Monday 14 April 2014

Casting Custom C Ring Tools for Obscure Fountain Pens

Lately, I've been wracking my noggin over how best to open up this vintage fountain pen, sold to me as a "1930s Japanese eyedropper". The shut-off valve shaft seal is no longer watertight, so I'd like to remove the threaded boss at the end of the barrel, preferably without breaking anything.

Left hand thread? Right hand? Glued in?


This wouldn't be a problem but for the fact that being, well, a 1930's Japanese eyedropper, the thread diameter and pitch are understandably proprietary. There are no off-the-shelf vac tools for this chap. I've been trialling metal epoxy putty as a disposable, single use C ring tool on various odds & sods, and will carry on till I feel ready to give it a go on the actual pen.


Subtitles have been provided for non-Weegies. More on this as and when it happens! If it all works out, I will blog all the details, some photographs, &c.



All the best,


Flounder
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4 comments:

  1. Anonymous18 April 2014 at 00:53

    Very interesting! I'm watching carefully because the solution to the last problem I created for myself may lie partly in what you're doing with this.

    Well, the last problem I created for myself if we do not count what just happened with the cap of my Noodler's pen...

    Scrivelry from FPN and FPG

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Flounder21 April 2014 at 23:50

      You've got me curious! What was the problem? I made a cast of the eyedropper today. So far, so good!

      Delete
    2. Anonymous26 April 2014 at 00:46

      I had two identical pens which were plastic bodies with a gold-filled overlay - very simple, very cheap on ebay. (Well, not compared to the rest of my pens, but cheap enough, considering) Both needed new sacs, one also needed a new pressure bar as the old pressure bar had broken off, leaving the bend part in the bottom of the pen. I stuck a pair of pliers in there, intending to get the leftover part out, and the plastic shattered (yes, I probably should have seen that coming... >.< ) into what are presumably a billion little bits, of which I have only found one, and that way too small to be of any use.

      This did not destroy the threaded area where the section fits in and the cap screws on, but it did leave it entirely unable to support a section. My plan is to find something to slip in there that meets the inner diameter of the shattered area, glue it in, and rebuild the threads with epoxy (This is where the red grease would come in, as I figure on greasing the threads of the cap prior to screwing it on and then off, hopefully having thus made the proper thread through the not yet cured epoxy.) Then I will sand down the section to fit into what is there, and hopefully all will be well.

      I asked about this over on FPN and got some good suggestions - perhaps the best was to bin the pen and move on - but it's little exercises like this that keep the grey cells humming, right?

      Any suggestions as to how to avoid further disaster in this endeavor would of course be entirely welcomed. Or a sound clip of you laughing at the whole thing - at least if someone gets a laugh out of it all this has not been in vain...

      Scrivelry

      Delete
  2. Anonymous27 April 2014 at 21:42

    You rpm box over on FPG is full.

    Scrivelry

    ReplyDelete

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