Lamy 2000 Nib Not That Smooth

[Steffi]

Hello,

 

I have a Lamy 2000 as my daily writer. It is a nice pen but it doesn`t glide very smooth over the paper like my three Pelikans (M205,M200,M250) do. I have taken a look on the nib with a loupe. So far, all is fine, the tines are well-aligned and it just looks like I think it should do. So I decided to give the Lamy`s nib tip a treatment with fine micromesh (12000 grit). For I`ve never done this before, I need your advice on how to do this properly without ruining the nib.

How much pressure, what figures to write, et cetera. Can you please help me? I`m a greenhorn if it comes to pen tuning.

 

Greetings, Steffi

 

PS: I don`t roll or shift the pen to the side when writing. I`m always dead on the sweet spot which unfortunately isn`t that sweet at the moment. Writing angle is about 45 degrees.

 

 

[pajaro]

I have a Lamy 2000 with an extra fine nib. It is very smooth, so your nib must be able to be made right by alignment and smoothing, unless it is one of those nibs that jump out of alignment. There are such nibs. I have such a Montblanc 144 nib that waffles out of alignment regularly. I think it was sprung.

[Steffi]

Well, as far as I see the nib on my Lamy doesn`t jump out of alignment. Ihave written with it a bit while monitoring it closely using the loupe. And I also don`t use much pressure on the pen, just the weight of the pen on the paper.

[marlinspike]

I don't think micromesh 12000 grit will get you as smooth as you want. For that Pelikan smooth you need 0.3 micron lapping film, which is like 90,000 grit. or so.

Edited March 3, 2018 by marlinspike

[Steffi]

Okay, thank you. I have just ordered sheets of 0.3 and 0.1 micron lapping film. Now there`s still the question of how to polish the nib tip with it. Figure 8s? Or shall I write the quick fox jumps over the lazy dog? Or is this sentence too long already?

Edited March 3, 2018 by Steffi

[Bluey]

 

 

PS: I don`t roll or shift the pen to the side when writing. I`m always dead on the sweet spot which unfortunately isn`t that sweet at the moment. Writing angle is about 45 degrees.

 

 

Perhaps you do rotate it. But subtly. The thing is, you haven't actually said what the problem is. You've simply said that it doesn't glide over the paper.

 

 

I would hold off on the micromesh for a little while because you may be solving a problem that isn't there. And simple figure 8s won't do the trick because of the shape of the tipping.

 

It may be the case that you've simply bought the wrong pen for what you want.

Edited March 3, 2018 by Bluey

[Steffi]

Thank you. I have put some surgical adhesive tape around the grip section of the Lamy 2000. To get a better grip on it with my hand and prevent it from loosing the sweet spot plus I have marked the tape by drawing a straight line reaching from the nib slit over the whole grip section. So I can clearly see if I`m loosing the sweet spot. But I don`t loose it. The nib`s position stays the same when writing and this accurately. So it must be the surface of the nib tip that is too rough. I have compared it with the tip of the nibs on my Pelikan pens and found out that it indeed is a bit dull and not that shiny.

So it imho definitely needs some polishing to make it smoother.

[Driften]

How is the ink flow? If the nib is too dry it can feel less smooth then it is. My F Lamy 2000 came with a wet flow, but my B one is a bit on the dry side and I have to use wetter inks in it. Just saying you might want to adjust the flow before bothering with polishing...

[minddance]

I would not use any micromesh. Lamy2000 is not an easy pen, in my opinion. The issue being the pen itself and the nib. Alot of awareness is required to get the grip right, and that very specific small sweet spot doesn't help. Posted or unposted makes a great difference to me. Desk height too.

 

My Lamy2000F nib did not put ink onto paper very well, the feed is wet but the nib is the bottleneck.

 

I have struggled with mine for a year or so. Now, sometimes, I finally get the grip correct when I am lucky.

 

Lamy 2000F is a very difficult pen for me.

[marlinspike]

Unless you spend 15 minutes sanding, it's not like you can do any damage with the micron lapping film. The sweet spot is only small if it is in the wrong place for you, so go ahead and adjust it to fit you. Figure 8s are fine, but don't do them in one spot. You need it to be rounded, not all flattened in one spot, so start doing figure 8s with the pen a rotated a bit more counter clockwise than you normally write, and keep rotating the pen as you do them and don't stop until you are rotated more clockwise then you right. I do the most number of figure 8s in my actual writing position, but you still need to do some in other positions to keep the tip round. Also you don't want to create a flatspot going front to back either, so slide the nib back and forth a bit while starting with it slightly flatter than you write and finishing with it more upright than you write.

If you do figure 8s too much or with too much pressure, you will get a problem called baby's bottom - where the pen is very smooth but hard to start writing because the insides of the tips of the tines have become too rounded. To fix this you can just move the pen across the lapping film side to side a bit to flatten it out (basically, you want round to be smooth, but too round is a problem). Use the 1 micron film to make changes to the shape, the 0.3 micron just does the final smoothing to make it feel very smooth when you write. I have smoothed all of my nibs, except my Pelikans. My Pelikans only needed tine adjustment, but they were very smooth once that was done.


This is a good link to read, especially for the pictures: http://www.richardspens.com/pdf/workshop_notes.pdf

Edited March 3, 2018 by marlinspike

[minddance]

You won't get baby's bottom with too much figure 8s with light pressure. The micromesh can't get to the inner tines, and will only make them flat or sharp edged.

 

You might get baby's bottom with a pressure so heavy that splits the tines apart/open, this is when the micromesh meets the inner tines and starts to take material away.

 

It is never easy to get round nibs with lapping films. For many novices, it is a never-ending affair of smoothing and un-smoothing.

[Steffi]

Thank you. I`ll do my best not to ruin the nib when smoothing it.

[Inkling13]

If you use a nail buffing block, it has some give to get a bit more round a profile. Works well just well for a pen or two.

[minddance]

Seriously, tell Lamy your problem and try to make them exchange a good nib for you. They have to thank you for checking the nib for them.

[minddance]

I must agree with you that Lamy2000 (mine is a fine nib) isn't all that sweet, if at all. And the nib is too easily sprung out of alignment even with a light touch.

 

It is not an easy pen (for me).

[minddance]

The question for me is: to post or not to post. And even when posted, the clip direction seems to matter alot and creates big differences in my writing experience.

 

The pen itself, haven't got to the nib yet, can pose problems for some people, especially myself.

 

I find posting the cap seem to take off some pressure from the nib and change writing angles, for the better or worse depends on many other factors.

 

Unposted, the taper to the piston knob makes writing quite uncomfortable for me. It makes the pen feel smaller than it is.

 

Then there's the choice of inks and papers.

 

I don't intend to sell mine despite the poor writing experience and I keep it for the design and its iconic status.

 

That's Lamy2000 for me.

[marlinspike]

You won't get baby's bottom with too much figure 8s with light pressure. The micromesh can't get to the inner tines, and will only make them flat or sharp edged.

 

You might get baby's bottom with a pressure so heavy that splits the tines apart/open, this is when the micromesh meets the inner tines and starts to take material away.

 

It is never easy to get round nibs with lapping films. For many novices, it is a never-ending affair of smoothing and un-smoothing.

I'm surprised to see you say lapping film is hard for a novice. I am very much a novice, and I just made a vast improvement to literally every single one of my pens these past two days while I've had the flu, including a severly out of whack Snorkel that wrote like a nail on a chalkboard and a Montblanc that has hard started since the day I bought it, even after a nib swap and then a trip to Richard Binder years ago. All I used was a loupe and lapping films. Even pens I didn't realize could be improved on were rather easy to improve on.

[minddance]

I'm surprised to see you say lapping film is hard for a novice. I am very much a novice, and I just made a vast improvement to literally every single one of my pens these past two days while I've had the flu, including a severly out of whack Snorkel that wrote like a nail on a chalkboard and a Montblanc that has hard started since the day I bought it, even after a nib swap and then a trip to Richard Binder years ago. All I used was a loupe and lapping films. Even pens I didn't realize could be improved on were rather easy to improve on.

You are lucky. Of course, there will always be differences in writinf experience when it comes to lapping films but it is very difficult to get nibs rounded. Facets will be created, for better or worse.

 

Did you mean Richard Binder couldn't fix a nib that you, a novice, could easily smooth out with a lapping film?

 

 

Snorkel that wrote like a nail on a chalkboard and a Montblanc that has hard started since the day I bought it, even after a nib swap and then a trip to Richard Binder years ago. All I used was a loupe and lapping films. Even pens I didn't realize could be improved on were rather easy to improve on.

[marlinspike]

You are lucky. Of course, there will always be differences in writinf experience when it comes to lapping films but it is very difficult to get nibs rounded. Facets will be created, for better or worse.

 

Did you mean Richard Binder couldn't fix a nib that you, a novice, could easily smooth out with a lapping film?

 

 

 

It was years ago, I'm sure he just missed something on its way out the door. They offered to take it back and do it again, but life got in the way and I just never got around to it. He did a stub for me that is impeccable.

 

I think you'd have to really work if for .3 and 1 micron film to do much bad.

 

Sidenote: I was wrong when I said I improved every single one of my pens. The single pen I did not adjust is my Lamy 2000 as it was already fine.

Edited March 4, 2018 by marlinspike

[jekostas]

 

I think you'd have to really work if for .3 and 1 micron film to do much bad.

 

Uh... not so fast. This really depends on the type of abrasive used. Aluminum oxide and Chromium oxide abrasive films are relatively safe to use, but those films that use diamond grit abrasives are very aggressive. Even with the very smallest grits it's not difficult to take off a *lot* of material very quickly.