Where To Grind On A Lamy Nib To Increase Flexibility

[bardiir]

Ok so I got two spare Lamy (gold) nibs (EF+M) that will probably never again see any use around here. So I'm currently planning to sell the M nib (or PIF it) because it's absolutely too bold for my taste and try to get a flexible EF nib.

 

The EF has a bit of spring actually. It is even able to write a very light version of a hint of flex:

 

Now the question is, where on that nib would I need to take off material to improve the flexibility. I'd guess first of all I would want to grind it to an Needlepoint and take some material away from the bottom of the tines. But what else, I think only grinding the tines thinner would not help very much.

 

Pendleton cuts into the shoulders of the nib and grinds round holes out of the bottom, the Pilot FA nib also has the holes on the bottom, but the Lamy nib hasn't got a bottom like those half-round nibs.

 

Ah and yes, I know this probably sounds very stupid and will probably get you to jump to the "let a nibmeister do it" button. But actually if I would send anything to a nibmeister and pay that amount of money, it would be a Falcon for added flexibility, not a Lamy - this is just an experiment with an unused nib that could result in something actually cool like my gold lamy stub (yes I like Lamy)

[Bo Bo Olson]

Buy an Ahab and do the Ahab mod to it. That takes it from a hard to work semi-flex to Super-flex (Easy Full Flex) that is two flex grades lighter than the semi-flex it is.

 

I'm sure had the Lamy nib been able to make 'flexible', some one would have done so long ago.

It is a nail nib....so I don't think it can be done. Nib form, would also if you grind it long and narrow, interfere with the feed and ink flow.

Edited September 6, 2014 by Bo Bo Olson

[bardiir]

Buy an Ahab and do the Ahab mod to it. That takes it from a hard to work semi-flex to Super-flex (Easy Full Flex) that is two flex grades lighter than the semi-flex it is.

 

I'm sure had the Lamy nib been able to make 'flexible', some one would have done so long ago.

 

But it's only $7 to give it your best shot.

 

Had the Ahab, did the flex mod, didn't like the way it handled (and smelled) so I PIFed it.

 

Actually there were flexible Lamy nibs on the Unic pens. Haven't seen any reports of tries to do this to a Lamy nib. Most of the time Lamy seems to be out of sight for modifications.

 

It's around $100 for the gold ones that's why I'm asking in the first place - if after all I consider this infeasible or not worth the try I might get rid of the EF one some other way - the steel ones don't have any real spring and if you force them they don't flex back. The gold ones do.

[Bo Bo Olson]

shave it on the underside, and know when to stop....you seem to have a good idea what you want to do.

If you are going needle point, you are going to thin it a lot too.

How much flex do you want. Could be semi-flex could be reached.

[bardiir]

[bardiir]

The main issue is... it mostly got easier to flex but not broader due to the grinding. It's very easy to flex, around 1/8 or even less of the falcon, which is quite honestly very strange feeling when writing so I'll probably need some time to get the hang of it.

 

The needlepoint seems to be quite well, it writes scratch free and has an obvious amount of tipping left so I'm not writing on the gold.

 

Overall: Yes it is possible I think, but it's not really a great flexi writer... just another one in my series of experiments that went... quite well

[Kosmic-kowgirl]

Very cool!! Nice experiment!

[bardiir]

@ Bo Bo Olson - from the picture above, how would you rate this nib on the flex scale?

Pressure for the max flex is around a Zebra G nib, a bit softer actually, or it only feels softer because it's less scratchy, but pretty close to the Zebra G. Writing as a needlepoint consistently is pretty hard for me because normally I'm a bit heavy handed and my low angle combined with that already spreads the tines considerable. Just letting my finger rest on the top of the pen does take it from needle to around an M-B. So it's pretty damn soft.

 

Actually there's still plenty material left, it could get even softer, but the feed can't keep up with the current flex already so there's no point in getting any softer, especially since it doesn't widen considerably anymore.

Edited September 7, 2014 by bardiir

[Algester]

@ Bo Bo Olson - from the picture above, how would you rate this nib on the flex scale?

Pressure for the max flex is around a Zebra G nib, a bit softer actually, or it only feels softer because it's less scratchy, but pretty close to the Zebra G. Writing as a needlepoint consistently is pretty hard for me because normally I'm a bit heavy handed and my low angle combined with that already spreads the tines considerable. Just letting my finger rest on the top of the pen does take it from needle to around an M-B. So it's pretty damn soft.

 

Actually there's still plenty material left, it could get even softer, but the feed can't keep up with the current flex already so there's no point in getting any softer, especially since it doesn't widen considerably anymore.

this is where the Safari easily detachable nib comes into play... remove the hood on the feed?

[bardiir]

this is where the Safari easily detachable nib comes into play... remove the hood on the feed?

 

Great idea, actually I could just swap in a wetter ink, but the Lamy feed will shoot through ink pretty fast and wet then widening the xxf lines thus removing the flex effect. The feed has more of an issue with keeping up because the nib bends away from the feed too much. I'll fro to get a shot of it.

[bardiir]

As you can see the nib flexed away very far from the feed already breaking the ink flow at max, so going further would not really help, getting wetter or more ink to flow in wouldn't help either as the ink is blocked from reaching the nib:

 

The cool thing is, watching my thumb you can estimate how much easier it is to flex the lamy than it is to flex the falcon, on the falcon half my thumb gets white from the pressure pushing the blood out. Nothing to see on the Lamy

Edited September 7, 2014 by bardiir

[Falconerguy]

That's and interesting experiment....Makes me want to go grab the Dremel...

[bardiir]

Just FYI: It does NOT work with the Lamy steel nibs. I've just tried. You might be able to get a bit of springyness, once you go further the nib is sprung completely and does not spring back at all, the steel is not handling flex in any way like the gold ones are.

[Icywolfe]

I have a feeling that it might be due to the wings of the nib that makes the nib very hard.

[cellardoor04]

Wow! Great experiment! You should start selling them, I'd be the first in line!

[bardiir]

I have a feeling that it might be due to the wings of the nib that makes the nib very hard.

 

Yes, I've destroyed two steel nibs already trying to cut a little slit in there to detach the nib partly from the wings. It works but the steel is very much less springy than the gold ones and does not tend to spring back quite as readily, so it would need tremendous amounts of flexibility on the structure to allow some flex. But I can make a steel nib write/feel like a gold nib already in part of springiness.

 

Wow! Great experiment! You should start selling them, I'd be the first in line!

 

Since I'm by far not a professional it would be quite hard to swallow the risk on making these. A little wrong movement and it's $100 down the drain. If it would be the steel nibs, yeah I'd grind those all day long if it would be worthwhile, it's actually quite fun.

 

I'm not extremely stretched for money, $100 wouldn't kill me but it would frustrate me quite a bit so that's not the kind of money I would invest in starting this thing. Maybe if I get a good sponsor for http://fp-ink.info or some business strategy and it makes enough money to cover such things, I might reconsider this then. But for now, sorry - unless you're willing to pay this upfront taking the risk (which I don't hope that you would be willing to do because you can get a professionally ground nib for a little more or another flexy pen) it would be a no-go for me.

[Bo Bo Olson]

The thing is, semi-flex or any of the more flexible nibs are more than just tine spread. They are also tine bend at the same time.

 

You do have tine spread.

But as your picture shows, you do not have tine bend.

 

A 'springy' nib like a basic Falcon or modern springy MB, has tine bend, but not much more than 2 X in tine spread.

 

You are going to have to take your Dremmil and shave the section before the feed and the nib tipping to get any where near real flexibility.

The Ahab Mod is very good...for the money.

 

A Geha 790, semi-flex can be had on German Ebay from €19 more than likely 30-35. not counting posting.

You have to know will they ship to the states, some won't. Do they take Paypal, some don't.

 

Semi-flex is not a "Flex" nib, it is a springy ++, that gives some flare to your writing with out doing anything. It makes the first letter of a word wider, perhaps the last swing of the last letter.

A Fun nib...but not for fancy writing. Some of the six fancy strokes from stif nib italic calligraphy can be used occasionally.

It is too much hard work to make fancy letters all the time and will spring the nib sooner or later, by doing it all the time. There are otehr nibs for that.

 

It is the place to start, to get your hand lighter, before moving to 'flexi'/maxi-semi-flex that some of the '50-60's German nibs have....that is sort of luck of the draw, in the original owner picked if he wanted semi-flex or maxi-semi-flex in the shop.

Neither of those two are really 'Flex' nibs. There there are more US nibs, like an old Waterman 52.

That's where I'd look.

Those can be had for superflex/easy full flex, for @ $50-70 with new sac.

 

I don't know how many of the Soennecken nibs are super-flex and they go for more than the 52. I do have a Soennecken wet noodle, that came on the wrong pen. Soennecken are out of my budget so I never chased them.

There are Swan pens with semi-flex, 'flexi'/maxi-semi-flex and could be super-flex...but one needs to know what one is doing.

Edited September 8, 2014 by Bo Bo Olson

[bardiir]

I've shaved down a bit, the tines are not that hard anymore now and there is a hint of flex in them too:

 

The amount of flex is pretty similar to before:

[bardiir]

And if you wonder why the flex nib suddenly has a tipping ball on top again, I've got two of them now - I still had a spare gold nib and did the further shaping on the spare because I didn't want to possibly damage the prototype. I'll probably post one of them onto eBay then

 

Btw: It actually has a thinner minimal line than it appears on the picture, I've currently loaded this up with dirt-cheap koh-i-noor ink for practicing, this spreads heavily.

 

And a note on the springback of the nib: It DOES have springback, heavily compared with the real flex nib, it was just an unused feeling to have that amount of flex with that little pressure when first doing this mod. You really need a feather touch/grip to get this pen to come back again, even resting your finger heavily on the pen will hold the nib down, as with the flex.

Edited September 16, 2014 by bardiir