Help! New Twsbi 580 Stub Nib Driving Me Nuts

[DouglasBaldwin]

I've attached a sample to show the skipping and hard starts. Where the ink completely stopped, I filled in with light pencil. I also circled in pencil where I had hard starts.

 

PS: Yes, I noticed afterward that I put "This a ..." instead of "This is a ..."

[DouglasBaldwin]

I got my TWSBI 580 with 1.1 mm stub back from Philip at TWSBI a few days ago. Whatever he did, it seems to be working just fine now. I've attached a new sample.

[Mags]

The repair and he sample look to have sorted the problem out. I removed my nib gave the sides a thumb squeeze and enjoyed a wetter flow.

[cnjackson]

I'll add my own story. I have a 540 with a 1.1 stub (from Goulet)--and it has worked beautifully from the get-go--for more than a year now.

 

But about a month ago I decided I wanted to try a 1.5: I got the 1.5 nib (just the nib) and fitted it on my 540--and it was a hard starter; it skipped a great deal; and was altogether frustrating. I did flush with soap and water. I also followed Philip Wang's advice on how to open the tines a bit--no luck.

 

Philip (of TWSBI) kindly sent me a second 1.5 nib to try--it was better, but it would just dry out in a matter of seconds.

 

I gave up, put the excellent 1.1 540 stub back on, and was happy with the pen again.

 

I am still a fan of TWSBI, but I doubt I'll try a 1.5 from them again.

 

Chris

 

Edited for typo!

Edited June 23, 2013 by cnjackson

[mikehodgman]

Man, I am not sure I'll get a stub nib on a 580 after all the issues people have been having. I'll have to stick with a Vac stub nib I guess.

[habib]

Just want to report back my experience.

 

Just got it today. I decided to flush with water before inking. Initially, no issue. But 30 minutes in, it's having problem with "hard start" particularly downward stroke. But for me, I think it's the way I hold it. Making sure the nib is at proper angle makes the problem go away. It makes me appreciate LAMY 2000's "holding stub" design more.

 

I had thought that this pen was a little tacky (I don't like demonstrator types). But the quality is quite good for its price and everything feels well made and is put together nicely. It should be a good daily writer after I get better at holding it correctly the first time.

 

Ink: Iroshizuku (asa-gao)

Nib: B

[Dillo]

Hi,

 

From here, it looks like a baby bottom problem. Are the stub nibs tipped? I know the ones Stipula uses for their Bock #5 nibs aren't and the ones I have used often have a similar problem. If they aren't tipped, getting rid of the baby bottom is often fairly easy with the right abrasives. Also, paper can make a difference. Some nibs skip on certain papers more than others, but they can all be adjusted so that they write properly. Try to send the paper that you are using to TWSBI, let them know what ink you are using, and see. Not all problems appear the same way depending on both the ink and the paper you are using. See this post for some more information on the nibs. Here

 

Dillon

[renderboy]

I had these exact same problems with my Diamond 580 with 1.1mm stub nib received earlier this week. I was so excited to receive this pen - having not really needed yet another fountain pen, I held out as long as I could with it in my 'pen wish list' bookmarks, so was gutted to receive it only to find it the worst fountain pen I have ever used.

 

Repeated flushings, cleaning of the feed and nib, different inks, letting it set overnight, messing with the tine gap did nothing at all to change things.

 

I contacted Philip at TWSBI who responded within minutes saying to send it to him and he would take a look at it. As I'm in the UK and postage would be £3.50 by air mail (not really a lot, but going to the post office is a chore in itself these days with there being so few of them, and so many pensioners queuing up holding the whole world back as they buy a £5 postal order for their grandkid's birthday), I weighed the cost of this against buying a new non-stub nib for the pen (£15), and just thought damn it, I'll see what I can do to get it working and bin the 1.1mm stub if it all went horribly wrong.

 

Examining the nib with a loupe the problem was instantly apparent - a massive baby's bottom was going on. It was so large it was visible to the naked eye looking at the nib at the right angle.

 

I went ahead and very sparingly used some wetted 2000 grit wet and dry paper (stuff usually used for car paint finishing) and did a few up-and downs, round and rounds, figures of 8 etc., and tried the pen out - instantly it was now writing with much less railroading and the hard-starts (of which it had moments of not starting at all no matter what I did) were gone.

 

I did a bit of rounding off using the 2000 grit, then went onto 8000 micro-mesh, and finally to 12000 micro-mesh. The nib now works perfectly - no railroading whatsoever, no hard starts (even when left overnight), and is a dream to use.

 

I've never worked on a nib to this extent before, and I agree it shouldn't be required on a new pen costing £42, but I believe anyone can do it with care if they go gently, slowly, and keep testing as they go along until they reach the 'sweet spot', so something to try if you're brave enough and have a blatant disregard for warranties!

 

I already had the wet and dry paper, my loupe cost about £1.50 on ebay, and the micro-mesh I found was cheapest from a UK website who had reasonable postage costs and the various types of micro-mesh that could be bought as singles. Total cost of materials/tools required was under a tenner.

 

Otherwise, I'm sure Philip at TWSBI would have lived up to his word and returned a perfect nib.

[alc3261]

And mine was perfect out of the box, one of the best nibs I've ever had - smooth, wet, never skips, starts immediately even after several days. My dream pen (and I do have quite a few pens!!)

Edited September 29, 2013 by alc3261

[frr149]

same thing here. I just got a TWSBI Diamond 580 with a 1.1 stub from cult pens. Was tremendously excited, and now very frustrated. I'm having the same issues: very bad starter, will frequently (60%) skip, specially in the downstrokes.

 

I flushed it twice and tried 2 ink (Waterman Florida Blue and Diamine Umber). Same results. I almost only use stubs, so the "user error" excuse doesn't hold, I'm afraid. :-(

 

Will contact cultpens and TWSBI. I had hight hopes for this pen, it looks great, seems well built, pity it doesn't write. Very disappointing.

[renderboy]

My 580 with the 1.1mm stub I was complaining about also came from Cult Pens. Though I did manage to recover its performance somewhat, it was frequently a hard starter and after letting me down completely in a meeting, I decided it was pure evil and rather than throw the TWSBI out of the window (which I was close to), I ordered a replacement broad nib (a proper 580 broad nib made by JoWo, including the section rather than buying a 530/540 replacement nib which doesn't come with the right section and are made by Bock).

 

This nib is a joy to use, by far my nicest writer and I couldn't put the pen down.

 

What I then noticed on comparison of the two was that the 1.1mm stub nib had a much smaller and fragile feed compared to the broad nib which made me a bit suspicious as to them being the same brand of nib. The feed design was very close to those on my kaweco sports, which I believe are made by Bock.

 

I also bought from Cult Pens, and I'm wondering whether they are swapping out 1.1mm stub nibs from the original ones made by Bock rather than the 'proper' 580 nibs which are JoWo in order to fulfill orders for these (probably less popular, and lower stock level) stub nibbed pens.

 

I've ordered another 580 with a fine nib so I will wait to see which brand this appears to be.

[OldGreyGuy]

My 580 with the 1.1mm stub I was complaining about also came from Cult Pens. Though I did manage to recover its performance somewhat, it was frequently a hard starter and after letting me down completely in a meeting, I decided it was pure evil and rather than throw the TWSBI out of the window (which I was close to), I ordered a replacement broad nib (a proper 580 broad nib made by JoWo, including the section rather than buying a 530/540 replacement nib which doesn't come with the right section and are made by Bock).

 

This nib is a joy to use, by far my nicest writer and I couldn't put the pen down.

 

What I then noticed on comparison of the two was that the 1.1mm stub nib had a much smaller and fragile feed compared to the broad nib which made me a bit suspicious as to them being the same brand of nib. The feed design was very close to those on my kaweco sports, which I believe are made by Bock.

 

I also bought from Cult Pens, and I'm wondering whether they are swapping out 1.1mm stub nibs from the original ones made by Bock rather than the 'proper' 580 nibs which are JoWo in order to fulfill orders for these (probably less popular, and lower stock level) stub nibbed pens.

 

I've ordered another 580 with a fine nib so I will wait to see which brand this appears to be.

I bought a TWSBI 580 with 1.1 stub nib from Cultpens, it works brilliantly.

 

The packaging has two labels, one on the base of the plastic container and another on the end of the outer cardboard box. Each of the labels describes the pen. On the line above the English words there is a line of Chinese characters and then the numbers "1.1"

 

From this I assume that it is an original nib directly from TWSBI. Did your packaging have a similar label?

[Eclectica]

I read this post with much interest! My new TWSBI medium nib (purchased around July) was giving the same results as those said here:

i.e. write for a while, then skip on start to such an extent to become infuriating, and any pause between sentences meant a few strokes had to be done in the margin to get the ink to connect with the paper!!

 

So infuriating was it that I haven't used it in months!

 

Just managed to sort it today and is now working really well - a little wet if anything, but I really like that. :P Now it is always ready and waiting and doesn't keep failing to start - lovin' it!

 

This is a list of all the things I did:

 

1) Flossed out feed channel with feeler gauge (very delicately, so a not to damage or widen) - was a little better afterwards

 

2) Detergent rinse - no real change.

 

3) Slip paper under nib between feed - some improvement

 

4) Slip paper between tines - some improvement

 

5) 12000 grit polish cloth to smooth the baby bottom - did not do much of this because I didn't want to ruin the nib. - some improvement.

 

6) Use 'cleaning ink' : 1/2 load of Parker Quink ink and about 5 drops of 2% dilution rinseaid, play and leave overnight.

When writing, it was of course soaking into all but the best papers, but just writing and colouring suddenly seemed to work much better - especially the next day when it was massively wetter.

 

7) Then just used a 12000 grit polishing sheet to smooth off very slightly just a bit more at the position where the pen touches the paper (i.e. flatten the baby bottom!!)

 

8) Good rinse with warm water and detergent, rise well with plain water, and refil with new normal ink.

 

As noted here before, the ink now 'wets' the reservoir walls properly.

 

It is possible, just take it little by little.

 

Best of luck!

E.

[Mtrap]

My first Twsbi. it write dry out of the box and I added some flow and now its perfect.

Very smooth and wet. A very economical pen.

 

http://i1001.photobucket.com/albums/af137/iamtrap/5583e3fc-333e-489b-827e-0576fb7edf88_zps2f59f00b.jpg

[I like mango cheesecake]

My first Twsbi. it write dry out of the box and I added some flow and now its perfect.

Very smooth and wet. A very economical pen.

 

http://i1001.photobucket.com/albums/af137/iamtrap/5583e3fc-333e-489b-827e-0576fb7edf88_zps2f59f00b.jpg

Okay, I gotta know:

 

ink and stub size????..... love them both.

[Mtrap]

Okay, I gotta know:

 

ink and stub size????..... love them both.

 

Its a stub 1.1 and the ink is Noodler X feather. Out of the box it might be on a little dry side.

[Bill Wood]

Y'know - I'd like to look at another Twsbi but this thread is a little disappointing. Some work, some don't - is this statement correct - TWSBI are more tinkerers pens than first fountain pens. I can tinker - don't want too - and I know that service is good - but should these problems be over by now.

 

I'm not klobbering Twsbi - but the mission statement is to spread the word and gather MORE fountain pen users.

[Masque]

I'll chime in with my purchasing / first-use experience, as it has just concluded.

 

In September I ordered a 1.1mm 580 directly from TWSBI. It arrived promptly, well-packaged, and was a joy to receive, unbox, disassemble, clean, reassemble, realize I could adjust the piston, re-disassemble, re-reassemble, realize I had not adjusted the piston as I had hoped, re-re-disassemble... et cetera.

 

Finally, upon inking, the nib didn't start cleanly without some pressure. And once started, it was a firehose. I pressed on - no pun intended - and used it to write six pages of text on a legal pad, starting with a full reservoir of Sailor Jentle Epinard. This drained the pen completely. That should indicate just how heavily the ink flowed from this pen as set from the factory. At this point I re-inked the pen with Kobe #31, figuring perhaps a more freely-flowing ink would alleviate the hard start. No luck, and even more ink was soaking the poor fibers when writing.

 

Figuring to ask for help, I next took a photo of 100 or so downstrokes - basically a page of "|" repeated - showing exactly how the pen refused to write about 1/3 of the time when using regular pressure. I sent this to TWSBI, and they agreed to send me another nib. It arrived within 3 days. Excellent service! Unfortunately, this nib was even worse. It wrote about 1/2 the time, though the flow was reduced.

 

Upon sending another photo to TWSBI, and including my description of what the nibs looked like under a loupe (classic, textbook baby's bottom!) Philip responded essentially saying that my experience was impossible. They hand-tune and hand-test each nib, he said, and he would like me to ship the pen and both nibs back to him, and he would determine what was wrong.

 

I do not give up easily, however, and given that these nibs had both passed TWSBI's inspection and testing, I did not see the benefit in sending it back for a repeat application of that standard.

 

I spent some time thoroughly reading about nib design and repair, and ended up using the bottom of a ceramic tile to shape the nib, and 12000 grit micro-mesh to finish the job. This took about two hours of very careful work. I also used the TWSBI video showing their method of adjusting nibs for flow as a guide to bending the nib just behind the breather hole in order to bring the tines closer together across their entire length. This was very useful, and after a few more minor adjustments to the tines it now writes absolutely perfectly. No pressure is required to put ink to paper, and the flow is perfect. This pen has gone from my most frustrating pen to one of my absolute favorites.

 

Had it come from the factory exactly as it is now, I would feel as though this pen was the deal of the decade. As it stands now, however, if I factor in my time as part of the cost, this is now the most expensive pen I own... though it also writes as well or better than any pen I own, so I feel this is acceptable.

 

Will I buy another TWSBI? Most likely, and it will likely be another 1.1mm. But I fully expect that I will spend some time carefully preparing the nib for use. This particular 1.1mm nib, in my limited sample of 2, is a tinkerer's or hobbyist's nib.

 

It was, overall, a good experience. I learned extensively about nib theory, and have since used what I learned to improve nearly every other pen in my inventory. Had I not had this experience I would not be enjoying writing as much as I do now, and for that I am extremely grateful... but I caution others to be wary of what may be necessary to get to this point if they choose to make the same purchase.

 

TL;DR: Man, this pen sucked out of the box. It taught me how to adjust nibs, however, and if you don't mind doing (a LOT of) that work, this pen is fantastic!

Edited December 15, 2013 by Masque

[alc3261]

And my 1.1 stub on my 580 was gorgeous out of the box.

(Although I had a lot of trouble with the fine and the medium on my Vac 700s)

[Jerome10]

Well I'll jump in...as a bit of a rookie.

 

But I also am having similar issues with my new 580 1.1. Uncap it and start writing, and it is really great. It was seemingly perfect the first time I inked it up. But lately, after maybe half an A4 page, i'm also getting the skips on the start and downstrokes. I've tried two inks and both have the same issue.

 

Been doing some researching what might be causing this, but I'm frankly, a bit afraid to ruin my pen. But, at least wanted to post some photos I made under the microscope. Anything that stands out here that looks out of place?

 

I really loved the pen for the first week or so, and now I find I'm starting to grab the Pilot Metropolitan a bit more often. It works every stinking time!

 

Edited March 11, 2014 by Jerome10