Wingsung 3013 / Paili Vacuumfiller

[mke]

now available below $5 at Ebay

[OCArt]

Amazingly low price for a "bulk filler" pen.

[mke]

Yes, unbelievable. But it doesn't write better than a WingSung 3008 Eyedropper for less than $2.

[jekostas]

Yes, unbelievable. But it doesn't write better than a WingSung 3008 Eyedropper for less than $2.

 

True, but it is much cooler

[Cyclohexene]

 

True, but it is much cooler

Yup, the nib isn't the smoothest, but I swapped my metro nib onto it because I like it more than the normal metro body. The step on the metro bothers me, but with the slightly longer section on the 3013, my natural grip managed to avoid the step, so it's oddly actually one of my most comfortable pen.

[mke]

> I swapped

no problems? just tearing?

[NighthawkSix]

After writing with the Paili and the original clear version for over a month, they're not going to make it to my favorite list. The nibs are easily swappable so you can get any line you want, but I find the pen so back heavy, that it makes my hand tired after awhile. The whole pen just doesn't seem to be balanced well. Just my personal opinion.

Also, on both of my pens, the the filler doesn't go all the way to the end to act as a shut off valve. Since I travel a lot, this is a must.

Edited July 26, 2019 by NighthawkSix

[Cyclohexene]

> I swapped

no problems? just tearing?

What?

[mke]

> What?

The old nib of course.

 

Nibs in some pens are difficult to swap, so a bit more detailed information is always welcome as this forum is a good information source for future owners of this and other pens. The threads here often come in top position when searching google. (a general comment)

[Cyclohexene]

> What?

The old nib of course.

 

Nibs in some pens are difficult to swap, so a bit more detailed information is always welcome as this forum is a good information source for future owners of this and other pens. The threads here often come in top position when searching google. (a general comment)

The 3013 uses the standard Pilot nib configuration, so it's friction fitted and can be pulled straight out. The original nib that came with it isn't too bad, but my Metro is languishing in my drawer unused because of the section step and low ink capacity, so I gave it a new life.

[mke]

@Cyclohexene

Thank you.

 

Btw., why cyclohexene? Certainly not because of the smell, I'd guess.

[Cyclohexene]

@Cyclohexene

Thank you.

 

Btw., why cyclohexene? Certainly not because of the smell, I'd guess.

I like its skeletal formula, which is just a hexagon with a line inside.

[Nyanzilla]

I got two of them. Both have a very smooth M nib. But one doesn't write. First the ink flow is very wet and then all of a sudden it will stop. It's very annoying , and I haven't come upon which is the cause.

The other one has a good and constant ink flow.

But in the end I don't like the shape of the pen. There is a very sharp step between the barrel and the grip section, which makes it feel very uncomfortable in my hand.

And the other (minor) thing is that the cap cannot be posted.

[Stefan-Ionut-Marius]

I got two of them. Both have a very smooth M nib. But one doesn't write. First the ink flow is very wet and then all of a sudden it will stop. It's very annoying , and I haven't come upon which is the cause.

The other one has a good and constant ink flow.

But in the end I don't like the shape of the pen. There is a very sharp step between the barrel and the grip section, which makes it feel very uncomfortable in my hand.

And the other (minor) thing is that the cap cannot be posted.

My WingSung 3013 with M nib has the same problem . It also happened the same thing to me when i swapped a Win Sung 698 nib ( Produced byGreen ) on to a Wing Sung 3011 and also on a Wing Sung 3008 (2019 - pilot style nib version ) both made by WSE(Wing Sung Educational ) like the Wing Sung 3013 .

Here it is what i believe it's happening , all those pen's use Pilot style nib's, but the nibs from WSE, are slightly different than the nibs from Green, the nibs from WSE are just a smidge thicker, than the nibs from Green and the wings that lock in place the nib on the feed, are just a smidge wider on the nibs from WSE, than the nibs from Green and that gives a bit of play, ( it is not fixed it moves a little ) and when you swap between them that gives ink flow issues and ink starvation in many cases .

Edited July 30, 2019 by Stefan-Ionut-Marius

[A Smug Dill]

My thoughts and observations on the Wing Sung 3013 and/or Pali 013, from having two of the former and one of the latter (but I won't attest whether they are identical except for the cosmetic differences such as colour and debossed markings):

These pens are prone to hard starts. Or, at least, that is my experience with each and every one of them that I haven't disassembled (or before I disassembled) to clean. I only discovered how to disassemble the pen yesterday, precisely because my Pali 013 clear demonstrator was hard-starting (again), so I don't know yet whether whatever I did yesterday fixes/alleviates the problem.

I haven't observed any issue with metal corrosion of either the cap finial screw or the plunger rods, even though the pens have been (or were) on the same fill of ink for over six months.



The EF nibs that come with them are quite OK, perhaps not fine enough to be worthy of being labelled Extra Fine, but they write smoothly and are not scratchy.

But it doesn't write better than a WingSung 3008 Eyedropper for less than $2.

I disagree with your statement in more ways than one. Firstly, the Wing Sung 3008 is not an 'eyedropper' pen, but has a full piston-fill mechanism for using its barrel as the ink reservoir. Secondly, I find the Pilot-style steel nibs on the Wing Sung 3013 and Pali 013 to be more robust than the Lamy-style steel nibs on the Wing Sung 3008.

True, but it is much cooler

The vacuum-fill mechanism is gimmicky and offers no functional advantage, at least in the Wing Sung 3013. With the Wing Sung 3008, at least it's possible to fill to the ink reservoir's maximum capacity. Not so with the WS3013's vacuum-fill mechanism; to fill the barrel to maximum capacity, one has to partially disassemble the pen and fill the barrel with a syringe, if the 'point' of using the barrel directly as the ink reservoir is to maximise the volume of ink held in the pen. The metal rod of the plunger being constantly immersed in ink is not a boon in any way, either; although I haven't observed corrosion of its metal surface as yet, as some others have shown in photos posted online, I did find a lot of encrusted (Robert Oster River of Fire) ink stuck on the rod in spite of the reservoir still being >50% filled when I decided to clean the Pali 013 yesterday.

That said, if the user's sole requirement is "holds more ink than the average converter", then yes, the vacuum-fill mechanism in the Wing Sung 3013 will easily satisfy that.

Nibs in some pens are difficult to swap, so a bit more detailed information is always welcome as this forum is a good information source for future owners of this and other pens.

It's doable, and does not require either an advanced degree or professional nib repair tools. I did a quick web search yesterday and found more than a few photos of the Wing Sung 3013 disassembled, maybe not to the extent that I eventually did, but in all cases showed the nib and feed removed from the housing, with no apparent damage to any of the aforementioned pen parts. Here's mine, from disassembling the Pali 013:



Whether one can get the nib and feed out with one's bare hands is a different issue. Let's just say I never had any difficulty fully disassembling any of my more than two dozen Wing Sung 3008 with just my bare hands, but I struggled (and failed) with the Pali 013 shown above. I ended up enlisting the help of a rubber grip, a piece of scrap leather and a pair of pliers.

I've since replaced the nib on that pen with an M (or CM) nib taken from a Pilot Plumix.

There is a very sharp step between the barrel and the grip section, which makes it feel very uncomfortable in my hand.

I found that to be the case as well, but then the effectiveness of the cap seal on the Wing Sung 3013 is reliant on the O-ring that sits in front of the step-down, and not the surface of the ridge, so I just smoothened mine with an emery board and finished it with a bit of micro-mesh. Much better now.

And the other (minor) thing is that the cap cannot be posted.

I haven't tried. I don't usually post the caps on my pens when I write anyway, and for a pen of this length, I personally find it entirely unnecessary. The balance of the weight of the pen is OK, whether the barrel is fully filled or only half-filled with ink. Users who prefer to post the cap for the sake of posting ... well, good luck.

[A Smug Dill]

Well, there was definitely corrosion all along the metal piston stem from immersion in Robert Oster Dark Chocolate ink after ten months.



Furthermore, now that I've fully disassembled the brown one for the first time for deep cleaning, I can see defects in piston plug rim as well as the blind-cap end of the barrel; the latter is probably what caused ink to seep out and (luckily) be trapped under the metal collar ring.

[Jamerelbe]

Well, there was definitely corrosion all along the metal piston stem from immersion in Robert Oster Dark Chocolate ink after ten months.

 

I found the same thing with my Wing Sung 3013 - I was wondering why the Visconti Sepia I'd filled it with had a more greenish cast than I remembered, until I saw the corrosion along the piston rod... I don't know if this is a widespread problem, or related to specific inks (I haven't yet cleaned out the other 3013s I own, as they're fairly new), but either way it's a bit of a disappointment...

[A Smug Dill]

I just checked my other Wing Sung 3013, which has been inked with Robert Oster Claret. Now that ink has never really been the colour of any red wine I've seen, but it was coming out of the pen onto the page almost black. Pulling the piston back, I could see a relatively small amount of corrosion, but it was greenish all along the metal piston stem. Wiping with a piece of kitchen towel didn't pick up that much colour.

 

After plunging the piston back down, the pen wrote for short while, and then started to repeatedly exhibit symptoms of ink starvation. Ah well, the half-a-barrel of ink was damn contaminated anyhow, so I decide to empty the pen and clean it ahead of a change in ink colour. Whoa! the first bit of ink that came out (after I unscrewed the gripping section) was kinda purple-grey, but when everything that was behind the piston plug came out, it was a wicked green-black.

 

I disassembled the whole pen, including removing the ring-shaped rubber piston plug from the metal stem. The metal under the rubber was bright turquoise. I also noticed that the rim on the blind-cap end of the barrel was even more 'broken' and jagged than that on my brown Wing Sung 3013. I'm expect both the Pali 013 and Wing Sung 3013 were made in the same factory with the same machinery, but somehow my Pali 013 didn't seem to have any of the problems with corrosion and jagged plastic rims, even though it's the same age as my two Wing Sung 3013.