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Flex Nib Mod For Jinhao X450


Oshi

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Hello all,

i wanted to try a flex nib, so i orderd some Zebra-G nibs and modified them to fit on my Jinhao x450. The writing experience was horrible, but the shading was awesome.
Until now i thought extreme shading is just possible with M or B nibs, even with JoWo Stubs i was not happy with the shading.

But this Zebra-G Nib taught me a better understanding. Now i know that the writing pressure can make a huge difference, and i CAN get shading on my prefered nib size EF!

So I tried to dremel a standard Jinhao nib, but the writing experienc was horrible again, though it flexes xD. (looks like a Stealth Bomber or something :lol:)

NQkClMi.jpg

Finally I orderd a standard #6 Flex Steel nib from FPR and was able to fit it perfectly with some bending and grinding.
I dremeled again (EMF-Mod) and grinded the M-Nib to something finer.

The writing experience is good now, I`m just not totally happy with my EF-Grind- I have to do more research on this.
Getting this much shading feels like a new universe to me. I can now test all my old inks with a new experience and the full color spectrum!

 

qh1DSsu.jpg

 

oPI3mes.jpg

 

E4LENXZ.jpg

 

vzCOdpF.jpg

(Noodlers Apache Sunset)

 

If you have hints, suggestions or questions you are very welcome :)

Edited by Oshi
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Yeah , going for that flex thing myself ..

I will leave this NIB alone for now , plan is to mod another NIB , and try for more flex .. ( Soften the writing experience )

Dont want spongy , but just a little bit of flex to soften the writing experience ..

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I just ordered a Jinhao 159 and some Zebra G nibs to try out this. Couldn't hurt at all, since the whole setup is $10 and I have spare #6 ebonite feeds. I would actually stay away from the dremel as you probably wanna leave around one full functioning rigid nib to use. However, I'm gonna temper the G nibs with my trusty blowtorch just to see if anything could happen. Then I'm... rewriting history by creating usable, durable fountain pen nibs from dip nibs. But of course, there's always 80% chance I'll end up with a melted slag heap of dip pen metal in a bucket.

 

I wonder what would happen if I grind a flexible dip nib to a stub and shoved it into a pen...

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I was bored on a summer day...

 

And from the shavings of sandpaper this beauty arose.

 

So if I understand it right you have just regrind the nib to stub? Could you tell us the technique you had used because I am considering doing the same with mine. (I have become addict to stub nibs after I have bought 1.1 for my Kaweco Al Sport)

If you win over your own stupidity then are you winner or loser? In any case it means something good.

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vzCOdpF.jpg

(Noodlers Apache Sunset)

 

If you have hints, suggestions or questions you are very welcome :)

 

Gorgeous!

pen_master

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So if I understand it right you have just regrind the nib to stub? Could you tell us the technique you had used because I am considering doing the same with mine. (I have become addict to stub nibs after I have bought 1.1 for my Kaweco Al Sport)

Sandpaper. Get the bare nib, tape it to the feed just to make sure you don't grind it short. Start by violently stripping off the tipping material and work your way down the sandpaper grit, getting finer and finer. Hold the nib vertical while grinding for a crisp italic, or rock it back and forth to get a nice, round cursive italic. I would buy a pen that has good inkflow and good ink capacity (my 1.5 mm stub Wing Sung 601 goes through ink fast, hence why I bought a Parker Vacumatic 51 clone for good inkflow and good ink capacity. If it's a large stub you want, and not a crisp italic like I love, purchase a really broad nib with LOTS of tipping material (you can also send cheaper steel nibs to Richard Binder for him to tip) and grind it using only fine grit sandpaper. ALWAYS CHECK YOUR WORK FREQUENTLY and don't be afraid of inky fingers. Practice with cheap Chinese pens with #6 nibs first (lots of room to work with and doesn't cut your fingers up, and also very cheap). I plan on folding backwards the tip of a Zebra G nib and welding it to a tip, just like how the 1xxx series of Esterbrook nibs were made. Apparently Zebra G nibs are flexible, so adding a tip to it would essentially make it a disposable fountain pen nib.

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Thank you, I will buy new one for the grinding and I will experiment with herb 330 to refine the technique in the meantime. Cheers Milan

If you win over your own stupidity then are you winner or loser? In any case it means something good.

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Paper should be 90g laser or better and smoother helps...........I find shading to be minimized with a too wet a nib...like semi-flex, so I like the old regular flex...can be had in the 200 also, for my shading inks.

Line variation to me is different from shading....though shading and line variation is nice to have. By me I have to match paper and ink to the wetter nib more tightly.

 

 

Sure is a lot of neat looking grinding. Due to less life of the ground nib, cheaper is better.

Edited by Bo Bo Olson

In reference to P. T. Barnum; to advise for free is foolish, ........busybodies are ill liked by both factions.

 

 

The cheapest lessons are from those who learned expensive lessons. Ignorance is best for learning expensive lessons.

 

 

 

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Thx Bo Bo,

I already read your old postings about shading :D

 

I found that the biggest factors for shading are:

nib size/ kind/ tuning

ink properties/ feed

paper absorbent/ smoothness

writing angle/ pressure/ speed/ cursive or block letters

 

Seeing how the ink shoots back the written line on the paper helps me to evaluate if the nib/ink-combination is too wet or dry.

Depending on the written letters, it should not reach further back than the half of the line.

With a little bit more writing pressure i can extend this effect to my liking.

Of course this doesnt help with finding the best paper.

 

Do you agree or do you have a deeper knowledge?

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The best flex nib/feed/paper combination should evenly distribute a line when flexed or not. When on the downstroke, take care to find a cadence in your stroke rhythm like dip pen calligraphers do. Find what kind of nib suits you best (I personally like stiffer but larger nibs). I'm going to take a few Noodler's with me to the DCPSS in August and hopefully get one or two ground down to an XXF.

 

If you want shading, Tomoe River paper has been exceptionally good at bringing out the brighter colors in my Emerald of Chivor ink. I don't know exactly why, but it's been more successful at shading and sheening than Rhodia paper.

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After numerous vintage flex nib encounters (I finally got to try my grail pen, a Waterman 20!), I started noticing patterns in the writing. Pens with earlier tipping mechanics (think Lamy 2000) have a more elongated tipping, while all modern day pens have round ball tipping. The elongated triangle shaped tipping usually appears on weak kneed wet noodles and produces a much finer line on the upstrokes.

 

So I experimented and took a spare Wing Sung nib and used my knife grinder blocks (diamond 2000 grit) to hone the tipping down from a ball to an elongated, thinner shape. I accidentally created a Hebrew (wide sidestrokes and thin downstrokes) but the downstrokes are, maybe 0.2 or 0.1mm. They make my stock EF Pilot nibs look wide.

 

I don't know if it's the geometry of the tipping that does this or something else, but from now on my flex nib grinds are going to be in that shape rather than the ball shape.

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thx surprise123,

 

I use clairefontaine paper and tomoe river.

I also have an ink sample of Emerald of Chivor, from what i remember its a very wet ink, its very hard do make fine lines with it.

For the EF-Grind my theory is to get something like a triangular zylinder. the idea is to get a pointed tip... similar to a diamond shape.

The harder part is, to get that thing smooth, without destroing the fine grind. But im getting there!

 

NJCG6Fq.jpg?1

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  • 9 months later...

Old post but i would like to say thank you very much. Your experiment paved the way for mine.

 

I was partially inspired by your attempt (and another i saw in a video) and decided to give it a go on one of my spare Jinhao nibs, i did quite a few things differently and actually had success in creating a fairly flexible nib that is 100% usable and enjoyable to use. The main thing i did differently was grinding using a sanding disc instead of the sanding drum that I think you used, i improvised a dremel sanding disc by dismantling a cutting disc and gluing a circular piece of 360 grit sandpaper onto a circular piece of hard rubber and reassembling it on the cutting disc bit. I had to use 3 of these discs, they ran out FAST.

 

Worked like a charm, it was much softer and nicer than the really rough stones or sanding drum and i got a very uniform finish. I also sanded the entire top of the nib ( not just the tip) and finished it using a 1200 grit sandpaper, then i cut the wings a little using a file. I may have unnecessarily cut some parts that wont help the flexing at all but it looks cool.

 

It is doable! I'll make a post with more details in the future. Here are some pictures:

 

This one is before i finished it:

TRtplBp.jpg

 

These are after the final touches:

xJadOLS.jpg

kCShq8M.jpg

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Now I am tempted to try it myself. I have a bunch of Jinhao nibs to play with.

If you are to be ephemeral, leave a good scent.

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Now I am tempted to try it myself. I have a bunch of Jinhao nibs to play with.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0jhzyAYuhM&lc=z23lhxzimuyszzxfyacdp43a0v5451ey54lma5s2wlxw03c010c.1555306391437691

 

There is also that technique, the advantage is that you don't weaken the nib by removing material from it, you just extend the slit and cut in a cross. The disadvantage is that, well, you need a jeweler's saw. I would have done something like this but i lack that tool and i can't source a saw blade thin enough for the job (i can find the saw just fine)

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I don't have a jeweler's saw either so I'll have to stick to half moons. I already modified some semiflex (FPR and Noodler's) nibs with the ease-my-flex, but I'd like to try a Jinhao nib and see if I can make it to flex too.

If you are to be ephemeral, leave a good scent.

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I don't have a jeweler's saw either so I'll have to stick to half moons. I already modified some semiflex (FPR and Noodler's) nibs with the ease-my-flex, but I'd like to try a Jinhao nib and see if I can make it to flex too.

The EMF mod wont work (if you look, i tried) simply because the slit is not far back enough to have an effect. Well, the reality is that it is a EMF mod but ahead of the wings unlike the original.

 

I made the half-moons using a small round file, the ones used for sharpening knives.

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