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Increasing Flow On Pilot Vanishing Point / Capless


YonathanZ

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Hi,

 

With "normal" nibs, it's easy to spread the tines a bit using the nib shoulders, but that doesn't seem possible with the VP nib unit.

So, what's the proper way to increase the flow on these pens?

 

I saw a video of SBREBrown where he reviews the VP and mentions that Richard Binder used a brass shim to fix the flow on his pen, and I wonder if that's the way to do it with these pens...

 

Thanks.

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OK, but with the way the nib "hugs" the feed, spreading the shoulders would affect how the two are attached to each other.

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So, what's the proper way to increase the flow on these pens?

 

The proper way? Change the ink, I suppose; I have about a dozen Pilot Capless pens in my household, and I've yet to encounter one that didn't write well or properly out of the box as a writing instrument. You could change the ink by switching to a different one with more 'flowy' characteristics, or you can alter the ink you want to use, at your own risk, by adding chemicals of some sort to it (but that, as far as I'm concerned, means you're no longer using the ink as sold by its manufacturer and as designed/defined).

 

Or you can acquire and install a Medium nib into your Pilot Capless pen, if you're using a Fine one at the moment. In my experience, the M nib are significant broader and wetter than the F nib, so much so that I dread the M nib and it stayed in my drawer unused for years. Just to be clear, I'm talking about increasing ink flow as your question was literally about, and neither about giving you as the user more control or doing it at the lowest possible cost or risk.

I endeavour to be frank and truthful in what I write, show or otherwise present, when I relate my first-hand experiences that are not independently verifiable; and link to third-party content where I can, when I make a claim or refute a statement of fact in a thread. If there is something you can verify for yourself, I entreat you to do so, and judge for yourself what is right, correct, and valid. I may be wrong, and my position or say-so is no more authoritative and carries no more weight than anyone else's here.

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I have the Medium nib. I've tried 4 different inks, and it writes drier than my F nib pens (which are not VP).

Anyway, I read that the way to do it is by using a brass shim and rocking the shim to the sides to spread the tines a bit. I'll give this a try.

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Are you comparing it against Pilot gold F nibs?

I endeavour to be frank and truthful in what I write, show or otherwise present, when I relate my first-hand experiences that are not independently verifiable; and link to third-party content where I can, when I make a claim or refute a statement of fact in a thread. If there is something you can verify for yourself, I entreat you to do so, and judge for yourself what is right, correct, and valid. I may be wrong, and my position or say-so is no more authoritative and carries no more weight than anyone else's here.

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OK, but with the way the nib "hugs" the feed, spreading the shoulders would affect how the two are attached to each other.

The sides of nib are folded over at the middle of the nib and slide onto the flattish feed. Only the middle of the nib hugs the feed. The slit is ahead of the folds at the front of the nib. Thats where you pull the tines apart. Youre increasing the width of the tine gap at the front of the nib by a tiny amount. You will not notice a difference in how the nib hugs the feed.

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