Twsbi 580 Woes

[Millford]

Since I bought this pen, a couple of weeks ago, I've been struggling to make it dance. Out of the box, it felt a little on the scratchy side, but not so bad that a nib smoothing wouldn't sort it (or so is my understanding). Through the loupe, with my untrained eye, I was not able to see any tine misalignment.

 

Waiting for the smoothing supplies, I've been using the pen, since it was far from unusable. Finding an ink that would play nice with pen, proved to be a challenge. Inks that will always function perfectly in my 'Safari', will not play with the 580. Drying out after a single day, and skipping with with some inks. Varying flow and line width with others. Too wet. Sometimes pooling in line intersections.

 

Now I've completely taken the pen apart, and cleaned it with soapy water. Body, feed and nib. All thoroughly clean, rinsed, and dried. Now, if anything the problem seems worse. Like I said, it's not that the pen is impossible to use, put it's really annoying when the pen randomly feeds you a little extra ink, or the line thins for a word or two.

 

Since I'm still new to this more DIY interaction with my pens, I'd love some advice on where to go from here. Thanks!

[mikehodgman]

Unfortunately I've had some similar woes with my 580. I've gotten a couple nibs and tried some things and I simply can't make it write how I'd like. All my other TWSBIs are excellent, I just seem to have gotten a lemon. At this point I am cutting my losses and just switching to my Mini a pen that is just plain awesome.

 

I would contact TWSBI as you haven't had it for long, they should help you with it. I've had mine for months so no such luck!

[UK Mike]

This can be part of the "TWSBI Experience". Some get pens that write perfectly straight out of the box, whilst others, including me, end up tinkering for weeks to get the things to work properly.

 

I had an early 580 and TWSBI were kind enough to send me a new nib and feed - the feed worked better but the nib was worse. I managed to get it to work satisfactorily in the end, although I have noticed that the flow is much better when the pen is almost empty. Certainly drop an email to TWSBI - they offer excellent customer service fortunately.

 

My 580 is ok, but it will never be a favourite pen.

[mm1624124]

I started with a 530 and haven't upgraded as it seems these "upgrades" just aren't. I'm still patiently waiting to hear the TWSBI has solved its quality assurance issues...seems not yet.

 

While the overall materials may be a notch above Noodler's pens, I'd rather fiddle with a $20 pen. That is if that is what I really wanted to do, which I don't. For the price, I'd expect slightly better performance out of TWSBI. Fact is the Noodler pens are in rotation, the TWSBI has been retired due to cracks, etc. If I were following the TWSBI evolution, I would have spent enough for a nice vintage pen or other higher quality pen, which is the route I've chosen for now.

[Obyekt]

Of all the problems here, I only experience one: ink pooling in the see-through grip section.

[Bo Bo Olson]

complain to Speedy, free parts will be shipped to you.

[Millford]

Thank you for your answers, all. It does seem that I just received a dud then. If there is nothing more I can do with this one, a new one will only set me back 20 something €. Not that I'm made of money, but perhaps the bad nib can serve as an education nib. Get my tools out. It's great to hear that TWSBI has good costumer service. Perhaps I'll need it in the future.

 

If it's hit and miss with TWSBI, I'll cross my fingers for new hit nib

[Veltri]

I hear you - have problems with my rose gold.

Some inks wouldn't write, so I sent it to TWSBI to look at it. They were nice and replaced the feeder.

Now all inks write, but stop partway through the page. It takes some coaxing to get it to write again. You can see the line thinning before it happens.

So they're sending me a new feed. It's getting tiring so after this third try I may just return it outright.

[Nick T]

TWISBI tuned up a lemon for me. I sent it to them and it came back working right. It was a 540. I did have to pay shipping one way.

[Mafia Geek]

I've had some hit or miss experience with TWSBI nibs but I find that is often because the nibs are set too dry (i.e. the tines are too close together). After running a brass shim through it a few times to open them up they write MUCH better. The flow is much more to my liking and it makes it smoother to write with because of the extra ink.

 

If you can, I'd give opening up the tines a little a try, there are likely several tutorials online (I know sbrebrown has a video on it and nibs.com has a tutorial).

[Millford]

Thanks for the advice. I have a 'tuning kit' coming in the mail, so I'll definitely give that a try. Even though I enjoy to tinker, it's more important that the pen actually works. So, I've ordered a two new nib/feeds, in different sizes. I'd be cursed if they're also sour

[a.lachlan]

I had heard of these issues before I purchased my 580, it nearly put me off buying one but after seeing the vast number of positive reviews I decided to go for it and actually found a place online that tests every pen before shipping to make sure it isn't a dud. Mine was perfect straight out of the box.

 

It's sad that duds exist in what is a very nice pen, my only advice is to do what I did and buy from somewhere that tests first or test it yourself if you can. I purchased mine from thewritingdesk.co.uk in case anyone's wondering.

 

The only problem I've had with mine was a bit of drying out - I think it might be prone to doing so because the feed sticks out so much, I'm probably wrong though. I managed to fix this by using a wetter ink though - Diamine Jet Black while I was using Lamy black ink before which is a bit "gloopy"

[Koyote]

TWSBIs aren't really worth the trouble. Too many problems. OP should consider sending it back and asking for a refund, then put the money toward a more reliable pen.

Edited February 2, 2014 by Koyote

[mikehodgman]

TWSBIs aren't really worth the trouble. Too many problems. OP should consider sending it back and asking for a refund, then put the money toward a more reliable pen.

 

I respectfully disagree. I have had 5 TWSBIs and only one was a dud. The other 4 I thought delivered a quality writing experience that far exceeded the cost of the pen. Are they a risk? Yeah, they are. But personally I think they are worth it. It all depends what you are looking for and if you want to take a risk on 'em.

Edited February 2, 2014 by mikehodgman

[a.lachlan]

 

I respectfully disagree. I have had 5 TWSBIs and only one was a dud. The other 4 I thought delivered a quality writing experience that far exceeded the cost of the pen. Are they a risk? Yeah, they are. But personally I think they are worth it. It all depends what you are looking for and if you want to take a risk on 'em.

 

I agree, the risk is worth it, for the price it's an amazing pen, and an amazing pen in its own right

[mm1624124]

TWSBIs aren't really worth the trouble. Too many problems. OP should consider sending it back and asking for a refund, then put the money toward a more reliable pen.

 

 

Well, I'm in this corner. In all due respect, we are not talking about duds but about pens that develop issues later and that shouldn't be tolerated just because the manufacturer will replace at no cost. Dependability under average conditions shouldn't be so much to ask for. Leaks, cracks, non-starters---comments that start with "it was great until..." My experience as with others is the pen becomes faulty under typical use, not from abuse.

 

I'm confused why anyone would recommend a beginner pen "at risk" because the cost doesn't break the bank. A 20% (1 out of 5) risk of getting a dud is really OK??? This is a quality control issue. The way I think about it is, would I buy one as a gift for a beginning fountain pen enthusiast? No, because I don't want to take that type of risk in alienating a would be convert over a bad experience. It's enough as it is that fountain pens come with inherent issues just because of what they are even when the stars align perfectly.

 

Don't get me wrong. I loved my TWSBI until.... and I still have it along with the many TWSBI nibs for it. I'm simply waiting for both the manufacturer and the fountain pen community to acknowledge that it would be a better pen if some of these simple issues were addressed and then fix them before distribution. I'll buy that pen for sure. For the price of a TWSBI buy some Pilot 78Gs that are wonderful, dependable, and take abuse with little risk involved. I'm one of the few, I guess, that is not interested in continually returning a non-functioning pen for replacement. My desire is to make one purchase and then enjoy a hassle-free item, which makes for a repeat customer by buying more of the same.

 

TWSBI has a fantastic customer support in place and comes highly recommended. It is a shame though, because of this, the quality of product is mitigated and deemed acceptable.

[PlayerX]

I've had the same experience and even had TWSBI send a new nib and feed but it still wrote dry, in the end rather than getting down the 580 nib I went and bought an Edison #5 nib and feed, screwed it in with the TWSBI nib which fixed the dryness problem I was having with the pen

[Bill Wood]

I've had some hit or miss experience with TWSBI nibs but I find that is often because the nibs are set too dry (i.e. the tines are too close together). After running a brass shim through it a few times to open them up they write MUCH better. The flow is much more to my liking and it makes it smoother to write with because of the extra ink.

 

If you can, I'd give opening up the tines a little a try, there are likely several tutorials online (I know sbrebrown has a video on it and nibs.com has a tutorial).

I did what Mafia geek did. I brass shim a lot of pens. I have an original 540 that's cracked but still writes. A little shim helped the nib and also carved a little into the feed. I don't mess with feeds that much but one can increase the feed channel with a dental pic. Hope you get it up to specs. Edited February 3, 2014 by Bill Wood

[Bill Wood]

I've had the same experience and even had TWSBI send a new nib and feed but it still wrote dry, in the end rather than getting down the 580 nib I went and bought an Edison #5 nib and feed, screwed it in with the TWSBI nib which fixed the dryness problem I was having with the pen

Player X. Do you mean the Edison #5 nib unit just slipped into the TWSBI ? Did you have to use that TWSBI collar ?

[Moshe ben David]

This ongoing dialog makes me wonder. Specifically, I wonder to what extent TWSBI are making use of outside, contract manufacturers. This alone could easily cause the remarkably varied experiences members of FPN are reporting.

 

Regardless, IMNSHO the inconsistent experiences are simply not worth the headaches and it is unlikely a TWSBI product will land in my stable for a long time to come!