Stipula Novecento

December 7, 2006

Hi all,

I have an ebonite, real piston filler Stipula Novecento, and I would like to remove the nib/feed unit; unlike other Stipulas, it seems to be friction-fit (not screw-in). Does anybody know the proper way to do that? Is the unit kept in place by some shellac? If it is, can I apply wet heat to the pen (as I did with a Parker 51) to soften the shellac, or should I use dry heat?

Thanks in advance. Bye.

December 8, 2006

From Stipula, I only have two Etruria and one G. Verazzano (?) and in both models the nib+feed are friction fit into the section. A bit of water soaking and then pulling them out (gripping with a rubber sheet) makes the trick and come out fairly easy.

December 8, 2006

From Stipula, I only have two Etruria and one G. Verazzano (?) and in both models the nib+feed are friction fit into the section. A bit of water soaking and then pulling them out (gripping with a rubber sheet) makes the trick and come out fairly easy.

Thanks for your reply. Do you use warm/hot water? What temperature and for how long? Do you (or does anybody else) know whether warm/hot water is harmful to ebonite? When you reinsert the nib/feed unit, do you apply some shellac?

Thanks in advance. Bye.

December 9, 2006

I think I will post a picture to be sure we are talking about the same type of unit.

In this case I soak in just cold water (ambient temp) and for about 10-15 minutes. This should be enough to soften any non vintage ink. Ebonite tends to get a brownish colour but in the case this should happen, no functional harm is done t the feed which usually is in a wet status. Hot water worsens things here (deformations) and should be avoided unles you are pretty sure of what you are doing and the possible results!

For all three Stipulas I own no soaking has been required. They pull out readily from a clean pen.

Here is the picture. From left to right, Giovanni V., Etruria retractable and Etruria. All three systemsare the same as you can see. Between the pens I pictured the rubber band I use to have a good grip to pull out the system. I just got it from a Chemist and is an extremly useful tool, which I use for as many applications you may imagine except for compressing an arm to find a vein to puncture, which is what it is intended for...

Hope it helps!

Jose

Edited December 9, 2006 by Jopen

December 9, 2006

I think I will post a picture to be sure we are talking about the same type of unit.
In this case I soak in just cold water (ambient temp) and for about 10-15 minutes. This should be enough to soften any non vintage ink. Ebonite tends to get a brownish colour but in the case this should happen, no functional harm is done t the feed which usually is in a wet status. Hot water worsens things here (deformations) and should be avoided unles you are pretty sure of what you are doing and the possible results!
For all three Stipulas I own no soaking has been required. They pull out readily from a clean pen.

Thanks for taking the time to take a picture and post it here. I was worring not about the ebonite feed (actually, in my Novecento the feed seems to be made of plastic), but about the ebonite pen itself. In any case, I understand that in your three pens no shellac is used to secure the nib/feed unit. I will see if I can find one of those rubber bands.

Thanks again. Bye.

December 10, 2006

Some people use a surgival rubber tube of the correct size. It works also very well giving a secure grip and protects also the nib

December 10, 2006

Hi Luca,

Jose is entirely correct in his approach. There is no shellac used to hold the nib and feed, only to hold the ring into which to stick the nib and feed. Actually, that ring is connected by means of some shellac or other material to the internal piston filler assembly, or directly to the wall of the section if it doesn't have a separate piston filler assembly. This construction depends on the model, essentially.

Personally, I use a piece of rubber tubing of a bicycle inner tube to pull out the nib and feed. I cut a piece of bicycle tube of about 5 cm / 2 inch in length, and cleaned it with some liquid dishwashing soap, dried it, etc.

You stick the nib/feed between the folds of the piece of rubber tubing, maybe wrap the remainder around as well, for more grip, and then pull the nib/feed away in a line that is a straight extension of the barrel.

When reinserting the nib and feed, first of all make sure the nib is positioned correctly on the feed, i.e., far enough towards the back of the feed, and then stick it in the same way it came out, and press it home.

You will note, BTW, that there is only one way to put the feed back in, due to the fact that the feed is not entirely cylindrical, and neither is the hole in the section it is supposed to go into. Both have one straightened side, the underside of the feed, actually. This is why, in Jose's picture, that the feeds all are perfectly sitting there in exactly the same pose: they are resting on their flat underside.

Also, do make sure the nib is in proper contact with the feed when inserting, otherwise you will experience flow problems. Really press the nib down on the feed when reinserting nib and feed.

BTW, the feed is not made of just any plastic; it is made of specially treated nylon, which has similar attributes as an ebonite feed, but doesn't corrode like ebonite feeds do over time.

Anyway, HTH, warm regards, Wim

December 10, 2006

Jose, thanks for your additional suggestion. Wim, thanks a lot for your detailed instructions.

Bye.

December 12, 2006

Yesterday I spent a couple of hours unsuccessfully looking for a rubber band in hardware, plumbing, and houseware stores; then it struck me: what if I use a dishwashing glove, instead? Came back home, tried immediately, and it worked just fine: I was able to remove the nib/feed unit, clean the feed channel from what seemed like manufacturing debris, and reinsert the unit (that took a couple of tries to find the right nib/feed relative positioning).