Visconti HS nib swaps

[Eric Lyu]

I have the old visconti 18k gold nib with the stamp "frenzy" in EF. But the line is to fine for me so I looking for replacement nibs for it. I heard from somebody that they used the bock housing and I can replace it with #6 bock nib. Is it the case? Do I need nib tools to achieve that? I'd love to hear from you guys!

[readytotalk]

Well, it depends on how familiar you feel with changing nibs)

Old Visconti nibs are made by Bock, and interchangeable with modern Bock nibs, you need to pull out feed and nib and put feed with new nib back in place.

But before buying new nib, it`s necessary to understand if the existing nib is well tuned? 

Мaybe it would be more simple to send it to nibmeister first? Usually its possible to get the line broader just by tuning the tines, even without grinding.  

[Karmachanic]

Not possible to grind an EF to a wider line. Grinding = removing. Of course, one could cut 2mm off the tip a la MrPen, but most would caution against this.

[readytotalk]

1 hour ago, Karmachanic said:

Not possible to grind an EF to a wider line. Grinding = removing. Of course, one could cut 2mm off the tip a la MrPen, but most would caution against this.

))) Yes, but as the spherical tip grinds down to sweetspot, any nib begins to write broader due to increased contact area of the tip with paper. 

Сertainly, in a particular case, the main way will be to increase the flow.

[Karmachanic]

1 hour ago, readytotalk said:

Сertainly, in a particular case, the main way will be to increase the flow.

 

To increase flow, simply widen the tine gap. Takes 10 seconds.

[Honeybadgers]

Widening the tine gap possibly introduces baby's bottom and skipping/hard starting. Don't recommend.

 

I don't know if a bock #6 will fit (the visconti units are completely proprietary despite bock making them)

 

But I CAN confirm that a standard JoWo #6 14k or 18k nib WILL fit with no problems

 

 

[Eric Lyu]

9 hours ago, Karmachanic said:

 

To increase flow, simply widen the tine gap. Takes 10 seconds.

Thanks for the info! I just wonder it's gonna be cool if I can swap it like a Pelikan nib unit. The current line is fine but I prefer broader nibs now, giving better shading etc. 

[Eric Lyu]

11 hours ago, readytotalk said:

Well, it depends on how familiar you feel with changing nibs)

Old Visconti nibs are made by Bock, and interchangeable with modern Bock nibs, you need to pull out feed and nib and put feed with new nib back in place.

But before buying new nib, it`s necessary to understand if the existing nib is well tuned? 

Мaybe it would be more simple to send it to nibmeister first? Usually its possible to get the line broader just by tuning the tines, even without grinding.  

Yeah that's exactly what I worried about. If a spend £200 on something I don't need, I'd rather save it for another pen lol. I was thinking maybe it can be swapped as the Pelikan nibs, but I will consult more people before I try. It's a great pen but I should have chose the fine nib instead of EF.

[Eric Lyu]

4 hours ago, Honeybadgers said:

Widening the tine gap possibly introduces baby's bottom and skipping/hard starting. Don't recommend.

 

I don't know if a bock #6 will fit (the visconti units are completely proprietary despite bock making them)

 

But I CAN confirm that a standard JoWo #6 14k or 18k nib WILL fit with no problems

 

 

How did you manage to do that? What's your original nib, it is a 18k nib or Pd nib? I heard from friends that JOWO nib needs a little adjustments before fitting into the VSCT housing, so I am quite curious.

[Honeybadgers]

2 minutes ago, Eric Lyu said:

How did you manage to do that? What's your original nib, it is a 18k nib or Pd nib? I heard from friends that JOWO nib needs a little adjustments before fitting into the VSCT housing, so I am quite curious.

 

Mine was a Pd originally. But as far as I know the nib unit itself was not changed, just the material of the nib they were buying from bock. I CAN confirm that a standard bock nib unit housing does not fit.

 

The JoWo nib I swapped in fit straight in. No adjustment at all. Direct fit.

 

You can remove the nib and feed from the housing by just gently pulling them straight out. They aren't a tight fit. easy work.

 

You could also just ask if anyone with an F wants to swap in the classifieds. I personally swapped down on my HS from an F to an EF.

[Karmachanic]

8 hours ago, Honeybadgers said:

Widening the tine gap possibly introduces baby's bottom and skipping/hard starting. Don't recommend.

 

Widening the tines is a widely accepted method for increasing ink flow, and will not induce baby's bottom, which is a grind issue.

 

[readytotalk]

IMHO baby's bottom is a problem rather than grinding but over-polishing the tip.

I guess Honeybadgers meant that the meniscus of ink will not reach the paper if the gap becomes too wide.

Anyway, I`d recommend first to inspect the nib with magnifying glass. If there is a gap between tines and tip? If so, any further widening will bring problems.

If tines are tightened - widening them until gap appears will increase the flow, possibly to F grade, which is required.  

 

[Karmachanic]

50 minutes ago, readytotalk said:

MHO baby's bottom is a problem rather than grinding but over-polishing the tip.

 

Which, in essence, is micro-grinding, as in removing tipping material, no?

[Eric Lyu]

8 hours ago, Honeybadgers said:

 

Mine was a Pd originally. But as far as I know the nib unit itself was not changed, just the material of the nib they were buying from bock. I CAN confirm that a standard bock nib unit housing does not fit.

 

The JoWo nib I swapped in fit straight in. No adjustment at all. Direct fit.

 

You can remove the nib and feed from the housing by just gently pulling them straight out. They aren't a tight fit. easy work.

 

You could also just ask if anyone with an F wants to swap in the classifieds. I personally swapped down on my HS from an F to an EF.

Can I say that you are suggesting the housing does not fit. But I can manually swap the nib from the bock/JOWO nib and replace it with my original visconti nib. Am I getting it correct? I think I can remove the housing easily, I just want to make sure the nib itself fits before I purchase them

[Eric Lyu]

1 hour ago, readytotalk said:

IMHO baby's bottom is a problem rather than grinding but over-polishing the tip.

I guess Honeybadgers meant that the meniscus of ink will not reach the paper if the gap becomes too wide.

Anyway, I`d recommend first to inspect the nib with magnifying glass. If there is a gap between tines and tip? If so, any further widening will bring problems.

If tines are tightened - widening them until gap appears will increase the flow, possibly to F grade, which is required.  

 

Thanks, guess I have to look for a magnifying glass first. On my way for a nib meister lol

[readytotalk]

22 minutes ago, Karmachanic said:

Which, in essence, is micro-grinding, as in removing tipping material, no?

Yes, both operations remove material, but produce different surface types. 

Strictly speaking, grinding and polishing are different technological operations, grinding uses fixed bonded abrasives and forms plane or polygonal surface. Polishing uses free abrasives and softens edges. 

That`s why extra fine grinding is needed to "neutralize" baby`s bottom effect - it "sharpens back" tip edges.  

 

[Karmachanic]

9 minutes ago, readytotalk said:

Yes, both operations remove material, but produce different surface types. 

Strictly speaking, grinding and polishing are different technological operations, grinding uses fixed bonded abrasives and forms plane or polygonal surface. Polishing uses free abrasives and softens edges. 

 

 

For some. I use micro-mesh for both grinding and polishing.

[readytotalk]

 

2 hours ago, Karmachanic said:

Which, in essence, is micro-grinding

Аny means to an end)