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Home Made Stacked Nib Experiments


Honeybadgers

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I didn't expect to be posting today - I attempted my very first stacked nib from two jinhao mediums. I did NOT expect it to even write. Let alone write well. Hell, I didn't expect the nibs to stick correctly, I thought the solder might flow into the slit and ruin the nib, any and all problems that could ruin it, I expected to ruin it.

 

But it didn't.

 

It writes.

 

It writes really well.

 

IT'S. ALIVE.

 

 

 

 

fpn_1537169920__20180917_002039.jpg

 

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Okay. It's ugly as sin. The tools required are rather simple, silicon impregnated rotary tool wheels, a dremel capable of low speeds, a clamp to hold said dremel, some flux and silver solder, and a torch. I was just screwing around so I used a huge propane torch, but a smaller butane torch would have made this a lot prettier and more consistent, as it was really hard not blowing past cherry red and warping the nib with the propane torch. As such, I got way more solder on the right side of the nib, but apart from being ugly, the nibs bonded perfectly.

 

fpn_1537171328__20180917_002140.jpg

 

 

 

 

Before bonding, I cut out the pattern of the top nib I wanted with a very thin abrasive wheel (was very rough since I was just testing the bonding) and using that wheel, flattened out the top of the lower nib and the bottom of the upper nib. this was not overly difficult. When I get to more intricate work, I expect to be able to really take this to another level, but for the initial test, this works great and there's still iridium everywhere on the contact patch.

 

fpn_1537171300__20180917_002121.jpg

 

I didn't get the nibs perfectly aligned, either. I got them really close, but they wound up about 0.2mm off. Still, the slits weren't perfectly aligned but it wound up not mattering at all! I was able to bring everything in line with a very gentle abrasive wheel, and then started on a 45 degree grind and once that was achieved, I ground the sides in to create an architect nib.

 

The result was actually usable without even touching smoothing paper. which blew me away. The video is the nib straight off the grinding wheel, not even polished or smoothed, and it isn't scratchy at all (the reverse bites the page a bit, so I'll smooth that too, but I like the needlepoint reverse)

 

I slotted it into my biggest standard #6 nib pen, a conklin all american old glory, and it writes spectacularly.

 

fpn_1537171407__20180917_002234.jpg

 

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I wound up with, on my first try, with nothing more than two jinhao nibs, a dremel, two wheels, a loupe, torch, solder and flux, a fantastic writing sailor cross point, which would be like a $1500 nib today. I am so effing stoked at how well it writes despite all the mistakes I made. it's ugly as sin, but that will be easy to fix, alignment of the nibs for soldering just requires me to cut a special jig from aluminum, which will not be hard, and I just need to practice more on cutting the angles in smoothly (it took some playing) but for an hour of work, once I get these things solid, I easily see myself selling the double stack nibs with jinhao bases for $50. I may have more trouble with the triple decker, but I think this double is a great triple broad architect nib, and the standard plastic feed of the conklin keeps up zero problems. The nib is juicy but not a gusher and refuses to run dry.

 

fpn_1537171367__20180917_002207.jpg

 

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My next attempt, probably next weekend will be a reverse grind. I will position the upper nib slightly behind, instead of in front of. This will let me grind the big swoopy cross point into the reverse stroke, so we will have a fine-EF normal writer with a 1.5-1.9mm reverse!

Edited by Honeybadgers

Selling a boatload of restored, fairly rare, vintage Japanese gold nib pens, click here to see (more added as I finish restoring them)

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With some gentle tuning, It now writes on the top nib as an architect at my normal 50 degree angle, and a smooth XXF reverse, with the full monty big 1.9mm at 45 degrees, all now very smooth and consistent.

Selling a boatload of restored, fairly rare, vintage Japanese gold nib pens, click here to see (more added as I finish restoring them)

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:notworthy1:

"Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination."

Oscar Wilde

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Most definitely marketable :)

KEEP CALM AND BOOGIE ON!

 

SILENCE IS GOLDEN, BUT DUCT TAPE IS SILVER.

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Wow, Badger, what an exciting proof of concept. Congratulations on this crucial first success!

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LOVE IT

Fountain pens are my preferred COLOR DELIVERY SYSTEM (in part because crayons melt in Las Vegas).

Create a Ghostly Avatar and I'll send you a letter. Check out some Ink comparisons: The Great PPS Comparison 

Don't know where to start?  Look at the Inky Topics O'day.  Then, see inks sorted by color: Blue Purple Brown Red Green Dark Green Orange Black Pinks Yellows Blue-Blacks Grey/Gray UVInks Turquoise/Teal MURKY

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Okay. It's ugly as sin.

 

...was my first thought. :lticaptd: I briefly considered attempting to solder a couple also, but I had the same thoughts wrt filling the slit Good to see that it worked out for you. Look forward to seeing round 2.

Edited by NinthSphere
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I must say I'm impressed! Maybe you should go over to Japan and work for Sailor as Mr. Nagahara's replacement!

 

Seriously, if you do start selling these, I would be quite interested in a double nib, perhaps with a slight convex curvature to the front edge, to provide angle-controlled line variation like the Sailors, as opposed to a strict architect contact.

 

I suspect the reason the common Conklin feed is keeping up so well is that the upper nib is functioning as an overfeed, that is, the large contact surface between the nibs is providing a lot of extra capillary ink buffering (hope that makes sense!)

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I'll be your tester!

 

tenor.gif?itemid=3427502

 

Of course, I look nothing like Val Kilmer.

Fountain pens are my preferred COLOR DELIVERY SYSTEM (in part because crayons melt in Las Vegas).

Create a Ghostly Avatar and I'll send you a letter. Check out some Ink comparisons: The Great PPS Comparison 

Don't know where to start?  Look at the Inky Topics O'day.  Then, see inks sorted by color: Blue Purple Brown Red Green Dark Green Orange Black Pinks Yellows Blue-Blacks Grey/Gray UVInks Turquoise/Teal MURKY

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I'll be your tester!

 

tenor.gif?itemid=3427502

 

Of course, I look nothing like Val Kilmer.

 

 

I am sure your family is thankful for that fact.

If you want less blah, blah, blah and more pictures, follow me on Instagram!

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I like the enthusiasm and progress so far. I am interested in see where this goes and would be happy to support your efforts. I'd be more interested in stacked Jowo or Bock units as I have pens that fit those already for sure. I am not sure if the Jinhao nibs would fit my pens.

 

One suggestion, if you want to start with Jinhao nibs for priduction, sell it as a whole pen or at least do testers on the whole pen so you can also control ink flow. It would not add much to the cost and could be helpful to offer a more "ready to write" product.

If you want less blah, blah, blah and more pictures, follow me on Instagram!

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I like the enthusiasm and progress so far. I am interested in see where this goes and would be happy to support your efforts. I'd be more interested in stacked Jowo or Bock units as I have pens that fit those already for sure. I am not sure if the Jinhao nibs would fit my pens.

 

One suggestion, if you want to start with Jinhao nibs for priduction, sell it as a whole pen or at least do testers on the whole pen so you can also control ink flow. It would not add much to the cost and could be helpful to offer a more "ready to write" product.

 

 

A jinhao #6 is completely ubiquitous. It'll fit darn near any pen withj a #6 nib ever made. There's nothing unique about them other than the bizarrely good quality control and lack of nib sizes. If I were to do JoWo or bock, that'd bump the cost about $30.

 

Switching to JoWo and Bock nibs would increase my cost of materials tremendously, but will be necessary for the bigger stuff I have in mind (since there is no Jinhao B or BB)

 

If I do a "Ready to write" pen, I'd probably just ask people to order whatever pen they wanted and ship the pen to me for a nib fitting. I don't yet have the lathe set up to turn acrylic or ebonite pens, though that would be an end goal for me, ebonite and acrylic turned pens with these monster nibs, though I would also be interested in selling the nibs alone too.

Selling a boatload of restored, fairly rare, vintage Japanese gold nib pens, click here to see (more added as I finish restoring them)

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Beautiful! Congratulations. I hack nibs in my shop. Great to see others doing it.

 

I suspect that attaching a top piece, which stops short of the tip (is this called an "overfeed") would work as well, and be much less work.

 

Have you ever tried that?

 

Alan

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that was literally my first attempt thusfar. Before that, it was soldering wire ink cages to dip nibs (which I've had great luck with)

 

I know I can solder brass to stainless with silver solder, and I do have brass sheet, but I don't really see the need YET for the overfeed. Since the breather holes are stacked, when this pen is inked, you can see that the top nib alone works as an overfeed. An overfeed really only helps on pens like the naginata king eagle because that pen's tines are stacked but the breather is not, which means it can run short on ink otherwise, or a flexible nib. If I design a flex nib (I'd be cutting them with a jeweler's saw) I'll look into an overfeed since steel flex nibs really pull away from the feed.

 

If I have time this weekend, I'm going to try a reversed stack, so the signature nib is on the reverse and the normal point is an XF or XXF, and I'll be using a butane torch to hopefully control the solder a lot more and will cut a little more decorative top plate.

Selling a boatload of restored, fairly rare, vintage Japanese gold nib pens, click here to see (more added as I finish restoring them)

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I was suggesting an overfeed instead of a double nib. I thought it would work as well, and be easier to make. You could use a second nib to make the overfeed.

 

Alan

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I was suggesting an overfeed instead of a double nib. I thought it would work as well, and be easier to make. You could use a second nib to make the overfeed.

 

Alan

 

 

Oh, I don't really see the overfeed doing much in that case. An overfeed gives the nib a larger ink supply, not a different line. Useful in very flexible nibs, but kind of pointless on normal nibs with well tuned feeds.

 

This is an "overfeed" it is designed to help the regular feed keep up with inkflow.

 

http://www.leighreyes.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/P1090460.jpg

Selling a boatload of restored, fairly rare, vintage Japanese gold nib pens, click here to see (more added as I finish restoring them)

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