Knocking Out An Eversharp Adjustable Nib

[DuckMcF]

Hi Gang,

I originally posted this in the general repair Q&A forum, but it's perhaps a little too specific for that forum.

 

Anyway, I just have a quick question about knocking an Eversharp Adjustable nib out of its section (or collar).

 

The nib in question is on its way to me as part of a Doric Gold Seal 2nd generation parts pen.

I think that the nib is a larger size Mk. 2 nib that could be equivalent in size to a Mk. 1 #9 nib.

 

It doesn’t have the Airliner ink valve and so it’s either a personal point nib (as per original),

or it’s been modified at some point in 80+ years, at this point I don’t know but it doesn’t really

affect my question.

 

Over the years I’ve knocked out a few nib-&-feeds and I’ve found that as the feed knocks out,

the nib itself stays put meaning that the feed slides over the nib and tip.

Perhaps I'm doing it wrong, but that's what seems to happen.

 

For a traditional nib this isn’t really a problem, but I’m concerned that I may break the back of the

nib slider and/or damage the feed as I knock it out if the nib doesn’t move with the feed, if that makes sense.

 

Is this likely to occur, or am I over thinking it?

Has anyone else experienced the feed moving but not the nib when knocking the pair out, or am I just doing it wrong?

 

Anyway, here are a couple of pictures of the nib and any advice that you could give me would be very much appreciated.

 

 

Cheers

Noel aka DuckMcF

Edited November 8, 2015 by DuckMcF

[DuckMcF]

Hi Gang,

For future searchers of the forum, the parts pen arrived and I was able to easily

and gently knock out the adjustable nib and feed.

 

It turned out that for this particular nib and feed there was a lip at the end of the

feed that locates the position of the nib relative to the feed. As the feed came

out this lip moved the nib along in unison.

 

I remember reading in Da Book something like, “if you have 3 Coronet pens in

front of you, you’ll likely find 4 different types of feed” and so with a sample size

of 1, and with respect to adjustable nibs, I have no idea if this ‘lipped’ feed is common:

• to all Eversharp Adjustable nibs (except the Airliner),
• only to later ‘Ink View’ pens,
• only to the later style, solid slider nib, or
• simply random chance.

For what it’s worth this nib and feed was a perfect match for my Mk2 plunger fill

(non-airliner) and so I’m guessing that it’s specifically for later Ink View and non

Air-Liner plunger fill, Dorics.

 

Cheers,

Noel aka DuckMcF

[Wahlnut]

If you post a picture of the feed in question maybe I can help determine what all it goes with.

SYd

[DuckMcF]

If you post a picture of the feed in question maybe I can help determine what all it goes with.

SYd

Hi Syd,

Thanks for looking at this for me. I've probably gone a little overboard with the photos, by I guess it's better to have too many than too few.

 

In pictures 2 and 3 you'll see the lip towards the back of the feed that I was talking about. It seems clear that the back of nib matches up nicely to this lip.

 

As for the nib it's self it's an XF, that's about 32.5mm long which I think it equates to a No. 9 series one adjustable nib, bit I could be wrong..

 

On the flexibiltiy front, this particular adjustable nib more resembles a nail, especiially when compared to a No. 5 series 1 nib that I also have. I remember reading in this forum (perhaps from you) that the serries 2 adjustable nibs are less flexible than their series 1 counterparts. In the last picture I included a few doodles where I flexed the nib (on it's softest estting) as much as I dare to ~1mm, which if fine for me, as I have no intention of messing with it.

 

Cheers and again thanks

Noel

 

[J-P]

I wonder how to knock out the nib from a Doric. Did you just gentle pull the nib and feed out or does it require heating the section?

 

Best,

JP

[DuckMcF]

I wonder how to knock out the nib from a Doric. Did you just gentle pull the nib and feed out or does it require heating the section?

 

Best,

JP

 

Hi JP,

Here's what I did and my thinking along the way. Naturally things may vary if you try this on your own pen.

 

The old nib and feed was very dirty and crusty, so the first thing I did was run it through my ultrasonic cleaner for a few minutes in cold water with a dash of dishwashing liquid. It’s amazing how well the sonic cleans things up.

 

Once I was happy that the nib was as clean as I could reasonably make it, as well as being wet right through, I used my "Knock out Block". This is basically a drill guide with holes from 1mm through to 12mm. and a series of punches that I have that are 4mm, 5mm and 6mm.

 

As I mentioned in my first post I was concerned that I may damage the feed and/or the underside of the adjustable nib if the nib and feed didn't come out in unison. So, with a hammer I lightly tapped the back of the feed with the knockout punch and as soon as I felt the slightest movement I put the hammer down. It’s difficult to explain, but from that point on I only used the punch by hand and while pushing from the back I held the nib and feed together.

 

In the end I didn’t need to be concerned as there was a small lip at the back of the feed (shown in my 3rd post above) that pushed the nib along and so they both came out together.

 

Finally, you asked if I heated the section or pulled from the front. I didn’t do either. My understanding is that pulling on the feed and nib from the front could break the feed. I didn’t want to heat up the section, nib and feed, again my understanding is that the feed gets softer when warmed and so it could’ve distorted as I punched it out from the back.

 

Anyway, that's the way I played it and it worked out well for me. However I'm just a tinkerer and definitely no expert. It's entirely possible that professional repairers in this forum may read the above and be horrified. If that's so, please shout out as it's nice to learn something new every day.

 

Cheers,

Noel

 

Edited December 15, 2015 by DuckMcF

[J-P]

Although I am not sure that I would be brave enough to try it on my Doric, thank you very much for a wonderful explanation.

 

Best,

JP

[DuckMcF]

Although I am not sure that I would be brave enough to try it on my Doric, thank you very much for a wonderful explanation.

 

Best,

JP

It's fun to give the wheel a spin.

It's kind of like putting $100 on a single hand of Black Jack, it gets the blood pumping.

 

But seriously, my grey Doric (that I've posted pictures of in this thread) wasn't ever in any real danger. I bought an old parts pen that happened to have the adjustable nib installed. I figured that if removing the adjustable nib went totally pear shaped I was only down the price of the parts pen, which really wasn't very much. Fortunately the adjustable nib came out easily and I'd previously had the traditional nib out of the grey Doric and so the nib swap all went well.

 

Cheers

Noel

[J-P]

OK. Now I am curious. Does this have holes of proper sizes?

 

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F1ZJFZK/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=3774OL54CLLOK&coliid=I1SV03TKOBRHNH

[KBeezie]

OK. Now I am curious. Does this have holes of proper sizes?

 

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F1ZJFZK/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=3774OL54CLLOK&coliid=I1SV03TKOBRHNH

I'd probably go with wood instead of metal (not sure bout size).

[J-P]

I see your point. Wood may be better for fountain pens although two commercially available blocks i found are metal (One from eBay and the other from FPH).

I found Ron Zorn uses the following hole sizes: 3/16", 1/4", 9/32", 21/64", 3/8”.

Then, maybe something like this is better in terms of hole sizes:

http://www.amazon.com/Gator-V-DrillGuide-Standard-Portable-Drilling/dp/B0061FY004/ref=pd_bxgy_469_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=08Z7QGJT198SA6R0EF6D

[KBeezie]

I see your point. Wood may be better for fountain pens although two commercially available blocks i found are metal (One from eBay and the other from FPH).

 

I found Ron Zorn uses the following hole sizes: 3/16", 1/4", 9/32", 21/64", 3/8”.

Then, maybe something like this is better in terms of hole sizes:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Gator-V-DrillGuide-Standard-Portable-Drilling/dp/B0061FY004/ref=pd_bxgy_469_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=08Z7QGJT198SA6R0EF6D

I see your point. Wood may be better for fountain pens although two commercially available blocks i found are metal (One from eBay and the other from FPH).

 

I found Ron Zorn uses the following hole sizes: 3/16", 1/4", 9/32", 21/64", 3/8”.

Then, maybe something like this is better in terms of hole sizes:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Gator-V-DrillGuide-Standard-Portable-Drilling/dp/B0061FY004/ref=pd_bxgy_469_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=08Z7QGJT198SA6R0EF6D

Some are conical, so there's only one hole, ie: http://repairersbench.blogspot.com/2011/12/my-new-nib-block.html

[ribeirse]

I've got one just like yours!

I'm curious if the slider is a repair or if there was a time that they came like that. Does anyone know?

Edited April 20, 2017 by ribeirse

[sidthecat]

That slider is characteristic of the second-gen Dorics, as is that interesting color.

[ribeirse]

That slider is characteristic of the second-gen Dorics, as is that interesting color.

Thank you for the answer