Ebonite Feed Cures My Visconti Homo Sapiens!

[Pendel]

I am a ways off though. Right now the flow is great then stops after a page or so. It starts right back up again, but still unacceptable. I think I know why. The width of the nib is allowing for more air returning up, than ink is flowing down.

I am not sure this latter phenomenon is possible. There is only as much vacated space for air to go to, as the ink has left beind. I think it is more likely that the the problem is the opposite: not enough air is replacing the ink, creating a vacuum and hence enough vertical force to preven the flow. The cause may be an obstruction in the channel, or it may be that the shape of the channel is not quite right. The ink gets pulled down throw the narrow bottom of the channel and the air should replace it flowing over the wider top. There are various diagrams of this online (ex. Richard. binder's site: http://www.richardspens.com/?refp=feeds ).

[Recoil Rob]

I am very happy that you finally got what was obviously a special pen ti you to write properly.

 

I was about to pull the trigger on the Massdrop Visconti Homo Sapiens Florentine Hills but changed my mind at the last minute and kind of glad I did. I loved the look of the pen but in 2 days researching it on the web I was very disappointed in the amount of posts about the incredible inconsistency of writing quality caused by the nibs. Like yourself, others had problems even after being sent to Mike Masuyama. That just wouldn't sit well with me, I wouldn't be able to let that much pen ($$$) sit in a drawer. Glad yours worked out.

Edited April 3, 2015 by Recoil Rob

[XtianApi]

I am very happy that you finally got what was obviously a special pen ti you to write properly.

 

I was about to pull the trigger on the Massdrop Visconti Homo Sapiens Florentine Hills but changed my mind at the last minute and kind of glad I did. I loved the look of the pen but in 2 days researching it on the web I was very disappointed in the amount of posts about the incredible inconsistency of writing quality caused by the ins. Like yourself, others had problems even after being sent to Mike Masuyama. That just wouldn't sit well with me, I wouldn't be able to let that much pen ($$$) sit in a drawer. Glad yours worked out.

Yeah, good call on skipping the buy. It is a shame. After all the heartbreak that I went through with this pen, it almost doesn't matter that it works now because I am so jaded and critical of it. I love the pen, but it will never be, for me, what it should have been. I won't sell it I don't think,because I love it, but it also makes me sick to think about the whole experience.

 

I don't get it Visconti! The nib is great, but you can't get a feed that actually fits?! How bizzare.

 

Thanks for the reply.

[miko]

What is the trick to making this work? I tried the modified Ahab feed and, indeed, it does write with a better, more controlled flow.....for a few lines. Then it dries up and I have to shake the pen to restart it. Writes beautifully again for a few lines, then requires another shake.

I though it might be due to the absence of the little extension seen on the "native" Visconti feed, so I fit a short feeder tube into the Ahab feed, but same problem.

This is pretty frustrating. The HS is a unique pen and I love the way its Pd stub nib writes, but the gushing flow is an issue and also affects the limited ink supply. (Why do they do this? The old Manhattans had a much larger bore and hold a LOT of ink, but the later generation piston fillers have a much smaller internal diameter. Even filling with the ink pot and multiple strokes doesn't achieve much more than approximately 1.2 cc of ink.

Thanks.

[XtianApi]

What is the trick to making this work? I tried the modified Ahab feed and, indeed, it does write with a better, more controlled flow.....for a few lines. Then it dries up and I have to shake the pen to restart it. Writes beautifully again for a few lines, then requires another shake.

I though it might be due to the absence of the little extension seen on the "native" Visconti feed, so I fit a short feeder tube into the Ahab feed, but same problem.

This is pretty frustrating. The HS is a unique pen and I love the way its Pd stub nib writes, but the gushing flow is an issue and also affects the limited ink supply. (Why do they do this? The old Manhattans had a much larger bore and hold a LOT of ink, but the later generation piston fillers have a much smaller internal diameter. Even filling with the ink pot and multiple strokes doesn't achieve much more than approximately 1.2 cc of ink.

Thanks.

I agree with you about the ink supply. It's almost like the pen was made to not be used. I figure the captured converter is there because the body is made from a porous material?

 

As for the ink flow, with these ebonite feed swaps, I find that you want the feed as close to the tip of the nib as you can get it, then have the whole package as far into the pen as you can get it. The air-ink interchange is being disrupted. Either by a significant imbalance between flow of ink and return of air, which I don't think is an inherent problem of your setup. More than likely it is flowing weird because of some unlucky-Ness and you may just want to pull it out, clean it, make sure there are no bits of ebonite, then put it back in. You didn't widen then slit on the nib side did you? The feed is designed for high flow flex writing, and I think it would benefit from a flow reduction. I think the nib is holding back a big flow ink, rather than the feed and nib being in close balance. The pressure imbalance is too great. It's what happens in eyedroppers sometimes. It's how a super wet eyedropper can run dry every few minutes.

 

I have to go to the airport now, but I'll keep an eye on your posts. I think I have a very very minor version of your problem, where once every two pages the pen stops for a letter or two. I'll ink the pen up today and write with it, and see.

 

We'll get through this together, haha.

[KBeezie]

Is there any thing further that needs to be done to the feed to make it work, for example I have it in a Divina, have it heat set, but it seems that even though I Can fill the pen and all that, the nib only writes what the feed has soaked, after that it seems to not get any new ink from the ink reservoir to the feed. almost as if it's not using the little hole in the back of the feed.

[graystranger]

Omas pens have machined ebonite feeds, heat set to their nibs.

 

The plastic feeds that nearly every pen has is injection molded and requires no machining, so it is relatively cheap to make and requires minimal machining. But plastic nibs require a chemical treatment to make the plastic hydrophyllic, i.e. readily wetted by water. Plastic is naturally hydrophobic, not wetted. If you remove the surface of a plastic nib it will require that special chemical surface treatment before it will be able to wick ink to the nib.

 

Ebonite is naturally hydrophyllic and needs no chemical treatment.

 

However, a manufacturer can dump 10,000 molded feeds into a chemical bath to give it the treatment. What I don't understand is why ore expensive pens do not utilize ebonite feeds. My guess is they left ebonite and do not have the manufacturing fixtures and tools to machine the feeds that they used to have decades ago.

 

My Omas Ogiva Alba is very wet writing but has never dripped or blobbed at all. I'm glad it has an ebonite feed.