Molding Feed To Nib

[ever onward]

Hello. I would welcome your advice (or words of warning).

 

I have a pen--vintage & original nib, feed, and section--whose nib isn't flush against the feed. Is this something I need to send out for repair, or can I warm up the feed with a hairdryer and mush it against the nib myself?

 

Thank you for your help,

eo

[jbb]

I've done some entirely unsanctioned things like pressing wax into the space between the feed and the nib with some success.

[Ron Z]

I've done some entirely unsanctioned things like pressing wax into the space between the feed and the nib with some success.

 

And the pen still wrote? Man, you were lucki!

 

With the nib dry (no ink in the pen) your hair dryer might be hot enough. My preference is an embossing heat gun.

 

Focus on the end of the feed more than the end towards the section. Support the top side of the nib while you press the feed into place. It needs to be pretty hot for the hard rubber to soften enough to move, but when it IS hot enough hard rubber can be wet noodle soft.

 

Don't do this with a plastic feed though. A plastic feed can be permanently damaged when you use dry heat.

[pajaro]

So, in cases where the nib and feed are not flush, will there be feed problems? You would suppose that with a manufacturer's products that there would be a good fit between nib and feed. I have had some hard starting problems after mating a nib of one manufacturer with the feed from another manufacturer, as in making a frankenpen. There was not a complete fit in some cases.

[ever onward]

Thanks so much for weighing in, Mr. Zorn, and also jbb (though I won't be as adventurous as you!). I appreciate your help. I'll determine the material and then see what I can do. I have a junker or two I can practice on first, too.

 

Thank you,

eo

[Ron Z]

So, in cases where the nib and feed are not flush, will there be feed problems? You would suppose that with a manufacturer's products that there would be a good fit between nib and feed. I have had some hard starting problems after mating a nib of one manufacturer with the feed from another manufacturer, as in making a frankenpen. There was not a complete fit in some cases.

 

On occasion a pen slips through without the nib and feed being set properly.

 

In the second case though, the problem is not the manufacturers. Each uses it's own standard and design. Even with apparently identical or similar nibs/feeds, there can be differences in size, thickness, and in the radius of both the nib and feed. The differences may be subtle enough that you don't see them, but they are enough that you can not always swap nibs. This is especially true between brands, but often within the same brand.

 

If the nib is thinner (as is often the case with gold VS steel nibs) it might not fit into the section tightly enough. If replacing gold with steel, it will be too thick.

 

If the radius (curve) of the replacement is wider, the nib will lift away from nib because the edges, not the entire nib, are pressing against the inside wall of the section and the tail is too tight. You may have to change the radius of the nib to get it to fit (don't think about it without a nib block), and that[/] may change the alignment of the tines to each other so that the walls of the slit are not parallel.

 

Length of the nib is another factor. Remember that a nib is a wedge - thinner at the tail, wider at the tip. As you press the nib and feed into place it gets tighter. A longer nib will therefore make for a tighter fit because the wedge is longer. This means that you can not always swap nibs, even between pens of the same model and brand.

 

For instance, earlier you can not always use a later OS Balance nib in an earlier pen because the nib may be shorter - and therefore loose in the early section.

 

The answer? MEASURE using a pair of calipers. Measure the feed diameters, check the length of the nib, thickness, see how the nib sits on the feed, see how far back it sits compared to the original, see how the tail fits the curve of the feed.