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After my Man 100 dumped ink everywhere for the 3rd or 4th time this week I decided to investigate what is going on. Something looks strange to my inexpert eye (apart from the corrosion, obviously). Does the position of the feed look correct in these photos? Specifically, should that lip at the end of nib support be in the position it is in (with a gap between it and the section) or further back into the section? Assuming adjustment is necessary how does the feed move into the section on the Man 100. Is it a friction feed or a screw-in feed?

For Christmas I received a flock of Jinhao 750 pens -- then purchased a small number of Zebra G Titanium nibs with the goal of converting the pens I did not give as gifts to use with a flex hack. Help here on FPN and lots of You-Tube, I converted only two of the remaining pens successfully (almost) to where normal script works OK most of the time. I had cleaned the nibs well before replacing them in the 750s. I discovered that the feeds (several good inks tried) cannot keep up with and flex. On You-Tube I found an engineer/chemist who partially solved this problem by realizing the ink flow properties of ebonite are not replicated by plastic. And since these pens are cartidge pens made in China, their feeds are designed just for cartridges and being inexpensive.. Apparently experience has been that ebonite wears and breaks if used or modified to work with cartridges or refill assemblies. Digging a wider channel in plastic does not work to increase flow either. The chemist went to work to see if he could change the surface of the plastic to be more like ebonite in carrying ink. Hed put his Jinhao plastic feeds into an Ozone generating oven for 30 minutes which did "corrode" (his term) the surface of the plastic enough to increase its ability to feed to flex uses by, he estimates, 30 percent. I have seen no tests of the longevity of this partial cure. I cannot afford an Ozone Oven, and currently know no one at the University that has access. I have looked at making one (oven) as a hack -- but keeping the oven sealed with the Ozone in it starts the list of problems -- another being my lack of electrical knowledge to make electrical sparks efficently and safely enough on a budget WITHOUT blowing every fuse on my block and risking leakoing Ozone Exposure respiratory problems. SO _ HAS ANYONE ELSE been crazy or knowledgeable enough to pursue and possibly solve the problem of hacking or easily and inexpensively replacing Jinhao 450 and 750 plastic feeds to have them work properly with the flexing Zebra G Nib? Or, failing spending a large sum, has anyone come up with a fountain pen solution for good flex for we who are on miniscule fixed incomes with age preventing us from getting a regular job? (At age 76 I have earned the right to ask this last question.) I openly admit I am a sort of newbie in some ways -- and chose to get back into handwriting with fountain pens because I thought I could afford the time and cash to get a few cheap Chinese pens, some nibs, and work for the next couple of years to get script (Spencarian I think) my mother used with ease and grace with examples going back to WWI and continuing well into her 88th year and a futile heart surgery death.

I have this unusual Swan feed; at least it is unusual to me. Does anyone know which model it belongs to?

Lately I've been looking for pens with interesting feeds. What I've found so far: Transparent feeds: Platinum Cool Pilot Petit1 Wingsung 698 Matching feeds: Vintage Waterman Red Ripple with red ebonite feed (apparently very rare to find intact because the red ebonite was more brittle than black?) Aurora Sigaro with brown ebonite feed And...that's it. That's the whole list of everything I've discovered thus far. The feed is an under-advertised feature of fountain pens, so it can be difficult to search for them. For instance, if I hadn't picked up and turned over a Sigaro in Dromgoole's a few weeks ago I wouldn't even know the feed matched, because I can't find a picture of the feed ANYWHERE online. Any help adding to this list?

Hi All, I would like to share some of the things that I have created with my 3d printer specifically for my fountain pens. Here is a picture of some of the iterations of the things that I made. I will talk about them in more detail below. 1) The interlocking parts at the top are cross sections of a pen tray system that I designed. The idea is that you can print as many of them as you like and they will just sit one next to the other. The clip at the top of the ark is used to hold down a suede like fabric that is gentle on the pens. I did a few iterations until I arrived at something I liked... but decided that the trays were taking too long to print so gave it up. 2) The feeds at the bottom are my attempt at a zebra-g nib feed that pools the ink so that it does not get dry as I flex the nib. I did a few iterations of that too... the first 2 tries did not work so well, but I am really looking forward to testing the third one at some point. A pen with this kind of nib is not going to leave home (in my mind) so having a lot of pooling ink like this is not a huge deal. 3) The wrench-ish thing in the middle is a piston wrench for the 149... the piston on mine was very rough... so I did some handleless prints of the jaws and when it all fit... I print one with the handle... I used it to disassemble the pen and it is now greased and working so well 4) I wanted my KoP to hold more ink so I decided to create an eye dropper vessel (aka a cartridge) that would hold the maximum capacity that would fit in the barrel, so I measured the converter out and modelled it. After a couple of iterations and test fits, it turns out that the result was not water/ink proof. The solution was: cover it in super glue... wait for the glue to dry then sand off the excess... it works quite well and holds approximately 1.2ml of ink. And finally 5) This is the hex wrench for omas caps that use a hex screw to hold the inside of the cap and the clip to the cap... I have already posted the details of that one here https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/321667-omas-milord-loose-clip/ Hope this helps/amuses someone

Writing is good, but a picture says more than a thousand words. The topic on fountain feeds on my website is almost completed. What's missing is a page, which brings all the information together, in samples of application. My idea is that I would show close up photos or detailed drawings of feeds of various types and show how they work. I tried taking close up photos, with not much success. I don't have the equipment. I tried drawing them, with not much success, either. What I am looking for are links to places where they display such photos or drawings people who would give me their photos or drawings for me to use in my website. I am hoping. In the meantime, I will write about other fountain pen things. PS: to admin... if you think this thread should be placed better in another area, feel free to tell me or do it. Thanks. PPS: In case you want to see what I am up to, the link to my site is in the signature, Fountain Pen Magic

I was thinking about my pens and I got to wondering about feeds and how different they all look, and how their shapes might influence performance. My Lamy Safari has a very streamlined feed, sloping up parabolically against the nib. The Vanishing Point has a tiny feed fitted to its tiny nib, Pelikans and Auroras have stout feeds that I find attractive, the Pilot Custom 823 has a kind of combination, with a very Lamy Safari looking portion with a hole near the nib's tip broadening into a flat section with fins near the section. Sailor feeds have an area which seems to be under the breather hole where a tiny cube would fit. Some feeds fill the whole underside of the nib, and others leave plenty of space in every direction. Is there a functional difference that leads manufacturers to design their feeds with so many shapes, or is it mostly aesthetic? They all do their job despite coming in so many different shapes and sizes. Are there flow differences between shapes; is it a matter of designing a feed that goes along with the nib's geometry; a feed that goes along with the design of the pen? Is there a particular design that's well suited to tolerating differences in pressure, temperature, and humidity? Ebonite seems to be very respected as a feed material - would a feed made of ebonite be preferred over a plastic feed of the same shape?

Dear community, I recently purchased a Mabie Todd L205/47 which I want to restore. The original nib and feed, which I believe would have been a Swan #2, has been replaced with a #1. These are, of course, too small for the section, so the nib does not sit snugly in the section. Can anyone steer me in the right direction to find a replacement nib and feed? The sac I'll need shouldn't be as tricky to locate, but tips are always welcome! Many thanks in advance, Gwen

Several years ago, I bought 12 Cross pens of the same model, although I don't know the name of the model. I got the pens at a very good price. All nibs are either fine or extra-fine, which was what I needed at the time because I was constantly entering notations on data reports. Since I no longer do that type of work, I would like to replace several of the nibs with larger sizes. I assume the Cross nibs are #5 (?). The photo shows the Cross nib next to a #6 Noodlers nib. Would just about any #5 nib work, or is the Cross feed suited only for the Cross nib? Thanks! PS - Please let me know if this post needs to be in the Nibs and Tines section.

I have seen a few posts on the site about flow issues with both these pens , some of these flow issues could be of course not cleaning before inking , badly set nib tines etc... I have 2 of each of these pens and I have flow issues with only one of them the X750 in shimmer sands finish I have tried numerous things to cure this including re-cutting the feed channels widening these which helps to some degree and also using a converter with an agitator to break the surface tension of the ink which again helped also. One thing though that I have noted and please check this out in case its my eye deceiving me but in SBRE Browns video shoot out between the two pens , his x750 as a different feed to the x450 whereas mine are identical , now this my not be relevant but perhaps the x750 originally had a different feed somewhat larger and for some reason they now use the x450 feed in this X750 pen, this may not be the offending issues but it is something to consider I think If you go to Sbre browns Utube channel you will find the video and see what you think ? As I said if you keep the faith and keep messing eventually the X750's that are not so good do write well and some write well straight out of the box! I suppose if we understood everything life would be boring right? Cheers Matt

Hi all, Lamy USA used to offer spare Lamy 2000 feeds for sale, but that option seemed to be gone now. Would anyone have an idea where to get spares? Thank you!