Is My Platinum 3776 Faulty Or It Is Expected?

[kenpurpur]

Hello every one,

 

Nice to meet you all! I'm new to this forum and to fountain pens too! I just discovered the fun of fountain pens few months back and I'm now totally immersed in it.

 

I just got my first gold-nib pen, which is the Platinum #3776 Chartres Blue SF nib. I was excited when I opened it, but when I inked it and wrote, I found it very, very dry. If I apply no pressure on it, the lines look washed out at best, or worse almost skipped. I tried first with Iroshizuku horsetail ink, then now I tired Sailor Kiwa Guro ink. Both have the same results.

 

If I apply some pressure on it, however, the result looks ok. However, I expected that I can write without effort even with no pressure, just like my Pilot Metropolitan F nib pen does.

 

Is this pen faulty or it is expected? Can I adjust it somehow to make it wetter even if I apply no pressure when writing?

 

I have attached picture. The first 'quick brown fox' was written with no pressure, the 2nd one was with a bit force.

 

Many thanks to you all!

 

 

 

[Bluey]

Hi there kenpurpur

 

In my experience, Platinums generally write rather wet so this seems out of character. The flow is usually very good in them.

 

Two possibilities come to mine. The first is that you may need to flush the nib part and the converter out with dish soap and water then rinse with water to clear out any oils that may affect the flow. This is best to be done with all pens before first inked.

The 2nd possibility is that the ink hasn't yet 'flooded' the feed yet. It happens to me sometimes when I fill the pen by using a syringe to fill the converter or cartridge. It looks like it's writing dry, so maybe you could hold the pen over a tissue and squeeze the cartridge/converter slightly to push some ink through the feed and the nib.

[Algester]

the nib may need some adjustments

[glorfindel]

+1 to what Bluey said. For some reason, my platinums take the longest to saturate their feeds and you may write a whole page or more before it's fully saturated. However, this is of course only a problem if you inked your converter through a syringe. This shouldn't happen if you inked it up normally.

[kenpurpur]

Hi Bluey,

 

Thanks for your prompt response!

 

I flushed the pen already, and following your advice I flushed it again with soap water. Yet situation still the same.

 

Also I tried pushing the ink to the nib, but no big improvement

 

Hi there kenpurpur

 

In my experience, Platinums generally write rather wet so this seems out of character. The flow is usually very good in them.

 

Two possibilities come to mine. The first is that you may need to flush the nib part and the converter out with dish soap and water then rinse with water to clear out any oils that may affect the flow. This is best to be done with all pens before first inked.

The 2nd possibility is that the ink hasn't yet 'flooded' the feed yet. It happens to me sometimes when I fill the pen by using a syringe to fill the converter or cartridge. It looks like it's writing dry, so maybe you could hold the pen over a tissue and squeeze the cartridge/converter slightly to push some ink through the feed and the nib.

[Algester]

if the flow isnt to your liking again you may need to open the tines a little bit

[kenpurpur]

Thank you all of you mates! I tried to floss it a little bit with brass sheets too but still no success.

 

At the end I decided to return the pen to the seller. Based on the reviews and comments I found here and on net I think I got a faulty one. Not only it's so dry it's also very scratchy. Basically I can't really write with it. It's a shame, coz I really like the design of the pen.

[brownargus]

I had a similar problem with my Platinum 3776 when new. It wrote dry and was difficult to start. I eventually discovered that it didn't like the ink I was using - Diamine Imperial Blue which works perfectly in all my other pens. I changed to another ink, Diamine Sapphire Blue and it worked fine. I currently have Waterman Audacious red and no problems.

[PaganArcher]

I had the same issue with mine, also a Chartres Blue with a soft fine nib, but only when I used my samples of the Platinum pigmented blue and carbon black.

 

If memory serves, Kiwa Guro is one of the Sailor nano carbon inks and that was likely the culprit. Once I swapped the ink out and went for a more free flowing ink (Noodler's Cactus Fruit Eel and now Diamine Aqua blue) it works beautifully.

[bone215]

Shame about the nib.

 

What is the difference between the F and the SF nibs?

[Keith E Bartlett]

Hi bone215,

 

I hope you don't mind me butting in here. SF means soft fine. In other words it has a bit more give to it than an ordinary fine but don't expect it to be like a flex nib.

Edited August 1, 2016 by Keith E Bartlett

[JunkyardSam]

I've purchased 7 gold nibbed Pilot pens (Falcons,91s,92,912) and several 3776 Century pens and at this point I believe it's not terribly uncommon for these pens to require some adjustment.

 

Often the problem is the tines being too tight upon arrival. I'm not sure why they tune them to be so tight but sometimes they won't let any ink through at all. Wetter inks help - but if the tines are too tight even the wettest of inks won't make it through.

 

Also, the process of widening the tines is more difficult in a 3776 Century than the Pilot Custom Heritage series of nibs. Platinum's nibs aren't designed to be particularly flexible (perhaps with exception of SF but I'm still skeptical.) The gold is thick in these nibs, and it takes some work to spread the tines.

 

BUT... It probably would have solved your problem, particularly since you said with a little pressure the flow improves. That's the #1 sign of a "tines are too tight" problem.

 

The worst offender was my 3776 Century UEF. It arrived with tines so tight *NO* ink would go through. And during adjustment when misaligned, they were so tight they crossed significantly. It took an hour of very careful nib adjustment to get the pen writing well --- but my UEF became one of my favorite pens once I did.

 

My 3776 F was the best of the three out of the box, but I had to widen the tines because it was so fine it was hardly different from my EF. But... flossing the nibs and pulling the tines apart fixed that. Tightness in the tines was, indeed, impeding ink flow.

 

My 3776 EF had even more feedback than I believe to be expected... but it just a tiny bit of gentle smoothing it became one of my best nibs. No flossing needed on this one...

 

ALL my Pilot Custom Heritage nibs needed some minor flossing before they would write without pressure.

 

This is all moot since you sold your pen - but for anyone else that encounters this situation... It's often fixable, though easier with some nibs than others.

Edited August 2, 2016 by JunkyardSam

[tmallik]

HI Junkyardsam,

 

I just bought Platinum 3776 UEF which has a ink flow problem. Can you please share how you adjusted the tine. I inserted a very thin razor blade in between the tine and the ink flows and it writes very well. It would be great to know from someone who did it before.

 

Waiting to hear from you.

 

Thanks.

[Mrpink]

I just got a 3776 SF too in the fine and am having the same problem. I thought the nib was bent more than it should be.

 

 

 

I have been working on it bit by bit so hope it comes good. Good luck with yours too.

Edited April 5, 2017 by Mrpink

[Bluey]

Actually a few weeks back I got a hair stuck in between the tines of my Sailor and it wrote almost exactly like the first post until I removed it. Wondering if that's a possibility with you two.

 

Personally I prefer not to adjust nibs unless it's a last resort.

[jar]

Why not send the pen back to the seller and ask them to remedy the situation?

[tmallik]

There is nothing stuck in my tine. I am thinking about returning my pen - unless I find some workable solution. Thanks for all the reply.

[Mrpink]

It may come good. Im thinking now that these pens are made to perform like this. My one is opening up and becoming abit more wet but its still dry.

[JunkyardSam]

Since my original response I also got a 3776 SF and it arrived with the EXACT issues that prompted Kenpurpur's original post.

 

It's my second (of 5) 3776 Century pen to not work, at all, out of the box.

 

I do NOT believe the 3776 SF is designed to be so unpleasant, because once I adjusted the nib it became quite wonderful. (The nib bends with moderate pressure but offers very little line variation. I do not believe it's designed to offer line variation.)

 

I followed the standard instructions of flossing and widening the gap between the tines as shown in the Pen Habit Flow Adjustment video:

 

http://penhabit.com/2015/01/16/adjusting-your-fountain-pen-part-1-ink-flow/

 

However -- 3776 Century nibs are much more difficult to adjust than Pilot or Sailor gold nibs. The gold seems to be thicker and firmer and the tines REALLY don't want to yield.

 

That said -- I enjoy the pen quite a bit now that it's properly adjusted.

[Mrpink]

Thats 3 of us, thanks for the link. I have been bending the tip slightly and squeezing the nib only slightly but not much has changed. I was beginning to think the pen is designed to be dry being a softer nib. It is a real nice pen to use though, highly recommended.