Twsbi Mini Cracking

[anaximander]

My 540 has developed cracks in the section and I've never disassembled the pen.

[Miadhawk]

A part of feed of my TWSBI snapped off, its the part that screws onto the barrel, rendering my 540 useless.

[Tweel]

I don't have a TWSBI, but I sure see a lot of posts about them cracking. I wonder whether it could be injection stress created when they form the plastic, rather than the plastic itself.

[rday2]

Hi. I bought a Hero 901 fountain pen and was told that an international cartridge would fit and for some reason, I can't get them to. I've had fountain pens before and when you insert the cartridge, it is punctured by a little tip in the nib portion of the pen. I purchased the Hero cartridges #0028. Can anyone help me and give me some guidance on how to insert the cartridges and make them work. Thank you

[Jared C]

I've had just as much trouble with TSWBI as anyone, had a 530 barrel crack ~1" from the top, told phillip, he replaced it in 2 days (barrel, piston, everything but the cap). shortly thereafter, cap sheared off right above the metal, told phillip, sent me a free 540 cap (now i have a complete 540 for free). Bought a vac700, which dries up after about 20 characters of writing, then i have to shake the devil out of it to get it to write again, told phillip, getting a new next-gen nib unit for free...

 

TWSBI may be having teething issues, but it's customer service is amazing. most of the time, when I would email Phillip, he'd not even ask questions, just "what's your address?" They're releasing some really well designed products for way less money than anyone else, and I'm definitely going to keep supporting them.

 

Maybe they do just have crappy plastics suppliers who are on hard times, haha. Whatever it is though, I have no doubt that it'll be taken care of.

[myn]

I'm sure the customer service is wonderful, as many have attested to but it's kind of like closing the barn door after the cows have gotten out. This shouldn't be a customer service issue, it should be a production one in that they use the proper material from the start.

 

They've got a great pen that writes beautifully, looks great and feels good in the hand but if it's going to break all the time none of that matters.

[blackcat99]

ooh lucky I saw this post as was about to order a mini -think I will hold off

[AndyLa]

I'm sure the customer service is wonderful, as many have attested to but it's kind of like closing the barn door after the cows have gotten out. This shouldn't be a customer service issue, it should be a production one in that they use the proper material from the start.

 

They've got a great pen that writes beautifully, looks great and feels good in the hand but if it's going to break all the time none of that matters.

 

+1. What happens when the parts run out down the line on these specific models? I got rid of my two 540's and was very interested in the mini, but with reservation. I think this confirmed I will not be getting one anytime soon.

[Laura N]

...TWSBI may be having teething issues, but it's customer service is amazing. most of the time, when I would email Phillip, he'd not even ask questions, just "what's your address?" They're releasing some really well designed products for way less money than anyone else, and I'm definitely going to keep supporting them. ...

 

 

I'm sure the customer service is wonderful, as many have attested to but it's kind of like closing the barn door after the cows have gotten out. This shouldn't be a customer service issue, it should be a production one in that they use the proper material from the start.

 

They've got a great pen that writes beautifully, looks great and feels good in the hand but if it's going to break all the time none of that matters.

 

I somehow agree with both of these points. There is no bigger TWSBI fan than I, and I love my three 540s, but there does seem to be an issue with those, and that is concerning. At some point, people are going to lose confidence, despite their fantastic customer service.

 

ooh lucky I saw this post as was about to order a mini -think I will hold off

 

I think this is the real problem, and I hope Philip will address this. On the other hand, this is one report of a spontaneously cracked Mini, and one report of a Mini cracked due to user error. It's not yet clear if these are just isolated incidents or part of a pattern. But it's not good to have this hanging out there as they release new products.

[leod]

that doesn't look promising, these pens just came out.

[K. Cakes]

I don't see anyone giving TWSBI any for Great customer service ! No affiliation with this company, and yes I have 4 units and I'm hoping I don't have the problems experienced here. But this company does appear to me, to stand right up, when there is a problem and jumps in to take care of it. And in record time! I could name a company who has had one of my F/P's since Early August and I have yet to see it back and I will challenge you that I will still get a bill for it's repair!

 

 

I'm definitely thankful for their quick response, but I wouldn't say they have great customer service. If they keep churning out products with serious defects they're not really taking care of the problem by giving us the same faulty replacements. I've had two issues in as many weeks, if they didn't offer to fix them then I can't imagine anyone would purchase products from them.

[ribbit]

I'd like to know how many TWSBIs that have never been disassembled have cracked? As Joshua said, of all the plastics in all the world...

 

My 540 has never been disassembled, and is cracked.

[inkdesigner]

What makes the cracking so vexing is that, over time, it gets so bad that the barrel is no longer able to hold the piston mechanism in and that makes it impossible to fill.

 

I really love the pens, but I've had 2 540s crack in this manner (even though they were never taken apart).

[XiaoMG]

I got an email from TWSBI saying the current parts they're making for the 540s won't crack. Could be a good sign, but I guess we'll find out with time.

[RudyR]

OH Noooozzze

I just checked my clear 540 and it has the infamous crack by the piston knob. Now I'm concerned as to when my Sapphire and ROC anniversary edition will crack.

[Joshua J.]

This is absolutely horrible news... I love my TWSBI 540 but have already had the plastic part of the cap snap off its metal base... I was hoping the cracking issues was isolated to the Diamond variants (530/540) but looks like I might have to hold back on my VAC700/Mini purchases and observe if this is a common problem...

 

 

I wouldn't worry about the Vac 700 so much (I was going to say that this shouldn't be an issue with the Vac 700 because it has metal bands on both ends of the barrel, but then I see the Mini also has metal at the end. Still). Unless someone else has or has seen complaints about that model, it looks like the Vac and Micarta are probably their sturdiest/best designed products.

 

 

I was just looking at pictures of the Mini on the Goulet website, I guess the Mini has the metal band on the piston knob, not the end of the body.

 

So, no one has a cracked Vac 700? If that is the case then we have precedent for a design that does not suffer the usual problems. IMO They need more metal bands on their pens or a new plastic formula.

 

We can be pretty sure the 850 will be a solid pen as well.

(and let's not forget the Micarta)

 

 

I've had just as much trouble with TSWBI as anyone, had a 530 barrel crack ~1" from the top, told phillip, he replaced it in 2 days (barrel, piston, everything but the cap). shortly thereafter, cap sheared off right above the metal, told phillip, sent me a free 540 cap (now i have a complete 540 for free). Bought a vac700, which dries up after about 20 characters of writing, then i have to shake the devil out of it to get it to write again, told phillip, getting a new next-gen nib unit for free...

TWSBI may be having teething issues, but it's customer service is amazing. most of the time, when I would email Phillip, he'd not even ask questions, just "what's your address?" They're releasing some really well designed products for way less money than anyone else, and I'm definitely going to keep supporting them.

 

Maybe they do just have crappy plastics suppliers who are on hard times, haha. Whatever it is though, I have no doubt that it'll be taken care of.

 

 

My Vac 700 was really dry as well. After getting an italic nib for it I decided to play with the feed, once you open up the ink channel it flows much better, I now have a decent writing 1.1 italic Vac 700. It's not super wet, just about right for normal line spacing.

 

 

Just knife the feed open a bit (as seen in the video, power tools are probably overkill here) and your pen should write fine.

 

(Remember that modifications of this sort definitely void any warranty.)

Edited December 13, 2012 by Joshua J.

[EKE]

BTW, I got my replacement barrel from Phillip at TWISBI today in the mail. Fast and efficient replacement. Bravo TWISBI. :clap1:

[MKeith]

I'm sure the customer service is wonderful, as many have attested to but it's kind of like closing the barn door after the cows have gotten out. This shouldn't be a customer service issue, it should be a production one in that they use the proper material from the start.

 

They've got a great pen that writes beautifully, looks great and feels good in the hand but if it's going to break all the time none of that matters.

 

+1 I have almost pulled the trigger and bought a TWSBI many times over the last year but have always stopped when I read of their continual QC problem. In my opinion, for what's it's worth, their pens are over designed in that they try to make the pens do too much at one time. When I look at Pelikans that last for 60 years and still work without these problems or even my Reform 1745's that are simplicity at it's best, you would think that TWSBI's engineers could make a simpler design that doesn't NEED to be taken apart, re-greased etc. but still works. Any time a pen is down it's useless. For now I will continue to sit on the sidelines and maybe, just maybe, they will produce a pen that doesn't require continual repairs.

[RobW]

I'm sure the customer service is wonderful, as many have attested to but it's kind of like closing the barn door after the cows have gotten out. This shouldn't be a customer service issue, it should be a production one in that they use the proper material from the start.

 

They've got a great pen that writes beautifully, looks great and feels good in the hand but if it's going to break all the time none of that matters.

 

+1. What happens when the parts run out down the line on these specific models? I got rid of my two 540's and was very interested in the mini, but with reservation. I think this confirmed I will not be getting one anytime soon.

 

They replaced the barrel on my 540. The new barrel does not have a metal insert, so it must be from a later production run. Easy to fit (remember to use some of the supplied silicon to replace the piston) and seems fine.

 

I would buy another if needed.

 

 

[Bill Wood]

I'd like to know how many TWSBIs that have never been disassembled have cracked? As Joshua said, of all the plastics in all the world...

 

My 540 has never been disassembled, and is cracked.

 

Me three. Really too bad because I'm initially very excited for this company, but I get tired of mailing back and forth and waiting. A little more trying if ones in Canada. I guess we'll have to thru the mini plastic problem much like the 540. Twsbi is still developing but I think for myself a waiting period is necessary.