Channeling Plastic Feeds Is Way Easier Than I Expected

[Honeybadgers]

I have a bunch of spare PenBBS feeds, so I figured I'd take a crack at channeling them for my flex nibs. I figured if this worked, I'd start selling penbbs bodies with my custom flex nibs in them.

 

I was honestly expecting to need to use power tools, but a dremel and cutoff wheel just melted the plastic instead of cutting it away, plugging it up and just really imprecise and hard to control. The results worked, but they were hideous, and there was a real risk of ruining the feed.

 

So I pulled out a $20 needle file set and was astounded at how clean, quick, and easy it was!

 

The results are now super wet and perfect for flex nibs. I started with a triangle file and slowly opened up the feed slit, and once it was wide enough, switched to the edge of a square needle file and brought it down to final depth. If you just want a wetter feed for a normal nib, you could just open it up with the triangle file a hair and you'd have all the flow you wanted.

 

To hold It, I just used a really cheap soft jaw hobby vise.

 

but for a flex stub, I wanted to go the full monte. It doesn't have any air exchange issues and doesn't drip or misbehave.

 

top is stock, bottom is cut. It took me maybe five minutes in total, that's how easy it was.

 

 

I'm thinking of using it on tons of things now. I can't stress how easy and forgiving this was to do. The file bites nice and slowly, and naturally wants to follow the slit if you start the cut with the triangle file.

 

This is the needle file I use ($22). I also use it for notching nibs for the side slits, it's been quite robust and cuts really nicely.

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0009J6DVM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Edited June 17, 2019 by Honeybadgers

[zaddick]

Great tips. Thanks for sharing.

[Jamerelbe]

Great tips. Thanks for sharing.

 

+1 - I've just ordered a few tips of my own, and hope they'll be equally great! [As in, needle files to give this a go ).

[Honeybadgers]

All I will say is that you should start with a triangle file to start the cut, and chase the established feed slit. The triangle file will follow the line and establish things for a clean cut with the square file after that.

 

And don't forget to channel the tail of the feed. If you only do the main part, there's still that bottleneck. Just be careful, you shouldn't need any pressure, the file itself will take care of the work.

Edited June 17, 2019 by Honeybadgers

[Jamerelbe]

All I will say is that you should start with a triangle file to start the cut, and chase the established feed slit. The triangle file will follow the line and establish things for a clean cut with the square file after that.

 

And don't forget to channel the tail of the feed. If you only do the main part, there's still that bottleneck. Just be careful, you shouldn't need any pressure, the file itself will take care of the work.

 

Thanks @honebadgers, not sure when I'll get time to try this, but... with your input, and thanks to the Bay of Evil, I should at least have the tools now...

[Bo Bo Olson]

Great to see classic tools being still of use.

[dumaresq]

Thank you for this tip, for the great photo, and the link to the tools you used!

 

I'm really excited to try this now.

[TSherbs]

Very cool. Thanks for sharing all the info.

[TSherbs]

So you don't chase the widened channel all the way out to the tip of the feed. That would be too much?

[fountainbel]

Interesting, thanks for shearing !

However it looks to me you only widened the Ink/air exchange slit , while the small ink slit - at the bottom - looks obstructed by your work;
in my opinion you should also widening the ink-feed slit

Did you test the altered feed already?

Francis

[Honeybadgers]

So you don't chase the widened channel all the way out to the tip of the feed. That would be too much?

I could have taken it a hair further, but taking it all the way to the end would risk dripping.

[Honeybadgers]

Interesting, thanks for shearing !

However it looks to me you only widened the Ink/air exchange slit , while the small ink slit - at the bottom - looks obstructed by your work;

in my opinion you should also widening the ink-feed slit

Did you test the altered feed already?

Francis

 

 

It's hard to see but the tail slit is opened too. It's about twice as deep as before.

 

Yes, it's tested. If it just burped and dripped ink, I wouldn't have made this post and I've written several pages to make sure that I wasn't just using the buffer in the feed and that the ink was getting into the pen from the body.

Edited June 17, 2019 by Honeybadgers

[TSherbs]

I could have taken it a hair further, but taking it all the way to the end would risk dripping.

roger that

[bobje]

This is fascinating. Detailed results and simple instructions.

 

I thought I had read somewhere that widening or deepening a plastic feed would not work because it changed the texture of the plastic inappropriately, unlike ebonite as a feed material. I must have misunderstood.

[Honeybadgers]

This is fascinating. Detailed results and simple instructions.

 

I thought I had read somewhere that widening or deepening a plastic feed would not work because it changed the texture of the plastic inappropriately, unlike ebonite as a feed material. I must have misunderstood.

 

I've heard that too, pretty much exactly as you described, but I saw how well it worked firsthand when I channeled a TWSBI feed with a razor blade and it made the pen a firehose. Then Pablo did one for me for my second superflex VAC700R and it was perfect too.

 

I honestly think the theory is either based in abject conjecture or perhaps based on other factors like old plastic formulas. Because the regular cheap plastic feeds aren't dipped or etched in any way, so how could widening them hurt? Capillary action works with very narrow channels, not the texture of the pastic, and you are interrupting that aspect of the feed system, but you're just replacing it with a much wider slot that ink doesn't need to be drawn up into, instead can just gravity feed into. It makes the pen inherently more wet (my feed is quite wet. not 3 slot FNF ebonite feed wet, but quite wet indeed) and I've had it in an inked flex stub Penbbs 456 for a day and it hasn't oversaturated the feed or dried out, it writes just like a nice juicy vintage ebonite feed does.

Edited June 18, 2019 by Honeybadgers

[fountainbel]

 

 

It's hard to see but the tail slit is opened too. It's about twice as deep as before.

 

Yes, it's tested. If it just burped and dripped ink, I wouldn't have made this post and I've written several pages to make sure that I wasn't just using the buffer in the feed and that the ink was getting into the pen from the body.

 

Thanks for your clarification, well done !

Francis

[lysander]

Thanks a lot for the detailed info Honeybadgers !

Do the files get clogged with the plastic ? Just wondering if I should use my relatively expensive swiss needle files or get another set.

 

Also out of curiosity, what kind of cuts do you make on your custom flex nibs ?

[Honeybadgers]

I make cross cuts at the breather and extend the slit, then two relief cuts at the base of the nib in line with the end of the extended slit, using a #5/0 jeweler's saw. The 6/0 keeps breaking in my scroll saw, but I'd use those if I could, and the 5/0 is perfectly adequate.

 

And no, the files won't get any more clogged with plastic than they would with aluminum or brass. You might have to brush them clean every once in a while, but mine have yet to need that.

[lysander]

Cool, thanks ! In my experiments with cross cuts I've been drilling a second hole in order to have the cross cut further back, but I've found that 1) it's the easiest part to screw up and 2) it makes the nib have a tendency to firehose ink on the page, inasmuch as the feed can keep up ( so in practice it has a tendency to be way too wet for a few words and then railroad ).

Your solution sounds like a good compromise.

[penzel_washinkton]

If I just need to get them wetter, how much width of the channel do you reckon needs to be opened up?

Probably half of the width you have in the picture?