Pilot Prera: Three Nibs (F, M, & Italic)

[amberleadavis]

I have a Prera with a Plumix nib in it. Works great for me. Currently inked with Yama Budo.

 

Thank you!

 

I asked Santa for one with an M nib.

 

I hope you get it.

[ahtzib]

Epilogue: Prera/Plumix Italic

 

OK, so after ongoing vexation with my italic nib, I looked into what other options I might have to get the nib performing better. I could see that my problem with the flow was definitely not unique but also wasn't universal, either. So what could I do?

 

I'd already attempted the basics to improve my Prera italic nib: rotated through various inks, flossed with a brass shim, and used light pressure to spread the tines. These efforts resulted in a small improvement, but did not get the nib to where I thought it should (or could) be. (A quick note that the Super Quality nibs are very rigid and don't offer much forgiveness. Small adjustments are difficult to make and, once bent, the are nearly impossible to bend back into alignment. Trust me on this one!)

 

In my peregrinations through FPN, I came across this thread dealing with flow in a 78G B (italic), which includes a link to a helpful YouTube video. The solution in the case of the 78G (which shares its feed design with the Plumix and Prera) involved increasing the flow through the feed by cutting a deeper channel using a razor. For me, this is the option of last resort because there is an element of trial-and-error and there is no way to reduce the flow through the feed if it's opened up too much. That said, I've successfully made this modification before. Since I already had an extra feed on hand from the Plumix I cannibalized, I went ahead and tried the modification...

 

And it worked! I got a wetter line that goes onto the page a lot more consistently. And, best part, I don't have any extra ink coming out of the feed--I didn't over compensate. Now I'm getting the beautiful italic line I expected.

 

I'm a little disappointed that this nib wasn't so great out of the box--a first in my experience for a Pilot pen--but at this price point, it wasn't much trouble to make the relatively simple modification.

Edited January 16, 2017 by ahtzib

[EBUCKTHORN]

To ahtzib: Congratulations on your persistence and success and thanks for sharing!

[maverink]

i have a ci nib on a prera and no problems whatsover

 

ideal pocket pen its clips are designed well

Edited January 30, 2017 by maverink

[amberleadavis]

 

Epilogue: Prera/Plumix Italic

 

OK, so after ongoing vexation with my italic nib, I looked into what other options I might have to get the nib performing better. I could see that my problem with the flow was definitely not unique but also wasn't universal, either. So what could I do?

 

I'd already attempted the basics to improve my Prera italic nib: rotated through various inks, flossed with a brass shim, and used light pressure to spread the tines. These efforts resulted in a small improvement, but did not get the nib to where I thought it should (or could) be. (A quick note that the Super Quality nibs are very rigid and don't offer much forgiveness. Small adjustments are difficult to make and, once bent, the are nearly impossible to bend back into alignment. Trust me on this one!)

 

In my peregrinations through FPN, I came across this thread dealing with flow in a 78G B (italic), which includes a link to a helpful YouTube video. The solution in the case of the 78G (which shares its feed design with the Plumix and Prera) involved increasing the flow through the feed by cutting a deeper channel using a razor. For me, this is the option of last resort because there is an element of trial-and-error and there is no way to reduce the flow through the feed if it's opened up too much. That said, I've successfully made this modification before. Since I already had an extra feed on hand from the Plumix I cannibalized, I went ahead and tried the modification...

 

And it worked! I got a wetter line that goes onto the page a lot more consistently. And, best part, I don't have any extra ink coming out of the feed--I didn't over compensate. Now I'm getting the beautiful italic line I expected.

 

I'm a little disappointed that this nib wasn't so great out of the box--a first in my experience for a Pilot pen--but at this price point, it wasn't much trouble to make the relatively simple modification.

 

 

Thank you for this update. I really like the width and even the rigid nib, but it just didn't put out enough ink to make me happy. Maybe I'll look at the feed option.