Help Finding A Pen

[cisz]

I want to get an inexpensive fountain pen ($5-$10) that has an easily replaceable nib and refillable cartridges.

 

I found this pen on ebay : but I don't know how easily the nib could be replaced. It seems to have a fine point (.38mm) and I want one with a medium point. I also don't understand how you're supposed to fill it.

 

The sellers are in the U.S. but they don't seem to speak English real well.

 

Thanks for help.

[SoulSamurai]

I don't see a link? Or even a name?

[cisz]

Hmmm - seems the link didn't publish for some reason. Trying again:

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hero-0-38mm-All-Steel-Metal-Reservoir-Office-Fountain-Pen-Titanium-Nib-Silver-/382024061912?

Edited June 21, 2017 by cisz

[Needhelp]

Most chinese hooded nib fountain pens comes with a finer nib size. To fill the pen you have to submerge the nib in ink and press the rubber sac and release it slowly. Repeat to fill the pen. Its called an aerometric filling system. Easily replaceable nib? There are not much options for that. The best of what i can think of is the Lamy Safari. Otherwise you can go to most local stationary shops and they will have a fountain pen. Or you can go for the platinum preppy.

[zubzub]

I don't think you can replace the nib from the one you posted.
If you want to replace nibs, get a Jinhao X450/X750 and replace with Goulet nibs. The nibs that came with the X450 and X750 were very scratchy, but all my other Jinhao pens were very smooth.

 

Here are some plastic options:

You can find some pens like this with more than one nib and comes in other colors from the same seller.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-Nibs-M-F-EF-Hero-359-Polypack-Fountain-Pen-Red-With-6-Free-Cartridges-/232328701984

The EF from the Hero has no comparable difference from a Platinum fine.

or
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2016-Fresh-Model-Wing-Sung-659-Transparent-Fountain-Pen-With-2-Nibs-Golden-Clip-/232244057478

 

I have both and have bought from jewelerymathematics before.

Edited June 21, 2017 by zubzub

[woleizihan]

Hmmm - seems the link didn't publish for some reason. Trying again:

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hero-0-38mm-All-Steel-Metal-Reservoir-Office-Fountain-Pen-Titanium-Nib-Silver-/382024061912?

I would not recommend that particular Hero pen. It is one of the cheapest Hero school pens and is also one of the fountain pens I used in elementary school. The pen is very light, the metal body is thin and slim, which is good for elementary school kids. But it's extremely vulnerable to bend and the plastic section also has some cracking problem. I remember my classmates and I were breaking those on a daily basis. Also, I can't justify the price because a large portion of that is shipping cost and I think you can get 12 of these for $10 in China. You can find better value by adding a few bucks and buy for instance the WS 659 mentioned above or add a few more and get a WS 698.

[eharriett]

+1 on Jinhao. I bought three of them (I have 5, they're so inexpensive people have given me two). I use them to test out inks I don't trust before filling pens I care about. They're super cheap. Go to Goulet or Anderson rather than eBay. The extra couple dollars you'll spend (and I mean "couple" literally) is for their customer service if you wind up needing help with them after you get it.

[zubzub]

I would not recommend that particular Hero pen. It is one of the cheapest Hero school pens and is also one of the fountain pens I used in elementary school. The pen is very light, the metal body is thin and slim, which is good for elementary school kids. But it's extremely vulnerable to bend and the plastic section also has some cracking problem. I remember my classmates and I were breaking those on a daily basis. Also, I can't justify the price because a large portion of that is shipping cost and I think you can get 12 of these for $10 in China. You can find better value by adding a few bucks and buy for instance the WS 659 mentioned above or add a few more and get a WS 698.

Yea I didn't recommend the WS 659 because it didn't have a medium, at least for the one I bought it.

Personally, I like the 359 and I think it's sturdier than the 599. I've never broken any pen, not even those cheap bic mechanical pencils. I've lost tons of them. Those two are in the same category of pens, so you can buy like 4 599As for the price of one 359 with the ink and nib selection. The only one that is the sturdiest is metal clone, which is a Hero 1515 but doesn't come with nib options.

[ac12]

There are very few fountain pens with user replaceable nibs, and none in your price range.

That you can pull the nib/feed on some pens does not make them easily user replaceable. I have seen one where the nib/feed was so tight that the person took a plier to the pen and CRUSHED the feed and damaged the nib.

 

What do you mean by "refillable cartridges?"

If you mean an ink converter, then most modern pens do. The are called cartridge/converter pens; you can use either an ink cartridge or an ink converter.

Some of the Chinese pens are aerometric (press) filler and do not have non-removable converters. The aerometric unit is permanently part of the pen.

 

Where are you located, as that will determine cost.

Edited June 21, 2017 by ac12

[Arkanabar]

I have a Bulow X750, a rebadged Jinhao X750. Pulling the nib and feed is pretty simple for me; I've got a strong grip from years of cycling. I had no problem installing either a Noodler's flex nib from an Ahab, or a stub from Nemosine.

I also have a Baoer 388, and in trying to pull the nib, I broke two of the fins on the feed. I can't get it to budge. Maybe if I had a knockout block...

If you're willing to push your price point a bit, you can get an FPR Guru. This is a $9 piston filler, so it won't ever take a cartridge. Of all of FPR's pens, only the Triveni and Triveni Jr are cartridge/converter. Their Muft is an eyedropper, the Himalaya is syringe filler (easily converted to ED), and the rest are piston fillers. All of their pens (currently) use the #5.5 nibs and 5.1mm diameter ebonite feeds that they sell. They sell pens with XF, F, M, B, 1mm stub (not much line variation IMX), and flex nibs. The flex nibs get good reviews, everyone saying they are much better than Noodler's (and adding $3 to the cost of their pens).

Additionally, I've never had any trouble with pulling nibs on my Nemosine Singularity or any Noodler's pen I own (Nikita, Nib Creaper, Ahab, Konrad). The Singularity is a pretty good pen. Its sole significant design flaw is that the cap screws onto the section, not the barrel. This means that it's possible to unscrew the section when trying to uncap the pen. Some people think it's fine to convert a Singularity to ED also, but as I've managed the blunder of removing the section from the barrel when trying to uncap, I think that's a foolish risk to take. As for the Noodler's pens, most of them are boxed up, waiting for some sort of disposition, except for the Nikita eyedropper.

[cisz]

I ended up getting a Jinhao 250. It came with a cartridge converter.

 

I've been having problems with it though.

 

Is it usual to have to open the pen and twist the converter so that it pushes out the ink better? I have to do this if I don't use the pen for a day.

[eharriett]

Not usually. Is it a thick ink? What's in it?

 

My first inclination is to say dump the ink and let the nib feed and section soak in water with a drop of soap to clean it out fully.

[hbdk]

I ended up getting a Jinhao 250. It came with a cartridge converter.

 

I've been having problems with it though.

 

Is it usual to have to open the pen and twist the converter so that it pushes out the ink better? I have to do this if I don't use the pen for a day.

 

No, it should not be like that. 2 things:

1. it is a good idea to clean a new pen - using the converter, fill and empty the converter a dozen times with luke warm water with a few drops of dish washing soap - repeat with clean water.

2 . The ink might be stuck in the top of the converter due to surface tension - when you have filled the converter, dip the pointed end of a tooth pick in concentrated dish washing soap and then dip the tooth pick into the ink in the converter for a few seconds - not the whole tooth pick, just a couple of milimeters.

 

Have fun

[Mister5]

In terms of having to open the pen and twist the converter to force ink into the feed, yes I've had to do that with converters. Some folks give the pen a little shake, other jolt it down (not hitting the nib against the table) the pen down to get it flowing. If you do a search here you'll probably find that people do ita myriad of other ways.

 

If you haven't done so already, you might give the pen a flush of water and very very little dish detergent to get rid of machinery oils and residue left over from manufacturing that can inhibit ink flow. You'll likely have a lot of ink come out now that you've filled it. You might do this multiple times, and then dry the nib out on a paper towel so as much of the the water comes out of the nib/feed as you can before re-inking the pen. Even on high end pens a good cleaning is sometimes needed to get the pen flowing correctly.

[Arkanabar]

The Jinhao 250 uses a standard international converter. In some of these converters, some inks will refuse to flow from the bottom towards the section when you put the pen in writing position. When this happens to me, I generally drop the pen on its point from a height under 20mm. Many converters are now sold with weights of various sorts to break the surface tension that keeps the ink at the wrong end of the pen. Remove the barrel and turn the section/converter over a few times, point up/point down, to see if the ink moves to where it should.

 

I'm going to +1 on rinsing the pen with a weak solution of mild dish soap and then water to clean any residual manufacturing oils out of the pen, and ask what ink you're using before I recommend any degree of adulteration (e.g., putting an ever-so-small amount of dish soap in the converter).

[ac12]

What ink are you using?

 

If you do not use the pen, try storing the pen flat on the desk.

Some pen/ink combos do not like to be stored nib UP.

[SoulSamurai]

I have a Jinhao 601 that came with a converter. It would dry out overnight and be very hard to start the next morning; I would either need to force some ink out using the converter as you have described, or dip the nib in a bit of water to get the ink flowing again.

 

I tried blowing into the cap to see if it was "airproof", and found that it was not, so I tried to fix that by allowing a few drops of varnish to dry inside the cap. That didn't fix the problem, but it might have helped.

 

However, after reading some advice on this forum, I removed the converter and switched to ink cartridges instead. That seemed to fix the problem, as it was then able to go several days unused without drying out. It seems that some converters don't form a very good seal or something, and that allows pens to dry out? I don't really know the details, but try switching to cartridges (or possibly a higher-quality converter) to see if that helps. Also maybe look up how to fix leaks in the cap to "airproof" it (there's probably better ways than what I tried).

[Bluey]

^

Apart from the hole in the cap thing, the drying out of the pen is almost always caused by an air bubble in the converter. That's why switching to cartridges works. A quick'N'dirty alternative is to swill the converter out with a mix of dishsoap and water - this needs to be done every so often.

Edited July 13, 2017 by Bluey

[cisz]

Thanks to everyone for the replies.

 

I'm using Parker Quink ink.

 

I tried the dish soap - water rinse and soak. I had to do it twice before the pen would write at all. I still have to twist the converter fairly often, in order to get it to write dark enough.

[SoulSamurai]

Perhaps it's time to pick up a pen from a reputable fountain-pen or stationary specialist store, that way if you have any problems you can get some support and even possibly return it.

 

Goulet Pens has a good reputation and I at least have always been happy with their service. Jetpens has a fantastic selection of stationary including fountain pens, dip pens, brush pens (some of which can use the same ink cartridges/converters as some fountain pens), and other art supplies and stationary.

 

Some affordable pens that I personally like:

• The Nemosine Singularity has a good reputation and is a decent price (around $20), and uses replaceable #6 nibs. It uses standard international cartridges.
• The Platinum Plaisir is a great pen, that's very reliable in my experience, and is very affordable (under $20). It uses large, easily-refilled Platinum cartridges, but there's also an adapter (for about $2 I think) that allows it to take Standard International cartridges. It uses special nibs that aren't really available separately, but if you want to try a different size nib you can just by a Preppy with the desired nib (for about $3) and swap the grip section over.