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Having a writing implement handy when you need it is a good idea, but keeping a bulky pen in your shirt or your pants pocket can be a drag, especially when conventional pens leak. Your wallet is a natural place to keep a pen but just about anything available commercially is too big. So, make a Space Pen for your wallet. It's small, writes every time you need it, upside-down, and probably under water, too, although you'll have to test that yourself.
The "NASA Space Pen by Fisher" is a cool pen that retails in stores like Staples and Office Depot for about $22 in its basic, chrome-plated version, up to near $50 for the special, "signature" version. It is the famous pen the astronauts supposedly used in the space program. The pen uses a sealed, gas-pressurized ink cartridge, which delivers the ink at a perfect flow without clogging--important for a pocket pen. The problem is the NASA Space Pen body is very thick. It feels like a carrying around a big, chrome-plated bullet in your pocket.
It's way too thick to slip in your wallet, too. Overall not a good traveling pen, even at that price point. But, interestingly, the same outfits that sell the pens also sell the refills and they are a fraction of the cost: about $5.00. The one to look for is labeled, "Fisher Pressurized Space Pen Refill - SPR-F". As near as I can tell all the pens use the same, $5.00 refill.
(link: example of refill at online store)
With a bit of heat-shrinkable tubing, a pocket clip taken from a discarded mechanical pencil you can have a cool pen that keeps in your wallet nicely. And since it uses the pressurized, Fisher Space Pen refill, it isn't likely to leak in your pocket.
And, it writes upside down. So, let's get to work. This one will take about five minutes.
The "NASA Space Pen by Fisher" is a cool pen that retails in stores like Staples and Office Depot for about $22 in its basic, chrome-plated version, up to near $50 for the special, "signature" version. It is the famous pen the astronauts supposedly used in the space program. The pen uses a sealed, gas-pressurized ink cartridge, which delivers the ink at a perfect flow without clogging--important for a pocket pen. The problem is the NASA Space Pen body is very thick. It feels like a carrying around a big, chrome-plated bullet in your pocket.
It's way too thick to slip in your wallet, too. Overall not a good traveling pen, even at that price point. But, interestingly, the same outfits that sell the pens also sell the refills and they are a fraction of the cost: about $5.00. The one to look for is labeled, "Fisher Pressurized Space Pen Refill - SPR-F". As near as I can tell all the pens use the same, $5.00 refill.
(link: example of refill at online store)
With a bit of heat-shrinkable tubing, a pocket clip taken from a discarded mechanical pencil you can have a cool pen that keeps in your wallet nicely. And since it uses the pressurized, Fisher Space Pen refill, it isn't likely to leak in your pocket.
And, it writes upside down. So, let's get to work. This one will take about five minutes.
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Signing UpStep 1Adding the heat-shrinkable tubing
The tubing makes the pen cartridge a bit more holdable then just the bare metal. I used black tubing for mine, but it can be obtained in various colors. Radio Shack sells a very reasonably-priced assortment in various colors. The black tubing used in this project was ordered in bulk from Mouser Electronics. For this, use 3/8 inch tubing. Cut the tubing with an X-ACTO knife, leaving about 1/4" past the first ridge in the point, or about 3/4" from the tip.
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Couldn't you put the clip on before the tubing, so that it would be a safer hold? Just curious(:
That is a Koh-I-Noor Rapidomatic .5mm, model 5635. I believe I got my last few good ones at Sterling Art Supply, in Irvine, California. They were made in Japan and very nice. I ordered some online a few years ago from some outlet and they were much lower in quality. The metal was thinner and cheaper; everything was lower quality.
::doc
Also, something that I once heard before about these pens, NASA spent $100,000 on working on these for astronauts. Russians used pencils.
Mouser has a the one that I use:
http://www.mouser.com/Search/ProductDetail.aspx?qs=wT7LY0lnAe2VuyV0O%2fPHSA%3d%3d
Catalog page:
http://www.mouser.com/catalog/635/2081.pdf