Twsbi Demonstrator Diamond 530 Med & Fine

[schadowrider]

If Royal Blue is like the other MB inks I've tried, it's a fairly dry ink. It seems that the TWSBI doesn't care much for dry inks, so if it doesn't come back and work to your liking I'd give a different ink a try before you give up on the pen. My TWBI loves Aurora Black, PR Invincible Black, and Diamine Syrah, and the Noodler's and other PR inks I've tried have been OK too.

Mine's an EF so we might be talking apples and oranges, but I loaded it up right out of the box on Monday with PR Red Dragon and it's been one of the smoothest and best tuned out-of-the-box pens I've ever owned, flowing like a dream (if I do any adjusting, it will be to take the flow *down* a bit).

[Ernst Bitterman]

This pen is way too short to use unposted for me....

 

You must have hands like my avatar!

 

If you mean that I have a man's hand, that's true.

 

I mean GARGANTUAN! I've got hands only slightly graceful on my 6'1" frame, and I find the TWSBI the far side of big enough, and in view of rather bigger than welcome.

[cubic archon]

If I offered to look at and *try* to repair all of these nibs for free, would anybody send them to me? I'd be glad to help and I have no problem spreading tines or doing other little things (whatever it may need) to get them writing smoothly. Maybe save some time away from your pens by keeping them in the US and hey, free, so... But I'd be glad to help anybody out with their pens if they wanted to take me up on the offer.

 

Some of these might even suffer from baby bottom like a B Schmidt nib my wife has in her Levenger Truewriter. Some time on abrasives helped it out, that might even be the problem here with some of these M nibs.

In the end I did separate the tines a bit more, and then bent the tines back a bit as it was too wet, and I now have a very nice pen with good flow that I'm very happy writing with.

 

I don't mind doing this so much for myself, but I have to say that if somebody now said to me "hey, you know about fountain pens, I'm thinking of getting one, I don't want to spend too much but I'll go to £30 or so for something decent" I'd hesitate before recommending them a TWSBI, at least one with an M nib. A buyer like that wouldn't spread the tines, even if they knew that might be the problem - they'd just not use the pen, and likely end up thinking "oh fountain pens are rubbish". I love the idea of it being completely open and designed to be repaired and modified but that only encourages people to explore things if it works out of the box in the first place, and I've read enough reports about people with M TWSBIs having the same issues as me to think that my experience isn't just a one-off.

 

I hate to say this because I really like everything about the pen, and now I've messed with the nib, it's everything I'd hoped it would be - well-constructed, well-balanced, holds lots of ink, looks lovely, writes smoothly - and I love the design philosophy behind it, as mentioned. Also I'm aware that the design is a work in progress, and so if I now blog reports of mine having a nib that needed adjustment, that might put people off in the future.

[accdong]

I got two of the 1.5 version pens (one Fine/one Medium) and consider them a good to excellent value. I wanted to post some constructive feedback since this is a first version, and I think there are some useful things to consider.

 

Overall, the TWSBI is in a league of its own at that price level. There is a strong "Geek" factor being able to take everything apart, and having it all built into the ergonomic plastic shell box. Supplying the (out of the way) wrench and silicone grease was a superb contribution. It conveys to the buyer: "This is my pen, I can work on it myself, and tweak things my way." As Dizzy's review pointed out it was a real joy to see how you artistically packed all the pieces in the plastic box, and how everything could be disassembled. I adore the jewel emblem, and laser name etching of the quality, polished cap ring.

 

While this pen screams "You can customize & fix it yourself..." the first issue is not having replacement parts available. Every major pen brand has replacement parts, so I consider this a must fix issue. The seals have been reported and shown to leak, and even if the new 1.5 design improves that, eventually seals will wear out. Being able to upgrade the nib and feed with a simple screw in like Pelikan Souveran (or even Lamy's pull off nibs) would make this much more user controllable/customizeable. I would really like the capability of interchanging the nib and feed especially because of the second problem I found below.

 

I was surprised to see that the Medium (but not the Fine) skipped, despite the tines being well aligned. Even with slit adjustment the Medium still has inadequate flow for my tastes. I tried Waterman Purple, Sheaffer Skrip Blue, and MontBlanc Royal Blue. It got better by carefully separating the tines, & a touch of smoothing, but that is not easy to do safely for most entry level users. If you mess up the tines, without the replacement parts, it becomes a wasted $40. This flow issue did not occur with the Fine nib, which led me to speculate the feed diameter was too small. Indeed, I was recently talking to a a knowledgeable expert who took this pen apart to review it, and he said the type of feed and its internal diameter inherently has a lower flow rate. I'm only repeating what was said, as I don't know enough about how to evalutate the feed diameter myself, but can see an objective flow problem next to other pens I have. This has been mentioned by other people, so it is worth noting. My best solution was to use a highly lubricated type of ink like the Noodler's Eel, or Sailor Carbon Nano, but adequate flow with fast writing (with Medium) is still a slight problem for my tastes.

 

One thing I would like to see is the cap not being so hard to tighten down fully, as it is easy to slide the pocket clip sideways with the force required. I would prefer the clip be a solid one piece, rather than folded over metal which invariably will catch on fabric/fibers and pull threads. It has too much side to side movement slop of the bottom of the pocket clip.

 

This pen is way too short to use unposted for me, and I do not like how hard it is to securely post the cap, and how short the distance before it grips. It's posted position makes it too back heavy with the weight of the cap's metal parts for my hand. Of course if you try to adjust the clip during posting with any twisting, you will eject ink, which happened to me. Perhaps the filling end cap could be shorter/smaller diameter, and add threads to the outside of the main barrel, so the cap slides over the filling knob, and thread-attaches to the barrel instead? I have a Taccia Snowy Dreams that gives that secure posted screw cap attachment that you know will not fall off or move, nor would it interfere with the filling mechanism. Taccia made sure the ending of the posted cap threads puts the pocket clip in line with the nib. I'm also reminded of Smeden's Dollar Pen as another possible solution which has the screw off back protective filling piston cover, so if you post it, the filling threads are out of play.

 

I think with some minor improvements, interchangeable and better flowing/quality nibs & replacement seal parts, this could end up being one of the very best pens I could imagine owning.

 

My rating overall: 7/10

Value for price: 9/10

 

 

Thank you for your good review.

I also bought two pens, EF and F nib.

But both pen have the problem skipping flow, so I refunded those.

I agree your opinion for the tough pen to a beginner.

I think this problem is severe, and will not recommend anybody ever.

 

There's one tip for a nib.

TWSBI's nib is compatible with the nib of Online FP's.

I think that 'Online' is closer than TWSBI.

 

Have a nice day.

[SamCapote]

I followed the

of pressing the tip down on a hard plastic surface which resulted in separating the tines. I would say it ended up looking like separation shown at 2:26, but not as wide as shown in 2:30.

 

Once I did this, I now have perfect flow with 3-4 inks I tested in the medium nib. This is the widest slit separation of any of the 50 pens I have. To give an idea of the separation, I can slip the edge of regular 20# paper in the slit, but HP Laserjet Premium 32# is a very tight squeeze. Without this separation, there is not adequate flow, but only needed for the medium nib.

 

I tried my best to try and wiggle/pull out the nib/feed as shown at 0:10 in the video. Only had dipped it in some water, but with very firm pulling, I could not get it to come loose. I could push the whole nib/feed/assembly out as shown at 1:00 but not the actual nib, not even after I removed the whole assembly shown at 1:00. Are you guys able to remove this easily in more current models (I got my 1.5 version in October)?

 

I did put a dab of clear epoxy to cover the sharp metal edges on the underside of the shirt pocket clip while disassembled. I still wish I could post the cap farther down with all the weight of the metal, as it is a striking cap-heavy balance, and unlike any other pen I have.. I think that's my only remaining gripe.

[watch_art]

Yeah I had no prob getting the nib and feed out. Actually I hacked the feed a bit to provide more flow. Maybe you could do that and narrow your slit a bit so it wouldn't be so far apart. Yeah you can get a wetter flow, but I've found in a couple pens that spreading the tines too far will give you a toothy scratchy nib. Hacking the feed is a good second resort and sounds like you may want to try it. I'm surprised you can't just pull it out though. Pinch it, and twist it clockwise as you pull. Don't twist too hard though. GOod luck.

[SamCapote]

Yeah I had no prob getting the nib and feed out. Actually I hacked the feed a bit to provide more flow. Maybe you could do that and narrow your slit a bit so it wouldn't be so far apart. Yeah you can get a wetter flow, but I've found in a couple pens that spreading the tines too far will give you a toothy scratchy nib. Hacking the feed is a good second resort and sounds like you may want to try it. I'm surprised you can't just pull it out though. Pinch it, and twist it clockwise as you pull. Don't twist too hard though. GOod luck.

 

Are you using a first generation one? This later model is very hard to pull out. I finally got it, after pulling out the whole assembly, I put on two Nitrile gloves to give better traction holding the black outer holder and the nib/feed, and it finally came out. No way this could be done without removing the entire black nib feed holder assembly from the clear plastic and using the rubber/Nitrile gloves.

 

Now then, what did you do to "hack the feed"? Then I have to figure out how to get the tines back closer. LOL!

[watch_art]

hack the feed.

take an x acto knife, and run it a few times down the ink channel on the feed. don't cut into the tip or it'll just drip. just widen the channel a bit. but just a bit.

 

narrow the tines.

with the nib off like you have it, just push it in the opposite way of spreading it. since the feed is out of the way, it's easy. you can't really do this with the nib/feed installed. if you close them more than you need, you can slowly push them back apart to get a good flow. that way you don't have to take it apart again to close the gap a tiny bit more b/c you've already closed it far enough.

 

good luck. let me know.

i made a video hacking a feed.

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?/topic/159235-hack-a-feed-video/page__p__1586434__fromsearch__1#entry1586434

 

and knock out a feed which you could do with this pen if you have more troubles.

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?/topic/162933-knock-out-a-feed-with-a-nail-video/page__p__1625726__fromsearch__1#entry1625726

[SamCapote]

hack the feed.

take an x acto knife, and run it a few times down the ink channel on the feed. don't cut into the tip or it'll just drip. just widen the channel a bit. but just a bit.

 

narrow the tines.

with the nib off like you have it, just push it in the opposite way of spreading it. since the feed is out of the way, it's easy. you can't really do this with the nib/feed installed. if you close them more than you need, you can slowly push them back apart to get a good flow. that way you don't have to take it apart again to close the gap a tiny bit more b/c you've already closed it far enough.

 

good luck. let me know.

i made a video hacking a feed.

http://www.fountainp..._1#entry1586434

 

and knock out a feed which you could do with this pen if you have more troubles.

http://www.fountainp..._1#entry1625726

 

OK, that video shows your use of the Xacto, but this TWSBI has about a 3mm deep slit that is as tight as....oh wait....no, I can't use that analogy on this forum...lol It is about the thickness of those brass metal tine cleaner 1" squares that Binder sells in his smoothing kits. All my Xacto blades are wider beyond the very edge, and would only likely fit in the outer 1mm, as I draw the blade down the side. Next questions since you have widened your TWSBI, and saw how tight it starts out....is how wide to you make it, and is it adequate to just widen the outside (1mm) of channel? To give me some guidance, Richard's foil will fit, but the thickness of copy paper will not. Do you make it at least wide enough that a paper edge would fit in the enlarged slit? How do you determine whether to enlarge the slit vs. separate the tines (or both) to improve flow? I don't really know how wide the tines can go, but watching that TWSBI video, mine were extremely tight compared to the video spots I mentioned earlier. It is kind of fun to play around with these parts, but there's no way I would do this with a > $50 pen. I'm getting a whole new appreciation for the nibmeisters. Thanks for your help.

[watch_art]

Well, you don't want to go as deep as the channel goes. You'll be fine working on the top part of the channel. Kind of like the grand canyon. Wider at the top and narrower at the bottom.

 

How much do you hack? I don't know. A tiny bit at a time. Do it several times until you're happy with it. But it's a fine mix of feed hacking and tine spreading, which you already said you had spread too far.

 

Did you get your tines back together a bit? Are you sure your nib doesn't suffer from babybottom?

 

Good luck. And glad to help.

[SamCapote]

Well, you don't want to go as deep as the channel goes. You'll be fine working on the top part of the channel. Kind of like the grand canyon. Wider at the top and narrower at the bottom.

 

How much do you hack? I don't know. A tiny bit at a time. Do it several times until you're happy with it. But it's a fine mix of feed hacking and tine spreading, which you already said you had spread too far.

 

Did you get your tines back together a bit? Are you sure your nib doesn't suffer from babybottom?

 

Good luck. And glad to help.

 

OK, I'll try introducing it to the Grand Canyon concept. I was able to get the tines back closer. The nib surface looks good, and the increased separation resolved the mediocre flow with the ink I have in it...but I think I'll try a little channel hacking.

 

In case I "water-hose the feed," I wish I knew I could get a spare, but have not had any response from TWSBI (about getting replacement parts), do you have a better contact method?

 

Thanks for your help!

[SamCapote]

Well, you don't want to go as deep as the channel goes. You'll be fine working on the top part of the channel. Kind of like the grand canyon. Wider at the top and narrower at the bottom.

 

How much do you hack? I don't know. A tiny bit at a time. Do it several times until you're happy with it. But it's a fine mix of feed hacking and tine spreading, which you already said you had spread too far.

 

Did you get your tines back together a bit? Are you sure your nib doesn't suffer from babybottom?

 

Good luck. And glad to help.

 

OK, I'll try introducing it to the Grand Canyon concept. I was able to get the tines back closer. The nib surface looks good, and the increased separation resolved the mediocre flow with the ink I have in it...but I think I'll try a little channel hacking.

 

In case I "water-hose the feed," I wish I knew I could get a spare, but have not had any response from TWSBI (about getting replacement parts), do you have a better contact method?

 

Thanks for your help!

 

Very happy to report this widening of the feed channel worked beautifully. Keeping the feed pressed on a leather table to stabilize it, I firmly dragged a new X-acto blade slowly several times in both directions of the outer channel, giving a tiny tiny bit of enlargement. Made sure the channel was clear using the metal foil square from Binder's smoothing kit. Now the flow with two inks that were skipping before is completely resolved--not gushing or sloppy. I can now write as fast as I want--even exaggerating to test it--and no skipping at all.

 

This is enough of an improvement for the medium nib model, that I can get used to the heavier posted cap than I'm used to. Thanks again!

[watch_art]

Yay!! Really glad that worked for you. That was the first thing I did to my Pilot C742 with the FA nib to resolve the railroading issues I had.

[SamCapote]

Yay!! Really glad that worked for you. That was the first thing I did to my Pilot C742 with the FA nib to resolve the railroading issues I had.

 

? Railroading ? I have not heard that term. What does it mean?

[opus7600]

? Railroading ? I have not heard that term. What does it mean?

 

When a flex nib's feed can't keep up with the width of the flexed nib, it stops making a broad solid line, and just makes two fine lines, where either of the nib tines are. Looks like railroad tracks (minus the ties) -> "Railroading".

[tonybelding]

I don't mind doing this so much for myself, but I have to say that if somebody now said to me "hey, you know about fountain pens, I'm thinking of getting one, I don't want to spend too much but I'll go to £30 or so for something decent" I'd hesitate before recommending them a TWSBI, at least one with an M nib. A buyer like that wouldn't spread the tines, even if they knew that might be the problem - they'd just not use the pen, and likely end up thinking "oh fountain pens are rubbish"

 

I can understand that viewpoint, however. . . I've found that a lot of modern pens come with nibs that are adjusted too dry. It's an widespread problem, not something unique to TWSBI. AFAIK TWSBI get their nib-and-feed modules from a major German supplier, and the same basic part goes into a lot of other brands, including some much more expensive ones.

 

Some sellers examine and individually adjust their pens before shipping them out, but obviously there is a cost associated with that.

[watch_art]

? Railroading ? I have not heard that term. What does it mean?

 

When a flex nib's feed can't keep up with the width of the flexed nib, it stops making a broad solid line, and just makes two fine lines, where either of the nib tines are. Looks like railroad tracks (minus the ties) -> "Railroading".

 

That's it. It was even bad when writing quite slowly. I eventually took the breather tube out. I guess that's what it's called.

 

I put a picture up of it somewhere...

here it is.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1278/4692122338_f19d1c7ef6_b.jpg

[SamCapote]

? Railroading ? I have not heard that term. What does it mean?

 

When a flex nib's feed can't keep up with the width of the flexed nib, it stops making a broad solid line, and just makes two fine lines, where either of the nib tines are. Looks like railroad tracks (minus the ties) -> "Railroading".

 

That's it. It was even bad when writing quite slowly. I eventually took the breather tube out. I guess that's what it's called.

 

I put a picture up of it somewhere...

here it is.

 

 

Great sketch! There's a breather tube inside these TWSBI feeds? Anyway, I got it perfect now.

[watch_art]

No, not in the twsbi feeds. That's from the Pilot custom feed. The twsbi is simpler. But I took the tube out of the pilot feed b/c I wanted it SO wet.

[SamCapote]

You must need to wear adult diapers when using that now. :roflmho: