Is There A Way To Make A Flex Pen More Responsive?

[beanbag]

I take it to mean that "responsive" means that it can go from a thick line to a thin line quickly without squirting out a lot of ink that runs back up the line.

 

I have an old Wahl #2 ringtop pen. One problem is just this - that when I unflex the pen, a bunch of ink comes out. If I slow waaaayyy down and very slowly reduce the flex, then the amount of ink squirted out is less. But if I do it quickly, the feed system doesn't seem to suck this excess ink back in.

 

I experimented with moving the feed in and out, and heat setting it, but it didn't seem to make a reliable difference one way or the other. I think if I use a very dry ink, then it does seem a little better about it. The best performance I got was when I initially got the pen, and was using a dry ink mixed together with the previous owners totally dried out crud. Then if I very slowly unflexed, I could actually see the pen sucking that extra blob of ink back in.

[ac12]

Sounds like you are flexing the nib too much.

Ease up or get a dip pen.

[beanbag]

It does this too if I make lines that are less than 1mm wide, if you are worried that I push the nib too much. If I just write the lines quickly, like with my non-flex pens, then the line is super wet, due to the squirting ink at lift-off. If I write that same line, but then slow way down at the end and unflex slowly, then the pen sucks the extra ink back up. (It works with some inks, and not others).

 

So it is not because I am flexing it too much.

 

EDIT: pic included

 

Edited May 18, 2015 by beanbag

[Mauricio]

What you are calling "responsive" is actually called "ink flow". Yes, it can be adjusted to reduce its ink flow to a more drier setting, but I suggest you send it to someone who has experience in doing this very type of ink flow adjustments to fountain pens with flexible nibs.