# Design our own kits



## Math2010 (Nov 26, 2018)

Hello!
Is there a way to create and design our own pen kit? If yes, is there company that makes them? Not sure if my question is clear, my english is not so good...


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## Curly (Nov 26, 2018)

Yes there’s a way. Silver Pen Parts You can select various parts and make up your own or you can work with Mike on the design and he will cast the parts so it is totally unique to you. It will cost more than mass production kits but that’s the trade off for something special.


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## Math2010 (Nov 27, 2018)

Curly said:


> Yes there’s a way. Silver Pen Parts You can select various parts and make up your own or you can work with Mike on the design and he will cast the parts so it is totally unique to you. It will cost more than mass production kits but that’s the trade off for something special.



That's the only company that does that?


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## Curly (Nov 27, 2018)

To the best of my knowledge, yes. 

Now you could go to Daycom or their Chinese equivalents and work with them to bring out a new kit but my gut tells ma that will cost a frelling fortune. Farscape anyone?  

Or you can design your own and find a CNC machining business locally that wants to do it here but again it will be very costly. 

Your only other option is to go the kilts/custom pen route and make your own pens pretty much from scratch, just buying the nib and feeds, refill and spring along with clickers or twist mechanisms. The last is much more labour intensive making it hard to compete with the kits. If you are really good you can develop your clientele over time and enjoy some success that way.


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## larryc (Nov 27, 2018)

We tried that at our local chapter with a local machinist but nothing ever came of it.


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## jttheclockman (Nov 27, 2018)

Math2010 said:


> Hello!
> Is there a way to create and design our own pen kit? If yes, is there company that makes them? Not sure if my question is clear, my english is not so good...



Not enough kits on the market for you hea??  Man with the ton of kits out there surely there is something you like. Pete gave you the options available and the last one being go kitless and have at it there are a ton of threads here in this forum discussing kitless pens. You can even take it beyond and show us something new. Be creative and that is why you posted in the ADVANCED pen making forum.


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## MRDucks2 (Nov 27, 2018)

I have combined pieces from different kits to get different looks, too. 


Sent from my iPhone using Penturners.org mobile app


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## Math2010 (Nov 29, 2018)

jttheclockman said:


> Math2010 said:
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> > Hello!
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Honestly, I don't know if your message is full of sarcasm because you consider that not making kitless pen means that you're not an advanced pen maker. I was just asking a question trying to get informations and new possibilities. Not to be "ridiculed".

Anyway, I know there's a lot of pen kits on the market and I like (and made) a lot of them. The objective of my question was more to find a way of create a unique "Signature pen" for my company that I'll be the only one to have...

Thanks to people that gave me options rather to laugh at me.


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## Dalecamino (Nov 29, 2018)

Something like this? I made the parts from brass, and had them Rhodium plated. I'm not a company, and not sure I want to ever make another one. I don't know of a company that can produce what you are looking for. But this pen and others came to mind as I read your post. Good luck!


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## Math2010 (Nov 29, 2018)

Dalecamino said:


> Something like this? I made the parts from brass, and had them Rhodium plated. I'm not a company, and not sure I want to ever make another one. I don't know of a company that can produce what you are looking for. But this pen and others came to mind as I read your post. Good luck!



They're really cool!


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## jttheclockman (Nov 29, 2018)

Math2010 said:


> jttheclockman said:
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> > Math2010 said:
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Well Mat I guess I did not add enough smileys to my post. Here I am again explaining another post. My point about the Advanced forum is you are asking an advanced pen making question. If you look through this forum for past posts might help with your question. It narrows it down for you.   

Now a clip is a clip, a nib is a nib a cap is a cap and so forth. People have taken various kits and combined the parts. There are some (Brad comes to mind) that do some sort of electric plating with chemicals but that is dangerous. 

To make a signature pen there are some who have actually used their signature as a way to designate their pens. They do this by including it somewhere on the pen, weather the clip or some have included little metal tags and implanted them in the body of the pen. Still using kit pens but now it is their brand so to speak. 

Kitless is another way to make a pen your own style that is relatively inexpensive compared to going to a manufacturer to make a few pen kits. They deal in volume to make money. It takes money to make molds to cast parts and things. 

There was no sarcasm intended in my post but an attempt at a little humor because I found it humorous that someone wants to create their own kit  in this world of hundreds of kits flooding the market now. I gave you option as to develop your own style of pen. Maybe you can come up with something and share with us all when you do. Look forward to seeing what you get. 

Here is part of a thread that I pulled when some recently asked about creating a custom pen design that may interest you if you have these skills.



Default
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheAcadian  View Post
What, if anything, do you use to design your pens, especially when you're customizing them for a customer? 

For example, I have a client who wants a firefighter themed pen for her husband. I'd love to be able to take a few different pen kits into a program, change the barrel to show different woods/acrylics, and show what kinds of other things I can add to the pen to make it special. 

is there an easy way to do this? I know PSI has a "design" tool on their website, but it's pretty limited.
Not to be disparaging here on my favorite forum, but I have found few people want to disrupt the status quo by using only what we have or build kitless pens. I and a few others have been trying to get new things started here with little luck. There are a few great people here (BeeAMaker is one of them!) that are excited about making custom pens or launching this industry to the next level.

Here is what I am working on:
1. 3D printing parts to design new types of blanks - Autodesk 360 (freeware) design software

2. Polly Alloys can make badass pen parts IN the USA. Custom Metal Injection Molded Parts and Components - PolyAlloys Injected Metals

3. 3D printing parts for either Cold Casting parts. I have had reasonable success with this but nothing I would put to market.

4. Lost Wax Casting. Once my Autodesk skills advance a little more I can CNC lost wax parts to cast pen kit parts.

CNC and 3D printers are getting so much cheaper for the hobbyist. The issue I'm running into is CAD/STL skills. I bought a book two days ago called Fusion 360 Operations Manual. This book has step by step tutorials to help you build items so you can learn the functions of the program.

Will anyone be able to compete with the 400lbs Gorilla, no, but that isn't really the point. The point is to be a Maker, create, push our hobby to new levels. Sure there are folks that just want to turn wood or other items, NOT a thing wrong with that at all. There are others who want to do more. For that, my hats off to you!

As far as firefighter pen kits:
Fireman's Ballpoint Pen Chrome w/Gunmetal: Pen Kit Making Supplies Berea HardWoods

Steve


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