Another Victim Of The Omniflex Nib?

[sansenri]

You probably have to place the back of the nib on a flat surface at a slight angle and carefully put some pressure so that the nib bends back and the tines move closer to each other. Unfortunately it's not going to cure your nib for long.

 

I fear that the shape of this nib and the material it is made of are not very compatible, so it is too soft and will spring even as you write.

Something similar happens to my Conklin Symetric #5 nib.

The pen is rather nice, but the nib is just a lousy piece of soft metal, which bends as I write until it hard starts and then eventually stops writing completely! very frustrating, I have stopped using the pen, until I find a replacement nib (not Conklin).

I assume any # 5 should fit, I plan to get a Jowo or Bock and swap it in, I am not quite sure if Conklin nibs are screw on or friction fit though, have not tried yet.

 

[Eric2018]

I tried to fix it with a pliers. It works..... for few seconds... when I write a word or two, the tines move away again.

 

Why a nib with this kind of material will be used on a limited edition pen?!

 

I need another nib for sure, Goulet has it, but the shipment cost is higher than the price of the nib...... still considering....

[Honeybadgers]

Just go to amazon and pick up a nemosine or Knox #6 nib in whatever size you like. They'll work much better.

[Honeybadgers]

 

Now you tell me!

 

Mine supposedly shipped last night.

 

Granted, I'm not expecting much -- it was just to see what the nib was like, and I wasn't going to pay the higher Conklin prices for a novelty nib (speaking of which, I still have to Dremel the spare nib(s) for the Noodlers -- as the stock "flex" nib feels stiffer than the nib of a Sheaffer Intrigue ) And I have a 15 year old Nozac that needs to have a bent gold nib straightened.

 

I've got no idea what to do for the Omiflex nib, and thinking of buying a stub nib from Goulet.... anyway, Goulet always provides wonderful and informative service and advice, thanks.

 

In front of the desk light, I find out this, would it be the cause of the NO START or HARD START problem?

 

Two tines are far far away, and end up with the ink that cannot be transported to the tip?

anyone any idea????

 

pls help.

 

 

 

It's a (bleep) nib. use your fingers and gently bend one tine over the other so they just cross and keep doing it until they touch.

 

A flex nib shouldn't have a visible slit all the way to the tip like a rigid nib can get away with. the tines should JUST BARELY touch at the tip.

 

Just don't flex it and write with a gentle hand and it's a decent everyday writer. But never, ever flex it beyond a B.

[BaronWulfraed]

Just out of curiosity, how recent has it been that pen makers have started pushing these modern "flex" nibs?

 

MonteVerde/Conklin "OmniFlex"

Marlen Aleph "harmonic"

Pineider "HyperFlex" (the only gold nib in the list)

 

Above all appear to be common nibs (short slits with relief hole) with the wings ground down

 

Noodler's (I'd totally forgotten about them as an ink company, and only recently discovered they put out a few pens)

Stipula "V-Flex" (did the T-Flex fall by the wayside? Did the price of titanium follow that of gold?)

 

Both using long-slit nibs with no relief hole.

[PurplePlum]

Just to update the thread. My Duragraph with an omniflex nib arrived and on playing with it i’ve had no issues. If anything i’m so impressed with it I want another colour pen in a different nib. I hope the OP can fix their splayed nib.

[Eric2018]

Thatd be nice.

Just hope that its only me to be the unlucky guy with that nib.

 

Im still deciding which nib for the replacement. .....

[TSherbs]

Yeah, sounds like that nib is junk. Those huge cutaways don't look right to me. Seems like the metal used is not all that well suited for the modified design.

[sundragon]

Your nib is sprung. Send it back to Yaffa, they will swap out your nib unit. I had a bad one that was sprung like yours out of the box. They replaced it and now my Omniflex works. Additionally, if your feed is starving your nib, you can swap it our for a same size standard Bock feed and it will fix starvation issues. The Omniflex nib has two small channels vs one for the standard Bock. The two smaller channels don’t work as well on some nibs.

[Eric2018]

I pull out the nib and try to use the noodlers art nib (also#6). But it doesnt work, no ink flow at all.

 

I heat set the omniflex and try to move the feed in and out and in and out. Crossed th nib up and down and up and down....

 

Now. The nib writes, hard start, but writes, like a B, cannot press. Anytime I press the nib on writing, it rails.

 

Better than cant write, huh!?

 

T_T

[crosshatch]

In addition to problems with the metal, the nib and the feed don't fit together well. The tines meet fine when the nib is pulled out, but when inserted back into the nib assembly, the tines spread again. I had some luck laying the nib flat and then mashing it down to open up the curvature a bit, and this makes the nib write OK for a while, but it quickly goes back to its original shape and stops working. It's just bad design. Plus, the nib is so stiff that it's worthless as a flex nib, IMO.

Re: the tine gap--I've had Indian-made flex nibs that have a gap at the end of the tines which work perfectly. When they run out of ink, which only happens when I really push them past what the feed can handle, it does take much more effort than with nibs with no gap to get the ink flowing again, but under normal use with occasional flexing, I've had no problems. I suspect there's something about the (bleep) metal in the Omniflex nibs that just makes the capillary action more difficult to sustain.

 

I made a video about my Duragraph/flex with Omniflex nib. EDIT: I suggest watching it on YouTube if you're in a hurry as I put tl;dw shortcuts in the description.

Edited November 19, 2018 by crosshatch

[John Edgar]

My friend, I feel your pain. I realize I'm a bit late to this thread, but I just received a Limited Edition Conklin Duralfex pen as a gift, and mine is having the very same difficulty as yours. Why would Conklin put out a relatively expensive, numbered, limited edition pen with a half-(bleeped) pot-metal nib??? This is my fourth Conklin pen, and now the fourth one to have a non-functional nib. Just like T T, my nib doesn't write at all, and acts like it has severe "baby's bottom". From what I can tell, the nib slit isn't even cut evenly, leaving one tine bigger (wider) than the other, with the nib slit cut off-center. This is inexcusable. I'm glad to hear that Yafa will fix it, but it won't be the first Conklin pen I'll have had to ship to them for repairs. Every Conklin pen I've had before this has had to have a Goulet Pens nib put in it to replace the one it came with.

[Honeybadgers]

Just to update the thread. My Duragraph with an omniflex nib arrived and on playing with it i’ve had no issues. If anything i’m so impressed with it I want another colour pen in a different nib. I hope the OP can fix their splayed nib.

 

 

You getting a good one is the exception, not the rule. Congrats on getting a decent one, but this is not a consistently made nib.

 

Conklin's regular nibs are mostly fine. And their bodies are solid. I love my all american and my nozac.

[chemgeek]

I received a Sunstone with a bad feed/nib combination. Nib appeared to be fine under a loupe, but the feed just couldn't keep up or feed properly for long. Returned it to Yafa for warranty service and received it back in a little over a week. The new nib/feed combo works great. It's not exactly soft and springy but it does flex out to 1.0 mm with good pressure and can give nice line variation, and shading with appropriate inks. (Diamine Monaco Red works nice.) I think the fit between feed and nib is critical for this very long nib. I smoothed out my nib a bit on receipt and it writes quite nicely now.

[TennesseeTrash]

It's funny to see this thread. A guy at church noticed I was using a fountain pen and introduced himself to me. He then promptly told me never to buy a conklin duraflex.

[Honeybadgers]

I've found one of the best steel replacements for these (they're cheap too) that properly fits (conklin feeds always seem to be pulled away from the nib) are osprey nibs. Put a steel osprey F in my all american and it's great now.

 

Even now that I've properly tuned and ground the omniflex I have to an XXF... it's still such a piece of trash.