Five Bad Things That Happen With New Pens

[Neujbashem]

Ok maybe i am in the wrong place if so please say so and please tell me where i should go. I just gat a Lamy Safari pen and it had been tested with blue ink. I have a friend that told me to do this. I was told to clear it out with water and then put my black in it. so thats what i did. I put water in it until it ran clear and no more blue came out I then put the new black ink in it. I writes but it is not dark like it should be and not as smooth as my friends pen. Please help I like pens but this is the first time i have spent more that a couple bucks.

[WirsPlm]

Ok maybe i am in the wrong place if so please say so and please tell me where i should go. I just gat a Lamy Safari pen and it had been tested with blue ink. I have a friend that told me to do this. I was told to clear it out with water and then put my black in it. so thats what i did. I put water in it until it ran clear and no more blue came out I then put the new black ink in it. I writes but it is not dark like it should be and not as smooth as my friends pen. Please help I like pens but this is the first time i have spent more that a couple bucks.

How long did you let the pen dry out before refilling it? If you refilled the pen while it was still wet, then the ink will be thinner and not work as well. I've had the same thing happen when refilling a pen if I didn't wipe everything off well and let it dry for a few hours before refilling.

[proton007]

How long did you let the pen dry out before refilling it? If you refilled the pen while it was still wet, then the ink will be thinner and not work as well. I've had the same thing happen when refilling a pen if I didn't wipe everything off well and let it dry for a few hours before refilling.

 

This, or maybe just flush and refill with ink without using any water.

[Squire]

I had my dog eat part of a new pen once. He was ok, the pen not so much...other than that tooth tends to be the most frequent problem I have had the displeasure of experiencing.

[Tresconik]

Right, I just discovered this technique for checking for misaligned tines without a loupe.

Very gently run the end of your fingernail horizontally on the tines, near the tip. If it gets caught in a particular direction, the tine is bent upwards.

Very useful for people checking new pens

[ISW_Kaputnik]

The approach I'm advocating here is to check all the other options before even thinking about attacking the nib with any form of abrasive. A loupe is a better investment than a nib smoothing kit, in my experience...

 

I've found the suggestions here very interesting, and sometimes useful. I have re-aligned the nibs on three or four pens now, and done a bit of cautious smoothing on a couple of others with micromesh.

 

But yes, better too much caution than too little. I've got a second nib assembly for my Vanishing Point, with a broad nib. It was acting just like the description of a nib with "baby bottom". Looking at it through a 10x loupe made this seem like a possibility. I was ordering some other stuff from Amazon anyway, so I threw in a nail buffer.

 

Still, I was really reluctant to risk spoiling this nib. So I gave it an extremely thorough flushing, put in a Pilot cartridge, and now it's working perfectly. The nail buffer will be there if I ever run across a real case of baby bottom.

[jccjr]

Boy, I should have stopped here earlier. Great info. Thanks!

[althanis]

I got a new Lami Sarari and my EF nib fell, and stopped working, so now I'm down to just my F.

[PDW]

I've found that Lamy Safaris are excellent for trying out nib grinding, smoothing and shaping. The metal is much softer than hard-alloy tips so you get results more quickly, and (really good news) if you do make a mess of your work replacements are very cheap and easy to fit.

 

After experimenting, starting with an Arkansas stone for heavy shaping and ending with jeweller's rouge smeared on paper for a final polish, I now have several stubs ground from Safari M nibs, and enough courage to try out more valuable nibs.

[Gump]

Does anyone know of a site that offers a package of all the items needed for basic nib smoothing and adjustment?

 

Goulet has one, but it seems somewhat overpriced, specifically the loupe: http://www.gouletpens.com/Goulet_Pen_Tuning_Package_Set_p/gpc-package-tuning.htm?CartID=1

 

[Alberez]

Does anyone know of a site that offers a package of all the items needed for basic nib smoothing and adjustment?

 

Goulet has one, but it seems somewhat overpriced, specifically the loupe: http://www.gouletpens.com/Goulet_Pen_Tuning_Package_Set_p/gpc-package-tuning.htm?CartID=1

 

I have posted a couple of times where can you get very soft 8000 and 12000 grit rubber backed sand paper. It is really great for smoothing nibs. The 8000 is a bit more aggressive, like if you want to correct something quicker, while the 12000 is the one I use for polishing mirror like surfaces.

Here are the links:

 

http://www.micromark.com/Micro-Mesh-8-000-Grit-4-Inch-x-6-Inch-Sheet,7606.html

 

http://www.micromark.com/Micro-Mesh-12-000-Grit-4-Inch-x-6-Inch-Sheet,7607.html

 

They are slightly "spongy", which helps in creating the round shape needed on the nib, not just a flat surface.

You can also get a loupe on ebay, they have thousands of them. Some are hand held and others are Watchmaker type, that you use gripping them with your eyebrow. I have one of those that even has an eyeglass frame and a led light attached to it. Obviously, the less you pay, the lower the quality would be. I would say, however, that they accomplish their function pretty decently... and they are cheaply replaceable.

 

Write on!

Edited September 29, 2013 by Alberez

[Alberez]

I got a new Lami Sarari and my EF nib fell, and stopped working, so now I'm down to just my F.

It fell on the nib? Is the nib twisted? "It stopped working" doesn't quite tell the story. Maybe you got some dirt between the tines and need to clean it... or maybe the tines just need alignment. Is the nib damaged?

Lamy nibs are quite easy to come by anyway. You can find them in ebay starting at 12 bucks or so.

 

Greetings

[85AKbN]

great info. thanks op.

[masterFAF]

Nice guide ! very helpful and covers the most common problems !

[2brothers]

Thank you so much for the great info!

[beboy]

Not sure if it's the right place to post this, but I didn't want to start a new thread with a known problem. I have a Von Graf Faber Castell nib that has some difficulties to start and is skipping once in a while (enough to be really annoying for a pen of that price range), even after various flushing and different ink trials. Bellow you can see a close-up of the nib. Is it a case of "baby bottom" or I am on the wrong track?

 

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5541/12050867344_d0e3c6dddc.jpg
nib intuition by benj_boyer, on Flickr

[Giorgia]

Hello everyone I'm Giorgia, a female university student and I'm studying the Delta pen. Could you give me some information about his fountain pens? What do you think about Delta ? Thank you for the kindness.

[WirsPlm]

Not sure if it's the right place to post this, but I didn't want to start a new thread with a known problem. I have a Von Graf Faber Castell nib that has some difficulties to start and is skipping once in a while (enough to be really annoying for a pen of that price range), even after various flushing and different ink trials. Bellow you can see a close-up of the nib. Is it a case of "baby bottom" or I am on the wrong track?

 

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5541/12050867344_d0e3c6dddc.jpg

nib intuition by benj_boyer, on Flickr

That looks like the the top of the nib slit is touching, but the bottom isn't quite, so I think it's not quite baby bottom but an issue with the nib slit not being correctly set. I'm not sure how to fix something like that though. Here's a link to Richard Binder's discussion of potential nib problems, I think the only that's relevant is the inverted canyong: http://www.richardspens.com/pdf/workshop_notes.pdf Edited January 23, 2014 by WirsPlm

[beboy]

That looks like the the top of the nib slit is touching, but the bottom isn't quite, so I think it's not quite baby bottom but an issue with the nib slit not being correctly set. I'm not sure how to fix something like that though. Here's a link to Richard Binder's discussion of potential nib problems, I think the only that's relevant is the inverted canyong: http://www.richardspens.com/pdf/workshop_notes.pdf

 

Thank you for the link and advice! I will dig that document carefully. I think you are right about the inverted canyon issue, but that was only superficial. Yesterday, I tried to polish the tip of the nib with a nail buffer, like Troglokev recommended, and the slit on the tip was even afterward. However, the nib had became scratchy, so this morning, I tried to polish it on a cylindrical piece of hematite (I'm working in the mineral exploration industry) I had on my desk. That's a lot better, more smooth (stills a bit scratchy) and so far I haven't noticed skipping. I am starting to have hope to recuperate that nib...

[AXCross]

The MB 149 I have picked up mid-December and didn't ink until mid-January ( I acquired two pens at the same time and only used one initially), turned out to have a leak near the section.. Dropped off for check-up.