The Gama Supreme: Part 2

[Abhik]

Hari, first apologies to write my personal experience of flat top Gama in a separate post.

I am enjoying the pen you sent & I received on my 50th birthday! I have inked with a self-made ink mixture of Pelikan Green 80%, 20% Pelikan Brilliant Brown and 5% of Brilliant Black. Resultant color resembles MB Racing Green. Difficult to distinguish at first glance!

This pen is BIG but easy to handle as it is light weight. Nib flow is good. Around 7/10 scale. Writes smooth F-M. a thin as my daily writer MB149.

Ebonite color is good. My comments on quality part is that it lacks some fine tuning. Gama could have been engraved aligned with clip or somewhere close, instead of at the rear side.

I have been carrying it regularly to office with two other pens, MB 149 and Pelikan M800. 149 filled with MB Royal Blue and M800 with another mixture of Green & Black to emulate dark green akin to MB Green! Carried in MB 3-pen pouch.

I have not experienced any leaking yet but may be I have not reached to 40% level of ink mentioned by a_m in his post.

In future, after first filling is over, I might keep it as a desk pen at home.

I liked the pen.

Thanks again Hari.

[hari317]

In case of air leak, it should leak even at 100% capacity

have you tried that?

 

So is there another theory ?

What is the need for a new theory? It is very simple. since your ambient is very cold as compared to your body whose temperature is biologically regulated, the temp difference between the air inside the pen and your hand is quite large thus the air inside would expand to a newer volume dictated by the hand temp provided sufficient time is allowed for the air inside to come up to the same temp as your hand. Ebonite is an poor conductor of heat, the heat transfer will be slow and will take time....As the air inside pen expands, it pushes the ink out. Dribbling will stop after a while once the air is expanded to the new temp.

 

Immediate dribbling indicated an air leak.

[hari317]

Hari, first apologies to write my personal experience of flat top Gama in a separate post.

I am enjoying the pen you sent & I received on my 50th birthday! I have inked with a self-made ink mixture of Pelikan Green 80%, 20% Pelikan Brilliant Brown and 5% of Brilliant Black. Resultant color resembles MB Racing Green. Difficult to distinguish at first glance!

This pen is BIG but easy to handle as it is light weight. Nib flow is good. Around 7/10 scale. Writes smooth F-M. a thin as my daily writer MB149.

Ebonite color is good. My comments on quality part is that it lacks some fine tuning. Gama could have been engraved aligned with clip or somewhere close, instead of at the rear side.

I have been carrying it regularly to office with two other pens, MB 149 and Pelikan M800. 149 filled with MB Royal Blue and M800 with another mixture of Green & Black to emulate dark green akin to MB Green! Carried in MB 3-pen pouch.

I have not experienced any leaking yet but may be I have not reached to 40% level of ink mentioned by a_m in his post.

In future, after first filling is over, I might keep it as a desk pen at home.

I liked the pen.

Thanks again Hari.

 

Thanks for sharing your impressions. I am glad you liked the gift.

 

They are aligning Gama 90 degrees rotated wrt the clip on the examples i have. They definitely have along way to go, but the pen is tunable with potential...

 

It is a simple matter to remove and reposition the nib and feed in section to line up with Gama, I have done that on my GT flat top brown.

 

Best

Hari

Edited November 14, 2013 by hari317

[a_m]

have you tried that

Yes. That's why I say burp starts at 35% to 40% level.

 

As to the heat and cold differential, then all my other EDs should behave the same centeris paribus

[hari317]

As to the heat and cold differential, then all my other EDs should behave the same centeris paribus

certainly but "centeris paribus" should be valid.

[Abhik]

 

Thanks for sharing your impressions. I am glad you liked the gift.

 

They are aligning Gama 90 degrees rotated wrt the clip on the examples i have. They definitely have along way to go, but the pen is tunable with potential...

 

It is a simple matter to remove and reposition the nib and feed in section to line up with Gama, I have done that on my GT flat top brown.

 

Best

Hari

How to remove nib & section? It seems there is a rubber cap kind of thing fitted in the front.

[hari317]

How to remove nib & section? It seems there is a rubber cap kind of thing fitted in the front.

No nothing of that sort is there, it is a simple friction fit nib and feed. Just knock the nib and feed out using a nib knockout block if you have one, you can also make one, plenty of instructions are there on the internet. You can even wiggle the nib out, but I have set the no 10 Deccan nib quite tight on your pen, so it might be a little more work to wiggle it out...

[Abhik]

No nothing of that sort is there, it is a simple friction fit nib and feed. Just knock the nib and feed out using a nib knockout block if you have one, you can also make one, plenty of instructions are there on the internet. You can even wiggle the nib out, but I have set the no 10 Deccan nib quite tight on your pen, so it might be a little more work to wiggle it out...

I will not do any thing to unsettle present nib-feed setting . Let Gama be sleeping in the back-side!

[Dillo]

Yes. That's why I say burp starts at 35% to 40% level.

 

As to the heat and cold differential, then all my other EDs should behave the same centeris paribus

 

I don't have too much trouble believing a_m for a few reasons. While ebonite does indeed insulate the pen somewhat, dripping problems do sometimes occur quite quickly after one holds the pen. This depends on the temperature of one's hand and the thickness of the ebonite. While there is a delay, it only takes a few seconds for it to begin, certainly not "tens of seconds." I've tested this with transparent pens made from acrylics with O-rings and modern feeds and feeder cases, and this still holds although the modern feeds do delay the onset of the symptoms a little. That said, I did have a thinner-wall acrylic pen that would begin this when 50% full. It had a 4 ml capacity and a small 5 mm modern feed, and it would take about 2-3 seconds before ink started dripping out the front. The dripping rate was a lot faster than I would expect, at two second between drops, but I know the pen to perfectly airtight. It has O-rings and I have pressure tested it. From what a_m is saying, it seems that the ink does take a few seconds to begin dripping, and there is reasonable space between the drops. If you can say that the second drop is queuing up, then it's a bit less likely to be a leak since leaks, even small ones, allow ink to drop at a much faster rate and start the very moment the pen is inverted.

 

Of course checking the nib and feed is a good step because air can sometimes leak around that.

 

Dillon

[hari317]

 

I don't have too much trouble believing a_m for a few reasons. While ebonite does indeed insulate the pen somewhat, dripping problems do sometimes occur quite quickly after one holds the pen. This depends on the temperature of one's hand and the thickness of the ebonite. While there is a delay, it only takes a few seconds for it to begin, certainly not "tens of seconds." I've tested this with transparent pens made from acrylics with O-rings and modern feeds and feeder cases, and this still holds although the modern feeds do delay the onset of the symptoms a little. That said, I did have a thinner-wall acrylic pen that would begin this when 50% full. It had a 4 ml capacity and a small 5 mm modern feed, and it would take about 2-3 seconds before ink started dripping out the front. The dripping rate was a lot faster than I would expect, at two second between drops, but I know the pen to perfectly airtight. It has O-rings and I have pressure tested it. From what a_m is saying, it seems that the ink does take a few seconds to begin dripping, and there is reasonable space between the drops. If you can say that the second drop is queuing up, then it's a bit less likely to be a leak since leaks, even small ones, allow ink to drop at a much faster rate and start the very moment the pen is inverted.

 

Of course checking the nib and feed is a good step because air can sometimes leak around that.

 

Dillon

you have a pen with a modern feed dribble at 50 % ink capacity when there is nothing wrong with it other than low ink level????

 

you have pressure tested a fountain pen????

 

I am sorry to sound so skeptical...

[Dillo]

you have a pen with a modern feed dribble at 50 % ink capacity when there is nothing wrong with it other than low ink level????

 

you have pressure tested a fountain pen????

 

I am sorry to sound so skeptical...

 

Yes, I pressure tested it a few ways. One way, take the feed and nib out of the feeder case and apply air pressure through the top of the grip section when the pen is completely full and is surrounding all the seams in the pen. Wait several hours. Second method, apply vacuum pressure in the same fashion with the pen filled with ink and see if there is any air ingress after a few hours.

The other way, seat the nib and feed which are keyed into the feeder case. Fill pen completely with ink. Perform the same tests as above.

 

You have every right to be skeptical, but you also have to remember that the modern feed is the 5 mm one. It's a smaller size than most with less buffer capacity. I don't know if the same pen would produce the same result with the 6 mm feed, but due to size constraints, I can't test it.

 

Dillon

[majorworks]

My Gama Supreme was shipped from ASAPENS on Dec. 18; it arrived in New Jersey yesterday. Twelve days; that's not bad at all.

 

I haven't had it long enough to give more of a first impression, but the first impression is very good. It is indeed large but I like large. Mine is made of the brown ripple ebonite with gold-colored clip and cap ring. It's a very handsome pen indeed. Rather masculine, in fact.

 

Fit and finish are as good as I've seen in an Indian ebonite ED pen. The ebonite is highly polished and I really like the black caps on the barrel and cap. This isn't a big deal for me, but I note that the Gama imprint on the barrel is well aligned with the nib. So unless that is a happy coincidence, Gama is paying more attention to detail on assembly than some other commenters have noted.

 

I've inked it with Pelikan royal blue and it's performing well. The two-tone nib is just about right, with a bit of feedback vs. being glass smooth. I did have a bit of trouble coaxing ink to the tips of the tines but once the flow got started, it became a moderately wet writer. No skipping or other problems have been observed so far.

 

The pen came in a plastic box with a clear lid and black bottom. A little Oliver school pen came as a throw in as well. I'm a happy camper!

[hari317]

My Gama Supreme was shipped from ASAPENS on Dec. 18; it arrived in New Jersey yesterday. Twelve days; that's not bad at all.

 

I haven't had it long enough to give more of a first impression, but the first impression is very good. It is indeed large but I like large. Mine is made of the brown ripple ebonite with gold-colored clip and cap ring. It's a very handsome pen indeed. Rather masculine, in fact.

 

Fit and finish are as good as I've seen in an Indian ebonite ED pen. The ebonite is highly polished and I really like the black caps on the barrel and cap. This isn't a big deal for me, but I note that the Gama imprint on the barrel is well aligned with the nib. So unless that is a happy coincidence, Gama is paying more attention to detail on assembly than some other commenters have noted.

 

I've inked it with Pelikan royal blue and it's performing well. The two-tone nib is just about right, with a bit of feedback vs. being glass smooth. I did have a bit of trouble coaxing ink to the tips of the tines but once the flow got started, it became a moderately wet writer. No skipping or other problems have been observed so far.

 

The pen came in a plastic box with a clear lid and black bottom. A little Oliver school pen came as a throw in as well. I'm a happy camper!

Good to see your report David. I think you will be very happy. I have a couple of Gamas inked up at the moment and am happy with all of them.

 

Best

Hari

[a_m]

My Supreme writes pretty well despite the burping at 35-40% ink levels. I even bought a second one.

 

I must add here that for any issues on gama pen the manufacturers provide free servicing.

 

On this issue I would like to add my experience of another Gama ebonite (not supreme) that would burp ink even at 100% level. Yes burp (ie intermittant), not leak (ie continuous)

 

As these are simple friction fit EDs one can indulge in some experimentation

 

Through bit of experimenting I found that for large feeds in general that hold lots of ink, fitting a bigger size nibs (preferebly less springy nib) and use of silica gel - usually solves burping issues. - to the extent that the particular FP that burped at 100% ink level was writing without issues even at 20% ink level.

 

This is my experience with one very tricky midsize ebonite ED pen - the tank capacity of which might be only a tad lesser than supreme.

[a_m]

My Supreme writes pretty well despite the burping at 35-40% ink levels. I even bought a second one.

I must add here that for any issues on gama pen the manufacturers provide free servicing.

On this issue I would like to add my experience of another Gama ebonite (not supreme) that would burp ink even at 100% level. Yes burp (ie intermittant), not leak (ie continuous)

As these are simple friction fit EDs one can indulge in some experimentation

Through bit of experimenting I found that for large feeds in general that hold lots of ink, fitting a bigger size nibs (preferebly less springy nib) and use of silica gel - usually solves burping issues. - to the extent that the particular FP that burped at 100% ink level was writing without issues even at 20% ink level.

This is my experience with one very tricky midsize ebonite ED pen - the tank capacity of which might be only a tad lesser than supreme.

This is not directly related to this supreme FP. But to the issue of burping of ink. With more usage & permutation / combinations, i have found the following:

 

1. The ink capacity of barrel has nothing to do with the burp issue.

 

2. Ink would flow in a better controlled manner even in huge tank FPs if-

 

A. Feed is smaller size

B. By corollary nib is smaller size

C. Nib is "F" grade

D. Feed is tight fit in barrel.

 

 

3. Feed fins have no role because its not uncommon to find feeds with no fins & when such feeds with no fins are applied to such EDs there is no general increase in flooding.

 

(and here i am assuming that such an ED FP does not have any flood control mechanism)

 

This is my observation & opinion. Experience / conclusion of others may vary.