Hi All,
As you would have sen my first Zeta pen in the showing my pens thread.
You all know we have been banging on about kit quality for a long time and we have all had a great debate along with it.
Dan (Taylors Mirfield) has taken our challenge to get a decent quality kit in to the Uk. his first Omega and now the Zeta.
I have made many different pens over the years and have always believed that the Dayacom kits supplied by CSUSA was always a decent quality kit and always used that as a benchmark for kit quality.
So I have now made a comparison with the Apprentice Aero supplied by CSUSA (Daycom kit) and the Zeta kit made supplied by Taylors Mirfield.(Dan)
Just for your information I started by weighing the main components, not including the refills or spring on a laboratory calibrated scales to within 000.01 accuracy. (Not that it need that much accuracy but felt it should be close.) I was considering that the weight would have an impact on the quality, potential plate thickness and size. (Ideally you would need to have the plating checked using expensive lab equipment that I didn't want to invest in..
Anyway. enough babel.
Zeta
Retails at £4.80
Fittings weight = 29.8g
Picture of how the kit is supplied.
No instructions supplied
Drill for the Tube size 9mm
Aero
Retails at $10.25 to $11.75 depending on plating
(This worked out to around £6.20 landed in the UK when brought in bulk)
Fittings weight 33.5g
Picture of how the kit is supplied.
Comes complete with instructions
Drill for the Tube size 23/64
findings.
Aero
Weighed in slightly heavier but that is down to the clip fitting being longer and when weighed individual that is where the extra weight came from.
Came with less parts in the bag (already built up)
Zeta
Slightly lighter (see above comment)
Came with more parts in the bag (Required all parts building up)
In my opinion.
As said before I have made many pens over the years and have come across many different quality pen kits from very good to very poor.
The Zeta kit is a very good quality pen kit that you can see from the above pictures of the center band plating being better finish than the Aero.
The kit coming in more parts should not bother anyone as it just takes around 15 seconds longer to press the kit together.
Coming with no instructions for me is not a problem as most of this type of kit are built the same way. If you don't have any experience of pen making then instructions would be helpful.
For the Zeta I drilled first with 9mm and found the fit to be a little too tight for Epoxy resin so I used 23/64 drill and was much happier with the fit. me personally would use the 23/64 drill.
As you can see in my opinion the Zeta is a better quality kit than the Daycom Aero, which coming from a stable as good as Dayacom is a little disappointing for me. For those who know me have always supported Dayacom in kit quality as no one up to now has come anywhere near their quality of kit. That has now changed and what Dan has managed to get is a very good pen kit for the price and a higher quality kit that most would expect.
Just to point out to all on here I'm not being paid by Dan or Taylor Mirfield to put this review on here and have no allegiance to the company in any way.
This review is my opinion and should be seen as so, TBH I couldn't really care if no one agreed with me.
Anyway, hope this helps to anyone that is wondering what kit to buy. if it didn't then its your loss...
Well done Dan, look forward to seeing the next batch.
As you would have sen my first Zeta pen in the showing my pens thread.
You all know we have been banging on about kit quality for a long time and we have all had a great debate along with it.
Dan (Taylors Mirfield) has taken our challenge to get a decent quality kit in to the Uk. his first Omega and now the Zeta.
I have made many different pens over the years and have always believed that the Dayacom kits supplied by CSUSA was always a decent quality kit and always used that as a benchmark for kit quality.
So I have now made a comparison with the Apprentice Aero supplied by CSUSA (Daycom kit) and the Zeta kit made supplied by Taylors Mirfield.(Dan)
Just for your information I started by weighing the main components, not including the refills or spring on a laboratory calibrated scales to within 000.01 accuracy. (Not that it need that much accuracy but felt it should be close.) I was considering that the weight would have an impact on the quality, potential plate thickness and size. (Ideally you would need to have the plating checked using expensive lab equipment that I didn't want to invest in..
Anyway. enough babel.
Zeta
Retails at £4.80
Fittings weight = 29.8g
Picture of how the kit is supplied.
No instructions supplied
Drill for the Tube size 9mm
Aero
Retails at $10.25 to $11.75 depending on plating
(This worked out to around £6.20 landed in the UK when brought in bulk)
Fittings weight 33.5g
Picture of how the kit is supplied.
Comes complete with instructions
Drill for the Tube size 23/64
findings.
Aero
Weighed in slightly heavier but that is down to the clip fitting being longer and when weighed individual that is where the extra weight came from.
Came with less parts in the bag (already built up)
Zeta
Slightly lighter (see above comment)
Came with more parts in the bag (Required all parts building up)
In my opinion.
As said before I have made many pens over the years and have come across many different quality pen kits from very good to very poor.
The Zeta kit is a very good quality pen kit that you can see from the above pictures of the center band plating being better finish than the Aero.
The kit coming in more parts should not bother anyone as it just takes around 15 seconds longer to press the kit together.
Coming with no instructions for me is not a problem as most of this type of kit are built the same way. If you don't have any experience of pen making then instructions would be helpful.
For the Zeta I drilled first with 9mm and found the fit to be a little too tight for Epoxy resin so I used 23/64 drill and was much happier with the fit. me personally would use the 23/64 drill.
As you can see in my opinion the Zeta is a better quality kit than the Daycom Aero, which coming from a stable as good as Dayacom is a little disappointing for me. For those who know me have always supported Dayacom in kit quality as no one up to now has come anywhere near their quality of kit. That has now changed and what Dan has managed to get is a very good pen kit for the price and a higher quality kit that most would expect.
Just to point out to all on here I'm not being paid by Dan or Taylor Mirfield to put this review on here and have no allegiance to the company in any way.
This review is my opinion and should be seen as so, TBH I couldn't really care if no one agreed with me.
Anyway, hope this helps to anyone that is wondering what kit to buy. if it didn't then its your loss...
Well done Dan, look forward to seeing the next batch.
