Principles of Engineering For Activity 2.2.2 Manufacturing Process for a Pen

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Principles of EngineeringFor Activity
2.2.2Manufacturing Process for a Pen

• Student Presentation by Titus Wu
• Per. 2

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Components of a Pen
www.madehow.com
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Making the ink

• Workers called compounders make batches of inks
  in large vats following specific formulas.
• Computer sensors watch over the timing and
  temperature of these mixtures.
• While being mixed by automatic vats, raw
  materials are being pumped into the vats.
• The cooling/heating rate and mixture rate are
  being controlled by computerized controls and
  slows down or speeds up when necessary for the
  specific type of formula.

Here, ink vats are mixing ink batches inside. The
pipes are what pumps raw material in.
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the metal components

• The ball in the ballpoint pen is a tungsten
  carbide ball and is usually supplied from
  outside.
• Other metal parts of the pen are made in the
  factory.
• Brands of brass are stamped by machines into
  thousands of small discs.
• Discs are melted and poured into compression
  chamber.
• In the chamber, a steel ram and a plunger makes
  the metal into die cast mold and compresses the
  metal into pen pieces.
• Die is removed and pieces ejected. They are
  cleaned and cut into desirable shapes.

www.madehow.com
A diagram of a compression chamber aka die press
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The plastic components

• Plastic components are either constructed using
  injection molding or extrusion.
• Both extrusion and injection molding start off by
  supplying plastic as granules into a large
  hopper.
• In extrusion, a long rotating screw forces these
  plastic grains through a heating chamber. It
  becomes a flowing mass, and comes out of the die.
  After cooled, it is cut into pieces.
• More complex components involve injection
  molding. In this method, plastic is heated and
  forced through a nozzle into a mold by a movable
  plunger. It cools and solidifies into that mold
  pen shape.

Wikipedia
The processes used to make plastic components of
pen injection molding (left) and extrusion
(right).
Cheresources.com
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Assembly

• The ballpoint is attached to the reservoir, which
  is filled with ink.
• The spring is placed on the barrel reservoir.
• All of what is constructed so far is placed into
  a pen body. Then, other components such as the
  cap, clip, etc. are incorporated onto that pen
  body.
• The pen is then designed, coated with paint, etc.
• We now have a pen!

A pen assembly machine
Tradeee.com
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Sources cited

• Litherland, Neal (n.d.). Process of
  Manufacturing Ball Pens and Refills. Retrieved
  from http//www. ehow.com/how-does_5557322_process
  -manu facturing-ball-pens-refills.html
• Romanowsky, Perry (n.d.). Ballpoint Pen.
  Retrieved from http//www.madehow.com/Volume-3/Bal
  lpoi nt-Pen.htmlb