Designed and fabricated during the spring of 2024 - A late Christmas present to my mother.
(2024's best son award goes to...)
I have always had an natural love for high quality pens, but they were always expensive. So, coming into an engineering college I figured it would be the perfect time to make some pens of my own.
The main goals for this project were:
- Ability to use different pen cartridge refills.
- Aesthetic and simple design (DFM)
- Have a pleasing *pop* sound (Scroll Down).
Designed in PTC Creo.
Manufactured using a manual mill and lathe.
Cap: 6061 AL.
Body 304 SS.
Pen tip: McMaster COT Alloy Steel (92905A312).
Pen body slotted screw: McMaster COT Alloy Steel (92098A166).
Internal Magnet: KJ magnetics (R636).
Pen Refill: Pilot Hi-Tec C.
Total Material Cost: $12.69 (Excluding Shipping).
By using COT parts from McMaster I was able to drastically decrease the time spent machining. The slotted tip set screw allows the user to use practically any length refill. All the user has to do is sink the set screw deeper. Extremely short refills can be remedied by adding a wooden peg inside.
An Over Complicated Pen™ utilizes a COT magnet to accomplish the goal of retaining the pen cap to the body. This magnet is fixed internally to the cap of the screw by Cyanoacrylate (Super glue). 304 SS is non magnetic which is why alloy steel set screws were chosen.
Additionally regarding material choice of the pen and body, differing hardness metals were chosen to prevent galling. 6061 AL was chosen as it is very easy to machine and 304 SS was chosen as it was the harder metal and it was vital that the body stay unmarred from the AL.
The pen cap was milled tangent to prevent the pen from rolling off tables.
*Pop* This was personally my favorite part of the project. This sound is a result of a small suction release formed from tight tolerances between the pen body and the cap. As the tolerance gets smaller the *Pop* sounds better.
Later iterations of the pen were able to achieve a 0.002" tolerance.
Grade 2 Titanium An Over Complicated Pen™ coming soon...
Enjoy some cool photos.
