Ranga Model #3

[Jamerelbe]

@Jamerelbe where the nibs you swapped out Kanwrites?

What I found was that my Kanwrite was considerably thicker than any other nib I had in the house and I tried Bock, Jowo, Delta Omas, Conklin, FC, and probably others. They would all practically fall out of the section or in any case fit too loose...

I also did try other feeds, I had several other Ranga feeds around but they were all exactly identical to each other (not bad being hand made...)

I don't have any penBBS feeds to try (are they plastic?) and in any case I don't want to give up having an ebonite feed in there, it's the main scope of buying an ED Ranga!

Fortunately all my other Ranga EDs have Bock nibs.

I've just bought an Arcora gold nib that I want to try in (not here yet...)

 

I honestly don't know what the nibs were in these pens - they were simply the 'generic' unbranded nibs that came with the pens when I bought them, some years ago now. My point is more that it's worth trying (if you're willing to take the risk!), rather than to say that it'll definitely work!

 

I've heard of people wrapping plumber's tape around nib and feed to create a better fit when installing a thinner nib - I don't know if this would work in the situation you're describing, nor how effective it would be. (It certainly works for me when I'm replacing taps in the bathroom though...)

 

One other option when it comes to replacement feeds is to buy spare 6.3mm feeds from fprevolutionusa.com - but this is only economically viable for non-US customers if you want to buy other products from them too (which I'd happily recommend - their Himalaya pens are great value for money, and I'm a great fan of their ultra-flex nibs). I haven't tried fitting this into my one Ranga ED pen, though - and after the hassles I had trying to change nibs the first time, I'm not keen to go around again...

[sansenri]

Thank you

I asked because when compared to other generic Indian nibs I have, the Kanwrite seems to be thicker...

 

I certainly would recommend to try also (I've tried almost any #6 nib I had...)

I was wondering if they were Kanwrites to compare, perhaps my individual nib is thicker...

 

I'm also skeptical regarding wrapping the feed with anything... I fear it may interfere with flow

 

The feed from a Hymalaya pen could be a test to do (I don't own one yet... so a good excuse...) but 6.3mm seems a lot more space than needed, I would probably end up having to thin the feed down, which I'm not properly equipped to do and would have to work by hand, trial and error...not sure I actually want to get into that.

One alternative, easier solution is probably ask Mr. Kandan to re-do a section in the same material fitted with a Bock nib...

thanks anyway

[sansenri]

one more piece of info to complete the picture

 

today I tried another two nibs on my Ranga (the model is actually a 8B ) ED with Kanwrite flex nib.

One Jinhao (coming from a Moonman M600s) and a spare Ancora gold nib, both size #6.

 

The Kanwrite on the Ranga comes with a dedicated ebonite feed (different from the usual ebonite feeds Ranga uses on its ED pens).

Testing with the Kanwrite dedicate feed, both the Jinhao and the Ancora are dramatically loose and tend to almost fall off.

Testing with a spare ebonite feed (Ranga sourced) both nibs are still very loose, they will not fall of, but are not firm enough to write.

So NO, not even a Jinhao nib is as thick as the Kanwrite and is a viable solution to substitute a Kanwrite nib on a Ranga ED.

[Cyclohexene]

one more piece of info to complete the picture

 

today I tried another two nibs on my Ranga (the model is actually a 8B ) ED with Kanwrite flex nib.

One Jinhao (coming from a Moonman M600s) and a spare Ancora gold nib, both size #6.

 

The Kanwrite on the Ranga comes with a dedicated ebonite feed (different from the usual ebonite feeds Ranga uses on its ED pens).

Testing with the Kanwrite dedicate feed, both the Jinhao and the Ancora are dramatically loose and tend to almost fall off.

Testing with a spare ebonite feed (Ranga sourced) both nibs are still very loose, they will not fall of, but are not firm enough to write.

So NO, not even a Jinhao nib is as thick as the Kanwrite and is a viable solution to substitute a Kanwrite nib on a Ranga ED.

I'm very interested to learn that there are 2 types of ebonite feed in Ranga pens.

 

I have an ED Model 3, and it came with a Kanwrite nib. I've swapped it out with a Penbbs nib and Moonman number 6 nib since then, and they fit well enough for writing after heat setting with hot water.

 

Indeed I noticed that they are much looser in comparison to the Kanwrite nib, but pressing them further into the section did the trick to no ill effect as far as I can tell. Could this discrepancy be caused by there being different ebonite feeds? Any way to tell the difference?

[sansenri]

yes the two feeds are really quite different from each other, Ranga used one type of ebonite feed with the Kanwrite nib, although it must be said that the nib was a Kanwrite flex, the one with the long slit along the body and no breather hole, so I do not know whether Ranga uses this feed only with the Kanwrite flex, which is very possible, as flex nibs need modified feeds to ensure enough ink flow, while it uses a different ebonite feed for example when fitting Bock nibs in ED configuration.

I'll take a photo of the feeds when possible.

 

Since these pens are hand made it might be possible that my section is drilled just slightly larger and the other nibs remain very loose.

Pushing the nib and feed too far into the section is not so good though, as the nib will not be able to benefit from its natural shape when pushed far in and will become very stiff.

[sansenri]

So, after a very long wait (and time dedicated to play with other pens...) I've found my solution with my Ranga 8B and the Kanwrite nib that I had not been able to swap with anything else...

At first I was almost convinced the only solution would be to send back the pen to Ranga and have a new section made to take a Bock nib in ED (I prefer Bock nibs among Bock/Jowo/Schmidt because they tend to be softer).

Then it came to my mind that a possible solution could be find a slightly wider feed and where to ask best than Ranga itself.

So on occasion of a further purchase from one of the Ranga group buys I explained my issue to Mr. Kandan and asked him (very kindly) to dig out a few of his "wider" feeds (as I'm sure he has buckets of them lying around...) and send them in with my purchase.

Mr. Kandan was very kind to send me a few to try solve my problem.

The feeds I received were not adapted to the lenght of the section so I had to cut a small piece away at the end, but that was easy, ebonite is very easy to cut. They I tried fitting it with an extra Bock nib. First try, perfect fit! That fraction of a mm extra did the job!

I'm very greatful to Ranga for such an easy fix after being long in doubt on how to solve.

The pen is now a great writer, the Bock nib (B) is buttery smooth, and the ink flow is wonderfully generous, I can write very fast without feeling the slightest restraint.

 

(Thanks to OP for his patience, and guesting my 8B saga on his model 3 thread...)