Inconsistent Ink Flow / Weird Skipping - New Pen

[Hewson]

Hi guys!

I am a student and I recently bought a Platinum #3776 Century Bourgogne in EF from a reputable eBay seller. I received the pen and I spent 4 hours trying to get it to start and put down a consistent black line. I'm using Noodler's Heart of Darkness.

 

I tried - flushing, cleaning, reinking, cartridge and converter, spreading the tines a little and repeated the whole process many times. I managed to get it to write properly for about an hour but then it started putting down inconsistent lines again. It mostly does this on the faster strokes or on an upstroke. When it is skipping, I pull the feed and nib out and I see that the feed is very dry and almost all of the ink is sitting on the top of the nib.

 

You can see the problem right here:

 

http://i.imgur.com/whKOcoY.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/4KPujxl.jpg

It used to be much worse than this but I still don't know how to make it write properly.

 

TLDR: - Platinum 3776 EF, inconsistent lines with Noodler's Heart of Darkness, help?

Edited April 5, 2014 by Hewson

[sexauerw]

Sometimes with a new pen it just takes some time for the ink to thoroughly wet the feed before it will really write correctly. I had exactly the same problem with my new Platinum 3776 EF a while back. I just left the pen propped nib down, filled, for a couple of days and it was much improved. It's still not what I would call a wet writer, but it doesn't skip anymore.

 

I've had this happen with a couple of other new pens also. Very new, dry feeds just don't work right.

[Hewson]

Thanks for your quick reply I'll give it a go and leave it so that the feed can get nice and wet

It's really a bother when I have lots of writing to do and I can't enjoy this pen

[MBDostoevsky]

Thanks for your quick reply I'll give it a go and leave it so that the feed can get nice and wet

It's really a bother when I have lots of writing to do and I can't enjoy this pen

Did it work?

[pajaro]

This has worked for me in the past. I have a Montblanc 146 that, if I clean it out and dry it, takes a couple of days to stop skipping after I fill it again. You would think it would stop doing this after a while, but no. It always seems to have to have the feed well soaked. It's a medium nib.

[DecafAmericano]

Ditto on the advice. Sometimes it's just a feed that needs saturation.

 

But if that doesn't satisfy you, you may end up having an expert nibmeister adjust it (depending on how much you spent on it in the first place, and how much you can/want to spend on it to fix it).

 

This stuff makes me CRAZY about modern pens. Especially expensive ones. Some brands just don't make good nibs anymore. Some are wonderful, but it takes years of personal experience and lots of advice from your pen friends on this network to know the difference!! Good luck, and let us know what happened :-)

[Peter Mihalik]

Hi Everyone!
I have a similar problem with my Pilot Falcon (semi flex nib) - see attached picture.

I love the pen, but after few words it seems to run out of ink. Any idea what can I do to fix it?

[NinthSphere]

You're railroading from constantly flexing. I imagine there's no flow problem with normal writing.

[Peter Mihalik]

correct, but I assume I should be able to flex.

[NinthSphere]

And you are, as that picture shows, but look at how much ink you're putting down. It's a matter of supply & demand & the what the pen can supply is clearly not up to the task of what you're demanding without modification.

[Peter Mihalik]

Point taken, many thanks! It seems there is nothing wrong with the pen but rather with me I will try to be more gentle with it...

[haruka337]

Point taken, many thanks! It seems there is nothing wrong with the pen but rather with me I will try to be more gentle with it...

As someone else already mentioned, your semi-flex was never meant to flex as it does in your sample image, but you can have it modified to do so. John at www.nibs.com (never used him, but I hear great things about him) can turn it into a full flex nib or Spencerian nib, or you can have it modified by Greg (used him for a nib repair on a flex nib and was very happy!) at www.gregminuskin.com. Once I get around to buying the Pilot Falcon (Elabo), I plan on having it modified

Edited June 11, 2015 by haruka337

[terim]

Hi guys!

I am a student and I recently bought a Platinum #3776 Century Bourgogne in EF from a reputable eBay seller. I received the pen and I spent 4 hours trying to get it to start and put down a consistent black line. I'm using Noodler's Heart of Darkness.

 

I tried - flushing, cleaning, reinking, cartridge and converter, spreading the tines a little and repeated the whole process many times. I managed to get it to write properly for about an hour but then it started putting down inconsistent lines again. It mostly does this on the faster strokes or on an upstroke. When it is skipping, I pull the feed and nib out and I see that the feed is very dry and almost all of the ink is sitting on the top of the nib.

 

You can see the problem right here:

 

http://i.imgur.com/whKOcoY.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/4KPujxl.jpg

It used to be much worse than this but I still don't know how to make it write properly.

 

TLDR: - Platinum 3776 EF, inconsistent lines with Noodler's Heart of Darkness, help?

 

I suggest you stop pulling out the nib and feed. You want these two components to snuggle up against one another, and all that pulling and re-setting may be causing a gap between the nib and feed which is resulting in your hard starting. And increasing the gap between the tines will make hard starting worse, not better. When not writing, you want that ink to be poised for action at the very tip of the nib.

 

TERI