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Pilot Metropolitan Woes


kaybee

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Hi FPN! I've been a long time lurker here (10+ months since I discovered fountain pens, only a few months since breaking down and creating an account, and my first post! :P), and this site has taught me a wealth of information.

 

But I haven't found any solutions to the problem(s) I'm facing with my Pilot Metropolitan, which I purchased at the beginning of the summer. I'll list the problems I've been having in order of their pressing concern. Any help would be greatly, greatly appreciated!

 

1.) Most recently (and most concerning to me) is the problems I'm running into the converter. I'm using the standard squeeze converter that came with the pen (after writing with it for a good amount of time using only cartridges). My converter just doesn't seem to fit into my pen... at all. Below is a picture of the pen body with the converter attached to the section, as deep as it can go:

post-96241-0-77116600-1377874142_thumb.jpg

Please pardon the dust -- my computer top was the only flat surface to photograph these. :blush:

 

I'm not sure if anyone else's converter fits deeper than mine does, but I've read a couple of reviews that have suggested the fit should be kind of snug -- not mine! I learned (the hard and messy way) that my converter will slip out of the section if the section is held at any semblance of an upright angle. There's just no fit there whatsoever. I peered down the barrel of my section and saw this:

post-96241-0-69326800-1377874310_thumb.jpg

 

There seems to be a half crescent of plastic that sticks out from the side of the section, with two tiny plastic slits extending from it. The converter very precariously sits atop this plastic piece, and I'm wondering if it's meant to be there? Part of me thinks the converter should sit deeper into the section than it actually does, and these plastic bits prevent it from sliding all the way in.

 

2.) My next problem with this pen is the skipping! When I first got it, like a good girl I flushed out the pen before installing the cartridge. I let the ink work its way down through the feed and to the nib and onto the paper and every other letter was either a hard stop, skip through the middle, or wouldn't finish. I scribbled some; still skipped. I scribbled some more; still skipped. I applied a touch of pressure; didn't help. I disassembled the feed, flushed it with water, checked the tines, flossed through them a tiny bit, reassembled; nothing. Changed papers. Maybe it's the ink, I thought, so I waited for the cartridge to run out and I tried using my own ink: same problem. I've tried everything I can think of for a skippy nib.

post-96241-0-60386800-1377874991_thumb.jpg

 

(Please excuse my inky fingers!) I can't quite tell if the tines are too far apart, and I'm not entirely sure how to fix that if that were the problem. Once I scanned the photos into my computer I noticed that the left tine looks slightly "curved" inward, and I'm not sure how one would fix this, either. :/

I should note here the nib is buttery smooth, and (when it does write) pleasant to write with.

 

3.) (This also ties in with #2) The line width of this pen, out of the box and continued until today, has been HUGE! (I prefer fine pens). I had read a lot that Pilot nibs tended to run finer, with the Japanese M feeling a lot like a western F, and in all of the writing samples I had seen of the Metropolitan seemed to support this claim. My nib feels to me like a M-hugging-B -- and it is this broad for every paper I've used. This is really more of a cosmetic issue for me -- I could live with a broad nibbed pen if it didn't skip and spit ink all over me!

post-96241-0-42717900-1377875612_thumb.jpg

 

There's skipping on the "o", "x", hard start on the "j", you can see where I double traced the "u", skipping on the start of the "s", "e", and "r"... and that's after letting the pen rest for a couple minutes! Trying to write more than a sentence or two, and the skipping becomes a lot worse -- entire letters refuse to come out.

(Also the writing sample above it in orange is from a stub, and its lines are maybe half as thick!)

 

It should be said here I do love the look and feel of this pen in my hand, and I would really love to go back to school with this pen in my daily carry. I want to thank (and apologize to) everyone who trudged through this really long post (I'm sorry!), and for any advice anyone can give me. Thank you! :thumbup:

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1. It looks like it's not going in far enough. I can't really tell why based on your pictures. Possibly cartridges are thinner than the converter, and so the barrel was never expanded enough to use the converter? I'm guessing here. I've never used carriages in my pens. You can see what they look like fully seated here:

 

http://i.imgur.com/hMKbvLS.jpg?1

 

2. It looks like your tines have been bent out. The slit should get narrower as it gets towards the end of the nib. Applying too much pressure while writing can sometimes cause this. You can see in the picture below that you can barely see any light through the end of the nib. Note, there is no light for the bottom 75% of the nib because the feed is behind it.

 

http://i.imgur.com/0cpvwnZ.jpg?1

 

3. This is caused by #2. The spread tines put down a wider line, but cannot sustain capillary action, due to the slit not getting smaller towards the end of the nib. This results in a wide line, and hard starts, stops, and skips. Images below provide reference for the line width you could expect from these pens.

 

http://i.imgur.com/zH2xhMG.jpg?1

http://i.imgur.com/H5ZZ79f.jpg?1

 

I hope this is helpful. Sorry I don't really have any good recommendations to fix it. Spread tines are very difficult or impossible to bend back, and it's not worth the shipping to send it to someone to repair. I would probably buy a new one, given they are fairly inexpensive. Be careful with applying too much pressure while writing in the future. Sorry I couldn't be of more help! :(

May your ways be green and golden, and the wind be at your back.

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The photo of inside the section is a bit hard for me to see, but it appears that the portion where the little "juts" are is in the portion where the nib should sit (again if this is off I apologize as that photo is just a tad blurry on my screen). If that is the case, then they shouldn't have anything to do with the converter not fitting in properly. The converter typically will need a little shove to get it all the way connected to the end once the nib and feed are seated in the section (note: missing from your pics) and that will hold it in place - it will also seat just a little deeper than what you seem to have going on right now.

 

The tines can be tuned, brought closer together and aligned for the writing experience you want. This is something that we do regularly and I think if you look through some of the notes by Richard Binder you will find a pretty good description on the best way to do it. Simplified you need it on the feed, you need to hold it with the feed down and the tines facing you and you need to gently push one tine under the other until it clicks and then pop it back out, repeat with the other side. Do NOT push down on the tines where they stick out from the feed, but just behind the tip (otherwise you are likely to bend the tine tips downward to the ground and that is not good). This procedure can produce some other issues with the slit and if you aren't comfortable with fixing those you may want to send the pen to one of us at FPN that do professional repair work. There are several of us around here and you should be able to contact all or any from the site.

 

Good luck and I really hope this helped a little.

 

Linda

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Josh --

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply with such detailed pictures! I notice your converters sit ~1/8" in deeper than mine seemed to, and between your photograph and Linda stating that the converter needed "a little shove", I pushed with a bit more force than I had been previously (every other time I had tried to push it a bit I was too scared it would warp the metal at the end of the converter), and this worked flawlessly! I'm actually really embarrassed now that my biggest problem was that I didn't give it enough *oomph*. :blush:

 

I also greatly appreciate your photograph of the tines through the light. I wasn't familiar with how they should look, and your explanation was very helpful. I don't generally write with much pressure (cue my gravitation towards fountain pens!); I'm not sure why this pen was thick from the start. :/

post-96241-0-60089600-1377885606.jpg

The top line are the first words this pen ever wrote -- after some scribbles to get the ink down the feed, that is. The second to the bottom was the first sample I posted, and bottom is my adjusted nib.

 

 

Linda --

Your instructions were very helpful and spot-on! I did this bit by bit, testing via dipping the pen in ink and trying it out, and it's like night and day!

post-96241-0-01994600-1377885581_thumb.jpg

My first writing sample (top) and my new sample (bottom). They're both using the same ink, but the difference is dramatic! It shades now! :bunny01:

 

I can still see light through my nib (I'm wondering if this will cause me problems later on?), but it's writing thinner and lighter than it was before, and I've yet to have a skip! Perhaps I'll adjust it some more later on, but right now I am very pleased with its performance. Thank you so much walking me through this process; I greatly appreciate it.

 

You both have been an amazing help; I can't thank you enough! It writes much much better. :cloud9:

 

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I can't really speak to the converter issue. The only thing I would suggest would be to try a different converter like a CON-50 to see if it fits. If the CON-50 works, you know it's an issue with the converter. The CON-50 should only run you $6. I think it's a better converter to have (piston-style) and will fit any Pilot fountain pen.

 

As for the tines - I had a similar issue. My Metro was writing too broad and too wet. I basically did what Linda suggests - pushing down on the tines until they click under each other - and it worked like a charm. I wasn't too worried about it as it's an inexpensive pen. Your other alternative - which you might want to do anyways - is to get a new nib. The Pilot Plumix and Penmanship are both under $10 and have compatible nibs. The Plumix has an italic and the Penmanship has an Extra-Fine. It's an inexpensive way to try a couple different nibs with the same base pen.

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You are very welcome and I'm glad that you were able to get the pen going where you wanted it too. Having a little light show through the tines is desired. If the tips of the tines are touching it is not going to work correctly (unlike a vintage flex nib) as you can't have two things in the same place ... thus the ink goes to the smallest point along the slit and stops, you don't want that to be before it gets to the paper!

 

Nice Job!!

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You're welcome! I'm glad it is all working now. Nice work on bending the tines back, I'll have to remember what Indy said in case I run into the same problem in the future :)

 

Weird that your pen came like that, probably a quality control issue. Your sample looks much more in line with a medium now!

 

Indy is right, there should be some space between the tines, but the smallest gap should be at the very tip of the nib. It's hard to see in my picture, but there is a very tiny sliver of light at the end of the nib.

Edited by joshsrn

May your ways be green and golden, and the wind be at your back.

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  • 1 year later...

I'm having a similar issue, but mine's just about the skipping of the Pilot Metropolitan. It's been skipping and not laying down a line since I bought it and it's sorta maddening. It skips most when I'm using my Clairefontaine paper, but it also skips occasionally on cheap, more absorbent copy paper. It seems something to do with the tines, they seem sorta pressed together. I've attached a 2 second video showing it skipping if that helps.

Pilot Metropolitan Skipping.wmv

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Josh --

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply with such detailed pictures! I notice your converters sit ~1/8" in deeper than mine seemed to, and between your photograph and Linda stating that the converter needed "a little shove", I pushed with a bit more force than I had been previously (every other time I had tried to push it a bit I was too scared it would warp the metal at the end of the converter), and this worked flawlessly! I'm actually really embarrassed now that my biggest problem was that I didn't give it enough *oomph*. :blush:

 

I also greatly appreciate your photograph of the tines through the light. I wasn't familiar with how they should look, and your explanation was very helpful. I don't generally write with much pressure (cue my gravitation towards fountain pens!); I'm not sure why this pen was thick from the start. :/

attachicon.gif99.JPG

The top line are the first words this pen ever wrote -- after some scribbles to get the ink down the feed, that is. The second to the bottom was the first sample I posted, and bottom is my adjusted nib.

 

 

Linda --

Your instructions were very helpful and spot-on! I did this bit by bit, testing via dipping the pen in ink and trying it out, and it's like night and day!

attachicon.gif002.JPG

My first writing sample (top) and my new sample (bottom). They're both using the same ink, but the difference is dramatic! It shades now! :bunny01:

 

I can still see light through my nib (I'm wondering if this will cause me problems later on?), but it's writing thinner and lighter than it was before, and I've yet to have a skip! Perhaps I'll adjust it some more later on, but right now I am very pleased with its performance. Thank you so much walking me through this process; I greatly appreciate it.

 

You both have been an amazing help; I can't thank you enough! It writes much much better. :cloud9:

 

Glad it's working, but I would also want to know from where you bought the pen. A Met (notoriously reliable!) in this condition might have warranted a return for replacement or refund.

 

And welcome aboard.

My latest ebook.   And not just for Halloween!
 

My other pen is a Montblanc.

 

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I'm having a similar issue, but mine's just about the skipping of the Pilot Metropolitan. It's been skipping and not laying down a line since I bought it and it's sorta maddening. It skips most when I'm using my Clairefontaine paper, but it also skips occasionally on cheap, more absorbent copy paper. It seems something to do with the tines, they seem sorta pressed together. I've attached a 2 second video showing it skipping if that helps.

 

First thing to do is check tine alignment and spacing

 

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First thing to do is check tine alignment and spacing

What is the spacing supposed to be? far apart? pressed together? barely apart? farther apart then moves to close at tip? also, how would I fix it if it had these issues? I didn't really understand the bending/clicking method that was explained earlier.

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What is the spacing supposed to be? far apart? pressed together? barely apart? farther apart then moves to close at tip? also, how would I fix it if it had these issues? I didn't really understand the bending/clicking method that was explained earlier.

 

Youtube: how to make a nib wetter

how to make a nib drier

nib alignment

 

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