Pilot Custom 742 Falcon Nib: Bad Railroading

[figosmum]

Update from me, too:

Couldn't get that little tube out for the life of me. It moved only less than 1 mm and got stuck completely. Now, the pen has stopped working altogether. It so infuriated me that I threw it into a drawer and will leave it there until I manage to keep my zen and not just snap it in two when trying to fix it next... biggest frustration in 27 years of using fountain pens!!! Especially since when it writes (or better: wrote...), it's so much fun!

[AltecGreen]

I can not believe that Pilot will not address this issue. It seems like everyone is having problems with the pilot flex nibs railroading. Pilot should not sell them as flex nibs, if they will railroad so badly.

 

Does Pilot call these nibs soft instead of flex? Has anyone gotten a response from them on the railroading issues? I almost bought a Pilot 742 but was fortunate enough to come across some of the posts about railroading.

 

 

Pilot call these soft nibs. They were never intended for flex writing in the Western sense. You can find similar problems with the Nakaya elastic nibs which also have the cutouts. As designed, they are meant to give a soft feel. Railroading can only occur if the tines are spread which means people are applying pressure. The nib and feed was not intended for this kind of writing. People want to buy these as flex nibs because they are easily available even though they are not designed as such. People need to remember that Japanese and Chinese calligraphy is done with a brush and not a flex nib.

 

If you want to use them for flex writing, then modifying the feed is probably the best solution. If you get a Nakaya elastic nib, you can tell Nakaya that you want to use the nib for Western calligraphy and they will optimize the feed for such writing. The stock feed is not set-up for such writing.

[Ouroboros]

The problem with mine is not the railroading (which it does), it's the actual act of writing. With no flex at all and writing slowly it would regularly just stop writing, then start, then stop, then start, then stop. The intermittent nature was what was killing me.

 

Now thanks to some help from watch_art I've performed surgery and I've got a Franken-Falcon nib now. I've pulled the breather tube AND I've widened the feed. Yes, that is a little scary. There really isn't much room for error and the plastic is quite soft in some areas. One slip and that's it - it's all fouled up.

 

The results are a very wet writing and it's much better. I haven't signed off on it yet but it may be acceptable. That being said, I think it's ridiculous the amount of work that has to be done to get this pen to write. I'll try to post a full review of the pen and all the adventures this week.

 

Figosmum - I had the same issue. I found that soaking the nib for a minute in hot water (straight from the kettle) for a minute, then using the shaft of a drill bit push against it(don't push on the bit with your finger, turn the whole thing upside done and press it against a piece of wood). Now I was only getting a mil or two at a time and then maybe with it halfway out it stuck. I used a lubricant and had to use pliers in the end and even then it was like pulling teeth and I damaged the breathing tube a little. So be warned.

[toomanypelikans]

I found using Pilot Iroshizuku inks has given me the least railroading with my Pilot Custom 742 FA.

[alvarez57]

:embarrassed_smile: ...not me!

 

I have no railroading with my Falcon, now I have to add a heck lot of pressure to get the tines flexed! And it does give me a nice wet line with no fixin' nutin'.

 

http://inlinethumb30.webshots.com/46621/2718141430105226730S600x600Q85.jpg

 

 

 

This is with a true vintage flex (wet noodle)

 

 

http://inlinethumb61.webshots.com/3068/2768734930105226730S600x600Q85.jpg

 

 

My handwriting is nowhere near figosmum! Very nice handwriting!

[USN Air TrafficController]

How do you widen the channel? What sort of tools did you use? I'm having the same problem even after removing the breather tube. Frustrating!

[Ouroboros]

Oh yes, this is a frustrating nib - no doubt about it. I used a razor blade to carefully widen the feed as instructed by watch_art. Here are the important things:

 

DO NOT start the cut from the back and go forward. The channel does not go all the way, it stop at the very front. If you nick/cut the front then the pen will drip ink. So instead, start from the front and move back, that way if you slip its not the worst.

 

DO NOT press down hard and cut all the way through the channel. There is an opening there, but you don't want to make it larger, it's just the feed you want to adjust.

 

DO make very light parallel cuts on either side of the existing channel. How much to widen by? When I started the side of razor was too snug to fit in the feed, after I was done it was a snug fit. I'm guess I took off a thousand of a inch or so - not much. So the best advise is to make a light shave or two, fit it all back together and try. Better to do that once or twice rather than overdo it. You can't make the feed narrower.

 

I'm hoping to write a review of the whole adventure on the weekend but if there's any more info I can give I'm more than happy. And again, all I know watch_art told me.

[Margana]

My 742FA sounds pretty typical as the railroading shows up only after some use and at that only on descenders where I tend to press slightly harder. It would most accurately be graded a soft medium nib that works best with a light touch. That is not how Pilot presents it which is an unfortunate mistake for a very well built pen.

 

I have dabbled in both Western and Asian calligraphy but found the 742FA to be disappointing for both. There is no way to get a really fine line from mine with a transition to a broad line in the way vintage flex works. Asian calligraphy doesn't require the line variation or connected characters. However, good flow is needed though I think the modification described here might overdo the flow for my purposes.

 

Still on days when my hand needs minimal stress, the 742FA is a decent pen for general if brief use.

[laser8]

It seems I got lucky with mine. As I already discussed with Iosepus within my review of this pen, it may well be that using a Iroshizuku ink could at least partially solve the problem.

[USN Air TrafficController]

ok, thanks everyone. I will try that ink before performing surgery on the feed. again, thank you.

[Leigh R]

I removed the nib from the pen, found a feed from somewhere else, stuck both in a Waterman 12 body. It works, but it is rather extreme. Read the comment thread after for more interesting links on the subject.

[USN Air TrafficController]

Leigh, I saw a comment on your link about swapping nibs with am 823. Do you have any experience doing this? I'm sure someone here has taken apart an 823 but I haven't seen it yet. Hopefully it's not complicated and would be a better alternative to surgery.

[DanielLiao]

Oh yes, this is a frustrating nib - no doubt about it. I used a razor blade to carefully widen the feed as instructed by watch_art. Here are the important things:

 

DO NOT start the cut from the back and go forward. The channel does not go all the way, it stop at the very front. If you nick/cut the front then the pen will drip ink. So instead, start from the front and move back, that way if you slip its not the worst.

 

DO NOT press down hard and cut all the way through the channel. There is an opening there, but you don't want to make it larger, it's just the feed you want to adjust.

 

DO make very light parallel cuts on either side of the existing channel. How much to widen by? When I started the side of razor was too snug to fit in the feed, after I was done it was a snug fit. I'm guess I took off a thousand of a inch or so - not much. So the best advise is to make a light shave or two, fit it all back together and try. Better to do that once or twice rather than overdo it. You can't make the feed narrower.

 

I'm hoping to write a review of the whole adventure on the weekend but if there's any more info I can give I'm more than happy. And again, all I know watch_art told me.

do you have any picture to show us your pilot feed?

[DanF]

If you use Pilot inks you should be fine, I get no railroading with my 742 and Pilot blue or Blueblack.

 

Dan

[DanielLiao]

If you use Pilot inks you should be fine, I get no railroading with my 742 and Pilot blue or Blueblack.

 

Dan

In my experience even use pilot cartridge, it is still have railroading.

 

I think it is hard to use words to explain my experience. FA has some problems , it is not only for people writing in English but also in Chinese.

[Dufffader]

Sorry for resurrecting this thread. After putting it off for years, my Custom 912 was railroading so badly I decided to take out the breather tube thanks to this thread. Removing the tube was easy enough. I used a watch bracelet pin tool - Wenger Minothor and it was easy enough without any need to use pliers.

 

Right after removing, I did a test writing with flexes, fast writing, etc and it is nice and wet now. No more railroading so far. Used Noodler's Army Green.

 

Thanks for the tip!

[Dufffader]

Well, I wrote that earlier post too quick... after refilling the 912, the ink started gushing out, no doubt because of the size of the hole where the breather tube used to be. The pen was way too wet and sometimes drops of ink would get on the paper. Worked on a fix by covering the hole where the feeder tube used to be. I took a piece of plastic and shaved it to a size that I felt was right... more space for air to get into the reservoir than the standard feeder tube, but significantly less than an open space. So far so good... It seems to have the right wetness and at least I dont get droplets of ink on paper anymore.