New: Platinum Curidas (Capless Type) Fountain Pen

[Olya]

There's some bad news regarding the Curidas: Lemur Ink have discovered cracked feeds on the Curidas batch they received and notified their customers, as well as Platinum in the US and Japan. Turns out there's a global problem of cracked Curidas feeds, so do check your feeds (you'll likely need a loupe) and get in touch with retailers/Platinum if need be.

Platinum is trying to resolve the problem.

 

I saw this here:

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/fountainpens/comments/gkvmcl/platinum_curidas_cracked_feeds/

[TSherbs]

bummer for sure

[Bill P]

after reading this forum I checked my 2 Curidas...no cracks...sounds like I was a lucky one.

Will be interesting to see how Platinum handles this.

I do recall that there were delays in the initial shipments of the Curidas to the USA...at the time the delays were supposedly caused by "unexpected International demand"....?

I hope all customers Curidas with cracks receive a quick and thorough remedy.

As an aside, I really like the Curidas...the more I use the more I like it...easy to disassemble, clean etc...I have had mine for around a month. Use it everyday.

Edited May 18, 2020 by Bill P

[emy]

My Curidas has sadly been nothing but frustration for me. It seems like there's something messed up where the ink won't get from the converter to the feed, because if I fill it from a bottle, it'll write for a short while, and then stop. So that's just whatever it picked up from being dipped. I've flushed it, flossed, primed it from the converter, and it's just ugh.

 

Yesterday I picked up a Preppy from my desk that had been sitting there for a while. Started writing immediately. THAT was annoying.

[peroride]

>it'll write for a short while, and then stop

 

Sorry to hear that happen.

 

I've had that start/stop business with my Nakaya and Platinum converter

 

Sometimes the surface tension hinders the ink flow from converter to feed necessitating a wrist jerk, flicking of the barrel or unscrewing the barrel and priming as you've done.

 

Soo frustrating, I thought I was going to toss it across the room, urushi be damned

 

But then i came to my senses and tried cartridge which kinda helped and changing different inks which made the issue less, but not totally go away. I should probably do a more thorough pen flush or stick some detergent or white lightning titrate.

 

So maybe an ink change is worth a try. I use Platinum Carbon Black on a F and that flows well.

 

Good luck!

[mke]

If it has to do with surface tension, then wash your pen and converter with water which contains a little bit of detergent, then with water and then try again.

 

Other people reported success after washing with diluted aqueous ammonia. Personally, I have never tried.

Edited May 19, 2020 by mke

[PAKMAN]

Ordered a Blue one from Pendemonium today. They pre-checked the feeds for no cracks for me.

[Samskara]

Would you guys please stop ruining my day? You see, my favorite pen of all time (and that's a lot of pens and a lot of time) is a Parker 61 that I never use because there's no good way to keep it from drying out. I just don't write enough to keep it inked and don't have time to keep cleaning it, so it sits in the drawer while I reach for the Platinum 3776 or the Levenger L-tech (because it goes well with jeans or khakis). When I saw the first announcement of the Curidas I placed an order right away because the idea of a capless Platinum was very appealing. I've forgotten what month that was, but I was told the store wouldn't have it until April. The web site now says it will be available in May. The store, as far as I know, is still closed because of Covid-19 and there isn't that much May left. I'm not familiar other capless pens, and the Lamy still takes two hands to unpocket and start writing -- I want a clicker. I haven't found a helpful review of the Pilot -- please advise.

[dapprman]

I'm happy to tout my blog where I've posted my personal views on the Pilot Capless/Vanishing Point and today posted a comparison of the Lamy, Platinum and Pilot pens. All are my personal views and will only post here if you ask as I know this forum prefers us not to push our own stuff and not precis here

[mke]

> forum prefers us not to push our own stuff

 

Most things out in the wild (i.e. the internet) are opinions with sometimes nearly zero facts. That is known, so we are prepared.

 

Please post your opinion and/or give the URL of your blog. I prefer the "and".

[dapprman]

> forum prefers us not to push our own stuff

 

Most things out in the wild (i.e. the internet) are opinions with sometimes nearly zero facts. That is known, so we are prepared.

 

Please post your opinion and/or give the URL of your blog. I prefer the "and".

Gave up doing that - used to give decent precis and then link my blog pointing out the full thing was there, would get comments here and no links through so I gave up.

[bbs]

Well I’ll help out with one of those elements

 

https://dappr.net/2020/05/21/tctotrfp/

[donnweinberg]

I recently received five Curidas pens, each in a different color. The first was from a different retailer from the other four. I did check the feed of each with super magnification and good lighting. So far, none has a feed crack or any other defect. Lucky so far. I've filled one, with a medium nib, with Noodler's Bernake Red, and the pen writes immediately with a smooth, wet line. So far, so good.

[mke]

For the DIY people:

 

Curidas with a 14k nib

https://www.facebook.com/groups/187015465293147/permalink/552218682106155

[Paul-in-SF]

For the DIY people:

 

Curidas with a 14k nib

https://www.facebook.com/groups/187015465293147/permalink/552218682106155

 

That's a private group, we can't see it unless we are members.

 

Can you summarize what/how they did it? I'm assuming replacement nib units aren't available yet.

Edited June 22, 2020 by Paul-in-SF

[Algester]

 

That's a private group, we can't see it unless we are members.

 

Can you summarize what/how they did it? I'm assuming replacement nib units aren't available yet.

most likely they used the platinum standard nib

[mke]

The nib is said to be from "Platinum Honest66-P100"

 

Disassembly of the curidas nib: "Pull the small metal pin out, unscrew the metal locknut using a tweezer and the black adapter can be released. Pull out the nib/feed assembly from the back....last step, pull out the wing nib from the feed.....""

 

There is a photo of the disassembly - to see it, join the facebook group.

[Namo]

Well I’ll help out with one of those elements

 

https://dappr.net/2020/05/21/tctotrfp/

Very interesting, thanks! Here they say the pen will be available in November, so I will wait until I can try it. I really like Platinum nibs. The pens seems really big when closed, too big to bring it along with a A6 planner. This might be a no, then. The Lamy cc might be a better choice here.

[donnweinberg]

I wanted to alert folks about a difficulty I encountered in reassembling the Curidas after cleaning it, and this also could be a problem when trying to fill the pen and get it back together. Let's start with the initial page of instructions, which has drawings to explain assembly and disassembly:

Notice the area I highlighted in yellow. Focus on the light grey plastic piece that surrounds a portion of the metal cylinder (the "Cartridge Hood") that goes on the back of a cartridge or a converter). I'm using the converter. After I disassembled, cleaned, and dried (exposure to ambient air for a day) the pen, I correctly reinserted the large spring into the front outer portion of the pen, but I had difficulty getting the nib assembly-converter-hood to get seated properly. After screwing the outer bottom section with the long push button onto the outer front portion of the pen, the nib partially stuck out too much, not allowing the plastic hinge to close over it near the top of the pen, and the nib felt stuck, along with the bottom button.

The problem turned out to be that on the Cartridge Hood, the above-pictured, highlighted grey plastic piece (seen over and perpendicular to the thin open rectangle) had moved toward the rear of the thin open rectangle, behind the slight metal hump, which is not shown in the drawings. After I (carefully) pushed the grey plastic piece forward over the hump, it all fit just right.

This presents a subtle, tricky problem if one is not careful. It confirms one of the list of problems mentioned by another member -- essentially that the inside mechanism of the pen may be too complicated for those who value relative simplicity. It reminds me of the potential issues that the Sheaffer Intrigue's unique, two-turn-screw filling system has, but I think that the Curidas is more complicated. I happen to enjoy a bit of complexity, but this issue was unexpected. The solution was not at all obvious without looking very closely at the above instructions and comparing them to what was in front of my eyes. I think this fix easily could be missed by many folks not looking at the instructions carefully and not realizing that the positioning of the grey plastic piece relative to the slight metal hump is all-important.

I hope this explanation is helpful to those of you facing this issue. Other than this problem, the pen wrote beautifully and comfortably for me.

[Paul-in-SF]

@donnweinberg - I looked at my pen in this area very carefully, and I find it nearly impossible (I didn't try to force it very hard, but I did try) for that gray plastic sleeve to move over that hump. Yours may be faulty in some way, or possibly got cracked somehow, thereby allowing the inner diameter to expand enough to get over that hump (and back again). Or mine could be the oddity. But the gray sleeve on mine fits very closely to the metal cylinder, and it makes sense that it should do so, and that the entire purpose of that metal hump would be to prevent the gray plastic piece from moving back that far.

 

If it were me I would strongly considering returning it for exchange; I don't think it can have been designed to do that, and this would not be the first flaw in a plastic part to find its way into this pen.

 

Best of luck, I hope you bought it from a cooperative seller.