It Is All Right To Hack A Plastic Feed, Isn't It?

[lurcho]

I've done it with apparent great success on two Lamy Safaris, and to dismal effect on two Pilot MRs (the Metropolitan but with a smaller feeder hole from the reservoir).

 

I was told off a couple of times on FPN a while back, the sentiment being that one could increase the width and depth of the channel on an ebonite feed with a sharp knife, but that trying this on a plastic feed, found in 95%¹ of modern pens, would damage the smoothness of said channel and impede both ink and air flow.

 

Nathan Tardif implies this here:

 

 

But I'm pretty sure Shawn Newton was hacking a plastic feed here:

 

 

In the same sort of vein, I've been wondering wherther a smooth upper feed surface is really conducive to better flow, and whether even deliberately roughening, i.e., sanding, that surface might even augment flow.

 

Richard Binder said this:

Plastic, although it is an ideal material for economical high-speed manufacture of complex parts in large quantity, is not so felicitous[²] as a material for feeds. It is nonporous, and because it is injection molded, it frequently has a very smooth, polished surface. Feed makers employed various ways to combat these deficiencies, such as roughening the surfaces of the molding dies. Not all of these techniques succeeded in producing reliable feeds.

(http://www.richardspens.com/?page=ref/feeds/evolution.htm)

I'm about to try a proper hack-job and a sanding on a Jinhao feed, but I wondered if anyone had any thoughts on all this, or, better still, experience.

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¹Bear in mind, research has shown that 87.65% of all statistics are made up on the spot.

²I.e., in comparison with ebonite.

Edited October 27, 2015 by lurcho

[TheRealScubaSteve]

Not much to lose on a Jinhao. Go for it and let us know how it works.

[ac12]

Anything goes, if it works.