Finned feeders for Indian eye dropper filled pens.

September 20, 2022

On 9/16/2022 at 12:23 PM, Aravind_A_2310 said:

A quick interim update:

I've been using the pen for a while now, and whilst I've not completely emptied the barrel, the ink is now 1/3rd the barrel at the point where if I were using the stock setup, it would've burped by now... And I ve experienced zero burps so far.

Some takeaways from my experiment:

1. The ink channels that were cut really do help buffering the ink. You can see the ink getting trapped in the fins.

2. The ink path is still a straight cut, so ink will come out if the pen is shaken or jolted, unlike the no nonsense feed.

3. While taking it to places in my bag, while it certainly has not leaked, I did observe ink coated on the very end of the section, at the point where the section meets the inner cap, doesn't get to where you actually grip the pen, so no issues. And the ink also tends to pool on the space between said portion of the section and the nib feed assembly, since I didn't heat set the section(because it isn't ebonite), and the feed is relatively short, some gaps are visible around the nib-feed assembly and the inner bore of the section. Perhaps that's what's causing the pooling, again that pooling didn't transfer to the paper as a blob, so it's also okay.

4. I've seen ink stains on the very end of the feed which I presumed got covered by ink when jostled around in my bag... Also unlike the NoNonsense feed, my nib does get covered in ink from time to time, which leads me to beleive that ink does escape when moved around as mentioned in point #2, but still the main thing, "it didn't burp and wrote normally".

5. Now I don't know if it helped or not, but i kept a breather tube that i salvaged from an old hero pen, and stuck it in the hole in the feed, where I presume it was intended... Wether it helped regulate the air pressure more effectively is out of my scope of thought, but for the sake of full disclosure I'm leaving this point in

My key takeaway is this... This doesn't compare to the no nonsense feed(plastic or ebonite) when it comes to sheer ink holding capability, but this is the closest we can acheive with the current feeds that are available in the market, and they perform exceptionally well, for a feed which was cut by an idiot with what is basically a thin hacksaw. Hope the manufacturers would bring something similarly effective one day for these simple but very good eyedropper pens...

Will post an update either when the ink runs out or it has burped out...

Hope this helps

Have a nice day, night, or whenever you're reading this

Update,

The ink is now near empty, and I'm happy to report, that no burps have occurred whatsoever till now.

A couple more observations,

1. The inner cap does have some ink, so a way of controlling the inkflow would be good, I'm thinking of adding cuts to the ink channel area as well, but I don't think that'll be a good idea...

2. Under normal writing, the flow and feel is great, if however you write at a lower than normal angle, beware, as soon as the feed touches the paper, it'll leave an ink mark, I presume it's because the feed has ink trapped in its fins, that when it touches the paper, it takes the path of least resistance. Otherwise, you can write normally...

For the sake of brevity, my previous observations and opinions stay intact...

I will do a final update when the ink has completely run out or burped...

Hope this helps

Aravind

September 22, 2022

On 9/20/2022 at 12:29 PM, Aravind_A_2310 said:

Update,

The ink is now near empty, and I'm happy to report, that no burps have occurred whatsoever till now.

A couple more observations,

1. The inner cap does have some ink, so a way of controlling the inkflow would be good, I'm thinking of adding cuts to the ink channel area as well, but I don't think that'll be a good idea...

2. Under normal writing, the flow and feel is great, if however you write at a lower than normal angle, beware, as soon as the feed touches the paper, it'll leave an ink mark, I presume it's because the feed has ink trapped in its fins, that when it touches the paper, it takes the path of least resistance. Otherwise, you can write normally...

For the sake of brevity, my previous observations and opinions stay intact...

I will do a final update when the ink has completely run out or burped...

Hope this helps

Aravind

Final Update,

After 3 weeks of service, my trusty airmail finally ran out of ink... And no burps thus far.... So in my opinion, this hack is an absolute worth provided you keep in mind a couple of things...

You don't travel a lot with your pen, especially if the barrel is half full or less

You're writing angle isn't too low so the feed touches the paper or anything for that matter

Hold it away from the front end of the grip section

You can cut somewhat deep without breaking the feed...

For at home and office use, this hack is an absolute godsent... For a daily EDC point of view, this falls just shord of a recommendation from my end... But yea, hope someone starts producing these finned ebonite feeders that are cut a bit more precisely and neatly than I have.

Now that I've cleaned the pen, here are some more detailed shots of the way I've cut my feed...

Hope this journey of mine helped you make a informed decision...

On a side note: has anyone experimented with fitting a Parker frontier feed on an airmail pen? One of my friends have done it and it works well, unfortunately i don't have a Parker frontier atm to try that out... So if you have a frontier and an airmail(@hari317 sir, could you confirm?) Could confirm this...

Anyway, cheers

Aravind

September 22, 2022

15 minutes ago, Aravind_A_2310 said:

Final Update,

After 3 weeks of service, my trusty airmail finally ran out of ink... And no burps thus far.... So in my opinion, this hack is an absolute worth provided you keep in mind a couple of things...

You don't travel a lot with your pen, especially if the barrel is half full or less

You're writing angle isn't too low so the feed touches the paper or anything for that matter

Hold it away from the front end of the grip section

You can cut somewhat deep without breaking the feed...

For at home and office use, this hack is an absolute godsent... For a daily EDC point of view, this falls just shord of a recommendation from my end... But yea, hope someone starts producing these finned ebonite feeders that are cut a bit more precisely and neatly than I have.

Now that I've cleaned the pen, here are some more detailed shots of the way I've cut my feed...

Hope this journey of mine helped you make a informed decision...

On a side note: has anyone experimented with fitting a Parker frontier feed on an airmail pen? One of my friends have done it and it works well, unfortunately i don't have a Parker frontier atm to try that out... So if you have a frontier and an airmail(@hari317 sir, could you confirm?) Could confirm this...

Anyway, cheers

Aravind

Thanks for the update. Nice to know it works 👍

I must admit though that ever since I moved on to Jumbo sized pens I rarely see any burps even with regular ebonite feeds. But for regular-sized pens this workaround looks great 👍

September 23, 2022

17 hours ago, Aravind_A_2310 said:

On a side note: has anyone experimented with fitting a Parker frontier feed on an airmail pen? One of my friends have done it and it works well, unfortunately i don't have a Parker frontier atm to try that out... So if you have a frontier and an airmail(@hari317 sir, could you confirm?) Could confirm this...

the Frontier feed is 6.3mm in diameter, it will be a loose fit, but you can get by, by inserting the nib deeper. The KW feed is also slightly undersized. We need a properly made finned feeder in no 8 and no 5.5 sizes to keep our eyedropper tradition alive and practical.

September 23, 2022

17 hours ago, Aravind_A_2310 said:

You're writing angle isn't too low so the feed touches the paper or anything for that matter

easily cured by increasing the feed's relief angle using an ordinary file.

September 23, 2022

I've consolidated all my feelings and findings into an article, below is the pdf version of it.

An experiment on ebonite feds.pdf

December 19, 2022

Excellent thread all!

Thanks for linking @Karmachanic. Now have a solution to fix my Rathnamson burps.

Now to get spare feeds and tools!

I see https://fprevolutionusa.com/collections/feeds I believe the feeds and nibs they sell are Kanwrite. Would one of these 6.3 mm feeds fit my Rathnamson?

I don't have a precise ruler, but this seems about 6.3 mm. I tried your test of holding up to the light @hari317 and will do so again when empty (a long time for me) but this one is a consistent burper the moment ink goes less than half. But a very good writer with wet, lubricating inks. The feel of the pen is excellent. Acquired it several years ago from Rathnamson directly.