Conid Minimalistica: The Drawbacks

[TheDutchGuy]

Where does one obtain a Sailor nib to put into a Conid, me wonders?

[silverlifter]

I bought one as NoS on the FPG boards.

[Karmachanic]

Where does one obtain a Sailor nib to put into a Conid, me wonders?

 

From a Sailor pen

[zaddick]

 

From a Sailor pen

This is the primary source. But a beater used pen with a nice nib and separate them.

[zaddick]

 

From a Sailor pen

This is the primary source. Buy a beater used pen with a nice nib and separate them.

[jmccarty3]

a few weeks ago my colleague brought 5 or 6 Conids to work, all with different nibs, and that was a game changer. I instantly bonded with one of those pens to the extent that I tried to buy it on the spot

 

Please tell us which nib material and size it was that impressed you so much!

[TheDutchGuy]

Please tell us which nib material and size it was that impressed you so much!

It was a titanium nib that wrote somewhere beteen a western EF and F with a nice, pleasant feedback. However, it had been tuned by its owner.

[toymachine]

Excellent review. I'm been back on forth on the Conid. Lots of great details here mate.

[silverlifter]

Excellent review. I'm been back on forth on the Conid. Lots of great details here mate.

 

Thanks! If you need a nudge closer to the edge, they move fast on the secondary market in the unlikely event it doesn't work out...

[Orval]

Living in Belgium, I visited the factory where the Conids are made. I had a very friendly an interesting conversation with Werner. After trying the different pens, my hand choosed the Minimalistica Delrin wich, for me, had the most comfortable grip. Although the price was not a real issue (if one can wait and keep dreaming until saving enough money) it happened to be the cheapest of their offerings. The girth of the grip is the same as the Kingsize. As the grip of the Minimalistica is the whole barrel, you can grip it wherever you want. Having a high grip, this feels very comfortable for me. Delrin is a sturdy material with a warm touch, not slippy at all. I prefer it by much to the makrolon of the Lamy 2000. This pen has the second best ergonomics of my collection, after my Omas 360.

Normally I prefer an ink window but, in this case, the amount of ink is so huge that one can write for weeks. My trick is: refueling as soon as I can't hear the ink splashing when shaking the pen next to my ear. Uncapping with one hand is as easy as my Visconti Homo Sapiens. I don't post.

One year after this visit, I commanded a Minimalistica Delrin with Titanium nib, custom grinded to stub. The pen arrived some weeks later.

Writing experience was wonderful, except that there was ink starvation after some sentences. Disappointing. I went to Antwerp and they checked the nib. There was a problem with the plastic feed, wich was changed. After the replacement, the pen wrote flawless in the factory. I received a spare F steel nib with feeder for free as consolation for the trouble.

At home, the ink starvation came back after a half page of writing with this exquise Ti nib , no matter what I tried (flushing etc...). I changed to the spare steel nib. Being too lazy to return to the factory another time I'm still very happy with this steel nib and this pen is one of my best and most reliable writers.

Edited September 24, 2019 by Orval

[Karmachanic]

Is the shut-off valve open?

[Orval]

Is the shut-off valve open?

 

Of course. There is none problem with the steel nib, wich I use since more than a year and with several inks. I tried several times with the Ti nib, without result.

[Karmachanic]

Orval, please PM me

[Lloyd]

I have a clear Minimalistica and I get starvation when cohesive forces cause the ink to adhere to the walls of the tunnel connecting the feed to the reservoir. A small shake is needed at times to get the cohesive forces to break and allow the ink to flow again. I think this is due to CONID using the same rod as in another one of their pens (to cut costs) forcing them to employ a longer than necessary tunnel. I find some inks are less likely than others as sticking to the walls.

[Orval]

I found out that the tines of the Ti nib don't touch each other at the tip? Could this be the culprit of the ink starvation?

[Orval]

I have a clear Minimalistica and I get starvation when cohesive forces cause the ink to adhere to the walls of the tunnel connecting the feed to the reservoir. A small shake is needed at times to get the cohesive forces to break and allow the ink to flow again. I think this is due to CONID using the same rod as in another one of their pens (to cut costs) forcing them to employ a longer than necessary tunnel. I find some inks are less likely than others as sticking to the walls.

 

If this was the culprit, it should also occur with my steel nib. But these performs flawless. I used the same ink for both nibs. Shaking my titanium nib didn't solve the ink starvation. Thanks for your contribution.

[Lloyd]

I found out that the tines of the Ti nib don't touch each other at the tip? Could this be the culprit of the ink starvation?

 

The tines don't usually touch. Is the feed misaligned or is the photo off center?

[Mulrich]

The end my Conids' feeds are usually flush with the nib edges. Assuming the above nib and feed are similar, the misalignment is very minor (probably a fraction of a mm). I would be surprised if this the cause of the problem (I have a handful of feeds that are much more misaligned that work perfectly fine) but I can't think of what else the problem may be, especially if the steel nib works well with the same feed.

[Doug C]

It is interesting that there are so many pro/con feeling over the same issues.

 

I have a Slimline and I find the Delrin section extremely slippery. All but the cap and section are the demo.

I also have a Minimalistica that has the older style O ring and I love the feel of capping it. It doesn't feel at all insecure, and I like the fact that there are enough differences between the two models to make me appreciate them as distinct models.

 

No writing issues at all (Ti nibs). They are both fine nibs but the SL writes a much thinner line.

 

 

Great pens.

[Karmachanic]

The end my Conids' feeds are usually flush with the nib edges. Assuming the above nib and feed are similar, the misalignment is very minor (probably a fraction of a mm). I would be surprised if this the cause of the problem (I have a handful of feeds that are much more misaligned that work perfectly fine) but I can't think of what else the problem may be, especially if the steel nib works well with the same feed.

 

Hmm. The feed channel is a good mm to the left of the nib slit. in my experience this may lead to misaligned tines. I agree that this is an unlikely cause of ink starvation.

 

Is there a gap between the bottom of the nib and the top of the feed? I had this issue on a different pen with the same symptom.