Leaky Wing Sung 3008

[Time-Traveller]

Though basically I’m against cheap Chinese knock-offs, I recently bought a Wing Sung 3008 and am playing around with it. Now I’ve got a problem: now and then a drop of ink collects just behind the tip of the nib; this can drop onto the paper and create a mess. Therefore I have to have a look after every few words to see whether the nib is still safe or not, and this seriously disturbs the pleasure of writing.

Solutions, anyone?

 

[dan in montreal]

This is a piston filler, right? Are the piston seals good? Any ink behind them? If they are not air tight, I suppose that could be a problem.

[RoyalBlueNotebooks]

One of the reasons why I retire all my four Wing Sung 3008. I used to heat-set mine by submerging the nib and feed in boiling-hot water for a few seconds, then quickly pulling the pen out of the water and pressing the nib and feed together through a piece of cloth.

If after this operation you still have a leak, it may be a micro-crack around the area of the section.

[Honeybadgers]

I'd check Royal Blue Notebooks' suggestion, he/she seems to have some good insight on the 3008. I only have one 3008 and it works just fine, so I would point you to the piston seal or the feed, and, last resort, just accept that any $2 fountain pen is going to have a few duds.

[DasKaltblut]

Get a Wing Sung 698 instead. It is 10 times better.

[k3eax]

You have an air leak! Excessive air is entering your pen's reservoir. The feed is no doubt poorly sealed into the section. A light coating of silicone grease applied in such a way as not to interfere with the ink-channel could very well solve your problem.

 

You say that you "played around" with the pen. Could you have perchance at one time remove the feed? If so, this could be the origin of your problem

[k3eax]

One of the reasons why I retire all my four Wing Sung 3008. I used to heat-set mine by submerging the nib and feed in boiling-hot water for a few seconds, then quickly pulling the pen out of the water and pressing the nib and feed together through a piece of cloth.

If after this operation you still have a leak, it may be a micro-crack around the area of the section.

 

 

Heating-setting works with ebonite feeds but not plastic.

[Honeybadgers]

 

 

Heating-setting works with ebonite feeds but not plastic.

 

Not quite true. it's not good for the plastic, but if you get it hot enough (can be done with boiling water or a small candle), you can heat set plastic. I've banana'd plastic feeds to meet vintage nibs in the past and have been amazed at how far they would bend. It's absolutely not good for them, but it does work.

[RoyalBlueNotebooks]

last resort, just accept that any $2 fountain pen is going to have a few duds.

+1 I consider myself lucky if I get a good one in a dozen.

 

Get a Wing Sung 698 instead. It is 10 times better.

+1 My 698s have never let me down. I've owned one for one year, the other for six months. I don't care for the nib, but the build quality is good.

[49erfantom]

I personally own about 10 different Wing Sung FPs, all of them have worked great for me, accept for a couple of nibs needing to be adjusted. If you don't mind a cartridge/converter filler give the 3003 a try. It looks like the Pilot prera, but longer. I own several of them and they all write well too.

[Ron Z]

 

 

Heating-setting works with ebonite feeds but not plastic.

 

To expand on a previous comment...

 

You use dry heat to set hard rubber feeds. You use immersion of the feed in boiling water for 30 seconds to set plastic feeds. Pull the assembly out of the water and press against the nib. Be careful - it just came out of boiling water.

 

Apparently some people forget that a lot of heat rises from boiling water. Make sure that your fingers are well clear of the surface of the water, and not above the water when you immerse the FEED so that you don't get burned and accidentally drop the pen in the water. I use an immersion heater in a small mug to get the water to boiling, and hold it there while I heat the feed.

[JonSzanto]

Get a Wing Sung 698 instead. It is 10 times better.

 

Hmmm...

 

3008

-698

________

2310

 

Your math seems off.

[minddance]

I have no problem with 698 and 3008 except for the nibs on some of them.

 

They preserve ink very well and do no dryout.

 

The piston is not pelikan but with some grease it is smooth - naturally.

[DasKaltblut]

Hmmm...

 

3008

-698

________

2310

 

Your math seems off.

Sure if you want to get technical 3008 * 10 = the Wing Sung 30080 but I don't think I'm going to live long enough to see that model come out

[Time-Traveller]

I’ve disassembled the entire pen (this is easy), cleaned the feed and slightly increased the slit in the nib (it looked a bit too narrow to flow well), then put everything back together, and now it all seems to work.

Maybe the feed was not perfectly inserted during assembly and my disassembling and re-assembling fixed the problem. The piston looks okay.

Of course one shouldn’t expect too much from a $2 pen. I bought it mainly to see how well or not Wing Sung has imitated the Lamy Z50 nib and feed, and to see whether a pen with the looks of a Twsbi agrees with me or not.

As for the looks, I think my personal FP taste is a bit more conservative. As for knocking off the Lamy construction: they have had a very, very close look while knocking off.

 

[two2tone]

My 3008 did not leak, but some ink started creeping behind the piston after a few months. Disassembly and a bit of silicon grease on the piston quickly fixed it. Having both the 3008 and 698, I agree with other posters. The 698 is worth the few extra $. How much is you time worth fixing a too-cheap pen? Also, my 698 does not have the rusty cap screw issue as does the 3008.

[RoyalBlueNotebooks]

My 3008 did not leak, but some ink started creeping behind the piston after a few months. Disassembly and a bit of silicon grease on the piston quickly fixed it. Having both the 3008 and 698, I agree with other posters. The 698 is worth the few extra $. How much is you time worth fixing a too-cheap pen? Also, my 698 does not have the rusty cap screw issue as does the 3008.

This reminds me that I couldn't get a leaky piston knob fixed, no matter how much silicone grease I put on it. And it also reminds me about the rusty screws inside the caps. I actually had one screw rusting over completely, and I mean completely after being home 2-3 days. Another cap screw waited months to rust. With the € I spent on those 3008 I could have gotten a third 698 for my third Pilot "wings design" nib..

[A Smug Dill]

Having both the 3008 and 698, I agree with other posters. The 698 is worth the few extra $. How much is you time worth fixing a too-cheap pen?

 

 

My time isn't worth anything unless someone (which could be myself, or anyone else) is prepared to put a price on it that I can bank.

 

I'm happy to do some preventative maintenance on something known to be at risk of breaking, failing, deteriorating, whatever. I just ordered a lot of sixty M4 x 0.6mm screws (because the M4 x 0.4mm screws I bought on eBay proved not to work for this purpose) for US$2.50 delivered; that took a few minutes. When they finally arrive, it'll take another few minutes to collect from the post office on the street corner, and then several minutes each to replace the screw on every one of my soon-to-number-26 Wing Sung 3008 pens. How much would that time be 'worth' to me? Well, less than the satisfaction I get from knowingly mitigating the risk on 26 cheap pens to end up with two dozen well-performing pens.

 

On the other hand, if my A$4 Wing Sung 3008 breaks or gets corroded beyond easy repair, then I'll just throw it out and replace it with a new one; it's not 'worth' fixing or keeping. It's not as if I want to avoid throwing out plastic items in my trash.

[Jamerelbe]

 

 

My time isn't worth anything unless someone (which could be myself, or anyone else) is prepared to put a price on it that I can bank.

 

I'm happy to do some preventative maintenance on something known to be at risk of breaking, failing, deteriorating, whatever. I just ordered a lot of sixty M4 x 0.6mm screws (because the M4 x 0.4mm screws I bought on eBay proved not to work for this purpose) for US$2.50 delivered; that took a few minutes. When they finally arrive, it'll take another few minutes to collect from the post office on the street corner, and then several minutes each to replace the screw on every one of my soon-to-number-26 Wing Sung 3008 pens. How much would that time be 'worth' to me? Well, less than the satisfaction I get from knowingly mitigating the risk on 26 cheap pens to end up with two dozen well-performing pens.

 

On the other hand, if my A$4 Wing Sung 3008 breaks or gets corroded beyond easy repair, then I'll just throw it out and replace it with a new one; it's not 'worth' fixing or keeping. It's not as if I want to avoid throwing out plastic items in my trash.

 

@A Smug Dill, I'd be interested to know whether the M4 x 0.6mm screws will fit into the 3008 without needing to be filed back: I've been thinking of exchanging the rusted screws on a couple of mine (plus the 3 I haven't inked up yet), but the guy on the YouTube channel that recommends this bought longer ones (I think) then hacksawed them to fit...

[A Smug Dill]

@Jamerelbe, I'll let you know. I probably won't receive the screws from China for a while, though.

 

I also need the screws to replace those in the caps of my Delike New Moon 3 pens pre-emptively. Actually, while I'm at it I'd be most curious to know whether it's possible to transplant the spring-loaded inner cap from a Platinum Preppy into a Delike New Moon 3. That would require 'needlessly' breaking a perfectly good Preppy pen cap, of course, from one of the EF nib donor pen bodies I have lying around though could still serve as a perfectly usable pen with a F nib (from a Plaisir).