# Making your own nib and feed.



## Ed McDonnell (Sep 21, 2012)

I watched "How it's made" while eating lunch today and they showed how Aurora fountain pens are made.  I found the process for making the nib and feed really interesting.  They seem very easy to make...as long as you have the right tools.

I found the segment on youtube.  I don't know if it has been posted before, but here it is for those that haven't seen it.  I was surprised that no lathes are used in the production of the pens.  I guess I shouldn't have been.

How It's Made Aurora Fountain Pens.m4v - YouTube

Ed


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## alphageek (Sep 21, 2012)

The joys of injection molding!   It stunning how many products are made that way. It was pretty cool seeing how at least parts of it are hand made or verified.


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## Kretzky (Sep 21, 2012)

Thanks for sharing that, interesting.
David


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## Ed McDonnell (Sep 21, 2012)

alphageek said:


> The joys of injection molding!   It stunning how many products are made that way. It was pretty cool seeing how at least parts of it are hand made or verified.



If they use injection molding for the "fancier" multi-color patterned resin pen bodies I would have liked to see how they do that.  I wonder if they do?

Ed


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## alphageek (Sep 21, 2012)

parklandturner said:


> If they use injection molding for the "fancier" multi-color patterned resin pen bodies I would have liked to see how they do that.  I wonder if they do?
> 
> Ed



Given that injection molding is very similar to extrusion molding, and that some of the rods of cool material we get are extrusions - I would believe that its possible.   I may have to ask my FIL about it - he designs molds for a living.  Its fun to watch the injection molding machines work, but I've only watched single color stuff being made.


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## schreiber (Sep 21, 2012)

I'm a back-to-basics kinda guy, but making my own nib and feed might be getting a leetle bit carried away with all that.

Not that I won't eventually try it.  :biggrin:


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## shull (Sep 21, 2012)

Well if you really want to take it to the next level check this out.
Namiki Pens - How A $9000 Fountain Pen is Made - YouTube

A $9000.00 fountain pen


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## Ed McDonnell (Sep 21, 2012)

schreiber said:


> I'm a back-to-basics kinda guy, but making my own nib and feed might be getting a leetle bit carried away with all that.
> 
> Not that I won't eventually try it.  :biggrin:



I'm at the point where I'm trying to make my own sections out of metal.  I've made metal sections that work.  I've made metal sections that almost look good.  I still haven't made a metal section that almost looks good and works.  Another couple hundred attempts and I should have it...unless I don't.

Watching the video, the feed didn't look that challenging to make.  But I suspect they left out more than one critical operation that would be way challenging for the home shop pen maker.

Making a nib that didn't look like a complete hack job would be way beyond what I'm capable of now (and maybe forever).  But it might be fun to try....but not out of gold (unless I win the lotto or something).

Ed


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## Ed McDonnell (Sep 21, 2012)

shull said:


> Well if you really want to take it to the next level check this out.
> Namiki Pens - How A $9000 Fountain Pen is Made - YouTube
> 
> A $9000.00 fountain pen



Steve - Thanks for posting that link.  I had never heard of Chinkin.  I really like the depth effect it seems to have while viewing it in the video.  Would love to see one in real life.  At $9k, I don't think I'll be ordering one.

Ed


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## azamiryou (Sep 22, 2012)

Anyone know where to get a thin blade suitable for cutting the slit from the tip to the breather hole?


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## Ed McDonnell (Sep 22, 2012)

The thinnest blade I've seen is 0.007".  I don't know if that is thin enough.  In any case, I think you would need a purpose built slitting saw to use it (or an even thinner blade).   They are probably eye-poppingly expensive.

Ed


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## koa (Sep 23, 2012)

Dremel micro steel circular saw?


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## azamiryou (Sep 23, 2012)

koa said:


> Dremel micro steel circular saw?



Are you talking about this one?
SE 1.25" High-Speed Steel Saw Blade

It's 0.8 mm thick, or 0.031". I already have an 8/0 jewelers saw blade that's .0067" thick (not a circular blade though). I also managed to track down this circular blade at .005": Gyros Ultra-fine Saw Blade

Apparently an issue with these blades is flex; even though the blade is thin, it will tend to cut a wider slot unless you can really get it stable as it spins. According to my internet reading over the last 24 hours, one way to do this is with an arbor that extends out almost to the teeth and supports the blade.

Another interesting idea I read is to make your own. Basically, chuck up a piece of steel in the metal lathe, get it round, then remove material leaving a thin "wall" sticking up from the surface. It only has to stick out as much as the depth of cut you need, and you can cut it just as thin as the precision of your lathe allows. Once you have that, you can cut teeth - or even just a single tooth - in it. Everything should stay perfectly true as long as you don't unchuck the new saw. Then you need some kind of vise to hold the work on your cross slide, and you can use the cross slide to feed the work into the blade as your lathe spins it.

Hmm, now I'm thinking a lot about making my own nibs and feeds, too. Guess I should throw that on the list of things I want to do but won't get around to anytime soon...


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## 76winger (Sep 23, 2012)

shull said:


> Well if you really want to take it to the next level check this out.
> Namiki Pens - How A $9000 Fountain Pen is Made - YouTube
> 
> A $9000.00 fountain pen



WOW, that's just awesome detail with great depth. I can't imagine the time needed to do all that work but the final result really is stunning.


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## Ed McDonnell (Sep 23, 2012)

Hi Matthew - I hadn't thought about using the lathe with a jig on the cross slide to hold the nib.  That just might work if you can find a blade thin enough.  Making your own blade would require you to harden the blade after you fabricated it.  That could be a challenge with something so thin.  

How would you handle tipping the nib?  I guess if it was a steel nib you might be able to get away without tipping.  

Ed


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## azamiryou (Sep 23, 2012)

parklandturner said:


> Making your own blade would require you to harden the blade after you fabricated it.  That could be a challenge with something so thin.



Well, it just needs to be harder than what it's cutting, right? One could accomplish this by careful selection of materials.

Even for steel, if the steel being cut is annealed and the fabricated blade is work-hardened, it would probably cut okay. (Here, I'm talking about a situation where you're only cutting one or a few nibs... not production.)

If hardening is needed, I'd use an air-hardening steel (A-2) and heat it with a torch while it's still mounted in the chuck. That way I don't have to worry about re-centering it accurately.


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## azamiryou (Sep 23, 2012)

Tipping is an interesting question. A little research seems to show that the melting point of the tipping material is significantly higher than either gold or stainless steel.


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## koa (Sep 23, 2012)

azamiryou said:


> koa said:
> 
> 
> > Dremel micro steel circular saw?
> ...



Oops, I was just reading the thread on making feeds, and didn't pay enough attention.  And yes, the dremel saw would not be appropriate for slitting a nib, especially since the nib needs to be slit after the tipping is applied, and it is very hard stuff.


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