Tines Keep Getting Unaligned?

[Bynming]

Hello, I'm new to the fountain pens work and I have a few cheap pens. I have a Baoer 388 which I got with the tines unaligned (one was too far up). I "fixed" it by pushing down on it with my finger, but I've found that it goes back up when I get the nib to flex even just a little (after a bit of writing). Is it possible that the cheap metal has loosened up on one side or something?

 

Any help or explanation would be greatly appreciated. If the nib is dead, it's not too bad, the thing was like $6.

Edited June 2, 2013 by Bynming

[Catsmelt]

Unless you bought the pen from someone who put a flex nib on it, the Baoer 388 is not meant to be flexed. Its nib, in your case, gets unaligned because you are attempting to flex a rigid nib.

 

Most fountain pen nibs are not flexible. A flex nib that is being sold will be marketed as such -- otherwise assume that it isn't.

[Bynming]

Correct me if I'm wrong but even regular fountain pens have a little bit of flex. I can do this without any issues with my other pens. I don't put an excessive amount of pressure here, I'm talking about just a little flex for line variation.

[wimg]

Unfortunately, as Catsmelt mentioned, a nib unless it is specifically designed as a flex nib, is not supposed to be flexed, and neither is it advisable to do so. Yes, some nibs will provide a little line variation when you try, but it damages the nib, no guarantees for when it happens with which nib. Pushing a nib several times beyond what it is capable of, like your Baoer pen, unfortunately will damage the nib permanently, as you are creating a weak spot in its structure.

 

If you really would like to experience some flex in a modern pen, you have a few options:

1) replace the nib with a proper, vintage flex nib (gold)

2) buy a flex nib from one of the nibmasters who create them (gold or steel) and replace your current nib

3) buy a pen with a modern flex nib (there are a few available, in titanium and gold)

4) buy a modern flex nib (titanium or gold) and replace your current one

 

I have moved this question to the general forum, as MHM is not so much a forum about help with pens but rather with other things, like accessing FPN etc.

 

HTH, warm regards, Wim

[jar]

Correct me if I'm wrong but even regular fountain pens have a little bit of flex. I can do this without any issues with my other pens. I don't put an excessive amount of pressure here, I'm talking about just a little flex for line variation.

 

Yup, you are wrong.

 

Most pens have no flex. You've been lucky so far with your other pens it seems.

 

Lighten your hand.

[Bynming]

Alright, I guess I was going off of bad advice. I know people who have been doing it wrong for a while! Thanks.

 

Edit: When I talk about "flex" I don't mean anything more than what sbrebrown does on youtube, by the way. I don't need to push hard on the nib for the thing to move a little. Maybe "flex" is the wrong word. I'm typically very soft with my pens but after 1-2 pages the left tine goes up even when I apply very little pressure.

Edited June 2, 2013 by Bynming

[GabrielleDuVent]

Alright, I guess I was going off of bad advice. I know people who have been doing it wrong for a while! Thanks.

 

Edit: When I talk about "flex" I don't mean anything more than what sbrebrown does on youtube, by the way. I don't need to push hard on the nib for the thing to move a little. Maybe "flex" is the wrong word.

 

A non-flex nib isn't supposed to receive any kind of pressure at all. The tines aren't supposed to move at all. The hand is there to guide the pen, and the weight of the pen and the contact with the paper is supposed to do the work.

[Bynming]

Ok. Sadly it seems like only my Parker Sonnet is able to write properly without any pressure over well over a hundred pages.

 

Not sure what I'm doing wrong at this point. I've tried a bunch of different inks and all of the cheaper pens seems to require at least a little pressure and the nib does move a little bit.

Edited June 2, 2013 by Bynming

[Lyander0012]

In my experience, when I first started out with fountain pens a bit under a year ago (yes, I still think of myself as new to all this, which just adds to the fun! ), I gripped the only pen I had at the time like a ballpoint (a Sheaffer Prelude with a medium-sized steel nib), though I made sure to avoid adding too much pressure. Eventually, I got the hang of properly holding a fountain pen, meaning that the nib faced upwards (I was an idiot ). However, I still applied what I thought to be appropriate pressure on the nib while writing. By rollerball/ballpoint standards, it was very much minimal pressure, but for fountain pens, well... yeah.

 

Luckily for me, the Prelude series has nails for nibs. They're smooth nails, but nails nonetheless. Still, the cumulative effect of putting pressure on a thing that wasn't meant to withstand such pressure for over a month of journal entries, taking down notes at school, and pretty much just writing for the fun of it eventually took its toll on the nib. It was only when I thought to improve my handwriting that I realized, to my chagrin, that I was maltreating my fountain pen.

 

The tines were very slightly misaligned, which led to its being a bit of a scratchy writer. However, a fairly traumatic (but ultimately fortuitous) nib-first fall, the memory of which I still cringe at, gave me the perfect excuse to do some work on the nib. I realigned the tines until there was nary a whisper when I wrote, this time letting gravity make contact with the writing surface for me. In other words, it took nearly two months for me to figure out exactly how smooth a writer my pen was. Genius, I know

 

Nowadays, I pretty much spam this forum with whatever questions come to mind. Naturally, I make sure I'm not pestering people with matters that have already been resolved, but I ask for clarification whenever I don't understand something. Speaking of, hope no one minds my doing so!

 

Anyway, why mention all this, you ask? Just to show that there are people as dense as I who can still manage to get by fairly unscathed, as well as to reiterate and reemphasize the fact that a nib shouldn't always be flexed.

 

Cheers!

[Lyander0012]

Ok. Sadly it seems like only my Parker Sonnet is able to write properly without any pressure over well over a hundred pages.

 

Not sure what I'm doing wrong at this point. I've tried a bunch of different inks and all of the cheaper pens seems to require at least a little pressure and the nib does move a little bit.

 

I come across this problem with quite a few FPs as well. While some higher-end pens require no pressure at all from start to finish, hard starters are fairly common with lower-end pens. What you ought to do is put just a tiny bit of pressure on the nib, just to get the ink flowing. Subsequent strokes ought to be done with the pen resting in hand, with no downward pressure applied at all.

 

P.S.

Such problems are usually caused by the tip of the nib being "baby-bottomed", meaning that there's a bit of a gap between the ink found betwixt the tines and the writing surface. If you're not entirely against doing a bit of work on your pen, all you need is a super-fine grit (think 12000 grade!) micromesh, and you'll be golden

 

Cheers and, since I've yet to say so, welcome to the FPN! Never hesitate to ask a question, as all the people here are really helpful and wonderful. Some might be more critical than others, but they mean well. I hope )

[Bynming]

Well thanks Lyander, it's nice to know that I'm not the only one who screws up. Luckily, my one expensive pen (by my standards) has been lucky enough to not get mistreated, simply because it writes well without pressure. However, my Baoer 388 and my Pilot metropolitan have needed a firmer hand from the start because they refused to lay down a consistent line without a little bit of pressure.

 

The metropolitan is likely still fine, I haven't messed with it too much because switching the ink seems to have fixed the issue for the most part, although it does skip once in a while. I think the ink had trouble traveling in or to the feed, because "pushing" ink in the feed also helps a lot. The Baoer 388 is currently writing decently but I've abused it quite a bit. Like I said, I received it with a tine bent upward and pushed on it quite hard at times, and spent a bit of time trying to adjust them.

 

It's a $6 pen so it's not a big loss I guess... since it works, it can be my pen to experiment with

[Lyander0012]

Though I feel sorry for your $6 pen by saying so, it's nice to have a guinea pig to hone your nib tinkering skills on. Also, I have to apologize for recommending nib smoothing before changing inks. I made a rookie mistake in that I skipped a critical step in troubleshooting a fountain pen. Like I said, I've still got quite a ways to go

 

Anyway, best of luck with your pen collection! And who knows, you might eventually turn out to be quite the talented nibmesiter, huh? There are a lot of videos and guides online regarding nib tuning, so you may as well ask for advice from the experts instead.

 

Cheers, bro!

[Paddler]

If the tips of the tines are touching each other, your attempt at bending one to bring it into alignment is not working. The tips should be very, very close to each other but not touching. When this is the case, your alignment will stay after you slightly flex the nib.

 

[Bynming]

I wouldn't really know how to see if there's a gap at the tip or even how to fix it if there was.

[Chris Chalmers]

You need a magnifying glass or a 'loupe' to see nibs properly. Invest in one before you start messing with re-aligning tines and regrinding/smoothing nibs.....it will save your blood pressure and your bank account - not to mention your pens......whatever the make or value.

Good luck, and - look twice, fiddle once!!!

[Bynming]

Yeah I should be more careful, but I'm kind of winging it with this one. I would be more careful if I tried to work on a more expensive pen. For aligning tines, I can do it without a magnifying glass, I'm lucky enough to have a very very (very) good eyes.

 

Seeing between is another story however. Maybe I'll pick something up, if nothing else for the sake of curiosity.

[proton007]

Non flex nibs will flex for a while, and then stay flexed forever.

[Bo Bo Olson]

For aligning tines, I can do it without a magnifying glass, I'm lucky enough to have a very very (very) good eyes.

 

Nope...you need a 10-12-15 X loupe....I'd suggest a 12 in for me a 10X is a tad too little. There is a pretty big difference between pretty close to aligned and aligned.

 

Could be you have sprung your nib, in it keeps falling out of alignment. I don't know Chinese pens is that Baoer 388, a nail or regular flex.

 

Hopefully you are holding your pens like a fountain pen behind the big knuckle of the index finger and not before like a ball point.

In advanced search, look for in this sub section, 'Classic Tripod' and 'Death Grip'.

[rochester21]

Non flex nibs will flex for a while, and then stay flexed forever.

 

Exactly(funny, but sad in the same time). This is how many pens end up damaged. Let`s face it, not all people are capable of properly using a fountain pen. Again, if the tines keep getting misaligned, then you are holding the nib wrong.

 

And stop trying to flex modern pens, it just doesn`t work !!

Edited June 3, 2013 by rochester21

[GabrielleDuVent]

I heard that if you need to press down on FPs (non-flex), then the nib is a dud. Not sure how much of a truth that is, since my nibs are generally very stiff.

 

Pressing down on it was how I ruined my first FP, however. My medium nib turned into a lovely flex and then it won't channel the ink down.

 

Quite a few ballpoints require pressing down to get the ink flowing. Not quite so with FPs. FP works by capillary action.

 

Don't worry, it's a mistake quite a lot of us make when we first begin using FPs. You might want to change your grip, as a few others have suggested.