Making an inexpensive pen storage case

One of the problems of being a fountain pen hoarder collector owner is how to storage them away when they are not in use. While there are cases and wraps available in stores and websites, they are either too expensive for me to justify them as storage or too soft to offer any protect.

My solution is to make my own, with plastic DVD racks from Ikea and B4 sized plastic cases from Daiso, a little assembly produces an inexpensive solution for my normal fountain pens.

The DVD racks in question look like this:

Sadly they were out of stock the last time I visited Ikea, hopefully they will bring them back. The B4 Daiso plastic cases look like this:

Using a box cutter, I cut out a piece of the DVD rack to fit inside the Daiso case, the end result looks like this:

This design is meant as a static storage solution, not as a means to carry pens around. One of the drawbacks I've heard from others using the DVD rack this way, is that the spacing between the dividers is to narrow for fat pens like the Jinhao 159.

Some variations to think about are sponge strips to prevent the pens from bumping into the top or bottom of the case, strips across the rack to prevent rattling, velvet lining to provide better protection, etc, make your own and post photos in the comments!

How to take an Omas 361T apart

While discussing about the Omas 361 series, a fellow member at the Singapore Fountain Pen Lovers facebook group mentioned that he had problems opening up his 361T. I had the same problem so I googled a little, and found a post on The Fountain Pen Network which discussed how to do so briefly (Thanks roberto v!)

Here is how I did it (disclaimer: Follow at your own risk!)

First I had to remove the pin in the piston knob, I did this by pushing it out with a plastic toothpick, and pulling the rest out with a pair of rounded nosed pliers. After that, I unscrewed the knob all the way to remove it, it came out with any resistance.

After removing the knob, I unscrewed the piston rod a little to gain some length, then fished out the rest of the piston assembly.

To remove the cork from the assembly, I unscrewed the hard plastic screw holding it in place.

And that was it, looks like I need to replace the cork T.T. Hope this helps!