Waterman Apostrophe - Skip On Start

May 7, 2013

What to do?!

Problem: skips on start of words - arrrgh!

This is a second hand pen recently bought off the eBay! Well - it wasn't overly expensive, but it is very annoying to take a look at the nib with a lens and find that the problem could very well be due to over-rounding of the nib bottom.

It only occurs after 1/3 of a page of writing following a fill, but then occurs repeatedly. Ink flow appears good and the output is good and wet. Once the ink hits the paper, all is fine and the nib tip never actually loses the ink. A full turn on the piston convertor (just at the point where ink behind the nib and feed is really visible as an increasing blob) and the pen is writing again great - albeit very slightly wetter than after the 1/3 page point, but not much.

I have drawn out what I believe to be wrong with the nib and some slightly disorganized ideas regarding the position of the ink in the nib tip and the distance of it from the paper, and possibly regrinding to bring the levels back to an 'ideal'. Also note that in the filled in cross section labelled 'actual' there is a slight twisting of one nib tine which may be making it wider at the wrong place.

(Because it could also be at least partly due to starvation of ink, so I will try siphoning through 20L of water with detergent through the feed backwards to see if any grot can be dislodged)

So far as I am aware, the nib/feed cannot be removed from this pen - rather annoyingly - without risking destruction of the feed.

Anyways, I bet several here have come across this kind problem in the past, and might be able to offer valuable pearls of wisdom in this case.

http://peggysparlour.co.uk/pubpics/watermanprobs.jpg

May 9, 2013

My apostrophe also had the same problem. But after 2-3 weeks of writing the problem disappeared! Apostrophe is very good pen to write. In India the Apostrophe with out the two end buttons( jewels?) is marketed by luxor as Phileas!

May 9, 2013

So far as I am aware, the nib/feed cannot be removed from this pen - rather annoyingly - without risking destruction of the feed.

Anyways, I bet several here have come across this kind problem in the past, and might be able to offer valuable pearls of wisdom in this case.

Not sure about the pearls but here are some observations, which might be helpful. Apostrophe has the feed/nib system similar to that of the whole group of Waterman's pens: Laureat, Graduate, Forum and some others. Feeds are not identical but nibs are freely interchangeable within the group. I am saying this to assure that Apostrophe's feed indeed can be pulled out (just checked with my Apostrophes). Do not rotate while pulling as the grip is cut in a way that assumes particular orientation of the feed.

You're probably right about the baby bottom but before you start sanding I would recommend you to try your luck with pulling the feed out (some soaking may help since the pen was not new and there may be caked ink in the feed) and thorough brushing the feed and the nib. It does require some efforts but not significant.

May 10, 2013

Progress - kind of!

Thanks to your reassurance, I managed to remove the feed/nib from the section.

It was amazing to see how much red/black ink was still remaining despite being soaked for 3 days and 'power-flushed' with my 60ml syringe and tube attachment (far right of photo).

So, yes there was a very small amount of 'crud' in the feed, but nothing to really speak of (it may not take much and I'm sure that some feeds are more forgiving than others - I'm still learning this stuff! )

However, really desperately more annoying is that small silver disk with a dark centre on the ink covered part of the nib - it is a corroding pit where the plate has obviously worn through and the steel base metal has started to corrode .

Since part of my job is electronic circuit assembly, I was wondering if it might be possible to 'tin' the pit and hence make it less likely to corrode any further? Anyone ever tried this?

So, maybe the best option is to try and find a new nib - it strikes me as a nightmare trying to find a replacement nib for such a basic pen! Where does one actually start to look? Hmmm...

http://www.peggysparlour.co.uk/pubpics/waterman-dismantle.JPG

May 11, 2013

I've never seen spare Waterman's nibs for sale (not that I've been intentionally looking for them) and maybe it would be easier to buy a snapped pen or something of that sort.

In any case, what you've got might be not that bad and the pen may work absolutely okay for a few years before the nib falls off. How did it write after reassembling?

Edit. By the way, I'm really impressed by your syringe. That's not for faint-hearted as one can easily flush the whole nib/feed unit away.

Edited May 11, 2013 by recluse

May 12, 2013

Following complete cleaning of nib (0.05mm flossing), feed, and section.

Nib corrosion pit detail below also one can see minor holes in other areas where the plate has gone through! Was this caused by acid ink in a past life I wonder?

http://www.peggysparlour.co.uk/pubpics/waterman-nib-corrosion.jpg

Now though, after the clean I have a passable result and the pen no longer skips at the start of every other word.

Result of test below:

http://www.peggysparlour.co.uk/pubpics/waterman-test-post-clean.jpg

So skipping now only occurs after the pen has not been in contact with the paper for 10 seconds or more. As evidenced from the starting line test at the bottom - progressively more time between successive lines with start position at vertical line (if that makes sense )

I am still interested in the idea of using a silver laden tin based solder to fill in the pit and possibly reduce corrosion a little . I may have a play if the skipping comes back or it starts to increase.

Cheers.

May 12, 2013

This is a success!

With regard to pit, I would probably look for a solution commensurate with my (very low) skills and would use some kind of paint to cover it. If you will manage to fix it it would be interesting to see.

Currently skips probably are caused by the baby bottom, as you've suggested from the very beginning, and can be dealt with easily.