Your Dream Twsbi

[inkstainedruth]

Well, my wish came true -- sort of. This year's SE (LE?) 580-ALR has purple for the section and trim.

Anyone have experience with the section on this model? And can give me a run-down on how it compares to the section on the "regular" 580-AL? Because I have a sneaking suspicion that there very well may be one in my future....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Mech-for-i]

Well, if they made a Vac version of the Classic, preferably in some retro color like Taupe or PMS Eggplant, and better still, enlarge it to take no.6 nib

Edited May 24, 2019 by Mech-for-i

[uceroy]

Well, my wish came true -- sort of. This year's SE (LE?) 580-ALR has purple for the section and trim.

Anyone have experience with the section on this model? And can give me a run-down on how it compares to the section on the "regular" 580-AL? Because I have a sneaking suspicion that there very well may be one in my future....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

I'm looking forward to that one too. As far as I'm aware, the only difference is that the section of the ALR has little ribs, and thus isn't so slippery to hold as the AL.

[Redpanda]

The orange 580 AL. I have seen pictures of this legend but it was made way before I had any idea that fountain pens were a thing of the present.

[PAKMAN]

One that didn't develop cracks...

[Tas]

 

A Vac 700 that doesn't break. Sadly, I've just about given up on this ever being possible.

 

Alas, sadly my trusty orange Vac 700 has developed a large crack in its cap and the section is too loose to stay put unaided.

Truly one of my favourite pens. Might reach out to TWSBI again. That would be 2/3 of the pen replaced though.

[TaylorJ]

My dream is an Eco in a transparent deep purple, like a royal purple. Sigh. It would look so lovely...

 

The new purple 580ALR is pretty much a dream pen come true for me, I love purple and this one is pretty close to perfect.

[tonybelding]

Alas, sadly my trusty orange Vac 700 has developed a large crack in its cap and the section is too loose to stay put unaided.

Truly one of my favourite pens. Might reach out to TWSBI again. That would be 2/3 of the pen replaced though.

 

Have you looked into Opus 88? I got the Koloro, and it's working well for me thus far.

[1nkulus]

One that didn't develop cracks...

+1

[tim77]

+1

+2

 

TWSBI say "some people had the experience of a “cracking barrel or holder” on their 530 models and some 540 models. However, as we moved onto the late 540 model and now the 580 model and all other models; we have addressed, learned, and fixed this issue."

 

My Vac Mini cracked within a week, before even using its first fill of ink.

[inkstainedruth]

I'm looking forward to that one too. As far as I'm aware, the only difference is that the section of the ALR has little ribs, and thus isn't so slippery to hold as the AL.

 

Well the pen came Thursday. Just for giggles I got the 1.1 mm stub nib, and after flushing it out with soapy water Thursday evening I inked it up yesterday.

And so far the experience has been, um, different....

To be fair, I did ink the pen up with one of the Diamine Shimmer inks, Arabian Nights (I ordered some samples along with doing a pre-order on the pen a couple of days before the initial release date. So my experience may be a little skewed.... To begin with, the ribbing on the section pick up ink much worse than a smooth section, so wiping off the section after inking was a bit more of a pain than I was expecting. But much worse was the actual writing experience: I had trouble with the pen writing more than a word or two before suddenly getting just creases in the paper, and this happened both with the cheap-o Piccadilly sketch books I use for testing/reviewing inks and this morning with the Miquelrius journal (which has much better paper). The ink is very wet and I was having bleedthrough issues with both papers, but the pen would suddenly stop writing (although if I wet the nib edge with wet ink that would start it up again, as did moving the piston closer to the feed. Additionally, upstrokes and cross-strokes from right to left (instead of left to right) such as crossing a T would get the pen writing again (which seemed REALLY counter-intuitive...). But the skipping made me wonder if:

(a) the nib has baby's bottom (I'm out of town and don't have my loupe with me); OR

( if somehow the feed couldn't keep up with the flow; OR

© the glitter in the ink was clogging stuff (yet I've never had that problem with a Shimmer-type ink in a 1980s Pelikan M100 with a similar width stub nib); OR

(d) some combination thereof.

However, towards the end of the journal entry this morning, I tried writing with the nib upside down.... And that worked great.... Stopped the wetness and bleedthough issues and made the ink much more usable.

So, not sure what's going on. When I get through this fill, I'll flush the pen out and see if a drier ink such as 4001 Brilliant Black (or even an IG ink will work better; and I will also take a closer look at the tipping to see what's going on....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Misfit]

Hi Ruth, I bought an italic nib for my Diamond 580, and it has written well. Also bought an Eco with italic nib, and it too has written well. I did not use shimmering inks in mine.

[Jamerelbe]

@inkstainedruth, I've found the Shimmering inks to be pretty unpredictable: they work just fine in some pens, and clog incessantly in others. I'd definitely suggest trying a non-particulate ink before you draw too many conclusions about the flow characteristics of your new pen!

[1nkulus]

@inkstainedruth, I've found the Shimmering inks to be pretty unpredictable: they work just fine in some pens, and clog incessantly in others. I'd definitely suggest trying a non-particulate ink before you draw too many conclusions about the flow characteristics of your new pen!

 

Which pens were fine with the shimmering ink? I am hoping to try some ink samples and the right pen would be helpful.

[1nkulus]

My Vac Mini cracked within a week, before even using its first fill of ink.

 

Sorry to hear that, your retailer should be able to sort it under warranty unless you bought it used.

 

I stopped using both of my pens quite a while back and will offload them in due course.

[Jamerelbe]

 

Which pens were fine with the shimmering ink? I am hoping to try some ink samples and the right pen would be helpful.

 

Honestly, it seems to be trial and error - but a few trends have emerged for me:

 

(1) My TWSBI Ecos seem to work pretty well - and it's so easy to remove and wash the feed if things *do* get clogged, that they've become a real go-to for shimmering inks.

(2) I've generally had good success with standard #6 JoWo and Bock nib assemblies, especially B or stub (1.1, 1.5mm), or any Titanium nib (the latter are consistently wet writers, which I think helps).

(3) Both my larger Diplomat Pens (an Aero and an Excellence A, both with M nib) had no issues with consistent flow.

(4) I *haven't* had much success with my Fountain Pen Revolution pens that rely on 5.1mm diameter ebonite nibs - these seem to clog straight away for me.

(5) I'm not game to try anything that's a drier writer (e.g. my TWSBI Diamond Minis) - and have only once tried inking up a Diamond 580 nib (a 1.5 mm stub nib that worked pretty well).

(6) Anything that's super expensive, and/or not relatively straightforward to disassemble (e.g. my Diamond Minis, or my Lamy 2000, even my Lamy Safaris) I don't risk it.

[1nkulus]

Honestly, it seems to be trial and error - but a few trends have emerged for me:

 

(1) My TWSBI Ecos seem to work pretty well - and it's so easy to remove and wash the feed if things *do* get clogged, that they've become a real go-to for shimmering inks.

(2) I've generally had good success with standard #6 JoWo and Bock nib assemblies, especially B or stub (1.1, 1.5mm), or any Titanium nib (the latter are consistently wet writers, which I think helps).

(3) Both my larger Diplomat Pens (an Aero and an Excellence A, both with M nib) had no issues with consistent flow.

(4) I *haven't* had much success with my Fountain Pen Revolution pens that rely on 5.1mm diameter ebonite nibs - these seem to clog straight away for me.

(5) I'm not game to try anything that's a drier writer (e.g. my TWSBI Diamond Minis) - and have only once tried inking up a Diamond 580 nib (a 1.5 mm stub nib that worked pretty well).

(6) Anything that's super expensive, and/or not relatively straightforward to disassemble (e.g. my Diamond Minis, or my Lamy 2000, even my Lamy Safaris) I don't risk it.

Thank you, that helps.

I have access to an Eco and Diplomat, so it should be fine.

[inkstainedruth]

@inkstainedruth, I've found the Shimmering inks to be pretty unpredictable: they work just fine in some pens, and clog incessantly in others. I'd definitely suggest trying a non-particulate ink before you draw too many conclusions about the flow characteristics of your new pen!

 

Well, the fact that the pen wrote *better* with the nib upside down sort of has me stumped -- I didn't have *any* skipping at all when I did that -- even with the silver dust particles in the ink. I think the only reason I thought to try it was because one of the other pens I had with me on the trip was the Sailor Pro-Gear Slim, which has a zoom nib, and that nib *does* work upside down if you want a really fine line.

I'm going to try the rest of the sample in a cheap pen -- probably a Parker Vector with one of the italic nibs from the calligraphy set, to see if the problem is with the ink. And then, when I finish the fill in the TWSBI, flush it and try a different ink to see if it's the nib/tipping/feed that is the issue (I did have baby's bottom with a Pelikan M200 B nib -- but when I got an M400 with a B nib that nib had no problems (although, ironically, I actually prefer the B nib on my other TWSBI just a little...).

Yeah, the first fill maybe shouldn't have been a shimmer ink -- but it just seemed like a good idea at the time, what with the giddiness of "NEW PEN! NEW INKS TO TRY! DIFFERENT NIB WIDTH! WHEEEE!"

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[taike]

 

I'm not sure if it qualifies as my dream TWSBI, but the Precision I've been enjoying for a few months is dreamy in its own way. Definitely something completely different for TWSBI, at least for me.

 

I've written up my impressions here.

[FOUR X FOUR]

Did I see correctly? A few days ago, I saw a gorgeous green pen. I think I was called Twsbi Aurora.