Fixed The Nib On My Fountain Pen

[giggle]

When I moved to Florida 7 years ago, I brought with me two fountain pens. One was a standard pen, in the sense that I used it often and regularly in my journal writing, which was more prolific back then. The other was more decorative, but also a nice writing instrument. The first pen was something I bought at a department store. The model name is Titanium, but I can't remember the make. It is of Japanese manufacture, and I think the brand begins with the letter "N".

 

I liked to experiment with different inks, black, red, green, and red. I found an ink by Pelikan called PLAKA. Big mistake. I didn't know anything about inks before, how fountain pen inks like to be wet and low viscosity. Long story short, the very thick PLAKA ink clogged the capillaries in the plastic nibs of both pens.

 

This was last summer, and since then I have been struggling to fix my nibs. I watched YouTube videos several times, and thought I understood them. This morning I made a more aggressive attempt to understand the problem at a very low level of analysis. I was able to pull the bare naked plastic nib out from the plastic barrel it was inserted into. Sure enough, the ridges and the capillary was really gummed up. I used a dish sponge with water to scrub the gunk off the plastic nib. There was a tiny plastic "tit" or nipple on the posterior end of the bare nib. Probably 2mm long by 1mm in diameter. This tit broke off during the scrubbing process. I didn't even know it was there. I was going to super glue the tit back onto the nib, but unfortunately I lost the little plastic piece, possibly down the drain when I rinsed the paper towel off that was holding it.

 

Needless to say, now it was do or die. This cleaning would either work, or, sans tiny piece of nib, the importance of which I don't really know, I would be here figuring out where I can buy a replacement nib for a pen of uncertain manufacture.

 

After futzing with the insert and the collar, which I had put on backwards, and figuring out where I lost the pen body, which was in my pocket the whole time, I put everything back together. The pen now works, and seems to work even better than it has since the very first year I owned it.

Edited March 30, 2015 by giggle

[kirchh]

The nib is the writing point. I think you mean the feed.

 

--Daniel

[giggle]

The nib is the writing point. I think you mean the feed.

 

--Daniel

Ok, then, the feed. Thanks. I thought the nib was the entire module, comprising the metal part and the plastic part.

[kirchh]

Ok, then, the feed. Thanks. I thought the nib was the entire module, comprising the metal part and the plastic part.

 

Browse Richard Binder's reference page; the anatomy articles will help with parts identification.

 

--Daniel