Crushed Nib Fins

[minddance]

Fins on some feeds are more fragile than others and they arn't created equal: some are real fine and thin, other can be chunky and solid looking.

 

Some of us enjoy removing feed and nib for thorough cleaning and purification of our pens.

 

What happens when the fragile fins on the feeds are crushed/flattened/mis-shaped in this process of removing the feed?

 

Does it lead to poorer/better flow?

[Kodiac136]

Those fins serve as a sort of buffer. Say your pen sits in your shirt pocket and gets warm. The heat makes the ink expand. That excess ink will generally be caught in those fins. Without those fins, the ink will still occasionally come out a little bit... but there will be nowhere for it to go except into the cap.

 

You absolutely don't want to destroy those fins if you can help it... And really, I would avoid taking the nib and feed out on any sort of regular basis. Constant disassembly will break down the fit of these components.

[Tweel]

What happens when the fragile fins on the feeds are crushed/flattened/mis-shaped in this process of removing the feed?

 

Hopefully you stop pulling out the feed...

[Bo Bo Olson]

I could see pulling a nib and feed....once, if there was a problem.

Over cleaning of pens seems to be a plague here.

Yes, a Twsbi or Ahab can be easily cleaned....but with piston pens, folks are hunting 'ghost ink', they can't even see or know any of that dirty grungy filthy stinking ink has snuck in to the back behind the piston.

Advice stop using such ink......buy good ink.

 

I did pull a couple of nibs and feeds back when I was 'noobie' don't remember exactly why.

Do know I was lucky to get them back together and they still worked.

I can see that if your nib is shot and you want a expensive Knox nib to replace it.

Must be an antique nib.....was informed modern nibs will never, ever wear out....in a thread here.

So I do wonder why someone is replacing a forever nib for another one, and a cheap one at that.

 

(I didn't know Mauricio's advice on how hard getting the nib and feed to sit perfectly really was.....in close is not actually close enough. Measure exactly how deep the feed should go, and how much of the nib should be sitting free.)

 

Could have been non-twist out nib piston pens, to add silicon.

 

C/C pens can be well cleaned with a rubber bulb syringe.

I see no reason to screw with a lever pen unless the sack is shot.

 

Take a paper towel, fold it a couple times, have it in the crook of your left index finger, that way the combs won't crushed. Thumb on the top of the nib.

 

I do that with old first use for me, delicate 3 or 4 comb/rill feeds, the first time I remove them. Same when replacing it...those old ebonite feeds are fragile.

 

Modern plastic nibs???.....are you using a non-padded pair of pliers? Suggest a smaller hammer.

Edited January 30, 2019 by Bo Bo Olson

[minddance]

 

Hopefully you stop pulling out the feed...

I can't stop thinking that my pens need detoxification, disinfection and purification for those juices of joy to flow through uninhibited

[Tweel]

Well... maybe some sort of hands-off purification ritual? Otherwise the pen's juices of joy may be hampered by winces of pain.

[Driften]

I can't stop thinking that my pens need detoxification, disinfection and purification for those juices of joy to flow through uninhibited

 

 

Why? I agree people these days over clean and put extra wear on their pens that would be more harmful then not fully purifying it I don't think any pen company, other then Noodlers, has in their use and care information to remove the nib and feed from the section.

 

Noodlers wants you to experiment with the nib and feed positions on their pens and design them so you can change the depth more in the section then other brands. It may also be why many people have issues making those pens work well. They also sell replacement feeds and nibs for when you mess them up.

 

The only time I pull a nib and feed is to swap the nib to a different one. If you really think your pen has ink to be removed that water is not getting to, use pen flush to break up the old ink. I have seen pen flush after an over night soak remove ink from a pen that flushed clear on water. Those were older pens I bought used that had not been cared for.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Those were older pens I bought used that had not been cared for."""""""""

 

There are many of those....most of them on Ebays...put away by someone and forgotten for a three generations....with or with out a death or two in between. (Could be someone was retired and ink was out of budget, especially with free ball points to be had on every corner.)

 

Hopefully it was a Royal Blue....that cleans out with a nice cloud of ink.

Black or BB comes out in strings and takes twice as long to clean.

That though is really a one time affair....that might need pen flush.........normal cleaning with water does enough.

One has to be polite...I can't understand overly compulsively neat people tearing apart pens for imaginary dirt, with out to grandmothers wisdom about a somewhat common early early childhood trauma. I have an odd feeling they don't go camping....that ain't the cure it once was when one got smokey.

 

There is no reason to yank a piston pen apart...outside a Twsbi or Ahab, unless one is replacing the gasket. And it wears the hell out of the pen....and then it's sold.

[A Smug Dill]

There is no reason to yank a piston pen apart...outside a Twsbi or Ahab, unless one is replacing the gasket. And it wears the hell out of the pen...

I gladly completely disassembled every last one of my twenty-six Wing Sung 3008 piston-fill pens, into a pile of components with which to (re)assemble a collection of combinatorially unique pens to hold my shimmer inks, and I'll gladly disassemble each one again when it comes time to clear out the insoluble 'glitter' particles from the pen ahead of putting it to use with a different ink. If you don't think removing the nib and feed from the section, to soak and clean in a warm bath for ultrasonic cleaning, after a pen has been holding a shimmer ink for a couple of months... that's your call if it's your pen, but for my pens that's a damn good reason.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Wing Sung.....well don't know the cost....but don't think there is a used market for them.

 

I do fear the cleaning bug, to ruin old brand name plastic pens not made to be yanked apart every second Tuesday. ...and then sold, when wear has ruined them....to the unsuspecting.

 

I go by the sooner or later the pens I use for my 5 glitter inks will clean up, if I run enough water and then regular inks through them. Of course I don't have any dedicated pens just for glitter ink....may have to think about that.

I do tend to clean a pen that has had glitter ink in it after one load....just like I do if there if a supersaturated ink was used....or Purple inks. Don't have any red inks. Those two can stain an ink window.