Lamy 2000 Fine - Scratchy And Poor Flow

[GastroNerd]

Hi,

 

I recently bought another lamy 2000 (having had a broad and medium) secondhand and I am deeply disappointed. It is very dry and just doesn't feel quite right compared to the medium and broad I've had. I realise it is never going to be as smooth as the wider nibs, but is this the experience anybody else has had? The Chinese extra fines are just as smooth which is surprising...

 

Despite it being secondhand it is in excellent condition and the nib looks to have no issues. I am not adept at tuning my own nibs (yet!) so I'm a bit lost as to what to try.

[ErrantSmudge]

Is it a brand-new pen? If so, you could send it back to the dealer. My 2000 is a F and it's not dry or scratchy at all.

[GastroNerd]

Unfortunately I bought it used, that being said I have sent a L2K back to Heidelberg before and got a free nib exchange despite it being secondhand.

I think I might have to try and work on this one myself

[minddance]

My first Lamy2000F was scratchy. I sent in for an exchange with my vendor. The second one is alright in terms of smoothness but not an easy nib to write carefreely. Conscious effort is always required in order for the pen to write.

[Inkysloth]

IIRC when you send a pen back to Lamy, you don't need to provide proof of purchase, so you could always give their repairs department a try.

[GastroNerd]

I think sending it to Lamy and seeing what they say might be the way forward

[Tseg]

I had a new Fine that was scratchy and had flow problems. I unscrewed the section, disassembled the feed and put it all back together again and it became perfect, somehow the nib was not setting properly on the feed... except 3 weeks later it slipped from my hand and completely trashed my nib. My only word of advice now on my 3rd L2K nib is these nibs are very frail and even a very fine micro mesh will grind the nib down to nothing quickly. I’ve had no such bad experience with any of my other pen nibs relative to super quick wear when trying to tweak a nib.

[minddance]

And the Lamy2000 nibs do not keep their alignment well. Say, if you sent it to a nibmeister or adjusted the nib yourself, after some writing, it changes alot faster than other pens.

[GastroNerd]

And the Lamy2000 nibs do not keep their alignment well. Say, if you sent it to a nibmeister or adjusted the nib yourself, after some writing, it changes alot faster than other pens.

I have been trying to open the tines up a bit which seems to have helped. I don't think it's an alignment issue...but I might be wrong

[Tadeo]

If the pen feels dry, it may as well be a feed problem.

 

With my first 2k I had a dryness problem after a period when it sitted unused while still inked with Lamy black. I tried flushing it several times but the problem did not went away. After some time of annoyance, I tried disassembling the feed and washed it with liquid dish soap but nope, not better results. Then I switched ink to Iroshizuku Tsukiyo and it was still dry putting down a very meh desaturated line.

 

After some time I acquired another L2k (both are M) and noticed a significant difference in wetness even without pressure. Flossing the nib did not worked either. It drove me nuts! So I decided to take more drastic measures (at least to me at the time since I did not wanted to mess up too much with my most expensive pens) so I completely disassembled the feed, removed the nib, took off the little tab of the feed and got straight to the feed capillaries with a stream of windex (which think is an ammonia solution with detergent anyways, kinda of a scented, concentrated pen flush). After repeatedly streaming the feed and rinsing all ink solids in the feed were finally removed. I flicked all water off, reassembled and Voila! It was not the nib but a partially clogged feed giving the trouble

[rolo305]

And the Lamy2000 nibs do not keep their alignment well. Say, if you sent it to a nibmeister or adjusted the nib yourself, after some writing, it changes alot faster than other pens.

 

never heard this. Thats not good

[Inkysloth]

And the Lamy2000 nibs do not keep their alignment well. Say, if you sent it to a nibmeister or adjusted the nib yourself, after some writing, it changes alot faster than other pens.

Do you mean the tines spread or become misaligned in some other way?

 

I had a Lamy 2000 with fine nib, used it frequently for 3-4 years and noticed no change in the nib over that period.

 

The only way I could see the nib changing significantly in a short time is if someone presses hard when they write, otherwise they feel adequately robust to me.

[Donald2]

Lamy2000 quality control is not good. Many people have problems with the nibs not writing well.

[Darth_Roo]

Ive just sent my 2000 back to Heidelberg. Unless the ink was super wet it would hard start. The nib was also ground ridiculously high. Uncomfortable to write with.

Let's see what they do with it.

[rolo305]

Ive just sent my 2000 back to Heidelberg. Unless the ink was super wet it would hard start. The nib was also ground ridiculously high. Uncomfortable to write with.

Let's see what they do with it.

 

so at work I use a Fine 2k and a coworker uses Medium 2k. I have been having hard starts on a Vanishing Point (M) and he has on the 2k. What I did realize we both use Rhodia paper which is really smooth. But once it starts it flows great (both pens) Now when using cheap paper I never have this issue but I does put down a real thick line.

[Darth_Roo]

 

so at work I use a Fine 2k and a coworker uses Medium 2k. I have been having hard starts on a Vanishing Point (M) and he has on the 2k. What I did realize we both use Rhodia paper which is really smooth. But once it starts it flows great (both pens) Now when using cheap paper I never have this issue but I does put down a real thick line.

Similar issue to mine.

Thing is, I'd expect restrictions like that on a $5 jinhao

This is the 2000. One of the most famous pens in history lauded for its timeless design. Surely it should be able to perform across a range of papers?

[rolo305]

Similar issue to mine.

Thing is, I'd expect restrictions like that on a $5 jinhao

This is the 2000. One of the most famous pens in history lauded for its timeless design. Surely it should be able to perform across a range of papers?

 

I get it. We spend so much money on this We expect for it the be flawless. But not always the case. I work for Jaguar Land Rover and some people spend $200k on a vehicle and less then a 1,000 miles they can't get bluetooth to work or Nav screen is not working.

[Darth_Roo]

 

I get it. We spend so much money on this We expect for it the be flawless. But not always the case. I work for Jaguar Land Rover and some people spend $200k on a vehicle and less then a 1,000 miles they can't get bluetooth to work or Nav screen is not working.

With all due respect though, A Rangey can find it's way over sand or dirt or gravel equally easy. We don't expect our pens to be without quirks, but we do expect them to do what they're made to do

[Intensity]

It's definitely not a cheap pen, but at $100-125 (and more recently up to $165ish, prices keep going up gradually, but deals can still be found--just preordered one at $114 myself) Lamy 2000 is not a super expensive luxury pen. At the volume of production it has, there are sure to be some QC issues, as it happens with every pen. If I were paying multiple hundreds of dollars or upwards of a thousand, I would demand perfection for every pen sold--but even then I know problem pens unfortunately happen. I'm not defending bad QC but rather saying it's the reality of the situation. Realistically speaking, it costs a lot more to have high QC per pen unit. To give some perspective, Lamy 2000 with gold nib costs as much as the bottom of the line steel-nibbed Pelikan pens or a bunch of other pens with generic screw-in Bock steel nibs (variable QC too) that market fancy-looking barrels for $100+, frequently using generic converters too. In that regard, it's better than your average Jinhao pen (I've had problems with most of my Jinhao pens), but it's not necessarily going to be perfectly tuned.

[GastroNerd]

Ive just sent my 2000 back to Heidelberg. Unless the ink was super wet it would hard start. The nib was also ground ridiculously high. Uncomfortable to write with.

Let's see what they do with it.

 

I cannot fault the service I have received from Lamy. I since flagged up the issues in this thread with them and they fitted a new nib, free of charge.