Noodler's Ahab Setup For Beginners

[SamCapote]

Mik86, take a break from it....but realize that all your tinkering is teaching you things about FP's that most people today never learn. A couple decades ago, it was common to work on your own pens, which is one of Nathan's points.....what's the use if you buy an expensive pen, and then are held hostage getting it fixed by only a select few nib/pen meisters that have long delays and can charge hefty prices. I have nothing against those experts, and have used a number of them...but there really is a lot people can do themselves if they have an inexpensive way to learn.

 

Torstar, thanks for your post. It is my opinion that the vast majority of these pens work just fine for people. I don't really use the Ahab that much for flexing because I already had vintage pens that can do that. Most people have never had or seen a pen that can do any kind of flexing, so it can be a nice experience. A number of people have even swapped out the flex nib for those inexpensive Knox nibs that P.A.R discovered. It has a place among the pantheon of fountain pens, and a lot of features for a $20 pen. Is it going to replace my MB 149, Pelikan M1000, Nakaya Aka-Tamenuri, Pilot custom 823 FA, Parker Duofolds? No, but I love it for what it is and the niche it occupies.

[Ernest]

Yes, The Ahab can be a pain, but I finally took the bold step of grinding the Nib myself to a Crisp Cursive Italic.

Here's a writing sample.

The pen still railroads.

 

 

 

[mik86]

Yes, The Ahab can be a pain, but I finally took the bold step of grinding the Nib myself to a Crisp Cursive Italic.

Here's a writing sample.

The pen still railroads.

 

 

 

a sentence worthy of showing off on the board

[P.A.R.]

Ernest: Beautiful writing! I may have to try grinding one of my unused Ahab nibs this weekend into a stub.

 

Torstar: If you don't care much for the Ahab's flex, you might try some of the Knox K35 nibs from xfountainpens.com. SamCapote made a topic linked in my signature about the nibs.

[torstar]

Mik86, take a break from it....but realize that all your tinkering is teaching you things about FP's that most people today never learn. A couple decades ago, it was common to work on your own pens, which is one of Nathan's points.....what's the use if you buy an expensive pen, and then are held hostage getting it fixed by only a select few nib/pen meisters that have long delays and can charge hefty prices. I have nothing against those experts, and have used a number of them...but there really is a lot people can do themselves if they have an inexpensive way to learn.

 

Torstar, thanks for your post. It is my opinion that the vast majority of these pens work just fine for people. I don't really use the Ahab that much for flexing because I already had vintage pens that can do that. Most people have never had or seen a pen that can do any kind of flexing, so it can be a nice experience. A number of people have even swapped out the flex nib for those inexpensive Knox nibs that P.A.R discovered. It has a place among the pantheon of fountain pens, and a lot of features for a $20 pen. Is it going to replace my MB 149, Pelikan M1000, Nakaya Aka-Tamenuri, Pilot custom 823 FA, Parker Duofolds? No, but I love it for what it is and the niche it occupies.

 

 

 

Very good.

 

You should add a Delta DV Oversize (Oro or not), hoovers ink into the feed like none other, and just the right size.

 

The 10 amazing lines that I got out of the Ahab (after 100 tries) made me look like a was gifted writer. That thought will keep me wanting to find this path again in a few months. I'll consider more expensive options.

[torstar]

Ernest: Beautiful writing! I may have to try grinding one of my unused Ahab nibs this weekend into a stub.

 

Torstar: If you don't care much for the Ahab's flex, you might try some of the Knox K35 nibs from xfountainpens.com. SamCapote made a topic linked in my signature about the nibs.

 

 

Thanks. I realize I get what I pay for *hopefully* in this game. It was the hi-lite of my pen hobby of the last month getting the Ahab to sing a few times.

 

I'll look into the Knox for future impulse purchases.

[Miles R.]

Is it common for Ahabs to leak around their nibs? I just uncapped the Ahab that I had filled with Noodler's Brown yesterday (as I have stated in a previous post, this pen seems to work, after a fashion, with Noodler's ink but not at all with other inks), and got an ink spill on my fingers as soon as I tried to write with it. I had stored it with the point up. I have noticed that the ink always fills the section even over the nib (it is a demonstrator), so it looks to me as though the fit of the nib into the section is on the loose side. I suppose that this is part of the design, as it is what makes it easy to remove the nib for cleaning or adjustment. But I wonder if in my case it is causing the problem of interrupted ink flow that I have described (i.e., that the pen writes a few lines or a few words at a time and then stops completely, at least with two of the inks that I have used).

[torstar]

Is it common for Ahabs to leak around their nibs? I just uncapped the Ahab that I had filled with Noodler's Brown yesterday (as I have stated in a previous post, this pen seems to work, after a fashion, with Noodler's ink but not at all with other inks), and got an ink spill on my fingers as soon as I tried to write with it. I had stored it with the point up. I have noticed that the ink always fills the section even over the nib (it is a demonstrator), so it looks to me as though the fit of the nib into the section is on the loose side. I suppose that this is part of the design, as it is what makes it easy to remove the nib for cleaning or adjustment. But I wonder if in my case it is causing the problem of interrupted ink flow that I have described (i.e., that the pen writes a few lines or a few words at a time and then stops completely, at least with two of the inks that I have used).

 

 

Converted the demo to an eyedropper and grease and prime it right each filling, no leaks for the last dozen fills.

 

I assume ink is spilling into the nib section on most if not every pen out there, it just shows up on a demo.

[79spitfire]

Is it common for Ahabs to leak around their nibs? I just uncapped the Ahab that I had filled with Noodler's Brown yesterday (as I have stated in a previous post, this pen seems to work, after a fashion, with Noodler's ink but not at all with other inks), and got an ink spill on my fingers as soon as I tried to write with it. I had stored it with the point up. I have noticed that the ink always fills the section even over the nib (it is a demonstrator), so it looks to me as though the fit of the nib into the section is on the loose side. I suppose that this is part of the design, as it is what makes it easy to remove the nib for cleaning or adjustment. But I wonder if in my case it is causing the problem of interrupted ink flow that I have described (i.e., that the pen writes a few lines or a few words at a time and then stops completely, at least with two of the inks that I have used).

 

Mine does that IF it gets substantially warmer than the surrounding area, IE if it sits in the sun, (inadvertently of course) or if it rides around in my coat pocket on a cold day. In fact I had this problem with a Noodler's ebonite areometric filler, until I drilled a vent hole in the barrel.

[SamCapote]

Is it common for Ahabs to leak around their nibs? I just uncapped the Ahab that I had filled with Noodler's Brown yesterday (as I have stated in a previous post, this pen seems to work, after a fashion, with Noodler's ink but not at all with other inks), and got an ink spill on my fingers as soon as I tried to write with it. I had stored it with the point up. I have noticed that the ink always fills the section even over the nib (it is a demonstrator), so it looks to me as though the fit of the nib into the section is on the loose side. I suppose that this is part of the design, as it is what makes it easy to remove the nib for cleaning or adjustment. But I wonder if in my case it is causing the problem of interrupted ink flow that I have described (i.e., that the pen writes a few lines or a few words at a time and then stops completely, at least with two of the inks that I have used).

 

It is normal to have ink travel above and around all sides of the nib, and can be seen through the wall of the demonstrator section. It's not such a tight fit pressed against the section wall so as to exclude all the ink. Most likely your problem is with the air channel having some residual lubricant, as evidenced by the greater incidence with the Herbin ink which has less surfactant in it, same as what Lasarios had with the reproduceable interrupted ink flow in his TWSBI I mentioned in post #58 above.

 

I would recommend cleaning the feed and section with a household cleaner like Formula 409 or a bathroom cleaner that removes grease, oil, etc., and rinse well afterwards. Neither dish soap or ammonia will remove the more waxy lubricants that were used in some of the Ahab feed manufacturing. Again, this was done in violation of Nathan's strict instructions and not stopped until he found out about it and instituted new procedures.

Edited May 6, 2012 by SamCapote

[mik86]

I have Solved my problem. I switched to MB black and everything works great. Before, when ink would disappear between the tines from railroading, it would take 10+ minutes for the ink to reach the tip of the nib again. However it railroads much less with MB black and when it does lose ink between the tines, it zips back to the tip in less than a second. Amazing! Now, I am not giving praise to MB ink because a lot of other ink likely shares this property. I am just saying that for some people, the Ahab might work just fine with only certain types of ink.

[Miles R.]

I would recommend cleaning the feed and section with a household cleaner like Formula 409 or a bathroom cleaner that removes grease, oil, etc., and rinse well afterwards. Neither dish soap or ammonia will remove the more waxy lubricants that were used in some of the Ahab feed manufacturing.

 

No good. I cleaned the feed with bathroom cleaner (the old "scrubbing bubbles") and a toothbrush. When I filled the pen with Herbin Bleu nuit, an ink that I hadn't used in it before, it seemed not to have the problem of interrupted flow, though it still had excessive flow, even with the point of the nib set a good 7 mm beyond the tip of the feed. After writing with that for a while, I cleaned the pen again and refilled it with Herbin Lie de thé by injecting some ink into the convertor (with an ink syringe) and then putting the pen together. When I turned it tip-down to get ink into the feed, a big drop of ink fell out of the end of the pen. Nonetheless, the pen would not write when applied to paper. When I got it to start, it wrote for one line and stopped again.

 

Again, this was done in violation of Nathan's strict instructions and not stopped until he found out about it and instituted new procedures.

 

Yet he still uses the feeds in his pens? I ordered this Ahab on the day that a new batch became available at Goulet, just ten days ago.

[SamCapote]

I would recommend cleaning the feed and section with a household cleaner like Formula 409 or a bathroom cleaner that removes grease, oil, etc., and rinse well afterwards. Neither dish soap or ammonia will remove the more waxy lubricants that were used in some of the Ahab feed manufacturing.

 

No good. I cleaned the feed with bathroom cleaner (the old "scrubbing bubbles") and a toothbrush. When I filled the pen with Herbin Bleu nuit, an ink that I hadn't used in it before, it seemed not to have the problem of interrupted flow, though it still had excessive flow, even with the point of the nib set a good 7 mm beyond the tip of the feed. After writing with that for a while, I cleaned the pen again and refilled it with Herbin Lie de thé by injecting some ink into the convertor (with an ink syringe) and then putting the pen together. When I turned it tip-down to get ink into the feed, a big drop of ink fell out of the end of the pen. Nonetheless, the pen would not write when applied to paper. When I got it to start, it wrote for one line and stopped again.

 

Again, this was done in violation of Nathan's strict instructions and not stopped until he found out about it and instituted new procedures.

 

Yet he still uses the feeds in his pens? I ordered this Ahab on the day that a new batch became available at Goulet, just ten days ago.

 

Yes, because they resolved the lubricant problem. I know the two pinks and black Ahabs I most recently got from Goulet were very clean and worked out of the box, and finally had the new double edge seal on the piston filler.

 

Miles, you have gone way way beyond what I think anyone should have ever had to do, and I don't even want to say any other ideas, except that I have not seen or heard of such a difficult time as yours continuing after all the troubleshooting. Honestly, if I were in your shoes with that pen I would contact Dick Egolf, or Goulet and ask for a replacement, giving them a link to the start of your posts here. I feel so bad for all you have gone through, I'm tempted to send you one of mine that I know works great, but I am sure that Goulet/Noodlers will replace yours.

 

Sincerely wishing you good luck.

[Miles R.]

Miles, you have gone way way beyond what I think anyone should have ever had to do, and I don't even want to say any other ideas, except that I have not seen or heard of such a difficult time as yours continuing after all the troubleshooting. Honestly, if I were in your shoes with that pen I would contact Dick Egolf, or Goulet and ask for a replacement, giving them a link to the start of your posts here. I feel so bad for all you have gone through, I'm tempted to send you one of mine that I know works great, but I am sure that Goulet/Noodlers will replace yours.

 

Sincerely wishing you good luck.

Well, I thank you for your patience, and I hope that the advice that you have offered will be more effective with other owners' Ahab pens.

[mrchan]

Initially I didn't want to make a new topic for this, but considering the amount of confusion surrounding the new Ahab, I think it's appropriate. There are already numerous threads about it, and some individuals giving really helpful advice, so I didn't want to be selfish and wanted to add my 2 cents by writing this up.

 

Consider this a beginner's guide of how to set up your new Ahab if you never pulled a feed out of your pen, and don't have a clue about how to adjust things. I'm not an expert. This is actually the first time I pulled a nib/feed from my pen, and I want to help people who don't know where to start.

 

The point that has to be stressed again here, is that there is a high chance that your pen won't write well out of the box! Why? Simply because this is a pen designed for people who want to customize, and tinker with it. If you want a pen that works from the start with no intervention, this pen is not for you. Getting this pen to write the way you want may require nothing, but chances are it WILL require some DIY. Now don't get me wrong, you don't need to do any serious manufacturing edits on the pen.

 

It just takes patience to experiment and find what's best for you. If you have it, this pen might well become one of your very favorites, considering the price tag. Keep in mind that having a 20$ pen with these features is practically a miracle. Don't get upset or let down by it not working out of the box. If you have the patience to set this pen up, it will reward you. If you don't, maybe avoiding it will save you some frustration.

 

That's pretty much it for a rough introduction to what this pen is. It's meant to be tinkered with, not to be working from the beginning. Having done some research about it, and knowing this, I bought my first Ahab last week (a clear demonstrator from Goulet Pens), knowing what I bought. I didn't expect it to write perfectly out of the box. Frankly, I didn't expect it to write at all in the beginning. My expectations were not so far off. Let me take you through the steps I did to turn a practically unusable pen to a writing delight. Some of these steps may not be necessary for some pens, but I'm listing everything to keep it simple. You may want to skip some of them if you feel like it, and then return back to them.

 

1. Disassembly

First of all, don't be afraid to take the thing apart. Seriously. You can do no harm, and putting it back together is deadly easy. To be sure, take a photo of the nib/feed from the bottom of the pen so you know exactly how it was positioned originally. But frankly, the original position doesn't matter at all. You will most probably want to find a better one. Nevertheless, just for the feeling of playing things safe, go ahead, take a photo. Another thing I want to introduce is counting the fins. By fins I mean the thin channels on the feed, which are perpendicular to the large, top & bottom channels of the feed, both running along the length of the feed. The number of fins visible (i.e. those out of the section) will become the main measure of setting up the nib/feed position.

 

So, with your photo taken, hold your pen horizontally, grab the nib and feed with your fingers, and just pull them out. If it goes tough, try adding a bit of a twisting motion, or grab the nib/feed assembly with a paper towel for a better grip.

 

The rest of the pen is disassembled easily as everything is threaded.

 

2. Changing the O-ring (optional)

I don't know about the new batches of Ahabs, but mine had the old O-ring in place. So my next step after disassembling the pen was to change the O-ring. I can only say that the original one was very very hard to move in the piston, and the new works like a delight.

 

There's a very good video on how to change the O-ring done by Brian Goulet here:

 

3. Cleaning 1

Cleaning is one of the easiest, fastest, and most effective techniques how to get this pen writing. From what I gather, most of the feeds are full of manufacturing dirt; and this was true for mine as well. I could see, even before pulling it out, that it's dirty. This dirt prevents ink from flowing, not mentioning oils which may be still left on the feed from the manufacturing process.

 

Having the pen apart, take some soapy water and an old, hard toothbrush. Pay special attention to the feed. Scrub it very thoroughly with soapy water. I also cleaned other parts of the pen, but that's not necessary I guess.

 

The final step in cleaning the feed I did was to run the blunt side of an x-acto knife through the fins and channels. Be careful NOT to cut anything! You can also use a toothpick, or something less aggressive which is thin enough. Just run the thing through the feed to make sure no dirt is left there.

 

4. Assembly

Putting the pen back together is easy really. Note that there is a slot in which the nib needs to go in the section. Finding this slot is easy with a demonstrator visually, but you can also find it by turning the nib in the section until it snaps in place. That's where the nib stays.

 

Now the actual assembly is a matter of personal preference. I found it best to put the nib and feed together, slide them into the section like that, and then pushing the nib all the way to the end of the slit. After that, I adjusted my feed as needed. Note that it is very important that the top feed channel is aligned with the slit of the nib! It is imperative that they are aligned, as this can make a big difference in flow. You may have a feed that has an asymmetrical tip - don't care about that, be sure to align the channel.

 

Now about the actual nib/feed configuration - most users find that having 9 complete fins (i.e. fins that go all the way to the bottom channel) visible is an optimal "go-to" setting. I can only confirm this. My configuration is that the 9th slit is aligned with the end of the section, and it works fine. Don't be afraid to repeat the process, you will be shortly an assembling pro

 

5. Cleaning 2

What I did with the pen assembled was the cleaning I do with all my pens. Take a glass of soapy water, and run it to and from the pen using the piston. Repeat this a few times.

Then, take a glass with clear water and do the same again to be sure that any soap left in the pen is flushed out. Simple as that.

 

Don't forget to let the pen dry afterwards. What I did was to disassemble it again and let it dry, and then put it back together again, but that's up to you.

 

6. Setup

Now this is the dreaded part which leads to frustration with many users. But don't be afraid, it just takes some patience, nothing more.

 

The amount of flow largely depends on the relative position of the nib and feed. Now remember that the nib has a set place in the section, so you will only be moving the feed. Generally speaking, the further you pull the feed out of the pen, the more flow you will get. Similarly, the more you push it into the section, the less you will get. As I said, this is valid generally, not absolutely.

 

So - ink your pen, get some towels and get ready. Try to write. Too little flow? Put your pen nib up, wipe the nib/feed not to get ink all over your fingers, and pull it out slightly. I find this easy by holding the pen in my right hand, my index finger holding the nib and my thumb sliding the feed up or down. Too much flow? Push the feed a bit into the section.

 

Now remember that we are speaking about very small adjustments. When changing the feed position, don't move it more than a milimeter or so. Very small distances make big differences. Also, don't forget to keep the feed aligned with the nib slit.

 

 

For most people, the process ends here. But for others, it doesn't. It didn't for me. I was still getting very little flow - I did a 2-3cm shaded stroke, and the flow was gone for minutes, or even hours. Then, when I tried again, the same happened. Regardless of the feed position. If you find that the pen is still too dry, after having the feed in the "wettest" position, proceed to the next step.

 

7. Fin enlargement

NOTE: This actually includes cutting the feed. You can't take this step back, so be careful, and take it slow.

 

There have been two threads about fin enlargement, which is mentioned in the leaflet packed with the pen. You can find the threads here and here. I'm going to extract the most important information and describe what I did.

 

Important: note that every feed is different. Some people have an OK flow from the beginning, some have to cut it. Be sure to inspect your pen and feed thoroughly, and be sure that you WANT to do adjustments before you do them. Cut the feed only when everything else fails. That being said, from the photos around here, and from inspecting my own feed, I can tell each is different in how many fins extend to the top channel. On my feed, all of the fins were cut to the channel on the left side. On the right side, none of them were cut to the top channel at all. This is not a defect. This is intentional, to let YOU customize the amount of flow.

 

Basically what I did was to cut the first two fin vents into the top channel. This was quick and easy. It's best done under a loupe/magnifying glass, because it's pretty hard to see anything in that size. You can use whatever sharp tool you have at hand, be it a scalpel, an x-acto knife or something similar. What I used was this very thin saw instrument with small teeth. Again, be sure to go slow, and to inspect twice before cutting further.

 

The question of how many channels you need to cut depends on how wet you want the pen you write, how many vents are cut to the channel on your feed. This may mean that you need to cut NO fins at all, or as many as 3 or 4. I recommend not cutting more than 1-2 at a time, because the difference is huge.

 

After cutting a fin or two, don't forget to rinse the feed thoroughly using the techniques described above.

 

 

I've received my Ahab yesterday and haven't put it down since! I did not read your thread yet until today but watched brian goulet's video on the ahab. Your advice and bits are spot on. I didn't have to cut my feed but the pen was so smooth after I scrubbed the feed, attached it back and flushed it with water. I also didn't have to replace the O-ring because mine is the newer ahab that had the newer O-ring in it already. The pen flows like a dream and rarely only do I get some rail-roading when flexing the tines. I think at 20$ I'm just gonna get another 3 to play around with different inks!

 

Thanks for your contribution, it will help all ahab owners out there who are buying it for the first time. Well written.

[Paladin]

Is there a way to get rid of that horrible smell? Even my kids cannot stand it . I've tried washing with water, dishwashing liquid. It's been a few months and the smell persists!

[mberman14]

Thanks so much for this tutorial -- incredibly useful. Thought you might find before and after shots interesting.

 

In this before shot, it is very hard to start, feathers easily, railroads constantly and runs out of ink and has to be restarted on a paper towel, and darkens the ink (don't know what that's about).

 

 

After following your instructions, starts right up, less feathering, the only railroads are when I swiped downwards too fast at the end of a stroke (and it started right up again on the next letter), and the ink is lighter (seriously?), like it's meant to be (Diamine Coral). The smear at the top was my thumb, not a pen problem :embarrassed_smile:.

 

[MyDarnSnakeLegs]

So, I have huge problems with my Ahabs. The nib and feed things don't pose a problem for me, but the ink tank does. One of them has a tank that just won't engage with the threads. It just spins. Another seems to catch the threads, but it will work its way loose just sitting on my desk, and the next time I open the barrel of the pen the tank is loose and ink is everywhere. This has happened with 3 of these pens now, and it makes them unusable.

 

Is anyone else having these problems? Is there anything I can do to fix it?

[ladycaruso]

InSANELY helpful post, thanks so much! I actually had to shove my feed down to the 7th fin to keep from having drops of ink just come out of my pen during writing. I was surprised that some people had problems getting ink flow - I had the exact opposite problem. after cleaning the pen, the flow was wonderful, then suddenly, a huge drop of ink would SPLAT onto the page in the middle of a word. Now that I have adjusted the feed, it writes normally again! Nice and wet, without ruining my writing.

 

Thank you!

[zenephi001]

Yes, The Ahab can be a pain, but I finally took the bold step of grinding the Nib myself to a Crisp Cursive Italic.

Here's a writing sample.

The pen still railroads.

 

P5047626.jpgP5047637.jpg

Just come across this .... brilliant!!!

 

Thanks for the photo of the nib with the writing sample - I have saved pics to guide my re-shaping of one of my Ahab / Konrad nibs.

 

Thanks also to all the other contributors ..... it's great to have such a resource just a few 'mouse clicks' ..... fantastic help to understanding.