Noodler´s Ahab - Ease My Flex Mod

[fountainpenlady]

I'd just like to throw out the idea of sending all unwanted Noodler's pens in my direction, instead of the bin.

 

As for this modification, I've done it with a couple of the standard nibs to satisfactory results! I even ground the point of one down to an extra-fine to go along with the easier flex, and it makes an excellent drawing pen. The "snap-back" isn't so great for going from thick lines back to thin, so it's not the best for calligraphy. (Not as a result of the EMF modification, by the way, but from the heavy ink flow left behind after flexing.) But it serves my purposes.

 

Now, if only I could gather the courage to try it on one of the Neponset music nibs...

I love my two red Noodler's Ahabs too much. However, if you would like the two original unused Ahab flex nibs, you are more than welcome. Send me a PM.

[Fpaddicted]

I'd take free nibs/pens anytime

[Thier.]

I' ve received that scrap called Ahab 2 days ago and thanks to you, I' m going to make a fountain pen of it ....... I' ll make pictures before and after and les tyou know my feeling after the operation ...

[DaveBj]

I tried the Dremel modification and could not reinstall the nib and feed straight -- the nib kept sliding off to one side. So I said, "The heck with it," and made a stubber out of it with a 1.1 Jowo/Goulet nib. Much better.

[Thier.]

I've just grinded my nib as you did with yours.

 

And, yes some 10 minutes later, the job was done ....

 

Yes, the nib had a real flex, but then, the ink flow was so bad that it was impossible to write with it ..... So I decided to replace the scrap called "nib" by Noodler by a real flex gold nib from the fifities ...

 

No way, ink flow is too bad .....

 

I've never had such a bad pen .... Ok, I should now work on the ink flow but I don't know if I will .... I'm very disappointed by that scrappy pen ..... For such a price, I could have had at least 5 good Jinhaos !!!!!!!

 

[scully012]

I've just grinded my nib as you did with yours.

 

And, yes some 10 minutes later, the job was done ....

 

Yes, the nib had a real flex, but then, the ink flow was so bad that it was impossible to write with it ..... So I decided to replace the scrap called "nib" by Noodler by a real flex gold nib from the fifities ...

 

No way, ink flow is too bad .....

 

I've never had such a bad pen .... Ok, I should now work on the ink flow but I don't know if I will .... I'm very disappointed by that scrappy pen ..... For such a price, I could have had at least 5 good Jinhaos !!!!!!!

 

Yeah, you sprung that nib and that's likely the source of your issues. You could fix that and heat set the feed, but it doesn't look like you really want to have a working pen seeing as you posted this same thing in 5 different threads. Are you looking for a solution or just attention?

[Thier.]

Yeah, you sprung that nib and that's likely the source of your issues. You could fix that and heat set the feed, but it doesn't look like you really want to have a working pen seeing as you posted this same thing in 5 different threads. Are you looking for a solution or just attention?

A solution would be great, of course.

I' ve read so much about that pen that I wanted to try one and make up my mind, and, yes, I´ve been very disappointed with it since the first day. Apparently, I'm far from being the only one and telling people the problems I have with that can help them not to do the same error .....

[Plusfoursmax]

Hi Thier,

All of the modders advise careful and slow changes with frequent stops and examinations. I compared your pen and Pterodactylus' one and it appears as if you have taken more off than was suggested; Could you have a go at measuring the depth of the cut you made? It also looks like the cut is uneven; This will cause the tines to behave differently.

All materials have a certain amount of elasticity (the force required to deflect a distance) but also have an elastic limit, a deflection beyond which there is permanent distortion.

By cutting a deep curve and then pushing down to spread the tines of the nib, that limit has been passed, and the tines no longer spring back together. To correct the different depths, you probably need to grind even more off, so I think this nib is a goner.

 

For the gold nib, it has to have pretty much exactly the same profile as the Noodler's nib; if it is a tighter radius, then the feed will squeeze it outwards when installed, and this will force the tines to come together, for a nib with a diameter larger than the feed, the tines will be pushed apart;

You also need to perhaps heat set the feed to conform to the new nib underside, and also ensure that the feed, nib and section are all scrupulously clean; any finger oil, grease, detergent, etc will royally screw up the pen. Just flushing after assembly has been shown to not be sufficient.

Please don't lose heart because the mod did not work for you; the pens are fantastic, and if you really don't want it, I will happily take it off your hands.

[Thier.]

Hi Thier,

All of the modders advise careful and slow changes with frequent stops and examinations. I compared your pen and Pterodactylus' one and it appears as if you have taken more off than was suggested; Could you have a go at measuring the depth of the cut you made? It also looks like the cut is uneven; This will cause the tines to behave differently.

 

 

All materials have a certain amount of elasticity (the force required to deflect a distance) but also have an elastic limit, a deflection beyond which there is permanent distortion.

By cutting a deep curve and then pushing down to spread the tines of the nib, that limit has been passed, and the tines no longer spring back together. To correct the different depths, you probably need to grind even more off, so I think this nib is a goner.

 

 

For the gold nib, it has to have pretty much exactly the same profile as the Noodler's nib; if it is a tighter radius, then the feed will squeeze it outwards when installed, and this will force the tines to come together, for a nib with a diameter larger than the feed, the tines will be pushed apart;

 

You also need to perhaps heat set the feed to conform to the new nib underside, and also ensure that the feed, nib and section are all scrupulously clean; any finger oil, grease, detergent, etc will royally screw up the pen. Just flushing after assembly has been shown to not be sufficient.

 

Please don't lose heart because the mod did not work for you; the pens are fantastic, and if you really don't want it, I will happily take it off your hands.

 

I promise I'll try .....

I use to work on pens (especially old ones ) and bringing them to life is a pleasure. However, my sensation is that that pen, is not as good as, let' s say a Jinhao 159 .....

[Brooks MT]

Thier and DaveBj- From description (Dave) and photo (Thier) it looks like you (both?) ground off material past the slit. This will make the nib wiggle side to side, as Dave has noticed. Also, it's useless to grind past the slit in an effort to increase flex. All the flex takes place from slit to tip.

 

Goulet Pen and others now have replacement Noodler flex nibs for sale. So if you are still interested in EMF, you could purchase a replacement nib and then EMF it, just making sure to not grind aft of the tip.

 

http://www.gouletpens.com/replacement-nibs/c/294/?facetValueFilter=Tenant~Brand%3ANoodlers

 

For nibs that slip & slide around, it sometimes helps to insert a shim between top of nib and the section. I use thick teflon tape (yellow color in the US) made for sealing natural gas pipe joints. Cut a piece of tape as long as the un-slit portion of the nib, and just a bit wider than the nib width. You want enough tape width to wrap past the nib a bit, but not so much that the wrap covers the slits in the feed too much. A little bit of wrap is fine, and even desirable since it helps keep the tape in place. You don't want so much length of tape that it covers the slit. This would make the pen write wet (this could be a tip for helping get a wetter line if you wanted that, though).

 

Marry the tape, nib, and feed, then insert the package into the section (making sure the nib is lined up with the small arc cutout in the Ahab section). It may take practice to get all 3 pieces inserted w/o rucking (wrinkling) the tape. To clarify, the tape must be on top of the nib, Not between the nib and feed.

 

I've used this package idea to tighten up the fit of feed and nib in a section with Noodler pens. The clue in my case was that the pen started dripping ink, slowly. The section was no longer round, don't know why it went oval after a year of writing. This let air into the ink reservoir, which allowed ink to drip out. But the package sealed the air leak, and the pen now writes good as new.

 

btw, the too-slim nib could be made to fit the Noodler Creeper pen (which takes a slimmer nib than the Ahab/Konrad), if you wanted to use it for something else. I've ground dip pen nibs to make them fit fountain pens, and have ended up with wiggly nibs that benefited from this teflon package technique.

 

Hope this helps.

Edited April 30, 2015 by Brooks MT

[Plusfoursmax]

Hi Thier,

I have just ordered a Jinhao 159; I looked at SBREBrown's review and it looks good, but the nib appears to be a nail, and it is a conventional cartridge converter. The Ahab is a piston fill, ebonite feed flex (ish) pen, so it is not really fair to compare them simply on price. (

)

However, the SBREBrown did mention that his first Jinhao fell apart out of the box, so I guess even the Chinese create the odd monster.

I was very scared about hacking into the nib of my Ahab, and luckily I did not spring the nib; subsequently I have thinned the point to XF and with the right ink and a steady hand I can get a pretty decent Copperplate going, which is nice. I was in SF recently and bought another Ahab, and a firm nib; I am going to have a go at grinding the nib to an Italic.

I am glad to hear that you are not giving up!

Max

[Thier.]

Hi Thier,

I have just ordered a Jinhao 159; I looked at SBREBrown's review and it looks good, but the nib appears to be a nail, and it is a conventional cartridge converter. The Ahab is a piston fill, ebonite feed flex (ish) pen, so it is not really fair to compare them simply on price. (

)

However, the SBREBrown did mention that his first Jinhao fell apart out of the box, so I guess even the Chinese create the odd monster.

I was very scared about hacking into the nib of my Ahab, and luckily I did not spring the nib; subsequently I have thinned the point to XF and with the right ink and a steady hand I can get a pretty decent Copperplate going, which is nice. I was in SF recently and bought another Ahab, and a firm nib; I am going to have a go at grinding the nib to an Italic.

I am glad to hear that you are not giving up!

Max

No problem ... I, fact, I use high level pens (Montegrappa, Visconti, MB, ....) and sometimes buy cheapies to have some pleasure to work on ... ( I prefer not to touch a Yard O Led or a Delta) and yes, sometimes I have good surprises and sometimes not .... But I will go on and won't give up !!!! My Ahab will write !!!!!!

[DaveBj]

Thier and DaveBj- From description (Dave) and photo (Thier) it looks like you (both?) ground off material past the slit. This will make the nib wiggle side to side, as Dave has noticed. Also, it's useless to grind past the slit in an effort to increase flex. All the flex takes place from slit to tip.

 

*snip*

 

The nib didn't wiggle from side to side; I just couldn't get it to install straight. It always slid off to one side, the same side every time, and stayed there, once I had the nib and feed reinstalled.

[Drone]

 

The nib didn't wiggle from side to side; I just couldn't get it to install straight. It always slid off to one side, the same side every time, and stayed there, once I had the nib and feed reinstalled.

 

Hi Davebj,

 

I have a small herd of Ahab and Konrad pens, and I have experienced something like the "Wiggle Problem" when seating the feed and nib in the section.

 

My Ahabs and Konrads are not current production, so I can't speak to anyone with a problem fitting the nibs with a new pen; only to my pens.

 

That said, I have an Ahab that would only let me insert the nib and feed without skewing the nib. With more experimentation it was clear that the section was not molded (or finished?) properly in the factory.

 

I tried inserting the nib and feed at different angles into the section (remember this is an Ahab I am talking about, not a Konrad. More on this below).

 

With this Ahab, I could find a "sweet-spot" where the nib would go in straight. But unfortunately, in this insert position, the badly formed interior of the section would cause too much pressure on the nib, causing the tines to separate. Another obvious indication of a malformed section.

This problem would happen with different Ahab/Konrad feeds and nibs. So the problem was the section.

 

I was able to solve this problem by wrapping some very fine grit sand-paper on a Jewler's half-round file (I didn't want to use the file directly as it is probably too coarse), then carefully filing away some material inside the section at the "sweet-spot" (as I call it); but only at the back of the section, not the front. The Ahab works fine now, but I have to be very careful how to insert the nib and section to get the same result. The Ahab doesn't leak. But I have not tried it as an eye-dropper.

 

Now, If I am not mistaken, Konrad pens are different compared with the Ahab (at least my pens, which are again, not new).

 

The Konrad section seems to be cast/milled to accept the nib in only one angle - unlike the Ahab. This means that inside the section on a Konrad, there is a recessed part that accomodates the nib. The down-side about this is that if you have a nib and feed that are not inserting properly, unlike the Ahab, you only have one angle to work with when inserting a nib/feed into the Konrad.

 

Different (but related) Topic...

 

Now I want to reply to an earlier (recent from my post-date) comment in this EMF thread about using "tape" to try getting a nib/feed to fit properly into one of these Noodler's pens.

 

The comment about using tape is correct. But I want to clarify that the tape recommended is what is commonly called "Pipe Thread-Sealing Tape". Proper thread sealing tape is very pliable and self-adhering (imagine Cling-Wrap, sort-of).

 

But MOST IMPORTANTLY thread-sealing tape does not have ANY adhesive, unlike "Scotch-Tape" or "Sticky-Tape" (depending on where you live).

 

Thread sealing tape for pipes should have NO adhesive at all. This is important. You do NOT want to put tape with adhesive on your nib before you insert it into the section. The main reason for not using tape with adhesive is that there is the (likely) possibility that the tape will transfer adhesive to the nib; and worse-yet - as you use the pen with the sticky-tape, the adhesive may be disolved over time (may depend on the properties of the ink it may come in contact with).

 

All this said, I do not want to put anyone off trying to deal with an Ahab or Konrad pen. I have a bunch, and right now I have an Ahab and a Konrad in perpetual rotation (yes, both have the EMF mod). There are more Ahab and Konrad pens that I have that perform just as well, but not currently inked.

 

The Noodler's Ahab and Konrad are great pens to learn from. I think this was Nathan Tardif's (Owner of Noodler's) intent. And now, after much waiting, we can purchase spare nibs and feeds for these pens. Thank You Nathan!

 

Gotta go... Good Luck & Don't Give-Up :-)

 

David

 

[DaveBj]

 

Hi Davebj,

 

*snip

 

The comment about using tape is correct. But I want to clarify that the tape recommended is what is commonly called "Pipe Thread-Sealing Tape". Proper thread sealing tape is very pliable and self-adhering (imagine Cling-Wrap, sort-of).

 

But MOST IMPORTANTLY thread-sealing tape does not have ANY adhesive, unlike "Scotch-Tape" or "Sticky-Tape" (depending on where you live).

 

*snip*

 

Are you referring to Teflon tape? It's white and has no adhesive; it's intended to seal the threads when one pipe is attached to another.

 

The Jowo/Goulet 1.1 that I got went in a lot easier, but the way it is right now, the pen is writing too wet. Or it may be the ink; Lie de The seems to be a very wet-writing ink. Anyhoo, when I write this load out, I'm going to adjust it for drier writing. I don't really think I'm cut out for flexy writing; I have a very light touch when I'm writing, and I don't really like varying the pressure.

 

Edited for update: I jammed the feed farther into the section, but the nib stayed where it was, which means that now more nib-point is showing beyond the feed. It still writes wet, but normally so -- nice line, but not soaking thru the paper, like it was yesterday afternoon :-P

Edited May 2, 2015 by DaveBj

[Brooks MT]

My post #310 says teflon tape. You can use white teflon tape, but it's thinner than yellow teflon tape...so you may need several layers of white to accomplish what one layer of yellow will do. I agree with Drone that tape with adhesive may cause problems (and teflon tape has no adhesive). However, I've used blue masking tape to cover the top of the nib outside the pen (this increases ink flow) with no problems. The adhesive in blue masking tape eventually soaks off, so the tape does not stay on long. Ditto for Scotch Magic tape. I would not use Gorilla tape because that adhesive is very strong, and becomes permanent with time (per their advertisement).

 

The* Ahab* has a special cutout in the section to hold the nib. The Konrad and Creeper will hold the nib in any part of the arc of the section (ie. no cutout). If David's nib only goes in at one place in his Ahab, that's why.

 

It's not always easy to find the special cutout when I am inserting the package into the Ahab. To help, I find the cutout with neither nib nor feed installed, then make a mark on the section to show where the cutout is. I just file a small mark on the section, but you could put a piece of masking tape on the section and draw a marker pen or pencil mark on the tape - remove the tape after successful insertion of the nib&feed package. It's important that the nib and feed are aligned properly with each other - the top ink channel in the feed should be directly under the slit in the nib.

 

Some Noodler Konrad and Creeper pens are not perfectly round. (NEVER clean the pens with Hot water, because this will easily distort the pens; clean with luke-warm water only... been there done that....Japanese pen makers use boiling water, in fact, to shape their pen barrels) For these out-of-round pens, there will be a sweet spot where nib and feed enter easily. You should use the sweet spot, or at least try it first. If the pen leaks ink when using the sweet spot, then rotate the feed and nib 90 degrees in the section (remove and reinsert the parts, of course) and see if that works better. If the pen still leaks, then teflon tape may work to stop the leak. You can wrap thin white teflon tape around the nib and feed package, being sure to only cover the parts of the feed that are inserted into the section. The section is full of ink, so blocking the feed fins there will not impact the pen. But the fins outside the feed are struggling to slurp up ink from the top and bottom ink channels -- so blocking them off may impede their ability to fill with ink (and, later, impede their ability to feed their ink back into the top channel when the flexed nib is demanding lots of ink).

 

I know a lot about fixing screw-ups....Guess how I gained this knowledge *grin*.

Edited May 2, 2015 by Brooks MT

[tokikanno]

I've just found this marvelous mod and applied it on my Konrad, the nib works great after the modification, I can now easily make it flex.

 

But not the feed.

 

I've deepened the feed with dremel but still get railroading very often.

And I could only do flex with specific inks (ex: Pelikan 4001)

Just come here and ask for some advice or example for how to modify the feed for preventing railroading.

 

Sorry for the bad handwriting & spell errors
For question on FPN by toki_kanno, on Flickr

For question on FPN by toki_kanno, on Flickr

 

 

For question on FPN by toki_kanno, on Flickr

[scully012]

I've just found this marvelous mod and applied it on my Konrad, the nib works great after the modification, I can now easily make it flex.

 

But not the feed.

 

I've deepened the feed with dremel but still get railroading very often.

And I could only do flex with specific inks (ex: Pelikan 4001)

 

Just come here and ask for some advice or example for how to modify the feed for preventing railroading.

 

Sorry for the bad handwriting & spell errors

For question on FPN by toki_kanno, on Flickr

For question on FPN by toki_kanno, on Flickr

 

 

For question on FPN by toki_kanno, on Flickr

 

Hi, you can make the feed wetter by cutting the slits that circle the feed all the way into the center channel. If you look closely, only one side of the circular slits extends to the center channel. By cutting the rest of the way through, one or two at a time, you should be able to make the feed so it is able to keep up better. Also, I would suggest heat-setting the nib to the feed, as that may help as well. Good luck!

[tokikanno]

 

Hi, you can make the feed wetter by cutting the slits that circle the feed all the way into the center channel. If you look closely, only one side of the circular slits extends to the center channel. By cutting the rest of the way through, one or two at a time, you should be able to make the feed so it is able to keep up better. Also, I would suggest heat-setting the nib to the feed, as that may help as well. Good luck!

 

Hi scully012:

 

Did you mean remove the fins below the feed? I've drawn a simple picture, correct me if I was wrong.

 

FPN question by toki_kanno, on Flickr

[scully012]

 

Hi scully012:

 

Did you mean remove the fins below the feed? I've drawn a simple picture, correct me if I was wrong.

 

FPN question by toki_kanno, on Flickr

 

No, if you look at the picture below, cutting the channels that extend around the feed so that they connect with the center channel will increase the flow (look where the nib is pointing). On Noodler's pens, only one side actually connects with the channel on purpose so that the flow isn't too much for normal writing. Taking a small razor blade and cutting that last half millimeter will allow more flow.

 

http://i1369.photobucket.com/albums/ag222/brendanscully94/WP_20150712_001_zpso1njzrnp.jpg

 

 

 

Edit:

Found a good thread from a while ago about the same topic. Explains it better than me!

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/209439-ahab-pen-opening-up-fin-vents-with-photos/

Edited July 12, 2015 by scully012