Noodler's Ahab Setup For Beginners

[tanalasta]

Thank you for writing this comprehensive guide.

 

With all the Ahab threads around ... it's a nice 'go to'!

 

I have two Ahab's and have gotton pretty good at adjusting them by now. My other reference for adjusting the nib is actually the distance between the tipping and the tip of the ebonite feed. About 4mm to 5mm gap seems to be the sweet spot for me.

 

The breather tube is not essential. It helps to fill the pen up completely but even without it, you would get over 2/3 fill easy which is more than enough ink! The breather tube also makes it easy to flush the pen out ... by repeatedly cycling the piston like a syringe under a running faucet. It is by far the quickest pen I have ever flushed (other than using an ear syringe bulb in a c/c filler) WIthout it, ink tends to get trapped in the rod and needs a flick (like a mecury thermometer) to get it out.

 

I can attest to trying an entire fill or two without the breather tube and it writes fine. I flushed mine down the sink (or threw it out accidentally) on my inintial disassembly of the pen.

 

I will however thank Mr D. Egolf of Noodler's / Luxury Brands LLC who stocks Noodler's range who when contacted promptly sent me not only a replacement breather tube but also a BRAND NEW PEN as a surprise! Such aftersales service

Edited December 30, 2011 by tanalasta

[Oliwerko]

I went ahead and tried J. Herbin Rouge Hermatite today. It flows wet and nice, much less feathering than Ambre de Birmanie or Vert Empire. But most importantly - the behavior is CONSISTENT.

 

Ink choice is critical with this pen, and the performance depends greatly on the ink you choose.

 

There's a lot of fiddling though. Plus - the tines carve the paper hard. It's a great pen for the value, but now I'm thinking of getting a vintage flex instead of 4 more Ahabs

[bunnspecial]

I've had mine for a little over a week now. I'm new to fountain pens, but very much a "hands on" guy in pretty much anything I take an interest in. Thus, it's been a lot of fun for me to play around with it and get some real-world experience at seeing how adjustments translate into performance.

 

I find that mine works great when it's adjusted right under no flex, but I too have noticed the feathering problem under heavy flex. Although I've not yet bought any really high quality papers, the 28lb laser printer paper I bought performs really well under everything else I've thrown at it feathers badly when the pen is flexed.

 

Now that I've gotten a little bit of feel for how to use the flex, I too am wondering about the big world out there of vintage nibs.

[Oliwerko]

Just confirming the possibility to block the channels. To find an optimal non-feathering performance with J.Herbin Rouge Hermatite, I blocked 2/3 of the channels I opened with this putty I've had here lying for years. It works great - it's pretty rubberish, but easy to remove. I need to write smaller/slow down, but the feathering is gone.

[Leigh R]

This is a great summary thread. Thanks!

[SamCapote]

I have been using Purple Heart in one of the demonstrators, and see that water evaporates a bit faster that I would expect. Knowing that Noodler's starts with more concentrated dye inks, I have gotten in the habit of only pulling the plunger back about 3/4 the way. Then as I see evaporation losses, I hold the nib up, pull the plunger back all the way to suck most ink back in the chamber. Next, I wrap nib/feed in kleenex, and slowly push out most of the air space. Then I put the nib in a shot glass of clean distilled water, and draw it up to about 3/4 level. To mix the new water, pull back the plunger all the way again creating a new air space, invert a few times, then with tip held up in kleenex, push the plunger back to the 3/4 level.

 

If you are not using the pen a lot, you can counteract evaporation losses pretty easily, and extend an original bottle filling.

[JimB]

This seems to have helped me. I did manage to get the feed and nib out, saw an air bubble in the breather tube. I removed it, blew out the remaining ink to see if there were any bits of plastic or oily deposits inside it. It seemed clean, but I decided to just leave it off. I them reassembled the pen (minus breather tube) and it wrote quite well after a nudge to the plunger to get the feed loaded. Now I'm in the process of a longer test, letting it sit nib upright but capped in a cup. Hope this process has it fixed.

 

In any event, thanks so much for the detailed description and links. I've bookmarked this for future reference!

[FloridaMike]

3. Once railroading was taken care of, I found out that there is another serious issue - feathering and bleeding. The tines are very, VERY sharp. Combined with wet flow, this pen feathers and bleeds incredibly on cheap paper, and sometimes even on higher quality paper. You can clearly see the lines that the tines carve into the paper.

 

This is also dependent on ink. The Waterman I mentioned was fine to write with on ordinary inkjet paper, while the Herbin feathers so much that it's unusable. Which is really a pity, 'cause I really wanted to use that ink on daily basis with this pen

 

Now all I wish for is that the pen wouldn't feather, and that I would have some more feeds to play with.

 

I'm troubled by this issue with both my Ahabs. Any suggestions on how to smooth the tines a little bit?

[requiescat]

I wanted to say thanks to the OP for this post--I used an Ahab body to frankenpen a nib I liked and this guide was tremendously helpful! Even if the Ahab fought back by drawing blood twice.

[GClef]

http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/gclef1114/photobucket-18301-1332795571232.jpg

[ravantra]

Thank you Oliwerko. I just got my first Ahab (purple demo) and I followed your guide to clean and adjust my nib. I had to open 3 "channels" with an x-acto to get the right flow for me. What a great pen. Again thanks for posting this valuable info.

[GClef]

http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/gclef1114/photobucket-908-1332994415527.jpg

[GClef]

http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/gclef1114/photobucket-15402-1332998820192.jpg

 

 

http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/gclef1114/photobucket-18105-1332998733505.jpg

 

 

http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/gclef1114/photobucket-14396-1332998820190.jpg

 

[novarider]

I can't get my ahab to stop running out of ink! I opened 2 channels at the tip of the feed and that didn't help. I figured maybe I did the wrong end so I opened up 1 channel at the end of the feed and now it seems worse!! I can write a couple lines but then it dies up and the only way to get it wet again is to press down on the syringe to force ink down the feed then it happens all over again. It's so frustrationg!!!

[Lince]

http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/gclef1114/photobucket-15402-1332998820192.jpg

 

 

http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/gclef1114/photobucket-18105-1332998733505.jpg

 

 

http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/gclef1114/photobucket-14396-1332998820190.jpg

 

WOW this is cool!!!

I thought I was the only one not liking the ink in the pluger channel.

But without it as in the photo the pen looks neater.

I will try it with my next bottle of wine.

Thanks.

[P.A.R.]

I can't get my ahab to stop running out of ink! I opened 2 channels at the tip of the feed and that didn't help. I figured maybe I did the wrong end so I opened up 1 channel at the end of the feed and now it seems worse!! I can write a couple lines but then it dies up and the only way to get it wet again is to press down on the syringe to force ink down the feed then it happens all over again. It's so frustrationg!!!

Feed cutting is meant to add to already functioning flow. Try the methods in the original post, or you might try heat setting the feed with hot water.

 

It doesn't do you any good to put more powder in the gun if the firing pin is broken.

Edited April 1, 2012 by P.A.R.

[novarider]

I have tried the method above that's why I posted in this thread. The pen writes fine after I fill it. It will flex for a little while but then it starts railroading. If I set it down and come back 10minutes later it writes again. I have tried the feed pushed all the way in and I have tried the feed all the way out to where you can just barely see the feed past the nib when looking at the top of the nib. I have tried 9 fins showing nothing has stopped the RR. That's why I decided to cut the feed.

 

What exactly is heat setting?

[Ad_Astra]

Heat setting is the idea that you want to remold the feed slightly, so you heat it up just enough to soften it and then remold it into whatever new configuration you prefer. In your case, I believe the suggestion was because it's possible the feed itself has an imperfection that's preventing capillary action from carrying ink down to the tines, so heat setting it to a better "fit" might fix your problem.

 

Hope that helps! And hope your Ahab gets going!

[novarider]

From what I have read you are supposed to heat the feed from the bottom while its inserted in the feed holder section(what's this part called?)and use some pliers to gently squeeze them together while its hot. Is this correct?

[Miles R.]

I can't get my ahab to stop running out of ink! I opened 2 channels at the tip of the feed and that didn't help. I figured maybe I did the wrong end so I opened up 1 channel at the end of the feed and now it seems worse!! I can write a couple lines but then it dies up and the only way to get it wet again is to press down on the syringe to force ink down the feed then it happens all over again. It's so frustrationg!!!

Feed cutting is meant to add to already functioning flow. Try the methods in the original post, or you might try heat setting the feed with hot water.

 

It doesn't do you any good to put more powder in the gun if the firing pin is broken.

I have just gotten a new Ahab and have the exact same problem as Novarider, with the further wrinkle that when the pen writes at all, the ink flows excessively. When freshly uncapped, it will write about three excessively wet lines and then abruptly stop completely. If I then let it sit for a few seconds, I can write a few more words, and then it stops again.

 

I have dismantled the pen and cleaned it twice, the second time brushing the feed from every possible angle, first with ammonia solution, then with soapy water. The second cleaning brought out some particulate matter, but made no discernible difference to the performance of the pen.

 

I have tried setting the feed higher or lower on the nib. This sometimes seems to make a difference to how long the pen will write before going dry, but does not solve the main problem.

 

I am leery of making any permanent alteration to the feed, especially as the ink flow is already excessive when it occurs at all. The problem is not that the flow is insufficient but that it is fitful: it alternates between excess and complete failure. I have been using J. Herbin Lie de thé (though I wish now that I had chosen a cheaper ink for the purpose), which is ordinarily a very well-behaved ink of a medium-tone brown, but as it comes out of the Ahab it is dark chestnut because the flow has been so heavy.

 

Edited to add: Also, if you shake it when it has stopped writing, the pen sheds big drops of ink.

 

I have read this thread and several others on this problem and have not been able to gather anything that looks to me as if it would solve the problem. If I had to reduce my complaint to a single question, it would be this: Can cutting the vents ever solve a problem of interrupted flow without increasing the rate of flow?

Edited May 2, 2012 by Miles R.