Today I found the hard way that OMAS pens are like Italian cars. Anyone who owned an Alfa Romeo or a Fiat knows what I mean. Good performance, catchy design but when it comes to reliability ...
I recently bought the OMAS Arco Brown celluloid. A most impressive pen. I couldn't wait to fill it with ink and start to write. Alas, the ink flow is terrible and nothing like the wet line one might expect from an OMAS. I tried flushing with water and filling again ... nothing.
I really hate the procedure of taking it to the customer service etc. All the fun has gone. The relationship has turned sour...
I think I will go back to my reliable Toyota (Sailor) and trusty VW (Pelikan). Leave the flashy Italians for the ones that like to visit the service every week...

Are you using Omas ink? I've had trouble using it in many pens, including Omas. Try some Waterman (the universal good-flowing ink). If that doesn't help, then its not the ink.

Wait before you send it out. Let that thing sit around a bit. I had Omas pens that were hard starters in the beginning. After a while, they took up their generous and wonderful ink flow. I don't know why that is, but they need to be filled for a while and in contact with the ink. If it doesn't improve after 10 to 14 days, then I'd send it in for servicing.

Dear All

Hi guys, I have a new style Milord, and everyday I use its a nice starter etc...maybe in the first try you just need to deep a little bit the feeder inside of the bottle of ink...just a bit for make it wet, and the start writing.. or also you can try to take out one drop of ink (twisting the nob) and make it go over the feeder, for flowing problems specially for bad starters maybe the nib tines are not well aligned, try to take a look with a small lens, specially take a look not on top of the nib (seen the nib engraving) but in front of the nib ...I found that a Tibaldi with a slightly bended tine improved a lot after just a very light bending...but be careful! and do it one tine at the time, not both at the same time

Well I hope this help, really I can not talk about Ferraris, but my father's Fiat 500 was a great one! and my OMAS pens always has been a pleasure to write with

Very best

Ricardo

You may want to "prime" the nib before sending it back to Omas. Here are two helpful threads you may want to review on the subject:
http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...st&p=480466
http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...st&p=506099

Yup.... I was all excited about my new Bologna, but it wrote about as well as a dirty fingernail. Home remedies--from using for a few days to priming the feed to adjusting the tines to other tricks--did nothing. I'm still waiting for my replacement, anxiously if a little less so.

I've never had a problem with any of the OMAS pens I've owned (around 7 or 8), so I wouldn't give up on them just yet. A couple of things to think about:

1) What is the size of the nib?

2) Ebonite feeds need time to become saturated before the flow can regulate itself. As omasfan pointed out, give it a couple of weeks.

If all else fails, think about sending it to a nibmeister rather than sending it to Kenro. You'll be assured of getting a great nib back. Good luck,
David

I echo the above suggestions.As an owner of many Omas pens,i have had only two that had starting issues and they were resolved by a good cleaning and a slight tine spread.Both now are among my best writers.So don't be so quick to send back such a beautiful pen.

Jim

17 weeks at Binder - he is a busy man. 8 weeks back to Omas. ( however, who know with them )

My Emotica hasn't given me any trouble (knock wood) but every time something falls off my Moto Guzzi I take a deep breath and smile as I imagine the worker assembling my motorcycle. He's got wire-rimmed glasses and overalls, and he's smoking a cigarette as he carefully adjusts each and every bolt, every linkage with his grease-covered hands. Every couple of minutes, he steps back, admires his handiwork, takes another sip of vino, and gets back to work.

The image is so richly detailed in my head, he's like a friend to me, and it's hard to get mad, even as I shell out another four hundred bucks for leaky rear drive seals.

2 weeks at Minuskin, tops.

Try this first:

- Rinse it with cold water and a few drops of dishwashing fluid. Then rinse with cold water, but not too much: you want some of the detergent to work with the ink.
- Don't overdry the ebonite feeder; fill the pen, remove excess of ink in the section, leave the feeder as it is and write a few lines.
- Fill it with waterman florida blue or pelikan black.
- If the nib is rhodium plated the iridium could be coated with rhodium; you should use it for a few days

Hi,

I think that all you need is a small nib adjustment that shouldn't cost too much. Once adjusted, the pen should be good to go for many years.

Dillon

My Omas Arco sucks like an airplane toilet, and we all know how hard they suck :-) and I say this with a collection of 35 Omas pens.

From one problem after another, I finally got it back from Italy (bad piston, leaky nib, etc.) and the facets don't line up when the cap is properly closed. What a shame considering it is a gorgeous pen and my nib writes like a dream, but the attention to details, or the lack thereof, drives my crazy. All of my other Omas celluloid pens have facets that line up, but not this one. The pen writes well, as it should after a few trips to Italy and it was a gift, so I'll keep it.

Why do we have to send them to Italy is beyond me. Can't some one provide their distributor with some spare caps, let alone allow them to do basic swaps, so those of us who have spent a great deal of cash for these pens can get a quick and easy resolution to simple out of box failures.

When I bought my Omas 360 a few years ago, I was lucky enough to have researched it on this forum, and wound up buying it from Nibs.com (John Mottishaw), where it was tested prior to my purchase to ensure that the pen was A-OK, and that it wrote like it was supposed to. I've had the pen for 2 years with no problems, and just last weekend, got the medium nib exchanged for a fine (did it at the LA pen show by Mr. Mottishow himself). It's a beautiful writer. Starts right up every time, and writes like a dream.

It's a shame that this advice needed to be given. You would think that regardless of where you purchased it from, it should work well, especially when you consider how much these pens cost.

I've had tons of Italian cars, some which were problematic, some which were not. My current Italian, a 308 GT4, has been extremely reliable (the only maintance it has needed in the last year has been fluid changes).

The key to buying a reliable Italian car is to get a pre-purchase inspection by a competent mechanic before you buy (I did with several of my cars, which accounted for their reliability, IMO). I suppose the same could be said for an Italian pen. Make sure the dealer you are buying it from tests it to make sure it writes well.

Never had a single problem with my three Omases bought in second hand excellent condition at Mora, all trouble free and perfect writers that are reliable and that have smooth flexible nibs.

That's why I drive a German motorcycle.

Gloat all you like, but my jugs are perkier. (Assuming yours is a boxer)

Fair 'nuff.... Yes its a boxer... '99 R1100S in black. Oh heck, here's a pic.

Very nice! Here's mine:



Note puddle beneath... The parts falling off this Italian motorcycle are of the finest quality!

(kidding, that's gas overflow from filling the tank too full on a hot day)

So just to get back on track, do you write with German pens instead of Italian ones for the same reason? I have to admit that my Emotica is my only Italian pen but I have Rotrings all over the place.

Nice bike. Love the Guzzi look, and the inline drive train...


Not so far... I'm still exploring the world of European pens. Just closed the deal on my first Pelikan. Have to wait for it to ship before I'll know if I like it.

No experience with Italian pens although the LOOK of some of them intrigues me. I was sorely tempted by the Stipula 22 that came up on the FPN market place... But someone else saved me from it... I think the titanium nib as a base for a flex nib is a great idea, from a technical point of view... They're just much harder to work on than gold or steel.

So I'm here collecting insights into the Italian options.