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So the hard part is done, the feed tube is out of the body, but I can't get the feed and nib out of the tube. The tube's collar is broke and I want to get the nib and feed into a donor body that's just waiting! Even the piston assembly comes out easy with my homemade paper clip precious wrench. I just can't for the life of me get the feed or nib out of the tube. Suggestions? Heat? Ammonia bath? Tap it out from the back? Problem item below:

Has anyone disassembled the nib and feed on a Jinhau 15? I would like to disassemble it carefully and use the parts for something else.

Has anyone tried heat setting the Aurora optima feed? Technically it should be possible because the feed is made of ebonite. Are there any caveats, warnings that you guys have run into while trying to heat set the feed? I have heat set several other pens like my piston filled OMAS milord and Indian pens like the Airmail 71J and 69EB with good results, so I know the process. I just want to make sure I'm not doing something that could harm the pen's finish, material etc. as this is my first Aurora. Thanks in advance!

Sorry the photo is a bit blurry, I had a hard time getting an up close picture. Hopefully the pockets and scratches show in the picture. It almost looks as though some ink has eaten away at the feed. Has anyone else seen this in their Vanishing Points? I do use Noodler's Dark Matter regularly in this pen, but I don't think I've heard of that ink being corrosive. Could it be the trap door just scratching he feed? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I have a semi-vintage (1950s) Aurora 88P which leaks blobs of ink from the feed junction with the barrel when the well-fitting cap is removed, but not otherwise. What is needed to fix this please? I exclude cheerfully drilling a hole through the end of the cap to break the vacuum If needed, how do I safely go about removing the feed? Of what important points should I be aware for re-assembly?

I'm inspecting a vanishing point I own prior to selling and I noticed that the nib unit angles down slightly as shown in the photo below. Is that normal for this design? It would appear so and there is no issue with the trapdoor opening but I was hoping a fellow VP owner could confirm. https://www.reddit.com/r/imagehosting/comments/5tin0v/vp_nib_unit/

Hello, first post ever and unfortunately it's a problem with the new Pelikan M1000 I purchased. I've had it for a day now and notice a lot of bad starts, general skipping on horizontal strokes, and no ink between the tines (or on the paper!) for periods of up to 30 seconds if I make a thick line. Upon closer inspection, it looks like there's a gap between the nib and feed, but I'm not sure if this is normal and I just have to keep using the pen for a while for improvements. Am I crazy? Or should I ask Pelikan for a replacement nib?

ASA GALACTIC My handcrafted pen journey started with ASA Galactic, a beautiful pen from ASA pens (www.asapens.in/eshop). Honesty Note :- I am very lazy and my only motivation for writing this is to get a discount coupon from Mr Subu. and then use it to buy ASA Daily . When I ordered ASA Galactic, there was a shipping mistake and mine was sent to Spain. So the first Galactic I received had "Gilly" written on it, but Mr. Subu. is very cool, he sent me another Galactic and added Click Tulip (for free !!) . Now there are many reviews of this pen eg. mehandiratta's, but since I am an engineer ( by choice ) so this review is all about the experiments I did with the pen !. Edit Note :- Please read this post from an reverse engineering point of view and all I care about is learning how things work, not what makes them pretty, not what the simple solution is, nor i even care if I end up ruining the pen. The experiments started when one fine Dehradun morning (4 am), I was studying algorithm space-time complexity concepts and the Galactic burped !. The review :- Pen looks amazing when inked up ! The pen has a massive ink capacity and there are no leaks from the side of the barrel. So I was writing at 4 am and then as I paused while still holding the pen in writing position, to read all the weird complexity stuff I wrote, when I came to the bottom of the page I saw the BURP !! The pen was leaking from the top of the nib, bottom of the feed and from the tip of the nib as well. The standard process is to apply 100% silicone grease to stop the leaks from the side of the nib and feed. The fix for burping is to either change the feed or ink up the pen. Now I wanted to see if I can find another solution using only the things I had at home. I started with toothpaste, yea you read it correctly, i applied toothpaste and it worked for a few minutes until the toothpaste started to mix with the ink ! Then I used cello tape, which worked but as I fixed the position of the nib and feed the tape broke and nik started to leak again. So I used Glue stick and it worked for a few minutes but ink started to leak again. As you can see below, by this time I had already broken the feed tip and the nib was bent ! Then I thought I should try to reduce the ink flow. Now flow reduction worked but the ink flow was not consistent, so I removed the pipe that was connected to the ink channel, but then wax broke and started to block the ink flow. So I removed all of it and replaced it with an injection cap (needle removed), the cap fit perfectly and securely. I created a hole on the top of the cap, the ink would flow from there to the feed and the pipe (coming out from cap) would bring extra ink back from feed to the tank. Now this worked beautifully, no leaks no burps, ink flow reduced and we finally have a fix !!. But it looked ugly so now it was time to optimise it (fix the problem first and then find a better solution). So I looked at it for some time and then vola (syringe always goes securely inside its cap) ! What if I remove the top of the cap, rotate it, insert it in the pen and then use the syringe as a cartridge !! I removed the bottom half of the syringe and left the syringe piston rubber inside it to prevent any leaks (since that is what its job is ). Now all of this looks good but the ink flow was not consistent because there was no capillary action happening between the nib section and the cartridge. So I added the pipe (I reduced its size afterwards), and now due to capillary action the ink would stick to the sides of the pipe and flow from syringe to the nib section. The syringe converted cartridge is basically going inside it's cap, so obviously connection is very secure/strong and so there are no leaks. After this conversion the pen stopped leaking from the nib and feed as well and there was no burping. The final product ! I really enjoyed doing these experiments, hope you enjoyed them too ! Edit :- Now lets use this knowledge to create our own pen So all we require is a nib, feed, some body and ink ! So i found an old use and throw pen, took Jinhao Nib and Click Tulip feed. Wrapped them together using plastic wrap that Galactic came in. Filled the pen with ink and securely placed the nib and feed in it. My pen is not handcrafted but oh well ! Ah !, the happiness of finally satisfying the engineers "how things work" and "do it yourself" itch...

Hi everyone, hopefully someone here can help me find where I can buy a cross solo feed from the 1990's. Its the classic black with gold plated trim. It was my first FP and we lost it down a drain a few months back when cleaning it. Not sure which other pen feed would be a match. I also would like to get a converter for it and I'm not sure on that either. Any guidance would be appreciated. Thanks in advance. Roger

Hey guys, So I recently got a Chinese pen delivered to me. (a jinhao x450) The section got three grooves for the fingers to go. (like the lamy safari) However, the nib and feed seems to be at a slight angle to the grooves and the nib and feed themselves are misaligned. I've done a bit of research and realized that the feed nib and section are a friction fit. But no matter how hard I Pull. The Feed/ nib won't budge. Is there anyway to seperate the feed nib and the section? Cheers, Victor

I was not intending to get this pen, the Hero 9215, but seeing that if I got a couple I can get free shipping on my lot I put them into the shopping cart and well that's the history, so any way , with some free time on hand I take this pen out to have a try and I found something very particular about this particular pen or pen model. Admitting; I have only two samples, one black and one white but they show the same, a very dry feed. By dry I do not mean it had problem delivering ink, in fact its the reverse it deliver ink in very consistent and controlled manner , the pens had Hero's no.5 nib which is also on plenty other models but on this model the pen write and write fine but I've notice a distant difference in feel when writing and finally I got to find out that the feed like to, well, feed the ink in a fashion that it would suffice for laying down the words and nothing else so to speak, a straight forward smear test show the pen lay down the ink so thin that it shown almost no smear. And I've try several different inks ( Parker, J.Herbin, Sailor Jentle and Hero's own 23X ) and they all shown the same In fact its so thin that the FM width nib now write more like the F side instead. That said this pen write pretty smooth though. I was wondering if any of you encounter any another pen , Chinese or not, Hero or others, that behaves like this.

So... I got a cool Fern Green Esterbrook J (with 1 cap) and really like the thing. The body of the pen has a crack around the cap-threads, but it's only apparent when removing the section and bladder. Which I did. because I wanted to see it. but that's not the issue. The issue is the constant seepage of ink around the feed/section interface. Again, I took the feed and nib out, but this time for a good reason! It was 0.1mm off-center and bugging me. So now it leaks, it gets into the cap, it spreads onto the section and gets on my fingers. How to fix it?

Around 1980, I worked for a pen manufacturer, as designer and ingeneer, in Germany. During this time I got a good insight into the function of fountain pens and other pens and their manufacture. Thirty odd years later, fountain pens still fascinate me. I started a web site titled Fountain Pen Magic. You can / will find there all sorts of interesting things relating to technology, function and manufacture, as much as I can remember. The link to my site is https://fountainpend....wordpress.com/ I am happy to discuss any question you may have on those topics. Amadeus W. Penmacher Ingeneer PS: In case you wonder about my spelling of ingeneer… https://ingenioust.w...ling-etymology/

I just received a Hero 359 (Safari clone) in the mail today and, after some writing, I decided to throw a Lamy 1.1 nib onto the thing...unfortunately the Hero's nib seemed to be glued in place. It took quite a bit of work to get the stupid thing off, and when I did the Lamy nib did not seem to fit the feed. Being an enterprising guy I decided to file down the shoulders on the feed so that my nib would fit. Long story short, the feed did not cooperate and in a dremel rage I carved that thing up. I was pretty upset by this, as I was under the impression that Hero 359 nibs came off as easily as Lamy nibs, and that the two were interchangeable. I wonder if the good folks over at Hero have made some adjustments, or if I just happened to get an oddball Hero 359. In any event, I am on the hunt for a feed to fit a Hero 359. Now, I know that I could just buy a new Hero, but I dislike having perfectly good pen bodies sitting around doing nothing. I thought that I saw a listing on eBay for some feeds, but I can no longer find it (and it's entirely possible that these were actually Jinhao feeds). I have put an add up on the classifieds here, but I am not holding out much hope. If anyone has any insight into the interchangeability of the Hero 359 with the Lamy Safari, I would appreciate the info. Also, if anyone can point me in the right direction as far as Hero 359 feeds go I would be eternally grateful.

I bought a beautiful sterling Waterman Gentleman, medium nib, on eBay a couple months ago. I like the pen, but it skips badly. It turns out to be a display model, so has a special non-functioning dummy feed for pens that were not supposed to be sold. So I can get the pen working if I can locate a real feed - but where can I find one? I'd like to avoid spending a fortune simply to get a usable feed. I'd also like to avoid a long wait for a feed to show up on eBay. Is there any hope Waterman can supply one? Also, I'll bet the feed for a Gentleman is the same as for some other Waterman pens, but which pens are a match?

Hello all, I'm thinking about making a fountain pen body on a 3D printer, and I was wondering if anybody knows a good source for Nib/feeds that take cartridges/converters, as the layered nature of printed plastic isn't the most waterproof. Thanks for your time

Pictures from an eBay auction I'm eying http://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/NQgAAOSwtnpXo6no/s-l1600.jpg http://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/7bgAAOSw3xJXo6nf/s-l1600.jpg http://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/QucAAOSwt7ZXo6nF/s-l1600.jpg Potential clues Thin band on capSemi translucent red with streaks of greenLever in 1 pieceBlack sectionFeed with fins Could someone give me some hints as to what Waterman it is, esp. its age and likelihood for flex nib? Thanks

I told family I would like a fountain pen for my birthday and was given this lovely item, my father's Conway Stewart Executive 60 with the Cracked Ice design. What a beauty. But it needs servicing and parts, missing some of the original innards - the pressure bar, the feed, the ink sac. Is it possible to obtain compatible parts and get the pen working again?

Hi, I have a Montblanc 149 ebonite feed, with a broken rib. I was wondering if anybody else has taken their's to Montblanc to be serviced. My question was, if they'll be replacing my one for a plastic feed? Also does anyone have any idea how much this would cost, I tried sending an email to them and simply got a long email stating the procedure on how to send in my Montblanc, not an actual quote. Thanks!

Hi all, If anyone has any Swan No.1 nib, can you please tell me the dimensions of the feed, i.e diameter at shoulder,length and thickness. I am planning to customize a feed for my nib, if i fail there is only one other way that is to get a pen custom created for the nib. Thanks, Jit

While removing the nib and feed from my vac-fill Sheaffer Lady Tuckaway I snapped the feed in half. Upon further inspection I noticed the feed was significantly undersized and there was a plastic collar at the bottom of the feed. As you can see in the photos the section diameter was around 7 mm. My question is 1) Is this collar an original feature and 2) When finding a replacement feed should I get one around 7mm so that if fits the section or 2mm undersized and use the plastic collar. Thanks for any help.

isn't the housing, feed and nib suppose to fit together ? my recent purchased pens have this problems, some when pulled out from the housing the tines are prefect but when fit back together the tines mis-align. a few of them has perfect tines when fit in the housing but mis-align when removed out. and no matter what orientation i did the problem never solves. This has never happen to my other pens but that's because my other pens are all from japan (my Pilot and sailors) well known for their excellent supreme QC. hence my question / cry for help - where does the problem lies, housing inside uneven or nib tail uneven ? - any method to solve this matter ? Just in case anyone want to know I am having said problems above with my Delta DV OS, Monte verde Regatta sport, Jinhao 159, vinconti homosapien Dark age. For such expensive pen (jinhao aside) you expect it to work well ... even my preppy write better !! I don't think i will look/buy another pen from them. attached photo are my delta nib after insert into the housing the gap in between becomes wide open!

Hello FPN! I've got a Waterman Taperite (open nib version) that's been giving me trouble since I got it. The pen writes dryly and refuses to write on upstrokes. The nib appears to not be touching the feed and I can wiggle the nib in the section with my fingers. I've tried pulling them out of the section, resetting the position the nib/feed, then sticking them back in, to no avail. What else should I try before saying "screw it" and sending it to a professional to fix?

Hello all! I'm a long time reader, first time writer on this forum. I figured that, with the vast pool of knowledge in here, this issue might have been addressed, but I cannot find it anywhere. so here goes. I recently bought a waterman 52, "wood grain" pen. it is very flexible for what I was expecting. Not too much and not too little. but i'm noticing a serious issue with it. The nib and feed, when starting a line. begin parallel. "====" like this. But as I apply pressure to flex the tines a bit, the nib and feed are pressed away from each other. closer to a "<" sort of shape. This angle is exaggerated to be sure, but it is still extreme enough to cause the ink to travel away from the tines. which causes railroading for a line, then a completely cut from all ink stores. This is all resolved with a simple tap on top of the nib to restore it to the parallel position. So my question is this. Is there any way that I can fix this in a way that would not involve shellac? I've heard a thin swab inside of the section will resolve most loose nib and feed issues, but I'm a little timid to perform this. And I don't necessarily want to send it to a professional restoration place just yet. PS. the pictures that I added (if it works) are of the nib and feed. The one pointing to the side shows a "before writing" position. nib and feed are nestled in close to each other. the one pointing to the camera shows the nib and feed separated just enough to stop writing. Hope the pictures and description help with getting ideas. Thank you.

Hi All, Could some of you please provide the technical details of a Sheaffer No-Nonsense feed (like diameter,length, no.of fins, etc). Some images of the feed also would be helpful. Thanks. -saji