Omas 360 Nib Angle

[WCable1]

Hello everyone,

 

I adore the Omas 360 fountain pen and have two of them, the magnum and the smaller version.

 

I have however noticed a what (for me) is a flaw with my magnum. The Nib appears to be pitched at an upwards angle relative to the line of the barrel, meaning the nib is off centre when I hold it to write, whereas with the smaller version is straighter.

 

It's a bit of goldilocks situation for me. The central nib is more natural for my writing, while the bigger pen feels more comfortable in my hand for longer periods of writing.

 

Has anyone else noticed this Omas 360s?

 

Sorry I can't show any pictures, my computer doesn't want to upload for them!

[langere]

Can you please send photos so that we can see what you mean?

 

Thanks!

 

Erick

[zaddick]

From the factory the nib tipping is aligned with one of the facets perfectly (assuming no defect or production issue). So the tip is "at 12 o'clock" with the top of the triangle of the grip section. Because the grip forces a specific hold, many right handed writers fund that their natural resting position of the hand with the triangle grip was rotated to about "11 o'clock" in terns of nib alignment which caused the factory nib alignment to not rest properly on the paper. Some sellers started adjusting the nibs clockwise to about "1 o'(bleep)" so it counter acted the natural rotation of the hand of most writers and thus had the full tipping touching the paper. This was very common at nibs.com which was a big seller of OMAS pens in the US.

 

It was a solution to allow a wider range of people to use the 360 design comfortably rather than twisting their wrist to conform to the original factory alignment.It is more noticeable with wider nib pens when hand rotation cause the factory position of the nib to rest unevenly on the paper with more on the left tine than the right (looking down on the face).

 

So that could be what you are seeing, but without more description it is an educated guess. The 360s I have left are all rotated. I had ones that were not, but they were less comfortable for me to use. I believe it is one of the reasons that when OMAS redesigned the 360 they put on a rounded grip section (and ruined the aesthetics in my opinion).

[WCable1]

High everyone, thanks for the replies.

 

I think I didn't explain myself very well in my first post. The nib isn't rotated, it's still at 12'o'clock. What I am referring to is the nib pointing 'upwards', in that if you look at the pen side on the nib is pointing upwards relative to the direction of the barrel. I have seen plenty of pens where the nib is angled downwards so that the point of the nib is at the centre point of your fingers as you would hold the pen, but never this.

 

Again, I wish I could add pictures, but it doesn't seem to want to let me. If anyone knows how to handle that as well I'd really appreciate it.

Edited June 25, 2019 by WCable1

[zaddick]

You can load photos using the upload tab as long as they are under 2 MB I think.

 

So just the tipping is pointing up or the nib is coming away from the feed?

 

Tipping that sweeps up is not really cause of any issues. A nib coming away from the feed is an issue, but since OMAS used ebonite feeds you can probably heat set it with hot water to remove the gap.

[WCable1]

I don't appear to have an upload tab, so again I can't

 

The nib isn't coming away from the feed- it's angled upwards as well. It looks like it was made that way.

[OMASsimo]

Hit the button "More Reply Options" then you can upload a picture directly. Or you need to upload it to another place and use the "Image" button from the top edit line.

 

Nib and feed usually should be straight and not bent upwards. Could it be the pen had an accident and the nib was bent? I have a few vintage pens like that.

[WCable1]

Finally worked it out!

 

Please see the attached images. The black one is my magnum with the nib pointing upwards.

[zaddick]

I dont see a nib pointing upward. I just see a lot of tipping material which is not atypical for OMAS.

[OMASsimo]

The feed looks more tapered but the nib looks OK to me.

[WCable1]

What exactly is tipping material?

[zaddick]

the silver colored material on the end of the gold nib. It is a harder material than the nib and forms the writing surface. How it is shaped defines how the pen writes. Most makes use a rounded tipping which provides a smooth experience but no line variation between vertical and horizontal strokes.

 

The black pen has more tipping material that the red in your photos.

[OMASsimo]

I checked your pictures again and re-read your OP. Do you really mean the nib "pointing up" or rather the nib being more off centre? The latter is the only real difference I notice and it's not a flaw of the pen but supposed to be like that.

[WCable1]

Yeah I think I mean off centre - are all OMAS 360 like that?

[OMASsimo]

Well, apparently there are smaller variations among different models. But in principle, the nib of any standard fountain pen tends to be off centre. The standard way to attach a nib is to friction fit it between the feed (the black part underneath the nib) and the section (the part you hold when writing). By that, the position of the nib naturally is more too the top of the section and thus very much off centre. The OMAS 360 is a little different insofar that the section is triangular with a circular hole for the feed and nib. Most later OMAS models also use a nib collar to attach the nib to the feed first by the collar and this combo goes into the section. Anyway, the circle within the triangle creates the impression that the nib would be more in the centre. But compared to a standard round section, this isn't really true. But you hold the 360 slightly difference, which may make a difference. You may or may not get used to it but I find the bigger piston filler version of the 360 a very comfortable pen to write with.