This version of my Advanced Word Pen, is ready to accept the widely available Bic ball pen inner. The pen body is rounded making it comfortable to write with. The output file includes a fitted cap and helper tabs to prevent the print from lifting off the build-plate during printing. The pen length scales according to the text length which is automatically centred. I am still doping the print with the pen inner to ensure a snug fit - see instructions.

I have been successfully printing this pen with ReplicatorG and Sailfish firmware by taking advantage of the Sailfish pause@zpos function. Successful printing requires precise measurement of your filament diameter to ensure the cap and ball-point inner fit snugly. I still dope the print with the pen inner to ensure a snug fit.

I created a duplicate profile and edited the start.gcode to add M322 Z4.5 to the bottom of the file. This tells the sailfish firmware to pause at 4.5mm. You can obviously pause the printer manually, or set the zpos position using the printer control interface, but if you plan to print a lot of pens, creating a custom profile in ReplicatorG is the way to go. I have included a sample ReplicatorG/Sailfish profile for the Replicator 2 that includes this modification and fine tuned settings for printing these pens.

The Bic ball pen cartridges I am using are from a standard Bic ball pen. I purchased an economy packet of 25 Bic ball pens from my local office supply store for about $10.