Bad Nib(S)

[D_Whaley]

Hi, hopefully someone can give me some advice.

 

Around Christmas I bought a Lamy AL-Star with an M nib and shortly after bought an F nib as a replacement as the M was skipping. The F I got felt scratchy but as everything else I've ever owned is bigger I figured that is just how F nibs are. I didn't like it and set myself about fixing the M - turns out the tines were touching and making it skip so I ran the tiniest bit of plastic between the tines and fixed it, now it works great!

 

However, I prefer how the F nib looks, especially when annotating papers, I put it back on and find it still just as scratchy. I have realised this is only when I move the pen to the left, is there a fix for this?

 

Thank you for anyone who can help I really want to like this pen!

[Mike 59]

Hi, If you feel the nib is 'rough' when writng to the left, then it likely shows that the right hand side of the nib is lower than the left.

To change that, you would need to lift the right hand side of the nib upwards, carefully, by about 1mm, and test write again.

You might need to repeat that several times as it's a fine balance between not enough and too far!

This is so much easier if you have a magnifier of around x10, and you don't need to use any tools, just a fingernail is fine.

[Flippy]

Hi!

First off, welcome aboard. Cheers, not jeers.

Second, have you tried flushing the pen? It might help. Maybe if you tried to fix it just like the medium?

 

If not, that's how some Lamy nibs are. Sometimes, you can get dud nibs. Lamy replacement nibs are real cheap, so you could always order off Amazon. It's kind of odd though, my experience with F nibs from Lamy are very smooth.

[Flippy]

Hi, If you feel the nib is 'rough' when writng to the left, then it likely shows that the right hand side of the nib is lower than the left.

To change that, you would need to lift the right hand side of the nib upwards, carefully, by about 1mm, and test write again.

You might need to repeat that several times as it's a fine balance between not enough and too far!

This is so much easier if you have a magnifier of around x10, and you don't need to use any tools, just a fingernail is fine.

Ooh, just a few seconds after I posted it.

[D_Whaley]

Thanks for the help - unfortunately no amount of poking one half of the nib has worked, even though now I can see a slight difference between the two sides and I've tried running a thin piece of plastic between the tines but there's no touching like there was on the medium. And as for flushing, I've tried 3 different inks with cleaning in between each of them.

 

Something not mentioned in the original post, but when I write left to right less ink comes out too. I've attached a picture so you can see this.

 

I am tempted to replace the nib, I'm just slightly saddened by having two dud nibs from them now, even if one was fixable.

[Astronymus]

Take care the tines are not too far away from each other now. It takes some fine motor skills and patience to get it right.

I fixed too Lamy nibs last week. One "M" with Mike 59's recommended method. And an "EF" by pushing the tines a little bit closer together so the ink would flow.

[Mike 59]

Hi, If you have got the two sides of the nib as level as possible, it's sounds as if there is not enough gap between the tines.

If you have a x10 magnifier, and with the nib dry, you should be able to see light between the two halves, say 1 or 2 thou/inch.

If you don't have a magnifier, then a close up photo with a camera on 'macro' and zoomed in on a PC will show the details.

I have some 1 thou/inch shims I 'rescued' from a security tag on an item I bought a couple of years ago, they seem to be stainless steel, and I measured the thickness on a digital vernier at 0.001 inch.

Very handy for running between the nib tines, and when they wear out or bend, then I'll just cut some new ones out of another white security tag. Of course you could use the feeler gauges designed for car spark plugs also, my experience is that they rust very quickly.

Edited February 23, 2017 by Mike 59

[D_Whaley]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I got the tines lined up as good as I could and ran a piece of firm plastic through the tines (I used it on the medium Lamy nib), still not much better. So I contacted Cult Pens where I bought it and they recommended using some fine sandpaper - I tried that and it is noticeably better but there's still a lot of feedback moving the pen left. So I've bought a new nib because I want to know whether this is a problem with the nib or the way I write. Hopefully that will fix the problem once and for all!

[D_Whaley]

Thought I should update this, new nib arrived today and it writes like a beauty!

 

Clearly there was something seriously wrong with that last one.

[Mike 59]

Good to hear you now have a decent nib on your pen, it's always possible that a rogue one gets out of the factory, but by far the majority are good to very good in my experience.

[Diljot]

Hey there Mike 59!

I'm Planing to get a Lamy safari extra fine (Petrol color) I was woundering how often do bad nibs come out of the factory? is it common? Also would there be any tips I could use when getting the safari? This issue With D_whaley is starting to scare me a little

[ErrantSmudge]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I got the tines lined up as good as I could and ran a piece of firm plastic through the tines (I used it on the medium Lamy nib), still not much better. So I contacted Cult Pens where I bought it and they recommended using some fine sandpaper - I tried that and it is noticeably better but there's still a lot of feedback moving the pen left. So I've bought a new nib because I want to know whether this is a problem with the nib or the way I write. Hopefully that will fix the problem once and for all!

 

If the problem is in one direction, it is likely because the tines are misaligned. It is best to align the tines first, before using fine sandpaper to smooth the nib.

[Mike 59]

Hi Diljot, I'm surprised at the stories I read about poor nibs, personally all my Safaris have been average or fairly good from new, the only 'difficult' one was the first I bought, and looking at it years later with more 'know how' I could see that the tipping wasn't rounded off enough, from the side view, and I smoothed it out and it's a good writer.

Also it's just a fact that the narrower nibs, 'F' and 'EF' will tend to feel 'sharper' on the paper, whereas 'M' and wider tend to be smooth because of the greater surface area on the paper.

It also likely that from time to time a poor nib will get through quality control, and that's the one to return to shop or dealer.

Now I find with a new pen, I look for problems with my x15 loupe, and tweak the tines to be level which is normally all that's needed.

I always notice that all my Safaris have 'run in' over the first half a dozen pages of writing, they do get smoother with use.

Hope that helps, but keep in mind even if you have to, or want to buy a new nib, they are not expensive at all, very good value.

(I also think that we are not going to read about the pens that wrote well from new, were no trouble at all, and wrote well for years on end......which I would think most of them actually do !!)

Edited March 15, 2017 by Mike 59

[Diljot]

Thank you very much Mike 59!

This definitely gives me more confidence.

I heard that it's good to flush out the pen before using it, I'll definitely keep this advice in mind!

Farewell

-Diljot

[Robert_Boyd]

Hey there Mike 59!

I'm Planing to get a Lamy safari extra fine (Petrol color) I was woundering how often do bad nibs come out of the factory? is it common? Also would there be any tips I could use when getting the safari? This issue With D_whaley is starting to scare me a little

 

To be honest I have quite a few XF nibs and I just cannot get these writing nicely. I have aligning them and smoothing them with a number of grit sizes. I have had some lovely F nibs that write fine also. For Lamy pens if you can buy in a shop i would so you can test them, or be happy to pick up extra nibs to find that sweet one.

[pajaro]

All my Safari nibs are perfect if bright steel. I have EF nibs in five Safaris, and the black ones have needed some adjustment, but once adjusted they are good.

Edited April 2, 2017 by pajaro

[Astronymus]

I too noticed the black ones to be more... tricky. My first guess would be the coating. On the last I had to tinker with I used some dental floss, because the ink wouldn't reach the tip even with the tines perfectly alined. After that and some cleaning - I recommend the unwaxed... it was a mess and took some time to get the nib clean - it worked. So my suspicion is that some particles of the coating blocked the tines.

[Robert_Boyd]

All my Safari nibs are perfect if bright steel. I have EF nibs in five Safaris, and the black ones have needed some adjustment, but once adjusted they are good.

 

Wow, thats a dream fr me. When saying they are perfect how do they compare to the feeling of Pilot nibs. Once i tried Japanese nibs i have had trouble using lamy (((