Mix And Match Hacks

[Mech-for-i]

Well well, we who collect and use Chinese fountain pens tend to hoard loads after loads, and then we start experimenting and hacking ; and ultimately ending up with a bunch of success and equal bunch of failures and with that we usually end up with a cache of parts , partial pens etc etc .. so I figure let's start a thread that chronicle our ( mis ) adventure with these parts and how we end up with something uniquely one's own, and might end up inspiring more ...

 

I will start with my Nov haul ; the Sunnymax Selmy Piston Filler , aka WSE Wing Sung 3009, a plain un adorned trim down version of the 3008 with all Demo styling and Lamy style nib ; my hack had to do with hacking a Hero 58 nib onto it. Well normally the Hero 200/50 and the equal tooled Wing Sung 400/500 nib will not fit a Lamy ( Safari ) but well not all of these same kind of nib are actually the same. The Hero 58 nib , the only varaint that got this 2 tone finishing happen to just a wee bit different in size and one can coax the nib to fit onto the pen / feed ( or the other way round )

 

 

The Hero nib will in its form fit loose if you are using the 200 or 50 series nib but the 58 nib, probably due to its finishing is just that bit thicker so it would fir somewhat if one just pry the side wing a bit tighter ) on the claws ) or one could score the side of the feed that engage the nib's wing with a hot X-acto knief and thus forming a raised ridge along the scored line that give a bit more girth and some friction to the side, then its just the simple job of putting the nib onto the feed

[truthpil]

Fascinating hack!

 

Does the 3009 feel or operate any differently than the 3008? I'm not a fan of demonstrators, but I'd rather have a complete demonstrator than a partial one with pastel-colored parts.

[Mech-for-i]

It work preyty much the same as late batch 3008 with the piston click lock. My 58 nib is an EF and the feed maintain a consistent and constrained flow good for keeping the line EF

[truthpil]

That's good to know. For my first Chinese piston filler I decided to go with that new mysterious Wing Sung an Ebay seller is calling "B698." It was a mere 9.9RMB on Taobao! If it doesn't fit the bill, then I'll probably try the 3009 next, but I'm concerned about the cap screw rusting as seems to be common on the 3008. I just need a decent wet writer to put my spare Lamy nibs in.

[Mech-for-i]

Speaking of Mix & Match Hack , got to share this one .. I've mentioned in the past that I am not a fan of the Hero 616, well not the pen, but the pen size. The standard one just seems to fall right into the girth that I feel uncomfortable, if its any thicker or thinner it would be fine and the small size is, while fine with me, finding it a tad too small and too slim if I had to write any length of a period. But well life is not all gloomy, there is loads of 616 variant from other Mfr and they seems to have evolve all different. So I go out and try to made my one better 616.

 

OK let see, ah ... and ...

Hacked Yong-Jiu 905 with 800 section & 805 nib by Mech for i, on Flickr

 

all steel flighter style ............. check

EF nib .................................... check

less drab color ....................... check

more girth than the 616 small. check

less girth than 616 std ............ check

keep nice retro styling ............ check

 

SUCCESS .. well this is taking the Yong-Jiu 905 , then affix it with an EF nib from their 805 and pirate the white section from their 800 Export ( not their 800 home market model ); actually I swap in the ink collector from the 800 Export also since the old one from the 905 start to crack. Now I have a better Hero 616, better looking, more robust, classier ( ditch that try to be Parker arrow clip ) and feel comfortable to me, and it write nice too

Edited March 12, 2018 by Mech-for-i

[JayKay3000]

For a moment I thought you turned your pen into a butter knife.

[truthpil]

For a moment I thought you turned your pen into a butter knife.

At first glance I was thinking letter opener.

[Mech-for-i]

LOL ... now that yo guys mentioned it , it do look like so at a glance , now a butte knife ... hmm , let see if I can pirate something from the kitchen ...

[jobodine]

 

 

As I had a Wing Sung 3008 and a few Zebra G nibs at hand , I tried to do the modification myself . I removed the (feed + nib) assembly from the FP then replaced them with a Jinhao No. 6 feed & a Zebra G nib . Everything fitted very well . I pumped in the ink through the piston type converter ( i.e. turning the rotary knob at the end of the pen barrel ). The problem was ink dripping from the pen nib !

I tried several adjustments of the feed & nib but the issue persisted ! When I held the pen upright , I could see ink drops slowly formed at the underside of the nib . The dripping seemed improved when I was writing but still a blob of ink fell on the paper every few minutes !!

 

My guess is that the Jinhao feed may not be the correct one for the modification . I wonder if anyone has successful modifed the Wing Sung 3008 using a Zebra G flex nib ? what type of feed should be used ?

Please help and suggest a solution . Thanks .

Edited March 13, 2018 by jobodine

[Mech-for-i]

if you check carefully the section on the pen you will see that the section is actually indexed ( inside ) with a raised ledge that engage the original feed, which likely is not quite engaging with the Jinhao feed. This would force a gap and thus air channel allowing more feed through. The Zebra G nib itself also is a bit on the thin side when compared to fountain pen nibs of all made and its not uncommon to hear this issue. you might need to work the feed a bit to made sure it sit proper in the section and for the nib you might need to made a shim or something akin to get it fit tighter against the feed and section. A simple 3M magic tape on the nib top surface ( the surface that will mate against the section ) could increase the thickness enough to push the nib tight against both.

[jobodine]

 

 

 

Thanks for the tip , Mech-for-i . I tried the magic tape trick suggested . Ink still dripped down the nib . However, the raised ledge inside the section may contribute to the issue , I agree on this possibility . BTW, is there any feed size , say, 6.5 mm ?

[Mech-for-i]

Oh .. that no idea at all, if I am doing it, I might just cave a channel at the back of the feed so it can slide in engaging that index. A flat file can do the job easily. Also check that the G nib itself is actually sitting tight against the feed when the were both out of the section. One ting many noted is that the G nib actually do not sit tight against the typical Jinhao feed as the curve is a bit different. Its known that the easy fix is simply to get a light hammer and stat working the nib flatter so it actually conform to the feed ( viewing as they are paired outside of the section wit no force applied, just the nib on the feed )

Edited March 14, 2018 by Mech-for-i

[truthpil]

Also keep in mind that the less original parts of the pen you use, the more work will be needed to get the pen to work right.

It would be preferable to keep the only variable in the equation the nib itself, unless you really want to make the 3008 take the Nikko G.

In that case, you're in for a lot of work shaping the feed and forming the nib to fit both alien parts into the pen.

[jobodine]

@ Mech-for-I & TruthPil

 

Thanks for the tips & comments .

 

Reshaping the Zebra G nib is the first thibg I did in the modification process . I had done this reshaping successfully with 3 other pens already ( i.e. Jinhao X750, Hero 5020 and a cheap plastic pen by Selectum ) . There is no gap between the nib & the top of the feed ( i.e. no movement detected when you squeeze the nib & feed together with your index finger & the thumb from end to tip of the nib) .

 

There are 2 spots, I suspect , that may cause the ink leak : the raised ledges in the section and the hole where the feed tube connects to the ink chamber . The diameter of the feed tube in the Jinhao feed looks a bit smaller than its counterpart in the original feed of the Wing Sung 3008.

 

Any idea how to fix these 2 leaks ?

 

 

 

 

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-irt32J1OMSU/TlU_OZH3DfI/AAAAAAAAClg/jyZfSwKtJtg/s1600/Feed+Anatomy.jpg

Edited March 14, 2018 by jobodine

[jobodine]

Good news folks ! The dripping issue is considered solved ! As it turned out, the culprit is the size of the feed tube . It is a bit smaller than the hole in the wall separating the front chamber and the ink resevoir . As a result, part of the ink flows in the ink channel in the feed tube, and the other part flows around the space between the edge of the hole and the feed tube itself then into the front chamber !

 

Once the cause of the leak is discovered, many possible solutions come to mind . I tried the most obvious one : put a gasket where the leak was . I made a tiny gasket 3/8 inch in diameter with a piece of rubber membrance 1/16 inch thickness , Then I punctured a hole at the center of this "gasket" with an awl . Finally. this gasket was slipped around the feed tube .

 

This hack worked like a charm . So far, no more dripping and the pen writes smoothly without skipping .

Edited March 15, 2018 by jobodine

[truthpil]

Good news folks ! The dripping issue is considered solved ! As it turned out, the culprit is the size of the feed tube . It is a bit smaller than the hole in the wall separating the front chamber and the ink resevoir . As a result, part of the ink flows in the ink channel in the feed tube, and the other part flows around the space between the edge of the hole and the feed tube itself then into the front chamber !

 

Once the cause of the leak is discovered, many possible solutions come to mind . I tried the most obvious one : put a gasket where the leak was . I made a tiny gasket 3/8 inch in diameter with a piece of rubber membrance 1/16 inch thickness , Then I punctured a hole at the center of this "gasket" with an awl . Finally. this gasket was slipped around the feed tube .

 

This hack worked like a charm . So far, no more dripping and the pen writes smoothly without skipping .

 

Brilliant!

[Dip n Scratch]

I have used genuine Lamy nibs on my Hero 359. Currently it has a nib from another Chinese Lamy Homage. It had what looked like a triangular 'E' on it. I cannot remember it it was a Yiren or Lanbitou nib.

The Lamy nibs came off with the usual tape trick as with a proper Lamy Safari.

The mystery nib was a very tight fit & that is not going to come off, ever.

The Hero 359 is currently what I used to test inks that are said to have unpleasant tricks like staining or clogging.

I like the idea of that two-tone Hero nib on a 359 Safari knock-off. Has anyone done it?

[Mech-for-i]

.....

I like the idea of that two-tone Hero nib on a 359 Safari knock-off. Has anyone done it?

 

Have not try it, do not have a 359 either, not very keen on those triangular grip, but I suppose if the pen take Lam style nib, then the feed part that engage the nib would be pretty much the same ( shape ) so I suppose if I can do it on this, you can do it on the 359 also ( as stated do require a bit of tinkering )

Edited March 17, 2018 by Mech-for-i

[Mech-for-i]

all those vintage hooded nib are nice , but mostly their appearance can only be termed at best low key, at worst pedestrian and utilitarian. So one thing I always been wanting to do is to improve on the aesthetics. OK, calipar out and ding ding ..... actually I finish this quite a while ( a long wile ) but only now got to share it.

 

Wing Sung 802 mod. by Mech for i, on Flickr

 

My intention was to made a business attire type of a slim hooded nib I can take to work and would not be out of place. Taken the Wing Sung 802 ( EF ) in the Rice Bran Gray and the barrel from a Wing Sung 841 ( their girth match perfectly ) and the pen is all slim and smooth without step down or step up, and the brass gold plated barrel give the pen more weight helping the writing a bit ; then I take a cap from a Wing Sung 803, and fit it with a ( gold plated ) clip from their 2xx/4xx/5xx series slim pens. A style Wing Sung actually used themselves back in the 90s on several limited edition 101 / 102 / 105

 

永生 802 mod by Mech for i, on Flickr

Edited March 17, 2018 by Mech-for-i

[Tefolim]

I just changed the Hero 829's nib with the Parker's.

 

And I bought SDN dye for resin on Amazon Japan and stained the Hero 249-1 demonstrator, Wing Sung 618 demonstrator and Penbbs 323 ghost plant(cellulose acetate).

 

I used the brown dye.

 

Penbbs 323

Hero 249-1

Wing Sung 618