Conid Nib-Feed Units: Is Nib Easily Removable Or Fixed In Plastic Housing?

[mx-fan]

Is the nib in a Conid regular demonstrator bulkfiller easily removed from or installed into the plastic nib-feed housing/collar? Or is the nib firmly fixed inside the plastic housing so that the nib can't be removed?

 

What company makes their nib-feed plastic housing/collar for the regular bulkfiller? I know Conid modifies that collar/housing by adding a tube at the rear end.

 

I ask because I'll soon receive a Conid regular demonstrator bulkfiller (flat ends version) minus the nib. I told Conid I'd put in one of my #6 nibs. But after ordering, writing to Conid maybe twice before and after ordering, I then watched the Conid video showing how easy it is to change #6 nibs in the Minimalistica and regular bulkfillers. Having viewed the video, I thought that Conid might have thought from one of my messages to them that I own the same kind of nib-feed housing/collar that screws into one of their fountain pens. You see, in that video the Conid worker simply uses an entirely new plastic nib-feed housing/collar unit instead of pulling out from the plastic nib-feed housing/collar just the nib and pushing into that housing a different nib.

 

Kindly tell me if one of you Conid Minimalistica or regular bulkfiller owners knows about this. Thanks

[Inkling13]

From what I understand, I may be wrong, but they use stock Bock nib assemblys, unless they pen uses their CAISO system, in which feed and collar are proprietary.

[TennesseeTrash]

It's a bock #6 nib unit. I've taken my nib and feed out of the plastic collar a few times. It just pulls out.

[mx-fan]

Thanks TennesseeTrash and Inkling13 for the info and help.

 

Today the DHL delivery man handed me the Conid regular bulkfiller, a very nice fountain pen indeed.

 

I easily slipped in my own #6 nib and tested it. Later, using the Conid video and the online Conid illustration (both for removal of the nib-feed collar of the regular bulkfiller), I tried to unscrew the nib-feed collar/housing but it wouldn't budge one bit. I thought I'd break something so I'll find out maybe here or from Conid if soaking the nib and feed in warm water with perhaps some dish washing liquid would help loosen up that assembly so it can be removed. If I ever get the nib-feed collar out, I'll probably apply some silicone grease to the threads of the plastic collar unless I'm told the grease isn't a good idea.

[mauckcg]

Thanks TennesseeTrash and Inkling13 for the info and help.

 

Today the DHL delivery man handed me the Conid regular bulkfiller, a very nice fountain pen indeed.

 

I easily slipped in my own #6 nib and tested it. Later, using the Conid video and the online Conid illustration (both for removal of the nib-feed collar of the regular bulkfiller), I tried to unscrew the nib-feed collar/housing but it wouldn't budge one bit. I thought I'd break something so I'll find out maybe here or from Conid if soaking the nib and feed in warm water with perhaps some dish washing liquid would help loosen up that assembly so it can be removed. If I ever get the nib-feed collar out, I'll probably apply some silicone grease to the threads of the plastic collar unless I'm told the grease isn't a good idea.

Did they send you a nib unit without the nib and feed? Otherwise you have an empty hole that needs an entire unit, nib, feed, and modified collar they use.

[mx-fan]

Did they send you a nib unit without the nib and feed? Otherwise you have an empty hole that needs an entire unit, nib, feed, and modified collar they use.

 

With the rest of the regular bulkfiller I got the nib-feed housing/collar (which is screwed into the section) and the Conid-modified feed (has a needle at the rear end) but not the #6 nib which I supplied. That's just how I ordered the pen.

[Lloyd]

I have the Minimalistica. It "should" just unscrew.

[mauckcg]

 

With the rest of the regular bulkfiller I got the nib-feed housing/collar (which is screwed into the section) and the Conid-modified feed (has a needle at the rear end) but not the #6 nib which I supplied. That's just how I ordered the pen.

It should just unscrew then. Keep in mind there is an O-ring right behind the collar, and one at the back of the unit. I think the first time I swapped nib units it took a little bit of force after soaking the end in warm water for a bit to try to spread everything out a bit.

[mx-fan]

Thanks mauckcg and Lloyd.

 

After making my posting here earlier today, I wrote to Conid asking about the warm water. Maybe someone at Conid might reply to me tomorrow (Friday) but I think Conid is or may be shut down on Fridays. It seems that the warm water worked for mauckcg so I'll try that in the future.

[sketchstack]

1. Pulling the feed and nib out of the Regular is as easy as any other pen. A simple friction fit.
2. Unscrewing the Regular nib unit can be ...strenuous. This is because there are o-rings involved. Mine were sticky, probably due to rubber-on-unpolished-ebonite friction without any grease.

At one point I truly thought I was going to snap the feed and was about to stop --until it finally rotated and I was able to unscrew it. After that I made an agreement with the pen that I'd only pull the nib and feed as opposed to unscrewing the entire nib unit. (To be fair this has happened to other pens, such as my Visconti HS.)

 

See this webpage for o-ring information so you know what's going on behind the scenes:

 

http://conidblog.com/how-to-replace-the-o-rings-in-a-regular-section/

 

Also see a broader range of topics: http://conidblog.com/how-to-2/

 

Good luck and enjoy the Conid. Rest assured that you're in good hands and they'll help you out if need be.

[mx-fan]

Thank you sketchstack for your help and information, and for the useful video and text information you have (on Conid fountain pens) at your website.

 

I did get a message today from Conid. Here's what I received (and I've not yet tried the warm water trick to try to extract the plastic nib-feed collar/housing):

 

 

I'm sorry to hear about your stuck-housing issue…

 

The housings get assembled by us with already a tiny bit of silicone grease on the threads + O-ring behind.

Nevertheless, we face this problem with stuck housing on a small percentage of our Bulkfillers. It is mainly due to the static ‘stick slip’ friction of the O-ring that prevents anything from moving.

 

I'm not sure if your warm water trick would work. But I don’t see any harm in trying so. If this works, I would love to hear feedback from you! The application of some fresh silicon grease on the threads + O-ring is – although not mentioned in the how to’s – a positive thing to do.

 

Our solution to this problem is providing a nib tool that can be inserted in the housing to unscrew it with better control of torque. The main problem is that this tool is yet to be produced. The current schedule is very tight but I will ask Johan when he expects to have them finished.

 

I will keep you posted!

Your feedback will be greatly appreciated as well.

Edited March 9, 2018 by mx-fan

[Bo Bo Olson]

Write Fountainble. ....who made the pen.

francis-goossens2@skynet.be

[mx-fan]

Write Fountainble. ....who made the pen.

francis-goossens2@skynet.be

 

 

Thanks for the email address Bo Bo.

 

I did compose a message to him using that email address but it was returned to me by the Internet's email monitoring system: I was told that email address is invalid (or perhaps the owner of that address blocks people unknown to him-- I don't know.)

[Bo Bo Olson]

Try him here under Fountainble.

[Lloyd]

Fountainbel

[mx-fan]

Fountainbel

 

 

Thanks Lloyd.

 

I did write to him earlier today before your latest posting on this matter.

[Lloyd]

Please keep us informed on this matter.

[mx-fan]

Please keep us informed on this matter.

 

I will Lloyd.

 

Perhaps fountainbel doesn't visit FPN often. Therefore, it might take some time before he reads my private message to him.

[mx-fan]

While I've not yet received a message from fountainbel, I found in the fountain pen forum of Reddit.com the following solution to freeing the stuck plastic nib-feed housing/collar in the Conid bulkfiller. Reddit users are young so the language used by some of those making comments to a posting can be "salty".

 

http://bit.ly/2GwMkaJ ( <-- When clicked, takes you to the Conid review thread in the Reddit.com forum on fountain pens)

 

5 Months with the Conid Bulkfiller [Pen Review] ( <-- Title of the posting but takes you only to images of the bulfiller. Use bit.ly URL to see text)

 

[–]klundtasaur[S] 30 points

1 year ago *

 

Ever since /u/raiaken posted his dissertation on demonstrators, I couldn't stop thinking about the Conid Bulkfiller. A completely unique filling system; high quality construction; and all metal parts of Titanium (finial, clip, cap band, blind cap, and nib).

Well, here it is--the pen I’d been lusting after for over a year. I wanted to give it a few months before I posted about it, just to see how I felt about it after the initial excitement wore off. So, here we are, 5 months in.

ORDERING 10/10

Conid was great to work with; they are a pretty small operation, & they actually take the time to read the remarks you put in the little comment box on their ordering page. I asked them to swap out the opaque Delrin section for a transparent acrylic one, and they happily obliged. Also, a few weeks after it arrived, I was trying to disassemble it to clean it, and the nib unit's collar was stuck in the section. They helpfully scheduled a time for both Werner (the chief engineer) and Johan (their nib specialist) to sit down and Skype with me from Belgium (it was like 5am their time) and teach me that a hex/allen wrench will fit into the collar and give you the necessary torque to unscrew it. 10/10, would contact again.

 

etc., etc., etc.

 

[End of excerpt from Reddit posting.]

 

..........

 

I did order two tools with my Conid regular demonstrator bulkfiller. One of them is a very small sized hex wrench. Maybe that's the one used by the person who posted in Reddit about his/her experience. I suppose the hex wrench is inserted in some way into the rear end of the nib-feed housing/collar rather than the front (nib) end but maybe I'm wrong about this.

Edited March 15, 2018 by mx-fan

[mx-fan]

Because I didn't understand something written by the Reddit.com member who got help from Conid, via Skype, I wrote again to that Conid regular demonstrator bulkfiller owner and found out that the tool is a 4 or 5 mm hex wrench which is inserted into the space where the nib and feed go. Since that wrench is a 6-sided object, it will almost fill all of the space in the plastic nib-feed collar/housing. He/she told me that one simply turns the wrench and said that the plastic nib-feed housing probably isn't badly affected by the hex wrench.

 

I have yet to try this.