Irish Pens are a micro company producing unique and beautiful hand-turned pens in a variety of woods and styles. As a creative and innovative company, they are constantly exploring new product options, and were interested in possible new premium metal pen designs. They approached Machining 4.0 through UCD for assistance with this.

Challenge

Quality is a top priority for Irish Pens and the natural woods they use provide beautiful finishes and a sense of prestige. Any new metal designs would have to meet the same high standards. It would also be necessary to demonstrate that the new designs could be economically produced.

Solution

Irish Pens and UCD researchers looked at the existing catalogue of designs and selected a small number to trial in metal versions. CAD models of the existing pen designs were first created at UCD. After an iterative design and review process, aluminium prototypes were produced in-house at UCD and additively manufactured titanium components were produced at IMR and integrated into finished pens at UCD.

Results

Pen prototypes and economic models to support the company’s decision on introducing them as new products.