How To Fix An Esterbrook Nib With A Broken Feed

[pajaro]

I have acquired an Esterbrook 9312 italic nib that has a broken feed. My inclination is to try to tap the nib and broken feed out of the sleeve and also tap another nib and feed out of its sleeve and put the 9312 with a good feed into a sleeve. As it happens I have a 9450 nib unit where someone must have cut off the tipping or broken the tip off and then stubbed the nib remainder. I would use this for the donor feed. I think this might be possible, but I am not sure this is the best way or whether the nib, sleeve and feed would hold together after having the factory integrity destroyed. Would it be better to have a professional do this?

[Biber]

Might there be a source for Esty feeds and sleeves?

[Scrawler]

Might there be a source for Esty feeds and sleeves?

If there is I need to know about it. I used up my last one building a nib for Cognatiscrotty.

[John54green]

I have had some success in doing this repair by what you suggest, tapping the nib and feed out of the collar. I used a extra section to hold the nib and used my knock out block. Soaking in warm to hot water will facilitate the job. Make sure you check the collars as some have a metal pin holding the feed and collar in place (it can be tapped out too), others have an indentation that makes it trickier, but still doable, Good Luck and enjoy your newly fixed nib!

[watch_art]

yes - knock it out and put the good parts together. no problem. just be careful. You may also want to heat the collar up before butting the bits back together.

[Scrawler]

I have had some success in doing this repair by what you suggest, tapping the nib and feed out of the collar. I used a extra section to hold the nib and used my knock out block. Soaking in warm to hot water will facilitate the job. Make sure you check the collars as some have a metal pin holding the feed and collar in place (it can be tapped out too), others have an indentation that makes it trickier, but still doable, Good Luck and enjoy your newly fixed nib!

The metal pin ones can be problematic. If the pin goes all the way through it is no problem to knock the pin out. I have had one that had the pin go in one side but not all the way through. In that case I shattered the collar. It is quite possible to put very strange nibs in, if you are prepared to modify the feed. I have an example of putting a size 14 nib in an Esterbrook.

[pajaro]

I have had some success in doing this repair by what you suggest, tapping the nib and feed out of the collar. I used a extra section to hold the nib and used my knock out block. Soaking in warm to hot water will facilitate the job. Make sure you check the collars as some have a metal pin holding the feed and collar in place (it can be tapped out too), others have an indentation that makes it trickier, but still doable, Good Luck and enjoy your newly fixed nib!

Thanks for your reply. Your idea to use an extra section is a great one.

[pajaro]

yes - knock it out and put the good parts together. no problem. just be careful. You may also want to heat the collar up before butting the bits back together.

 

Thanks. Heating the collar should help hold it all together. I hadn't thought of that.

[pajaro]

I have had some success in doing this repair by what you suggest, tapping the nib and feed out of the collar. I used a extra section to hold the nib and used my knock out block. Soaking in warm to hot water will facilitate the job. Make sure you check the collars as some have a metal pin holding the feed and collar in place (it can be tapped out too), others have an indentation that makes it trickier, but still doable, Good Luck and enjoy your newly fixed nib!

The metal pin ones can be problematic. If the pin goes all the way through it is no problem to knock the pin out. I have had one that had the pin go in one side but not all the way through. In that case I shattered the collar. It is quite possible to put very strange nibs in, if you are prepared to modify the feed. I have an example of putting a size 14 nib in an Esterbrook.

I have been told the pinned collars are pre-war. I only have one nib like that.

 

Size 14 nib? You mean a Conway Stewart?

 

I have had issues with the Estie feeds not making good contact with Franken nibs. Sometimes it works, sometimes nib to feed contact is poor and the pen doesn't write well. In this case I think the Estie nib should work with the Estie feed. Hopefully heat will cause it to hold together. That or I could try the 9312 nib in a Reform.

[John54green]

Hot water and holding/squeezing the nib and feed together will generally cure that problem.

[Scrawler]

I have had some success in doing this repair by what you suggest, tapping the nib and feed out of the collar. I used a extra section to hold the nib and used my knock out block. Soaking in warm to hot water will facilitate the job. Make sure you check the collars as some have a metal pin holding the feed and collar in place (it can be tapped out too), others have an indentation that makes it trickier, but still doable, Good Luck and enjoy your newly fixed nib!

The metal pin ones can be problematic. If the pin goes all the way through it is no problem to knock the pin out. I have had one that had the pin go in one side but not all the way through. In that case I shattered the collar. It is quite possible to put very strange nibs in, if you are prepared to modify the feed. I have an example of putting a size 14 nib in an Esterbrook.

I have been told the pinned collars are pre-war. I only have one nib like that.

 

Size 14 nib? You mean a Conway Stewart?

 

I have had issues with the Estie feeds not making good contact with Franken nibs. Sometimes it works, sometimes nib to feed contact is poor and the pen doesn't write well. In this case I think the Estie nib should work with the Estie feed. Hopefully heat will cause it to hold together. That or I could try the 9312 nib in a Reform.

I think you have seen some of my Frankenpens. In some I have explained altering the feeds to fit massive nibs. I also have obtained bars of hard rubber so in future if I have strange shaped nibs I will be cutting my own feeds. The important thing is that the curvature of the upper surface of the feed fits the underside of the nib. The curvature of nibs by one manufacturer do not necessarily fit the nibs of another which is where your contact and flow problem originates.

[pajaro]

Thank you all. I will press on with this. With Esterbrook parts there shouldn't be a problem. Shouldn't. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Thanks for your encouragement.

[Harlequin]

I am in the same EXACT situation, but with an Osmiridium nib! I just got a donor nib/feed, but have yet to get anything to use as a knock out block. So, I will be watching this thread very carefully. Please post a description of how it went, with any tips you discovered and pics if you take them while you are doing it!!

Edited February 13, 2013 by Harlequin

[Scrawler]

I am in the same EXACT situation, but with an Osmiridium nib! I just got a donor nib/feed, but have yet to get anything to use as a knock out block. So, I will be watching this thread very carefully. Please post a description of how it went, with any tips you discovered and pics if you take them while you are doing it!!

You can make a knock out block easily for one offs. Just get a block of wood and drill a suitable sized hole in it.

[Harlequin]

I have been thinking of doing that. But how can you tell how big to drill the holes? Especially if I want to make more than one hole, to accommodate nibs of different sizes? Is there a reliable way to measure different nibs, or are there standard sizes?

[Scrawler]

I have been thinking of doing that. But how can you tell how big to drill the holes? Especially if I want to make more than one hole, to accommodate nibs of different sizes? Is there a reliable way to measure different nibs, or are there standard sizes?

It has to be big enough for the nib to fit through without catching the sides, but small enough that the section cannot go through. I have never measured, just looked at it and selected a bit. But I think that measuring across the feed with a ruler then adding a small amount should do it. It is also a good idea not to do it on a table top, just in case you strike too hard or the feed moves too quickly. You do not want to bend the nib by driving it into the surface. Yes yes, I have done that too so no silly remarks OK.

Edited February 13, 2013 by Scrawler

[pajaro]

If you use a piece of a two by four you might have enough distance for the nib to remain unharmed. That will be my plan. Also, some of these nibs extend out beyond the feed but are smaller in diameter than the section. Intuition will help you select the drill bit that will be smaller than the section but larger than the nib.

 

Previously I have put a section in a rubber collar and then held it in a small vise. Then tapped out the nib and feed. It falls on the work surface.

Edited February 13, 2013 by pajaro

[Harlequin]

So just as a rule of thumb, would it be advisable to say there needs to be at least three full lengths of the nib+section below the block to be relatively sure the nib & feed won't get knocked directly into the table/work surface? Of course, more room is even better and each one should be taken individually, but just as a quick guide?

[tmenyc]

Check out Ron Zorn's instructions for building an inexpensive knockout block, in his Main Street Pens site.

 

Tim

[Harlequin]

Thanks! I'm gonna head over there tonight and maybe be able to get what I need to make one this weekend.