Ahab Eye Dropper

[shawng]

I've had a Noodler's ahab for the last couple months, and I've loved every part of it. Converted to an eyedropper the Ahab can hold 6mL of ink!!! and I've tried to do this a couple times, with little success. Every time I think I've successfully done it, to either one of my ahabs, it suffers from severe burping and and leaking from the feed, and often ending up with a cap filled with ink. Is there anyway to alleviate this problem? Thanks

[Algester]

Well uhh... Change the design the feed drastically else add more feed fins I havent got to actually experiment with feed designs for non burping ED pens

[Drone]

I've tried this with identical results. IMO if you have an Ahab with a feed that can keep up with the nib when flexing, then as an eye-dropper there is too much ink - and it leaks. Putting less ink in does not help much because now you have a large volume of air in the barrel that will cause leaking if the air warms and expands. Put the piston back in the pen, that will fix your eye-dropper "leaking problem"

[oshizemi]

Drone is quite correct. I had excessive burping with my eyedropper Ahabs... much worse than my Indian ED pens. I put the converters back in and gave them away as gifts haha.

[shawng]

Just an update, so i did some fiddling with my ahab feed, in where i used a flame to heat the bottom (flat) end of the feed and increased its diameter, which let the feed have a snugger fit with the section. I've been using it as an eyedropper now for about a month and its been being very well behaved so far. It looks like the feed had a loose fit prior to the tampering which allowed ink to gush out. Problem solved

[Drone]

Just an update, so i did some fiddling with my Ahab feed, in where i used a flame to heat the bottom (flat) end of the feed and increased its diameter, which let the feed have a snugger fit with the section. I've been using it as an eyedropper now for about a month and its been being very well behaved so far. It looks like the feed had a loose fit prior to the tampering which allowed ink to gush out. Problem solved

 

That is very interesting.

 

Question: Did the feed expand all by itself some how when you heated it?

 

I had a feed that did not fit snugly in an Ahab (other feeds I have did fit OK). rather than the (then) impossible to buy feed, I did something similar:

 

I heated the bottom of the feed where it goes into the section until the Ebonite was soft, then I pushed on the bottom of the feed so it mushroomed out a bit. Afterwards, the feed was a tiny bit shorter, but it was such a snug fit I had to remove a bit of material with a polishing stick to reduce the circumference. After tuning and heat-setting the feed it wrote normally.

 

[fountainpenlady]

 

That is very interesting.

 

Question: Did the feed expand all by itself some how when you heated it?

 

I had a feed that did not fit snugly in an Ahab (other feeds I have did fit OK). rather than the (then) impossible to buy feed, I did something similar:

 

I heated the bottom of the feed where it goes into the section until the Ebonite was soft, then I pushed on the bottom of the feed so it mushroomed out a bit. Afterwards, the feed was a tiny bit shorter, but it was such a snug fit I had to remove a bit of material with a polishing stick to reduce the circumference. After tuning and heat-setting the feed it wrote normally.

 

Another way to do something similar is to heat hot water in the microwave. You then dip the nib and feed of the Ahab in the hot water for several seconds. You then with the tips of your fingers press the nib and feed close together for a couple of seconds. I saw this on a Youtube Video. The person, Brian Goulet said that you can repeat the process. I must admit, I have tried it. It worked the first time for one of my Ahabs, had to it again for my other Ahab. I am not using original flex nibs of either; instead using Goulet XF nibs for both. They write true to XF nib size. Hoping they continue to do so. I still have to get the seals in order to make either or both eye droppers. I tried using some alternative silicone grease. Let us just say it was a neutral mess of red ink!

Edited March 13, 2015 by fountainpenlady

[Drone]

Another way to do something similar is to heat hot water in the microwave. You then dip the nib and feed of the Ahab in the hot water for several seconds. You then with the tips of your fingers press the nib and feed close together for a couple of seconds. I saw this on a Youtube Video. The person, Brian Goulet said that you can repeat the process. I must admit, I have tried it. It worked the first time for one of my Ahabs, had to it again for my other Ahab. I am not using original flex nibs of either; instead using Goulet XF nibs for both. They write true to XF nib size. Hoping they continue to do so. I still have to get the seals in order to make either or both eye droppers. I tried using some alternative silicone grease. Let us just say it was a neutral mess of red ink!

 

Hello... Today I posted a reply in the Ahab Ease My Flex Mod (EMF) thread with three links to videos that I know of as of now regarding heat-setting of nibs and feeds. These are the video linksI know of at my post time/date here; and no guarantee how long they will live on YouTube. Here's a cross-link to my Post #300 in the EMF thread here on FPN (no guarantee how long this link will live either - but I try my best):

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/240492-noodlers-ahab-ease-my-flex-mod/page-10?do=findComment&comment=3301390

 

Have Fun, David

[sidthecat]

As if there aren't already dozens of ways to ruin a pen.