Stipula Vedo Troubles

[Miles R.]

I own a Stipula Vedo piston filler (shown below). I love the design, the construction, and the feel of it. But is it a good writer? Well, yes, if you can get it to write at all. But that takes some doing.

 

For all its charm, this pen may be the balkiest starter that I have ever owned. It's not enough to say that you can't expect to write with it immediately upon uncapping it if you have left it unused overnight. You can't even expect to write with it immediately upon uncapping it if you have left it unused for merely an hour. If it is left unused for several hours, I can expect to spend at least half a minute shaking it and tapping it before I can get any ink at all to emerge from the point.

 

 

I wonder if anyone else has this problem, either with this model or with another Stipula, and if there is anything that I can do about it. I have been using the Stipula ink shown in the photo (sepia), but I think I have used other inks in the pen without any remission of the difficulty.

 

A couple of other notes and questions on the pen:

 

(1) When I first got it, it was a very dry writer. It took several tentative adjustments with a brass shim before I could get it to lay down a decent line of ink. Is this problem common?

 

(2) The pen was sold to me as a medium point, but I have never had a medium point as fine as this, not even in an Asian-made pen. It should certainly be called a fine point. After receiving it, I wrote back to the seller (Pen Chalet) to ask whether they had sent me the right sort of nib (there is no marking of the nib size either on the pen or on the box, but I provided the model number), and they assured me that the number that I provided was the number for a medium point. Is it common for Stipula nibs to run fine?

[StrawberryJam]

I have four Stipula vedos, one in each of the four colors (black, red, blue, green), but they are the c/c version, not the piston fillers.

 

Your experience of the vedos being a dry writer is similar to the frustrations I have had with mine. All four of mine are very dry writers and have the problem of sometimes not starting up when left overnight (capped) and will require one or two turns of the converter to get the ink flowing again. (All four pens were using Waterman's blue-black). I cannot say with certainty that leaving the pens horizontal rather than vertical nib up helps alleviate this problem, but it might.

 

The nibs run very much on the narrow side. I am not sure if that is consistent across the entire Stipula brand, because I will say that my experience with the vedos has soured me to purchasing any future Stipulas.

Edited April 20, 2015 by StrawberryJam

[saskia_madding]

Mine has terrible ink flow (it's a piston filler), so much so that after a page of writing it stops entirely. I have to shake it vigorously to get ink into the feed, after which it will use that ink to write, but not get any more from the piston of ink sitting in the barrel. I eventually gave up and it now sits unused on my shelf.

[Miles R.]

Thanks, Strawberry and Saskia. It sounds as though my experience with this model of pen is entirely typical. What a shame! The design of the pen has such charm, and the large ink reservoir (in comparison with converters and cartridges) is very practical. You would think that a company that gives so much care to design, construction, and materials would take equal care that its pens actually write! But apparently not.

[saskia_madding]

It is definitely strange, because I have a few Etrurias, which are amazing pens with amazing nibs that NEVER give me any trouble. I really don't understand why the Vedos are such troublemakers.

[Miles R.]

Well, I have found a solution. You know that little hole in the cap just above the clip? I put a piece of plastic tape over it, and, for good measure, also over the exposed part of the hole through which the clip is inserted into the cap.

 

 

Left the pen unused for nearly 24 hours, removed the cap, applied point to paper, and something unprecedented occurred: the pen immediately began to lay down ink!

 

So the problem is that stupid hole, or perhaps those two stupid holes (I have not yet experimented to see if one can get the same results with only one or the other of them covered). As I recall, those holes are put in the caps of some pens to allow equalization of air pressure when the pen is taken aboard a jet plane, so that ink does not gush out during flight. Well, if I ever take this pen aboard a plane, I shall have to remember to remove the tape; or, if I adopt some more durable and less ugly solution, such as filling the hole with epoxy, I must remember not to uncap the pen aboard a jet plane. But that aside, this seems to be a completely effective solution.

[Miles R.]

I mean, really—a Stipula Vedo that writes after being capped overnight! Who would have thought such a thing possible?

[StrawberryJam]

Well, I have found a solution. You know that little hole in the cap just above the clip? I put a piece of plastic tape over it, and, for good measure, also over the exposed part of the hole through which the clip is inserted into the cap.

 

 

Left the pen unused for nearly 24 hours, removed the cap, applied point to paper, and something unprecedented occurred: the pen immediately began to lay down ink!

 

So the problem is that stupid hole, or perhaps those two stupid holes (I have not yet experimented to see if one can get the same results with only one or the other of them covered). As I recall, those holes are put in the caps of some pens to allow equalization of air pressure when the pen is taken aboard a jet plane, so that ink does not gush out during flight. Well, if I ever take this pen aboard a plane, I shall have to remember to remove the tape; or, if I adopt some more durable and less ugly solution, such as filling the hole with epoxy, I must remember not to uncap the pen aboard a jet plane. But that aside, this seems to be a completely effective solution.

 

So, that "hole" you are covering up is supposed to have a little stipula leaf in it.

 

Yours must have fallen out at at some point. Mine all have the leaf and I still have a dry writer though.

[Miles R.]

 

So, that "hole" you are covering up is supposed to have a little stipula leaf in it.

 

Yours must have fallen out at at some point. Mine all have the leaf and I still have a dry writer though.

 

I don't remember ever seeing a leaf in there, and I bought the pen new, so I may have got a defective specimen. But I'm not sure that I would want to have a leaf there if it allows air flow through the hole, as it apparently does.

 

By the way, the tape corrects the slow starting, not the dryness. You have to adjust the nib to correct that.

Edited April 22, 2015 by Miles R.

[saskia_madding]

The issue with mine is the connection between the nib and feed. I wish a piece of tape would solve that problem! Thanks for the tip though, since I'm sure lots of Vedo people will be able to use it.

[SteveE]

Some time ago we had similar problems with the Laban Mento pens drying out if left capped and unused for anything over a few minutes. There were various fixes found to remedy that situation. The most popular one at the time was to use a long brush and thick shellac to paint the inside of the cap until enough shellac was built up to close the openings. Some folks used candle wax, and a couple of brave souls used 2-part epoxy glue. The one thing that nobody wanted to try was clear nail polish, in fear that the polish would craze or dissolve the plastic of the pen cap.

 

I had one pen with that problem and I was one of those who mixed up some "thin" epoxy glue and poured it into the cap. Once dry and set, it has been fine for years. Just remember, whichever sealant or filler you use, do not use so much as to contact the nib, or you may not be able to cap your pen.

 

P.S. My only Stipula is a Suprema LE, and it has no flow problems with its wet medium gold nib. I did have to adjust the tines a bit to get flow wetter, though.

Edited April 24, 2015 by SteveE

[freeboy]

such a disasters having a pen design this far off...

[DanielleE]

Mine has terrible ink flow (it's a piston filler), so much so that after a page of writing it stops entirely. I have to shake it vigorously to get ink into the feed, after which it will use that ink to write, but not get any more from the piston of ink sitting in the barrel. I eventually gave up and it now sits unused on my shelf.

[DanielleE]

I have two that behave similarly. Mine restart after inverting the pen.

[DanielleE]

I have two that behave similarly. Mine restart after inverting the pen.

[DanielleE]

I have two that behave similarly. Mine restart after inverting the pen.

[jonathanaahar]

Show us pictures of the nib

[DanielleE]

 

 

Photo of nib and feed unit is attached.

[DanielleE]

[DanielleE]

 

That's a blob of water under the feed. I have to remember to dry things properly before taking photos.