Parker Frontier Issues

[AHoppy]

So I've only really got 2 pens I enjoy writing with, and one of them, my Parker Frontier has begun to misbehave. The flow seems to be fine since if I make a pulling stroke (right to left because I am left handed) it lays down a dark line. But if I make any other stroke, it scratches horribly and skips and doesn't really lay down any line at all. I've tried looking at the nib with a loupe, and the tines appear to be in alignment. The feed does appear to be slightly cockeyed, but I believe that was how the pen looked when I took it out of the box and it wrote fine for a month or two. Anybody have any suggestions?

 

[Flounder]

You can unscrew the Frontier's nib and feed, give them a rinse. Couldn't hurt, anyway. The nib clips onto the feed via a pair of little tabs to keep the two lined up, perhaps something went slightly amis back at the factory.

[Mike 59]

Hi, The Frontier has a nib which clips onto the feeder each side. The clips are part of the nib.

It's possible that one side has not clipped down onto the feeder properly.

The feed has a one turn thread into the finger grip section, then it pulls straight out. To unclip the nib from the feed you will need to use a fine screwdriver to get under the clips.

I find I need to use a x5 or x8 loupe to do this.

Edited April 28, 2014 by Mike 59

[AndrewC]

It is possible, if the nib was misaligned, that it has been picking up paper fibers and you have reached the point where they are disrupting flow. Disassemble, clean, reassemble (being sure the nib and feed are aligned correctly) so all is straight, and give it a shot. Good luck.

[AHoppy]

Alright. I'll try taking it out and cleaning it. However, with a little more experimenting I've found it only writes on the pull strokes when I push down a little bit. Could it be that the tines are just a little too close together and not enough ink is getting to the tip? It's not that it's hard starting, becuase even after it lays down a nice line it doesn't continue to write. If that's the case, what is the solution? Thanks again for the help!

[AHoppy]

Ok, I was able to remove the nib and the feed, but how should I clean them? I ran them under some warm water, but I don't really have anything else. Is that all it takes?

[AndrewC]

If you have a loupe, look at the feed for any paper filaments and then just wash gently. Wash until no more water comes out, clean the nib, reassemble. Are you using a converter? Check to see that it is not clogged with ink. Reassemble, load and check. Is there any light visible between the tines? There should be a little bit nearish the breather hole, but the tips should touch, or almost touch. If not, you could use nib floss to give 'em some space.

[AHoppy]

The tines seem fine, but it's still really scratchy. I am using a converter, and I washed it out too.

[Flounder]

It wrote fine for the last couple of months, so at least we know it's more likely to be something you can sort out rather than a lemon from the factory. Any photos of the tipping?

[AHoppy]

I can try... I only have a phone camera and a crappy loupe, so I'll see what I can do...

[AHoppy]

Yeah, can't really get a good picture... only having 2 hands and all.

 

However, it is kind of writing after messing with it a bit. it sometimes writes really dark and thick, and sometimes skips. And always scratchy

[pajaro]

Are the nib ears that clip onto the feed good, or are they broken? Sometimes they break and the nib lifts off of the feed. I have had this happen on Sonnet. With Sonnet I use an old soft toothbrush to gently cleanse the fins on the feed. I would not want to remove the nib from the feed because the ears that clip onto the feed are delicate and might break.

[Mike 59]

You can clean the nib and feed with water, or I prefer a couple of drops of dish washing up liquid added to a half glass of water.

As mentioned above, I also use an old toothbrush to get at all the fins on the feed, but that wouldn't really be needed unless the pen had been left unused for years and had become solid with ink.

The nib should have enough gap between the tines, at the tipping, to just let light through. If you could measure it, it would be 0.002 inch or so, but as important than that, is that the two halves should be level in height as you can get them, looking 'head on' at the nib's tipping.

'Scratchy' nibs usually have one tine lower than the other, and/ or poor ink flow.

The square clips in each side of the nib must click over the square tabs on the feed, and I use a x8 photo slide magnifier to do this sort of work.

The Frontier's nib has a lot of tipping material, and can be a very smooth and reliable writer, my own version was made in 2008, was good from the start, and has become better with time and use.

It's not a valuable pen, but I have written more with it than any other pen I own, a really good design that is not made today, production ended about 2010.

Edited April 29, 2014 by Mike 59

[AHoppy]

so I messed around with adjusting the tines up and down a bit and got it to write relatively well, as long as you don't put any pressure at all on it and now it has a much smaller "sweet spot". Also, it is making a creaking noise when some pressure is applied. I believe it is the left tine moving relative to the right one, but I'm not positive. I'm sorry I can't post any pictures, I'm just not sure how to take them. Anyone have suggestions?

[Mike 59]

Hi, Yes it would be better if you could upload a photo or two.

If you have a camera with a 'macro' option, (flower symbol on camera normally) take photo as close as the camera will focus, could be 2 inches away or so. Then zoom it up in an image editor, and crop away any part of the picture that you don't need.

Then 'resize' the photo to be about, say 600 pixels wide (or more). You can also reduce the number of colours to 256, it makes no difference to what we see on a PC screen. Save that new image to a folder you can easily find again (or desktop.)

To upload it to this site, Start your reply, then click on 'More reply options' (lower right of screen.)

Below your text you see 'Attach Files'. Click on 'Browse' & navigate through your PC to the saved photo. Click on 'Attach this file'.

Then 'Add reply' or 'Preview post'.

If you are doing all this with a mobile, then take a few photos at various distances away, and choose the one that looks the sharpest. I know mobiles are not too good at close up focus, but try your loupe with it as well, I have seen a few photos done this way.

My photo's are taken with a Fuji S5700 which is a very ordinary bridge camera made in about 2009.

Edited May 2, 2014 by Mike 59

[The Blue Knight]

Not being rude or anything but as the frontier is a fairly low cost pen around £10 UK you might as well buy yourself another. It's sounds like you like the pen and trying to get your existing one to write properly might not work out.

 

I really do rate the Frontier as it has a nib that you would happily have on a £60 pen for 1/6 th of the cost. I can honestly say I use my Frontier more then any other pen as it writes on of not better than the costlier pens I own.

Edited May 2, 2014 by top pen

[AHoppy]

I will probably try again to get a picture, but no promises on great quality (I just have a mobile)

 

As far as purchasing another one, I'm a college student and I'd prefer to not have to buy another one. Also, I am kind of interested in pen repair/customization in general and it's fun to fiddle around and try to figure things out with this cheaper pen.

[AHoppy]

Alright, so i finally got some brass sheets and was able to try flossing the nib, still no luck... And here are my best attemts at taking photos The third one is probably the best

[AHoppy]

Necroing an old thread: I decided randomly to come back to this pen today and I fixed it! The problem was that the nib had gotten sprung. At least, I think that's what the issue was. Turning the pen over and lightly pushing down and then re-aligning the tines seemed to sort everything out. A little bit of smoothing on Micromesh and it's good as new! The tip does look a bit bent down now, but honestly, I don't really care how it looks as long as it works!

[Flounder]

I'm very pleased for you, but now one of my Frontiers has a crack in the section! Look what you've done!