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Switched out the frustrating Iridium Point no. 6 fine nib that originally came with this unbranded handmade ebonite fountain pen with an Iridium Point no. 4 medium nib from a cheap Chinese manufactured pen (the brand name of which I could never decipher because I don’t read the language!) And the results have been amazing. I speak about the whole process here: https://youtu.be/CbhxIU0OgPY

TWSBI FRANKENPEN Flex Hi all I've been in search of a twsbi with a flex nib and with some work I was able to tinker with a TWSBI Eco and an FPR Ultraflex to create a flexy TWSBI Eco and I wanted to share what I did and how it turned out. I have heard of Fountain pen revolution and recently I have had the pleasure of purchasing a few of their pens. Great pens and seamless experience. One of the pens that I purchased from FPR was the Indus pen. Comparing the feeds of the TWSBI Eco and the Indus, the feeds looked to be the same size. 1. The first thing I tried was straight swapping the nib/feed from the Indus pen into the TWSBI Eco. This wasn't successful because the feed while of a similar size was not exactly the same and didn't seat well into the Eco. 2. My next attempt was to take the feed from the Eco and put the FPR nib on it. At first glance there was a gap between the nib and the feed. When searching through fpn history I found that there were two possible solutions. Either to bend the nib to meet the feed or to somehow bend the feed to meet the nib. The recommendation was to whenever possible bend the feed. Bending the nib may result in tines too close together. 3. The solution is not recommended and not for the faint of heart but did work YMMV. Its common knowledge that you can heat set an ebonite feed, however the TWSBI feed is plastic. Per suggestions I boiled a cup of water and held part of the feed under water for 10 seconds. Then I slowly and little by little pressed the feed against a solid counter to force the feed to bend upwards (repeat as necessary, better safe than sorry). 4. At this point I put the FPR Nib + TWSBI feed and section together and ended up with a pen that wrote. Another problem arose while I fiddled with the nib. It was super loose ( no effort to remove the nib ). Back to FPN I went for suggestions. I found a few solutions, either to use shellac to create a wedging effect or to bend the nib at the base (furthest part of the nib away from the writing tip) by flattening it a bit. Also risky and not recommended for the faint of heart. Little by little I got the feed nib and section to play well together. I've attached some shots of the writing (first image I was running low on ink which caused the railroading)

A couple of years ago, I found myself on EBay bidding on two pens being sold by someone not familiar with fountain pens. As I recall, they had two Parker 45s and a Parker 61. Of the three, only the one Parker 45 with more in-focus photos was getting any bidding action. I zeroed in on what I hoped would be a double win. I was interested in the Parker 45 because, even though the photos were blurry and under lit, I could see that the nib was gold and that the cap was a nice stainless steel with a gold filled clip. Also, I have wanted to own a Parker 61 so I place bids on both and had over bid enough (I thought) to win the '61 as well as the '45. As it turned out someone else was waiting for the last 15 seconds and then out bid me on the '61. Oh well...I was going to get a Parker 45 with a gold nib! I paid the seller and waited. After about five days a plain manila envelope arrived with no absolutely no padding. I opened the envelope and was greatly disappointed. The barrel of the Parker 45 was in 3 pieces, two quite large and one so tiny that it was easily lost. I took photos and the seller refunded the purchase. I offered to return the broken pen but he said, "No, just throw it away." Well on closer examination, I realized that the cap was wrong! It was a Parker 61 cap! This meant that the person who out bid me on the '61 apparently received a Parker '61 with a Parker '45 cap. I took out the medium point gold nib and installed it in a nice black Parker 45 and put its stainless steel nib away. What to do? I listed the Parker '61 cap on Ebay. It was listed for nearly two months with no takers (that surprised me) so I eventually took it down. Then one day I thought, "what the heck." I got out the super glue and glued the barrel back together. They actually fit together quite nicely but the pen truly looked like "Frankenpen" what with the glue seams showing glaringly. After the pen had dried for about an hour (hey...I was experimenting and did not expect it to work anyway) I grabbed some 2000 grit wet or dry sandpaper and lightly sanded away at all of the seams under the kitchen faucet. What emerged was a pen barrel that at first glance looks totally fine. Closer examination will, however reveal the seams and one small, tiny, tiny, tiny (did I say tiny?) piece that had disappeared in the envelope and was too small to glue in there anyway. As you can tell in photos, the section of this pen has suffered from the plastic shrinking somewhat but I was able to fit the stainless steel nib that I had into this pen. I got a real cheap Jinao International converter (the short variety) and drilled out the opening to fit the Parker, loaded the pen with some Hero 232 Blue Black (a fine ink if you can find it anywhere anymore) and was pleasantly surprised. My little Parker 45/61 Frankenpen goes with us everywhere. It is aboard our boat each sailing season in the navigation drawer. All log entries are made with that pen. It has been in my carry on luggage to Europe and been loaned out a few times. It is a very smooth writing pen and believe it or not, the Parker 61 cap, while not feeling quite as secure on the barrel as a 45 cap does the job. The pen can sit idle for a week or so and still start right up. In addition to the Hero 232, I have run KWZ IG Blue #1, Sailor Jentle Blue, and Hero Carbon Black in the pen. It doesn't seem to mind. I was going to find a new barrel and section and then just move the nib over and create a "perfect Parker 45 with a new cap" but you know what? I love my lowly Frankenpen! So, in relating this story to you, it occurred to me that perhaps there are other Frankenpens out there that have a unique story and are actually being loved and used. Frankenpen anyone? The pen as it arrived: ...and after the glue job and wet-sanding...

Ok, since for many of us life seems to be about making lemonade, as in, dealing with the many, many lemons we are given I thought a little humorous thread about Pelikan pens might be in order. I am going to kick this off with something that started from one of those lemons mentioned earlier, namely the shrunken and cracked inner cap of a Pelikan 500NN. As I investigated it and took the cap apart I also noticed that the inner cap had separated from the shell and was quite frankly, beyond repair. I had had the pen as my desk pen for a long time, housed in the bakelite Pelikan trumpet pen holder so no real change there, it was just kept assigned to desk duties, alas, now more permanently. Then I remembered that I had parts of a broken Gimborn 150 - Pelikan’s dutch cousin, similar to the 140 - lying about I paired its rather pristine cap with the body of the 500NN. And presto, this lovely #frankenpelikan was born. Kind of reminiscent of a Pelikan 300 but with that lovely drop-shaped clip that hails from the earlier era of Pelikan pens (100, 100N & IBIS). I think they pair really well but then again, that might be just me. Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/p/Bzh6lAjhqKW/ Do you have any strange or fun frankenpelikan combinations lying about? Or something more humorous with a Pelikan pen as the centerpiece that you might want to share? I am sure those birds like to have fun. Let's get creative!

I'm particularly fond of the gold-trim one second from the left - it has a 12k nib. I also like the gold-trim demonstrator a lot; it doesn't exist "in the wild." I built it from parts. The parts are mostly interchangeable with the parts from Hero 616s, so if, e.g., you want to replace the dorky plastic "jewels" in your 601s with metal ones, Hero 616s are a cheap source of trim parts.

I've wanted to try a gold nib in my Rose Gold 580 for a while. Not because there was anything wrong with the stock nib, but, well, just because. Each time I ended up with a nib from an unrecoverable vintage pen, I'd give it a try. Every one was the wrong size - too long, short, broad or narrow. When I ended up with this Skyline nib, it looked about right when compared side by side, so I pulled the nib and feed and it just slid in. I had to do a bit of heat setting to get the feed in contact with it, but it now writes very well. The feed doesn't supply enough ink to allow it to flex to its full extent without railroading, but it's smooth and very pleasant to write with. Mario

I just got hold of a couple of NOS Parker 15 pens from the Newhaven-era. One is a Matte Black GT and the other a Energy Yellow Demostrator. I want to create a frankenpen out of the two by using the clear section of the Demo on the Matte Black cap and barrel, but I want the gold nib on this clear section. Anyone knows how to safely remove the nibs out of these pens? Thanks beforehand!

So, I finally attempted a nib replacement- a Zebra G nib in a Jinhao x450. I think it worked pretty darn well!

A week or so ago I picked up a couple of Delike Elements from Amazon. I had read a few enthusiastic reviews of the "mini fude" nib and was looking forward to investigating them. I'm sad to say that of the four Delike nibs now in my possession (EF, F, and two mini fude) none of them were ones that I am at all inclined to spend any time writing with. Only one was any good at all, and the mini fude nibs were truly truly terrible. I mean, these nibs were born on the side of the hill, one tine longer than the other tine still. Twisted tips, off center *and* off angle slits, bad grind with burrs all over the place both right side up and upside down. Sadness. All the same, it's a pretty cool pen. The same #5ish Jinhao nibs that go into the 8802 will fit in here just fine. I turned one of the two Elements into a sketch pen for my mom using a fude version of such a nib. The one I kept for myself I did something a little more fun (at least, I think so) with. I really dislike the Bock nibs in most Kaweco pens. On the other hand, I really like the JoWo nibs found in the Kaweco Perkeo. The Perkeo itself, though, I find kind of lackluster. I'm not a fan of the section facets, and its whole presentation lacks a certain "cool fountain pen gravitas." (I understand the reason for this is that it's targeted at youngsters; all the same it's not my preferred choice of delivery systems for those nifty Black Oxide JoWo nibs). The tiny Kaweco Lilliput takes the same nibs (I think they're called #2 even though they're not 2mm across) as the Sport. But the Delike Element is EXACTLY the right size to fit the Perkeo nibs, and the raw bronze deluxe clip from the Lilliput will fit, if you widen the collar just a little bit. And so, here is the Kawecified Delike Element. I think it's a pretty slick pen, and the irony cracks me up. (BTW, I replaced the Delike converter - which rattles like CRAZY - with one of those "deluxe" Jinhao ones that have a brass-colored band. It's a nice tight fit and doesn't shake around.) With Jinhao 159 for scale comparison:

This thread is for the fans of Frankenpens like me Story short: I own a Pilot 823 with a broad nib and I like the pen but dislike the nib. So I am looking for a nib replacement and Montblanc 146 nibs are normally nice to use and can be bought individually. I already tried to fit a JoWo nib from Franklin-Christoph, but it's too long. Has anybody ever tried to fit a 146 nib in a 823? I worry more about the length of the nib since Pilot nibs are usually short. The width seems to be pretty much the same (#15 from Pilot and #6 western nib) Maybe a nice Waterman vintage nib from the 1920s to 1940s would do the job?

Had an extra Jinhao x750 and a Zebra G nib (titanium) lying around, and saw the hype of the frankenpen you could make with these. Thought, "Hey, this seems easy, I could do that!" YouTube videos and tutorials spun a picture of ease and simplicity. And yet, seven hours (not exaggerating) of trying yielded no results - except for a stuck nib and feed. Heat setting had no effect on the stubborn feed, and pliers upon the nib to try and flatten it slightly resulted in much frustration when the nib failed to rest on the feed satisfactorily. I've read the forum pages and watched videos and done exactly as they said... yet, nothing. I'm at a loss of what to do. How do you do this ardous task so (seemingly) effortlessly?

Hi all, So I was browsing through fleabay and I have stumbled upon a very interesting franken pen sold by Michael on ebay. It is custom build demonstrator vacumatic Parker 51 combo with mechanical pencil. Really weird, I have never seen anything like this pen, but i do think it is really cool looking pen, if you ask me. Cheers Milan

Call me crazy.. is it possible to swap a Montblanc nib onto a Pelikan nib unit? did some research without any findings. Looking at the Pelikan M1000, the nib looks awfully disproportionate while the Montblanc 149 nib looks asthetically more pleasant. My question is.. has anyone tried to swapping a 149 nib in a M1000? or a 146 nib in a M800? I know it's a sacrilege to do/ask that ):

I unexpectedly got some pens parts in the mail today (several days early. Thanks Goulet!) and proceeded to form my newest creation: a Stylomine 303 with working accordian sac, a Nemosine 0.8 mm reentry nib, and a Noodler's Ahab feed. It works! Now all I need to do is find a breather tube that fits so that its ink capacity can be maximum!

I need a new breather tube for a frankenpen I am modifying. It needs to fit in the Ahab feed but has to be longer than the typical Ahab tube. Does anyone have suggestions for where I can get appropriate tubes/tubing?

So last year I had a broken Aurora Ipsilon body. I finally found a donor body from my Monteverdi Invincia deluxe. Success come with an addiction....... So this year I wondered what else I could mix and match. I have recently acquired a pilot falcon resin which I adore. I do find the body light. So I thought 💡. Why not? So my falcon section happens to screw right in. The disease is spreading

I found I have lying around the following few items: A Waterman 52 barrel with properly functioning lever box; a "Warranted 14c 1st class" gold nib, fitted to a Waterman 52 section; a slip cap rather like that I have seen on Onoto and which happens to fit neatly over the 52 barrel over the threads. By adding a sac, I can make what I expect would be a sound, writing pen. Would you? I don't need the pen. For that matter, I do not need the parts. Such a pen would not excite me but PIF has two problems, one being that I am in Oz (postage) and the other being that the parts may be worth more alone. However, selling involves time and effort for relatively low value items. Maybe I should make it rather than leaving the parts lying about uselessly. I am interested in your views, or what you have done.

After days of tweaking, heat setting, carving and sweating i have finally obtained an almosdt perfect jinhao x750 flex pen. How i did it: At first i flushed the pen, got the friction fitted feed out, and replaced the nib with the flex one i had, aligning the first slots on the feed with the ones on the nib. Then i heat setted the feed on the nib, by clamping the tip of the feed with the nib and putting it in boiling water until it set. Then i took everything out, and eith a razor and a lot of patience made the ink flow slots larger and deeper, so that it would improve ink flow, i put everything together, rinsed it thoroughly and then proceeded to add ink. I added Montblank Mystery black, and when it was in the converter, i took it out, dipped the tip of a needle in dish hoap and added an extremely small amount by dipping the needle in the converter. I proceeded by priming the nib, letting two drops fall and then started writing. IT'S SO MUCH FUN!!! 53428489514__FFB3714A-5666-4AAB-90B4-780D628C3F6A.MOV

Hello, I recently bought a nice enough Esterbrook J pen body with an intact bottom jewel and a 1554 nib in decent shape. Only trouble is, this pen had no cap. I've been looking on eBay and Etsy for folks that have a cap to sell with no luck. FPN looked like a great place to advertise for said cap, but I'm not allowed to post in classifieds until I'm a Gold Member. So, I'm asking here if anyone has a spare parts cap that they are willing to sell at a fair price. If push comes to shove, I am willing to buy a cap that doesn't match color-wise and just call it a Frankenpen! I just want to have a complete pen in hand some day. I had success with putting a new sac in an Esterbrook desk pen, so with that under my belt, I wanted to also gain experience by putting a new sac in this pen. However, a pen without a cap... Thank you FPN members for any help you can give me.

Hi! I am relatively new to fountain pens and would like to try out a flex pen, without a huge investment. Initially, I added an Ahab to my wishlist, but the reviews make it seem a bit too finicky for my comfort level. Now, I'm considering buying a replacement Noodler's flex nib and putting it into some other pen. (the nibs come in #2 or #6). Are there any pens at $15 or less which would be good to frankenpen into a flex? Thanks!

PIF: TWSBI Vac 700 in translucent blue - actually it's a frankenpen, as the nib is a smooth Jinhao medium. The new owner has to order replacement rubber seals (the two rubber thingies at the end of the plunger rod, which are essential for filling the pen and for the shutoff function, keep coming loose), which can be had at postage cost from TWSBI (whatever the problems with their pens, the customer service is exemplary in my experience). I'm going to send the pen on Tuesday, so please send a PM if you are interested by Monday, explaining in brief the reasons for your interest. Please remember to PIF too when you are done with it, not sell it.

hey all, i've seen a lot about replacing the nib in a jinhao 450 or 750 with a zebra G nib to get a flexy fountain pen, and I was wondering if the same would be possible a 599, because I'd really like a demonstrator with a flex nib. thanks for any advice!

Hello all I've lost the barrel of my favourite EDC pen: my Platinum PTL-5000. I (used to) keep it in the pen slot on the back of my Hazard 4 Badger ID card holder, and one day the barrel came unscrewed and disappeared without me noticing :-( I can't find replacement barrels but have an interesting "Frankenpen" question to solve my problem. I can get a Platinum Maki-e rollerball slightly cheaper than buying a new PTL-5000 fountain pen (http://www.andys-pens.co.uk/platinum-makie-rb-phoenix?tag=modern&sort=rating&order=DESC). Does anyone know if the sections are interchangeable between the fountain and rollerball pens, ie - can I use the barrel from the rollerball with the section / nib / converter / cap from my fountain pen? Thanks in advance if anyone can help Chris

Hello, I broke my Skyline pen while filling it. The reports of skyline plastic being brittle are very true. This nib is a little gem though, it is custom ground to a stub and I want to keep using it. Which other pen can accomodate it? Measurements: 6mm at nib's base, 2,7cm length. http://i.imgur.com/bgCPwkwg.jpg http://i.imgur.com/aNk3GdP.jpg

Okay so I'm new to the forum and newish to fountain pens. So please excuse my stupidity. But I got a Aurora Mar Adriatico, which I love aesthetically but has a writing experience that isn't for me. And I have a Nakaya Naka-ai, which has a writing experience that is perfect for me. So my dumb question is would it be possible for someone trained (not me) to fit the Aurora with a Nakaya nib? Let me know! Thanks Bri