Diamond 580 - Anyone Fixed The Drying-Out Issue?

[Bluey]

Then do what I did. Write to Wang and ask his advice. At minimum, you should get a new pen. I own 2 TWSBIs and they are fantastic pens that write beautifully -- no skips, no hard starts, no dry spells. Because of the slip 'n seal cap, they never dry out. Your pen should not have these problems.

I have Pilots, Platinums and Sailors and I'm minimising my collection down to the very best pens. Why would I want a downgrade to a Twsbi? I've already go rid of them once.

They may have some fresh and original designs but they're not fantastic writers unless one's standards are low.

 

What slip'n'seal cap? You're confusing them with Platinums and Sailors.

Edited March 4, 2018 by Bluey

[Drubbing]

I have Pilots, Platinums and Sailors and I'm minimising my collection down to the very best pens. Why would I want a downgrade to a Twsbi? I've already go rid of them once.

They may have some fresh and original designs but they're not fantastic writers unless one's standards are low.

 

What slip'n'seal cap? You're confusing them with Platinums and Sailors.

 

 

I guess pen snobbery on a pen site is to be expected. I have standards too.

 

I bought a few vintage many years ago, and then a Pelikan. The Eco I bought writes as well as any of them (better than the Pelikan in fact), for a fraction of the cost. Which is important to me, as I don't want to worry about accidents or loss using these at work.

 

When it comes to the subjective things like feel and aesthetics, I prefer the TWSBI. I can swap nibs without buying a whole new pen. I can do basic maintenance on it if I want, reducing costs. A Parker 51 service here cost $100 inc postage to the other side of the country.

 

My Safari provides a few niggling issues now and then, but the Pelikan was never trouble free when I bought it in 2002. Requiring Pelikan to fix it, and taking numerous and tedious attempts at doing so, until I got fed up with the process and the pen.

 

So quality has little to do with price. Reading around this site, it would seem issues plague almost every brand and price point, when you condense them in one place.

[Bluey]

 

 

I guess pen snobbery on a pen site is to be expected. I have standards too.

 

I bought a few vintage many years ago, and then a Pelikan. The Eco I bought writes as well as any of them (better than the Pelikan in fact), for a fraction of the cost. Which is important to me, as I don't want to worry about accidents or loss using these at work.

 

When it comes to the subjective things like feel and aesthetics, I prefer the TWSBI. I can swap nibs without buying a whole new pen. I can do basic maintenance on it if I want, reducing costs. A Parker 51 service here cost $100 inc postage to the other side of the country.

 

My Safari provides a few niggling issues now and then, but the Pelikan was never trouble free when I bought it in 2002. Requiring Pelikan to fix it, and taking numerous and tedious attempts at doing so, until I got fed up with the process and the pen.

 

So quality has little to do with price. Reading around this site, it would seem issues plague almost every brand and price point, when you condense them in one place.

That's not pen snobbery. it's pen realism.

It would be pen snobbery if I was looking down my nose at people using Jinhaos, smoking a £500 note cigar while writing with a Pelikan or Montblanc. I'm an advocate of Chinese pens because they're great writers.

 

I'm the last person that needs to be advised that price has nowt to do with quality and performance, as I know this only too well.

Edited March 5, 2018 by Bluey

[Tseg]

Like eggybread and myself earlier, I spoke too soon, again. Playing with the tines did create improvement, but just slowed the drying out process... a slow fade on the ink and now by 4 full pages of writing the skipping begins. How often I write 4 continuous pages is a different story. But it is the principal. My Metropolitan goes all day. As was mentioned, for $25 or less one has options with additional nibs. After extensive 580 review watching and reading I'm under the impression the Broad nib is the more bullet-proof of the TWSBI nibs so may be throwing good money after bad, but the new bigger Broad nib (using an M currently) is on the way. If this doesn't do the trick out of the box I'll be reaching out to TWSBI. BTW, selfishly I was half-hoping my Medium nib would not solve the problem because I realized I really want to try that Broad nib (as a collector I can justify anything).

Edited March 9, 2018 by Tseg

[Tseg]

I'm glad my Broad nib arrived this morning, 4 days early. I have written 8 or 9 full sheets of paper and no flow issues or ink starvation. There have been a handful of very minor skips but I have determined this Broad nib has a sweet spot and both sides of the nib must be equidistant to the paper surface (i.e., nib can't be tilted towards or away from me) to optimize ink flow, which is a healthy flow. Knock on wood, but now this TWSBI is acting impressively. This is my first Broad nib and it is a nice change of pace to see ink shading, etc.... vs. what I get from my Asian Fine nibs.

 

[Epr969]

Hi Tseg,

Have an M nib 580 and its killing me.

 

Same kind of issue, writes fine..then you notice a gradual drying...the ink not as dark coming onto the paper etc...then it gets dry enough that you feel it affect the smoothness...then a half downstroke skip or hard start.

 

Sent it back to the Shop I bought it from in the UK (with my Diamine ink still in it)....they telling me "we have been using it on and off for days with no issue", we can send it to TWSBI for you but the pen seems fine"....so got it back and its at it again.

 

Ordered a new nib and asked the place to set it up as wet and smooth it......

 

In the meantime pulled old nib , rinsed out whole pen with mix of warm water and drop of washing up liquid (dish soap) - rinsed thoroughly. Filled up with a different Diamine blue ink. Ran a razor blade down the feed, brushed with an old toothbrush and rinsed and put back together. Wow...I seem to have fixed it......for a while.....then it starts again to writer lighter etc

 

New nib unit arrived....emptied and refilled pen....seems good.....for a while.....then gradually drier etc etc

 

Razor blade down new feed....a bit better for a while......then back to starting to get drier etc etc

 

This pen is killing me...I've a old Cross Townsend that is lovely and smooth and wet, same for a M nib VP, same an old Sheaffer Cartridge pen.....but this 580 starts out well then gradually after writing maybe 2 or more A4 pages it starts to get dry......then an odd skip or hard start

 

Sending back to TWSBI (from europe) will cost me yet more money, after already posting it back to UK shop...and buying a new nib unit....but I also "razored" the feed (so probably invalidated warranty)........is there any saving this pen ??? I'm thinking of sending to a Nibmiester like JS in the UK but is the bloody pen worth it ?????? but I really like the colour and size it......its the RBT model .

 

No wonder some people have been put off fountain pens pens for life if their only experience or FP's behaved like this !!

 

Advise ?????

 

ER.

[KCat]

Well, this doesn't sound promising. Bought a TWSBI (honestly can't tell you what model. Impulse buy) and I'm regretting it. It's smooth. It fits my hand beautifully. I posts!

 

And it starts drying up after about a page and I want to chunk it across the room. Eventually it dries up entirely even though it clearly has ink. I've had it a month. Don't feel I can return it because it has taken me this long to sit down and actually use it (meh, depressions sucks).

 

So, came here, brought this rather dead thread to life. Hoped for answers. Boo. Hiss. Wah.

 

Who is Wang and how do I contact him?

Edited August 15, 2019 by KCat

[Honeybadgers]

My 580 is about a year old and doesn't dry out ever.

 

I'm convinced TWSBI just has some dud feeds. I had a VAC700R that did it. I confirmed the feed was bad by dunking the tail into some noodlers whiteness of the whale to see the ink rise in the feed via capillary action and found it hit a dead stop halfway up.

 

A quick run through with a double edge razor blade and it was solved. It actually wrote just a smidge wetter too, which was nice.

 

Phil Wang is just pulling teeth to deal with. I recommend you just run a razor blade (a proper face razor blade, not one of those scraper/carpet cutter blades) down the feed once or twice.

Edited August 22, 2019 by Honeybadgers

[KCat]

My 580 is about a year old and doesn't dry out ever.

 

I'm convinced TWSBI just has some dud feeds. I had a VAC700R that did it. I confirmed the feed was bad by dunking the tail into some noodlers whiteness of the whale to see the ink rise in the feed via capillary action and found it hit a dead stop halfway up.

 

A quick run through with a double edge razor blade and it was solved. It actually wrote just a smidge wetter too, which was nice.

 

Phil Wang is just pulling teeth to deal with. I recommend you just run a razor blade (a proper face razor blade, not one of those scraper/carpet cutter blades) down the feed once or twice.

Thank you. I'll look into it. I imagine it's no small feat to deal with a pen business.

[FGMath]

So sad there isn't a cure to this disese, yet. Today I tried to use my 580 AL blue for a "longer" writing session (to these days I use it only for quick notes at work). This is the annoying result, after just 2 small pages.

I've been tempted to buy a 580 mini for a long time now, but I think I'll give up, after all.

 

TWSBI 580 AL + Diamine Eau De Nil

Edited September 13, 2019 by FGMath

[KCat]

So sad there isn't a cure to this disese, yet. Today I tried to use my 580 AL blue for a "longer" writing session (to these days I use it only for quick notes at work). This is the annoying result, after just 2 small pages.

I've been tempted to buy a 580 mini for a long time now, but I think I'll give up, after all.

 

TWSBI 580 AL + Diamine Eau De Nil

IMG_20190913_094224.jpg

 

I'm very frustrated but I otherwise love the pen. I have relegated it to purse pen only. Quick notes.

[Feemy]

On 3/3/2018 at 10:10 PM, Tseg said:

I came to this thread because I was having skipping problems. I received my new 580AL earlier this morning and on one hand it was amazing... so smooth, a great feel, looking beautiful with yama-guri iroshizuku ink. But I noticed every few sentences the start of a letter of a word would skip, usually a 1/4 or 1/2 of a stroke, but sometimes a whole stroke. Initially it did not seem like an issue, but after several hours of writing it was becoming a niggling annoyance. I started doing some searching and there were a lot of extreme recommendations as this TWSBI ailment has been observed by others, but a very simple suggestion found online, without clarity of why it works, has seemed to do the trick for me.

 

The 'fix' consists of not having the plunger knob clamped down. Basically loosen the knob a 1/8 or 1/16 of a rotation and something happens in the ink system that allows better flow. I can't explain it. After I loosened the knob I was several pages in with righting, and I noticed another skip. I went to the knob and somehow I had bumped it tight shut again. I loosened it slightly and no more skips. Beyond that, I notice my (M) nib definitely has a sweet spot that doubly ensures my pen has no issue paying down a consistent smooth line.

 

Finally, as I write this, I just tightened down the knob again and immediately my ink became drier and I had another skip in the first few sentences. 1/8 of a turn later so the knob feels loose and my writing has become wet again. It is very bizarre and I can't explain it, but it just works for me. Can anyone else with a 580AL skipping problem try to validate this as a potential solution? Also, anyone else notice a sweet spot on this nib that lays down ink better?

I did exactly the same thing as you suggested (even before reading your comment). 

I recently purchased the 580ALR and it was not laying down any ink at all straight out of the box. I turned the piston slightly open and the flow was wet, just how I expected. Tightening the piston again results in a drier flow but it still works, however eventually it will probably dry out.

I suspect the explanation for this is that when you turn the piston knob slightly open it breaks the vacuum that's inside and the ink is allowed to flow again. The same sort of thing happens with the Pilot Custom 823 (vacuum filler): users leave the cap open so that there is no more vacuum. This allows the ink to flow through the feed AGAIN as this is no pressure build up in the pen. 

 

Just be warned to turn the piston knob very slightly on the TWSBI, otherwise too much twisting will result in ink oozing out of the nib. 

Once you're done with your writing, you can screw the piston knob tight again and open it slightly next time you write. 

[Amontillado]

I'm new to fountain pens, so I don't have qualified opinions.

 

Doesn't the piston seal the reservoir from the end cap? Not trying to second-guess what's going on, but I don't think many fountain pens rely on an air passage in the back end of the pen. Cartridges, for example, can't breathe that way.

 

I found an article on sciencedirect.com that talks about a fountain pen's capillary valve, which I suspect is something like a Tesla valve, which is a way of creating a one-way valve without moving parts.

 

In other words, asking from a vantage of very little idea what I'm talking about, could this be a feed problem?

[Inkysloth]

As per this thread: 

 

 

It sounds like the solution could be to take the nib & feed out and remove the little nipple on the back of the feed.

 

”The TWSBI pens use a nib unit that still has the "nipple" on them for a converter to latch onto. You just need to remove that. Piston fillers do not need that and it just gets in the way of the air exchange.”

[marcelo]

I gave up my VAC Mini. Endless drying-out and leaking on several parts (even after changed for new ones). Such a shame, since I love the looks of the pen.