of three piece usnit, is changing nibs. I use Jowo, and offer 6 different nib widths in two platings. To change nibs to what the client wants, I just unscrew the unit and change it. A quick clean and a tune and its ready to go. I know people that actually have multiple Jowo nibs and change it out in the pen themselves whenever the mood strikes them.

You may also have a hard time getting just the feed and nib. There are guys that make there own feeds, and fit them without the housing as you suggest, but that is a whole nother level of custom. Those are the guys that make there own nibs as well.

One trick I have heard of, but I am not sure exactly how to do it. You essentially make the hole in the section, as you suggest, then use heat to soften the section and press fit the feed and nib in place. The section then deforms to fit the oval shape.

If you do give this a try, i would love to hear your progress.


----------



## bmachin (Nov 27, 2019)

A Jowo nib will be problematic without a housing for two reasons. First there is a flat on the feed which mates to a similar flat on the housing. This would be essentially impossible to machine. The second is that the piercing nipple is split between the housing and the feed, so without the housing using cartridges or converted would be impossible.

I'm sure someone has done it and will tell us how. As a matter of fact I can remember such posts.

Bill


----------



## FGarbrecht (Nov 27, 2019)

I'm going to have to get a hold of a Jowo nib/feed/housing assembly to see how it is put together.  I've been using Bock #5 assemblies and the housing hole appears to be perfectly round, so machining a combined section/housing for a Bock nib/feed shouldn't be difficult unless the hole is tapered to cause the friction fit.  I'll get out the calipers and figure it out.


----------



## FGarbrecht (Nov 27, 2019)

FGarbrecht said:


> I'm going to have to get a hold of a Jowo nib/feed/housing assembly to see how it is put together.  I've been using Bock #5 assemblies and the housing hole appears to be perfectly round, so machining a combined section/housing for a Bock nib/feed shouldn't be difficult unless the hole is tapered to cause the friction fit.  I'll get out the calipers and figure it out.


I see what you mean about the nipple being split between feed and housing; the Bock assembly is that way too and would require a level of skill I don't have to reproduce on the lathe.  Oh well.


----------



## darrin1200 (Nov 27, 2019)

FGarbrecht said:


> I'm going to have to get a hold of a Jowo nib/feed/housing assembly to see how it is put together.  I've been using Bock #5 assemblies and the housing hole appears to be perfectly round, so machining a combined section/housing for a Bock nib/feed shouldn't be difficult unless the hole is tapered to cause the friction fit.  I'll get out the calipers and figure it out.



If you look closely at the bock nib, the feed is round, but the feed has also had a recess built into it to fit the nib.


----------



## budnder (Nov 27, 2019)

mredburn said:


> IF I understand you correctly, The two pieces allow you to remove and replace the cartridge or refill the converter. You could use one piece if  you refilled the pen from the back by taking the pen body finial off.



+1


----------



## eharri446 (Nov 27, 2019)

You can send an email to BeaufortInk.com and ask for the specs for the bock #5 and #6 housings and sections. They may even have the specs for the feeds as well. I got them and asked if I could put them in the library and they told me that they would rather have people ask them for the specs. That is why they are not available in the library. I do not know who you would contact for specs about the JOWO components. As for the Bock components they are not just a straight piece of plastic that is friction fit as there different sizes at different places along the length of them.


----------

