Conid Fountainbel's Bulk Filler Ltd Demonstrator

[hari317]

I agree with Dillon's assessment. I think the rod's bend allows the shut off plug to get out of the way, so that the air bubble from the feed can rise un-impeded into the ink chamber without creating an airlock. However, is the rod bent so much? not apparent in the pictures and also the bend will in no way allow the plug to be withdrawn at a faster rate than dictated by the knob's pitch? is that correct?

[xuan87]

Regarding your step 5 in your filling methods, I have a recommendation that might help you lose less ink when you're expelling your air bubble:

 

Instead of filling up to the maxiumum 80%, fill up to only 30% to 50%, take the nib out of the bottle, turn the nib up, and pull out your plunger the rest of the way. The air rushing into your pen when you pull out the plunger will hopefully flush out all the ink that is in the feed so that when you're expelling the air bubble, you're ONLY expelling the air bubble and not ink too.

 

Then you can push in the plunger until the ink level in the pen is in the feed, and continue filling to maximum.

 

This is a little trick that I learned from playing with piston fillers. Hope it helps.

[PenandDesign]

Wow...that's a cool pen! While I understand that the filling system is proprietary, it reminds me of the Custom 823, Vac 700, et al.

 

Enjoy your purchase!

[terminal]

When you hold that pen do you feel the threads on your fingers?

[olivier78860]

Index on the concave part, back of the thumb on the thread. Not really problematic.

[fountainbel]

Hi all,

 

The rod was bend so the shut-off seal (on the top of the rod) stands 1.2mm off-center to the barrel /section centerline when opening the filling knob 1.5mm.

 

When closing the ink shut-off , the O ring initially touches one side of its 90°section seat, and gradually centers back to concentricity during the 1.5mm closing stroke

 

Benefit being the ink transfert and the ink/air exchange occurs easier.

 

Hope this makes it more clear !

 

Francis

Edited July 19, 2012 by fountainbel

[leod]

on the cap ring, would it be nice if you can exchange the engraving like your own FPN id?

 

and will there be a production version for those who miss this initial batch?

Edited July 20, 2012 by leod

[fountainbel]

on the cap ring, would it be nice if you can exchange the engraving like your own FPN id?

 

and will there be a production version for those who miss this initial batch?

 

Hi Leod,

The capring is effectively engraved with "Fountainbel bulkfiller", see the picture below.

This engraving will be maintained

Conid will not make any new demonstrators, only the "First Production Run" pens will be made as such.

In the future CONID surely could make an extra engraving as requested by the customer, f.e. on the clip.

 

Francis

 

 

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h89/fountainbel/Fountainbel%20Bulk%20filler/DSC_5591Kopie.jpg

Edited July 20, 2012 by fountainbel

[pavoni]

Whilst I haven't found time to put finger to keyboard in a while, I have been getting my twice-daily dose of the FPN. I was so inspired by Olivier's findings and conclusions, and the fact that he bravely filled his pen so quickly, that I thought I would follow his example and add to his excellent and gratefully received review.

 

Having expressed an interest in Francis' unique pen back in early February 2012, it was with both surprise and excitement that I greeted the arrival of my very own FPR Demonstrator (No 05/60) on Friday 13th July 2012. This pen is my first Demonstrator, my first titanium nib (Medium) and (according to my dear wife) my last pen. Other than the broader nib, it is exactly the same as Olivier's, though his writing looks far prettier than mine. :embarrassed_smile:

 

Inspired by Olivier’s review, yesterday I took the plunge, so as to speak, filled the pen and wrote for the first time!

 

What of my experience? Well, we are talking about a pen which has been fantastically designed by Francis Goossens and brilliantly engineered by CONID. Naturally, both first time filling experience and writing, more than met my expectations. Once I had taken the necessary step to obtain the maximum ink volume (thanks for your respective volume maximising tips Olivier and xuan87) the pen presented itself to me in all its glory - filled to capacity. What a sight! What a prospect!!!

 

I am not technically-minded and was grateful for Olivier’s pictorial reference. However, the filling mechanism is easy, so much so that one does not need to ‘see’ the mechanism moving to fill it – though it is tremendous fun to see it in action!

 

As for writing, well most of my collection is made up of vintage Montblanc, with a couple of Pelikans, a Nakaya and a Visconti to name a few and as such, I feel suitably qualified to state that the Bock titanium medium nib is not as good as I thought it would be .............it is FAR better!!! :clap1: The pen gave me a full, confident, wet line immediately I put nib to paper. I literally let out a little “wow!” The nib is surprisingly smooth and deliciously wet and as such, perfectly matches my ideal for a nib (I am VERY fussy).

 

Francis and his colleague Werner have to be congratulated on a superb product. I really am glad I had the good sense to sidestep all the technical chat around this pen. I trusted what I saw and am now the proud owner of number 05/60 of this superb limited edition demonstrator. Love it.

 

Pavoni.

[writingrav]

Great review, Thanks. I couldn't see any price on the website. Can you share that information?

[pavoni]

Great review, Thanks. I couldn't see any price on the website. Can you share that information?

 

From what I recall, the FPR Demonstrator comes as standard with a stainless steel nib for 420 Euros, or you choose a titanium nib for an extra 30 Euros, or with a gold nib for an extra 125 Euros or so.

 

This was a limited production of these pens (60) and as such there may only be a couple left! The best person to e-mail on prices is Werner, who can be reached at Werner@komec.be I would also copy Francis at francis.goossens2@skynet.be

 

Pavoni.

[hari317]

Whilst I haven't found time to put finger to keyboard in a while, I have been getting my twice-daily dose of the FPN. I was so inspired by Olivier's findings and conclusions, and the fact that he bravely filled his pen so quickly, that I thought I would follow his example and add to his excellent and gratefully received review.

 

Having expressed an interest in Francis' unique pen back in early February 2012, it was with both surprise and excitement that I greeted the arrival of my very own FPR Demonstrator (No 05/60) on Friday 13th July 2012. This pen is my first Demonstrator, my first titanium nib (Medium) and (according to my dear wife) my last pen. Other than the broader nib, it is exactly the same as Olivier's, though his writing looks far prettier than mine. :embarrassed_smile:

 

Inspired by Olivier’s review, yesterday I took the plunge, so as to speak, filled the pen and wrote for the first time!

 

What of my experience? Well, we are talking about a pen which has been fantastically designed by Francis Goossens and brilliantly engineered by CONID. Naturally, both first time filling experience and writing, more than met my expectations. Once I had taken the necessary step to obtain the maximum ink volume (thanks for your respective volume maximising tips Olivier and xuan87) the pen presented itself to me in all its glory - filled to capacity. What a sight! What a prospect!!!

 

I am not technically-minded and was grateful for Olivier’s pictorial reference. However, the filling mechanism is easy, so much so that one does not need to ‘see’ the mechanism moving to fill it – though it is tremendous fun to see it in action!

 

As for writing, well most of my collection is made up of vintage Montblanc, with a couple of Pelikans, a Nakaya and a Visconti to name a few and as such, I feel suitably qualified to state that the Bock titanium medium nib is not as good as I thought it would be .............it is FAR better!!! :clap1: The pen gave me a full, confident, wet line immediately I put nib to paper. I literally let out a little “wow!” The nib is surprisingly smooth and deliciously wet and as such, perfectly matches my ideal for a nib (I am VERY fussy).

 

Francis and his colleague Werner have to be congratulated on a superb product. I really am glad I had the good sense to sidestep all the technical chat around this pen. I trusted what I saw and am now the proud owner of number 05/60 of this superb limited edition demonstrator. Love it.

 

Pavoni.

 

Thanks for sharing your impressions. That nib must be the handiwork of Francis, I have a couple of nibs tuned by him, fantastic!

 

Hari

[dcpritch]

Olivier asked me to post these pictures from a different thread so all the Ti nib sizes can be seen together. Mine is a Medium titanium nib which Francis made into a smooth writing stub (with flex!). I agree with everything Pavoni said, and would add that my experience dealing with Francis and Werner has been nothing but first class all the way. I have no regrets at all about this purchase, except perhaps that I was only No. 9 instead of No. 4, so I could have been ahead of Pavoni.

 

 

I purposefully left an air bubble in the pen when I wrote this sample so I could take a picture showing the piston rod inside the barrel assembly. Later, I used the technique described above to remove the air bubble and achieved a perfectly full fill, with no air bubble at all, which represents an enormous quantity of ink. I love the look of the ink sloshing around in the clear barrel and chose South Sea Blue just for that reason, over other inks which appear darker before they reach the paper.

[fountainbel]

Thanks for your review Pavoni and DCpritch, you both made my day !!!

You both look very happy, so I'm a happy camper!

Hope to read more reviews from other owners shortly ...

Best regards, Francis

[LYTH]

Well, fellows, nice review !

I'm waiting for mine (41/60) and I'm very eagier.

I hesitate to fill with Waterman South Sea Blue or Iroshizuku Kon Peki. What a dilemma...

Congratulations to Francis and Werner for such a pen.

 

Best regards.

 

LYTH

[Montblanc owner and lover]

waterman south sea is a wondeful ink,it's my most used ink...nice and usefull

 

for the pen here i've to say that evidently the piston seem a good idea and there is no waste place so what's nice but i have a question:is there no risq of easyer broke?

[rhr2010]

My Fountainbel bulk filler 14/60 arrived few days ago. What a great pen! I have been using it for the past few days and I am extremely satisfied. Design and construction are exceptional, with great attention to details. The filling mechanism is indeed very simple to operate. I didn't need to review the instructions or to look at the pen for that matter. I ordered three nibs from Francis. At the moment I am using my titanium OM nib shaped and tuned by Francis. A fantastic nib, smooth and expressive writer. This is my first titanium nib and I am very pleased. It exhibits some flex and the OM grinding of Francis is wonderful. All in all this is a wonderful writing instruments. So far my two favorite filling systems were piston filler and plunger filler and now I have to consider up there the Fountainbel bulk filler. As somebody already noted, finally some wonderful engineering and innovation in the fountain pen world. I have no complaint about this demonstrator and I would recommend it to anybody. If there are still available demonstrators, rush to get yours!

[Lemon328i]

Mine just arrived today after a fairly extended stay at US Customs and I can only echo what everyone else has said. This is a fantastic advancement in pen technology! Now I just have to see if the same issues as eyedroppers have at low fill are common to this design too, but I doubt it as the flow rate is adjustable with the knob. It could be that Francis and CONID have achieved the trifecta of large capacity, ease of use and no issues with air pressure changes. We shall see, but I am very excited to put this through daily use for a while. This was well worth the money and the wait.

[fountainbel]

waterman south sea is a wondeful ink,it's my most used ink...nice and usefull

 

for the pen here i've to say that evidently the piston seem a good idea and there is no waste place so what's nice but i have a question:is there no risq of easyer broke?

 

Hi MBOAL

Risks for tension cracks are very low, since all parts are machined from solid "casted" barstock, not extruded barstock

This risk is considerably higher on injection mould parts,specially at spots with brusque wall thickness transitions.

Francis

[fountainbel]

Posted as requested by Conid's Werner

 

 

Dear all,

 

 

Werner informed me this morning that he missed some of your requests probably.

 

The must have been in a SPAM folder due to the highly secured firewall.

 

This folder automatically deletes the content weekly.

 

When being on vacation he took the time to check and noticed some FPN users were asking for information. This implies he will have lost some of you.

 

 

Please redirect your mail to Werner if he hasn't replied to you.

 

 

Thanks a lot for your support,

 

Francis