Measuring line width?

[meanwhile]

Can anyone recommend a good but cheap tool for measuring lie width? I'm thinking that there must be some sort of transparent graduated sciencey-thing I can use a loupe???

[BillTheEditor]

It would take longer than I have today to draw this, take a picture, and post the image, but there's a simple and cheap way to figure out line width that won't require any equipment beyond what you probably already have.

 

On a piece of paper (preferably graph paper, to help keep things aligned and straight), draw a series of lines, like this (and ignore the yellow dots if you can see them, I had to force the staggering):

 

..........__ (Continue making lines until you have a convenient number)

........__ (Lines are just touching each other, top and bottom)

......__ (Stagger the lines)

....__ *(Start with the bottom line)

 

 

When you have made five or ten lines, you will be able to measure the total distance from the bottom of the first line to the top of the last line and divide by the number of lines. It won't be "micrometer accurate" but it will be close enough for practical purposes.

 

Obviously, you have to take a little care when you draw those lines so that each is just tangent to the one before, and that the lines are reasonably straight (don't need a straightedge if you keep the lines short). If you like, you can do this several times and average the results.

[KendallJ]

Um, Richard Binder used to have a pdf file that had various line widths shown so that you could write on the paper and compare line widths. It's actually fairly simple using this method to get within 0.1mm.

 

Richard, got that link handy? I have it at home. will try to post when I get there.

[KendallJ]

Let's see if this works. If not I can email the file to anyone who asks for it. One from Richard, and another from an unknown source.

 

I believe 100 = 1.0mm on this one.

Nib_Widths.pdf

Edited June 9, 2006 by KendallJ

[KendallJ]

Now the one from Richard. Smaller I think.

strokewidths.pdf

Edited June 9, 2006 by KendallJ

[meanwhile]

This is great - thank you, especially you, Kendall.

[jsonewald]

If you print these out on transparency film they are extremely easy to use. They are also a lot cheaper than the commercially made versions you can buy in a graphics art supply store.

[Tweel]

I have a couple of Parkers whose widths I'd like to know. One is a Super "21", which of course doesn't have a width marked on the nib, and the other is a "45". I have two nibs for the latter, both marked F on the collar, one of which is mis-marked. I'm wondering whether I have a M and a F, or a F and an XF.

 

Would anyone with "known" pens be willing to check them against the above PDFs and tell me the the measurements you get?

 

Thanks,

Brian

[sexauerw]

I use my scanner and an image editor, in my case Adobe Photoshop Elements. I'm sure most other similar programs could be used. I just draw a line and scan it at a fairly high resolution. I use 1200 dpi. Then I import the scan into my image editor and zoom in until the line is pretty wide. Then I use a line drawing tool and adjust its width until it matches the scanned line. The program tells me the size in pixels of the line tool setting. Voila! My original line is now known to be X pixels wide at Y dpi with both X and Y known. A simple calculation gives me the width in inches of my original drawn line.

[Tweel]

I use my scanner and an image editor... Then I use a line drawing tool and adjust its width until it matches the scanned line.

That would work -- my own aphorism is that the shortest distance between two points is the one you take (maybe I should go analog, and buy some graticules for my microscope...).

 

I used the PDFs, which is probably good enough resolution for a scale of F, M, B, etc. On the "Anonymous" chart, my Super "21" is closest to 0.45mm, while on the "Binder"chart, it's closest to a F round nib.

 

My "45" nibs most closely match 0.35mm and 0.50mm on the "Anonymous" chart, and XF and F on the "Binder" chart.

 

Now the question is, what do someone else's pens measure as on those charts, whose nominal line widths are known? In other words, my "21" is F and my "45" is XF and F, as Richard Binder grinds nibs, but Parker may not agree.

 

Brian

[someonesdad]

The PDF above (Nib_Widths.pdf) printed out at actual size on my laser printer produced line widths that measured right what they should be. I used a Dumaurier 20X hand-held measuring microscope (a fabulous tool if you can find them); the 50X microscope starts to magnify too much to where you start to get a bit uncertain as to exactly where the line borders are.

 

If you know PostScript or other page description languages, these types of printouts are pretty easy to make. I'd be happy to make anyone a custom one (as long as it doesn't turn into a bunch of work).

 

Ideally, we'd get rid of the "fine", "medium", etc. nomenclature, as they are non-standard and mean different things to different people. The measurement of the line width is straightforward -- if you don't have a graduated microscope, you can put a rule with 1/2 mm graduations next to the line and, using e.g. a 4X magnifier, easily measure to within about 0.1 mm.

 

But the above PDF is so useful and fast, it's probably the tool of choice. A handy tool could be made by printing it on a transparency, then cutting out just the section with the vertical lines (oops, I see someone already mentioned that).