Pen Catastrophe :(

[BCL-2]

Hi fellow pen appreciators,

 

I have recently dozed off during a most educational and fascinating training session. It was a waste of time, and most sadly it took the life of one of my favourite everyday-use fountain pens.

(My advice: if sth is that boring and useless, don't fight the boredom, save (pack up) your pen and assume sleeping position. )

 

 

 

It was a Pilot MR and I loved it. So smooth, trustable.

Anyway this happened to it:

:(

 

A new one costs ~18€ or 25$ in a local chain and being primarily a student, for both sentimental and financial reasons I was wondering if I could get (and manually exchange) a new nib cheaper than that.

And if yes where . I prefer European sources, for the simple reason that I live in Easter Europe (shipping)

Honestly my hopes aren't too high, and it's not too expensive, but I really should keep my expenses down this month so I thought I should ask

Thank you very much for your kind help and advice

Edited January 15, 2014 by BCL-2

[linearM]

My condolences. I had almost the same thing happen with a Moore L-94 the other day. It rolled off a table and guess where it landed. You guessed it, right in the same place yours did, on the nib. So now do I get it retipped to the tune of $75.00 or straightened and ground to a usable point without tipping? Why do they always seem to land nib down?

 

Good luck in finding a replacement nib.

[The Blue Knight]

I would say at least it was only a MR not something far more coastly we all go through a stage of messing up nibs, this is how I finally managed to learn how to be more careful with my pens. An idea to reduce the risk of this happenig again to another pen is to keep your pens posted as this shifts the centre of mass of the pen upwards away from the nib.

[Scribblesoften]

You might look for a Plumix. They are less expensive than the MR and the nibs are a direct swap. They have a medium italic (.6mm).

[Shaughn]

Consider it as an opportunity to learn nibstraightening...

 

Remove nib and feed, take the nib from the feed and try to straighten it. Q&Rforum gurus will happily advise you, I think.

 

You have a useless nib, if you don't try you'll end up with a useless nib.

If you try and fail, you'll end up the same way.

If you try and succeed, you end up with a good nib

 

(Not to mention an extra skill and a sentimental story more about your pen 'how I saved my beloved one' )

 

 

 

Edited for typo's

Edited January 15, 2014 by Shaughn

[inotrym]

Plumix, Penmanship, 78G.

 

These are pretty much your options.

Unless someone around here has any spare nibs to give away.

[WRITE SHOP ROBERT]

Since others are saying a plumix nib will fit, I could send you one. I got several for only a couple of dollars each when they were discontinued at Target. You can PM a shipping address if you want to go that way. I have both Medium and Fine.

[BCL-2]

Thank you very much for the kind help

Indeed, I am quite lucky that is wasn't one the pricier ones, and thanks for the advice on capping. Another lesson I learned is is that if you don't have at least a table to write on, (only your lap) then it is wise to be extra cautious.

 

First off, I will try to repair the nib myself, I read a few topics about it, so I have no illusions about the chances of success. But at the worst I have a useless pen, where I am now anyway. I think of it as an adventure.

Any advice on how could I disassemble the Metropolitan? Or at least get the nib out safely?

[WirsPlm]

Thank you very much for the kind help

Indeed, I am quite lucky that is wasn't one the pricier ones, and thanks for the advice on capping. Another lesson I learned is is that if you don't have at least a table to write on, (only your lap) then it is wise to be extra cautious.

 

First off, I will try to repair the nib myself, I read a few topics about it, so I have no illusions about the chances of success. But at the worst I have a useless pen, where I am now anyway. I think of it as an adventure.

 

Any advice on how could I disassemble the Metropolitan? Or at least get the nib out safely?

 

 

I feel your pain, but don't feel so down, it's not that hard to fix!

 

It's easier to re-align the nib when it's in the pen. When I dropped my MR, I was able to bend the nib up to reasonably straight and realign the tip (well, mostly realign, it's not back to the way it was but it writes) keeping it in the pen and using my fingers to gently bend the tines up. Go slow and stop if anything seems off. You'll need a loupe to align the tines fully, and probably some gentle Mylar paper (micromesh maybe, but it can be too much) to smooth things after you get it as close as it can go.

 

If there's no help for it and a replacement is needed, getting the nib out of the MR is easy. Grab the nib and feed with the thumb underneath the feed and the first knuckle of your first finger on top of the nib, kind of using the sides of the fingers and not the tips. Pull and gently twist, so you wind up pulling the nib and feed out in a gentle spiral (aren't friction-fits grand?). It should slide out with firm pressure (use a silicone gripper pad to help with grip, but I've also done with with bare fingers). If it feels immovable, or resists pulling with medium pressure, clean the nib and feed thoroughly and try again, I've had dried ink mess this procedure up. To get the nib and feed back in the pen, just push it in the same way again until you feel a click.

 

Replacement nib options are:

 

Penmanship, $7, EF

78G, $10-15, F/M/B(italic)

Plumix, $10, italic

Another MR/Metropolitan

 

There's several more expensive pens that are compatible (Cocoon, Knight, Prera), but those probably aren't worth buying unless you run into one used or something so it's cheap. I did a replacement with a Penmanship EF nib with one of my MRs and it's turned into my favorite pen. The Pilot Fs and EFs are much smaller than the US/EU Fs and EFs, about .3mm or thinner lines.

Edited January 17, 2014 by WirsPlm

[Scribblesoften]

Since others are saying a plumix nib will fit, I could send you one. I got several for only a couple of dollars each when they were discontinued at Target. You can PM a shipping address if you want to go that way. I have both Medium and Fine.

I think that is a very kind offer.

[BCL-2]

I think that is a very kind offer.

Indeed, a very very kind offer!

 

I would like to thank Write Shop Robert here as well! I very apperciate his help, all the more because my repair attempt kinda misfired, and although it looks like a normal nib now, it still doesn't write quite right.

 

And many thanks for everyone else as well, who helped with his advice, this is such a great place to be a member of

Edited January 19, 2014 by BCL-2

[SuperNib44]

My condolences. I had almost the same thing happen with a Moore L-94 the other day. It rolled off a table and guess where it landed. You guessed it, right in the same place yours did, on the nib. So now do I get it retipped to the tune of $75.00 or straightened and ground to a usable point without tipping? Why do they always seem to land nib down?

 

Good luck in finding a replacement nib.

Moore L-94 . . . I have a recently restored Moore 92 (no L). Do you happen to know the difference between an L-92 and a 92 and approximate date of manufacture?