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Noodler's Boston Safety Feed


jskywalker

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5 hours ago, jskywalker said:

My Noodler's Boston Safety feed broke... can the standard creaper fit into it ?

 

Where can I get a replacement feed ?

You could always try contacting Noodlers/Luxury Pens directly.  But given that I think the pens are manufactured in India, there might be supply chain issues at the moment due to COVID-19.  I've noticed that a lot of US retailers have various pens and inks listed as being OOS at the moment.

I'm pretty sure that the nib and feed on the Creapers are a lot smaller than on the Boston Safety.  Not sure between the Konrad and the Safety (I've never had this issue so I've never checked).  I don't have any Ahabs or the Triple Tail, and I think that the Charlies (while the same in size as the Creapers) may be complete nib units rather than being able to be taken apart.

Actually, it just occurred to me that because of that tube thingie in the cap (to prevent leakage when the nib is retracted and the pen capped), the nib and feed on the Safety may NOT have an equivalent in other Noodler's models.  

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

"It's very nice, but frankly, when I signed that list for a P-51, what I had in mind was a fountain pen."

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  • 6 months later...

I don't know if you have solved your problem, but Nathan Tardif has a video where he puts the feed from one of his Charlie pens into the Boston Safety pen.

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It will be very useful if you can share the details of the Noodler' feed  modifications to make it work with the Boston safety pen.

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  • 7 months later...

Bit of a necro, but I figure if anyone else finds this while googling around it may be helpful to know that the Boston Safety Pen will take standard-size 5mm/5.1mm feeds and Kanwrite/FPR #5.5 nibs though you may need to shorten the rear of the feeds with a hobby saw as they're frequently far too long for the holder on Boston Safetys. They will not take #6 nibs or feeds from any source I have yet found.

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7 minutes ago, Warl0ck3 said:

Bit of a necro, but I figure if anyone else finds this while googling around it may be helpful to know that the Boston Safety Pen will take standard-size 5mm/5.1mm feeds and Kanwrite/FPR #5.5 nibs though you may need to shorten the rear of the feeds with a hobby saw as they're frequently far too long for the holder on Boston Safetys. They will not take #6 nibs or feeds from any source I have yet found.

 

 

Thank you! This was good information! Welcome aboard!

Fountain pens are my preferred COLOR DELIVERY SYSTEM (in part because crayons melt in Las Vegas).

Create a Ghostly Avatar and I'll send you a letter. Check out some Ink comparisons: The Great PPS Comparison 

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  • 4 weeks later...

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE:
There's two sizes of Boston Safety Pen feed, for the two major versions of the pen.
If your pen has:

  • A Stainless Steel push rod, it takes 5.1mm feeds
  • An Ebonite push rod, it takes a 4.7mm feed (This model of the pen is no longer produced)

You CANNOT fit an unmodified nib longer than 30mm into these nib holders, no matter the diameter; the holder is too short for these feeds and will not seal correctly when trimmed down. You will need to get a matching ebonite feed and cut the rear end of it to a suitable length for your nib <30mm at center, machine out the center so the rod in the cap will have enough clearance to engage the cap threads, or take a feed that is already <30mm and use that (TWSBI feeds are rumored to work, but I could not get any of mine to fit).

I have tested, and both sizes of holder will take:

  • Kanwrite #5/#5.5 nibs and some feeds
  • FPR 5.5 nibs & feeds (with length cut down)
  • Kaweco Sport nibs & feeds
  • Waterman Ideal #2 nibs and *Some* feeds (Vintage, for example the same nibs as found on Waterman 42 and 52 pens)
  • Moore's Non-Leakable Safety Pen size #2 nibs


(p.s. Thanks, Amberleadavis! Given how much eclectic info I get from here, I figured I should give back in kind!)

 

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19 hours ago, Warl0ck3 said:

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE:
There's two sizes of Boston Safety Pen feed, for the two major versions of the pen.
If your pen has:

  • A Stainless Steel push rod, it takes 5.1mm feeds
  • An Ebonite push rod, it takes a 4.7mm feed (This model of the pen is no longer produced)

You CANNOT fit an unmodified nib longer than 30mm into these nib holders, no matter the diameter; the holder is too short for these feeds and will not seal correctly when trimmed down. You will need to get a matching ebonite feed and cut the rear end of it to a suitable length for your nib <30mm at center, machine out the center so the rod in the cap will have enough clearance to engage the cap threads, or take a feed that is already <30mm and use that (TWSBI feeds are rumored to work, but I could not get any of mine to fit).

I have tested, and both sizes of holder will take:

  • Kanwrite #5/#5.5 nibs and some feeds
  • FPR 5.5 nibs & feeds (with length cut down)
  • Kaweco Sport nibs & feeds
  • Waterman Ideal #2 nibs and *Some* feeds (Vintage, for example the same nibs as found on Waterman 42 and 52 pens)
  • Moore's Non-Leakable Safety Pen size #2 nibs


(p.s. Thanks, Amberleadavis! Given how much eclectic info I get from here, I figured I should give back in kind!)

 

 

 

Thank you both for the shout out and for the information.

Fountain pens are my preferred COLOR DELIVERY SYSTEM (in part because crayons melt in Las Vegas).

Create a Ghostly Avatar and I'll send you a letter. Check out some Ink comparisons: The Great PPS Comparison 

Don't know where to start?  Look at the Inky Topics O'day.  Then, see inks sorted by color: Blue Purple Brown Red Green Dark Green Orange Black Pinks Yellows Blue-Blacks Grey/Gray UVInks Turquoise/Teal MURKY

 

 

 

 

 

 

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On 4/30/2022 at 1:46 AM, Warl0ck3 said:

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE:
There's two sizes of Boston Safety Pen feed, for the two major versions of the pen.
If your pen has:

  • A Stainless Steel push rod, it takes 5.1mm feeds
  • An Ebonite push rod, it takes a 4.7mm feed (This model of the pen is no longer produced)

You CANNOT fit an unmodified nib longer than 30mm into these nib holders, no matter the diameter; the holder is too short for these feeds and will not seal correctly when trimmed down. You will need to get a matching ebonite feed and cut the rear end of it to a suitable length for your nib <30mm at center, machine out the center so the rod in the cap will have enough clearance to engage the cap threads, or take a feed that is already <30mm and use that (TWSBI feeds are rumored to work, but I could not get any of mine to fit).

I have tested, and both sizes of holder will take:

  • Kanwrite #5/#5.5 nibs and some feeds
  • FPR 5.5 nibs & feeds (with length cut down)
  • Kaweco Sport nibs & feeds
  • Waterman Ideal #2 nibs and *Some* feeds (Vintage, for example the same nibs as found on Waterman 42 and 52 pens)
  • Moore's Non-Leakable Safety Pen size #2 nibs


(p.s. Thanks, Amberleadavis! Given how much eclectic info I get from here, I figured I should give back in kind!)

 

I just got mine and broke the feed. I bought the FPR nib and feed. It seems that the 5.1mm feed it too thick for mine. I do have the stainless steel barrel in my safety. Any recommendations? 
 

thanks!

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On 5/4/2022 at 3:38 PM, GradenF said:

I just got mine and broke the feed. I bought the FPR nib and feed. It seems that the 5.1mm feed it too thick for mine. I do have the stainless steel barrel in my safety. Any recommendations? 
 

thanks!

Well, that's interesting! I'm basing my info off of a survey of several dozen Boston Safety's I've had so I'm sad to say that sometimes, Noodler Happens. You can probably sand down the feed if you've got the time/patience, but if you get that wrong you risk cracking the nibholder. Really, I'd just advise getting the smaller size feed as that's going to be the safest-for-your-pen and very much the least frustrating solution (maybe also slip the god of fountain pen quality control a bribe. It can't hurt...)

Sometimes noodler pens just... have old parts tossed on. Or they're a batch that was, say, handmade. Or... quality control slipped. Or any one of a million things that can go wrong, especially since the boston safeties frequently get improperly cleaned by retailers & resold, or distributed back to the retailers after some kind of RMA hell, or... god, the list is infinite.

If you bought it direct from a major dealer though, that's pretty strange. I'll go through and get more data when I get my next big box from NIC, they may have slightly changed the designs on a newer batch?

(Noodler's pens are so much effort to get working, but I will die to protect my small hoard of them, they're my most cherished babies...)

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15 hours ago, Warl0ck3 said:

Well, that's interesting! I'm basing my info off of a survey of several dozen Boston Safety's I've had so I'm sad to say that sometimes, Noodler Happens. You can probably sand down the feed if you've got the time/patience, but if you get that wrong you risk cracking the nibholder. Really, I'd just advise getting the smaller size feed as that's going to be the safest-for-your-pen and very much the least frustrating solution (maybe also slip the god of fountain pen quality control a bribe. It can't hurt...)

Sometimes noodler pens just... have old parts tossed on. Or they're a batch that was, say, handmade. Or... quality control slipped. Or any one of a million things that can go wrong, especially since the boston safeties frequently get improperly cleaned by retailers & resold, or distributed back to the retailers after some kind of RMA hell, or... god, the list is infinite.

If you bought it direct from a major dealer though, that's pretty strange. I'll go through and get more data when I get my next big box from NIC, they may have slightly changed the designs on a newer batch?

(Noodler's pens are so much effort to get working, but I will die to protect my small hoard of them, they're my most cherished babies...)

I ended up getting a 4.7mm feed from FPR. Any recommendations on how to get a properly drilled hole in the feed for the metal rod in the cap?

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17 hours ago, Warl0ck3 said:

(But I will die to protect my small hoard of them, they're my most cherished babies...)

 

I hope this question does not hijack the focus of this topic (fixing a Boston Safety Pen if feed is broken)....

 

Why so cherished? And a "small hoard" no less?

 

I have been tempted to buy a Boston Safety Pen in the past, when using Indian Ink with dip pens for drawing. Not because I needed a waterproof ink, but because I value the density and crispness of the Indian Ink lines.

But as things worked out I learned (from this forum) of some excellent black inks that are safe for use in normal fountain pens. Being lazy by nature I now hardly ever use Indian Ink, favouring mainstream fountain pens (including Ahabs and Konrad) with various water-soluble black inks. So the desire for a Boston Safety has faded.

 

But have I missed something important? Some other advantage, beyond the ability to use waterproof inks?

 

-- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- --

 

Returning to the main topic. Here is Nathan Tardif replacing safety pen feeds in 2018,

and for @GradenF question - Nathan also drills holes in two feeds to fit the pen cap rod.

At that date the safety feeds were 0.186 inch diameter (4.7mm).

 

No doubts about those 2018 diameters as Nathan measures them in the video above, in inches, and you can multiply inches by 25.4 to get the exact conversion to millimetres.

 

But then in 2021 we see at 6min55sec into this video "the last demonstrator safety", and "a few" with stainless steel cores.

 

... and if @Warl0ck3 persuades me to buy one, I am wondering what size feed and push rod/core type the current UK retailer stock might be? The photos from Pure Pens here in UK, linked below, look like the blue demonstrator but with the transparent core? (Stock from the 2021 Commonwealth Pen Show.)

https://www.purepens.co.uk/collections/noodlers/products/noodlers-safety-pen-blue-demonstrator

(The nib tines in the fourth photo need some heat-setting?)

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@GradenF I usually use a dremel and a small spherical bit (~2mm), but if you're confident in the steadiness of your hands the method Nathan uses in the above video works really well.

I've taken a survey of all the BSPs I can get my inkstained little hands on (and asked around in various forums), and the results are... interesting. It seems that the ebonite pushrods all take 4.7mm feeds, and that the stainless steel pushrod pens take either 4.7mm or the 5.1mm feeds, with 4.7mm being more common. However it also appears that in most cases the 5.1mm nibholders will work with 4.7mm feeds, and that the variation is due to several waves of design changes when switching over from the ebonite to stainless steel pushrods. I'll update my above post to reflect this latest info! Apparently I can't, so for anyone from the future reading this:


>>> GET A 4.7mm FEED REGARDLESS OF THE PUSHROD TYPE <<<

@dipper I love & cherish my boston safeties because:
1.) they're the only modern pen that lets you use absolutely any inks
2.) You can fit Waterman Ideal #2 flex nibs into them with no modification

Personally mine are all filled with some combination of Speedball acrylic dip inks, high acidity iron gall inks, a bunch of weird chemicals (Ethylene glycol, KMnO₄, several different acids), glass etchants, glues, plating substrates, low-temp wax, etc.

The translucent ones aren't ebonite so are not nearly as chemically resistant, but I have several and they work wonderfully for acrylic inks (I'm not sure what was used for the body of the pens, but it seems that acrylic doesn't like to bond to it!). They're extremely good tools, the only modern ones being made anywhere near their price point, so if you use your pens for calligraphy they're incredibly beloved. If you're a collector of pens as art and don't do want to modify your pens, I wouldn't recommend them (and not just because I don't want competition buying them...)

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2 hours ago, Warl0ck3 said:

Personally mine are all filled with some combination of Speedball acrylic dip inks, high acidity iron gall inks, a bunch of weird chemicals (Ethylene glycol, KMnO₄, several different acids), glass etchants, glues, plating substrates, low-temp wax, etc.

Waoooow!

Mr. Tardif should be delighted if he learns how well his safety pens can perform with all those witch's brews.

 

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@mhguda has some recent experience with a broken feed so I look forward to both her seeing this post and to her response.

Fountain pens are my preferred COLOR DELIVERY SYSTEM (in part because crayons melt in Las Vegas).

Create a Ghostly Avatar and I'll send you a letter. Check out some Ink comparisons: The Great PPS Comparison 

Don't know where to start?  Look at the Inky Topics O'day.  Then, see inks sorted by color: Blue Purple Brown Red Green Dark Green Orange Black Pinks Yellows Blue-Blacks Grey/Gray UVInks Turquoise/Teal MURKY

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I did see a video by Nathan Tardiff about how to fix or work around a broken feed. At the moment I don't have a feed to sacrifice, so what I did is put the broken feed back in the pen. Only the point, where the hole for the rod is, had broken off.

The pen writes, although it has more hard starts than before, and the flow seems less controllable. But, I am still managing to get it to work. And when the nib is retracted, the cap does screw on.

I am also having less of a mess with the pen in my struggle to get ink out. It still works best for me wiithout the extra tube around it, so that for the moment is staying off. When I get really used to using this pen, I may put it back and see how that goes, but for now, I am basically just writing a little bit with it every day. When the flow dries up I pump the piston, retracting and extending the nib, with the nib up. Sometimes you also have to give a little tap on the back, or even unscrew the second screw of the pushrod, so that the ink can move back into the section. That seems to be a question of balancing air pressure inside and outside the barrtel, mostly.

ATM I have a mix of Quink inks: blue, green, and black, in it, and the flow is a bit heavy - I find I am writing with the nib upside down to keep the amount of ink on the paper manageable. I'm using onionskin from a pad bought at Little Otsu.

 

BTW I find myself liking the pen more and more. I think it's also a question of puzzler's satisfaction. The pen is starting to make sense to me. So the next ink will be less wet - let's see if a drier ink behaves better.

a fountain pen is physics in action... Proud member of the SuperPinks

fpn_1425200643__fpn_1425160066__super_pi

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 5/11/2022 at 3:26 PM, Warl0ck3 said:

@GradenF I usually use a dremel and a small spherical bit (~2mm), but if you're confident in the steadiness of your hands the method Nathan uses in the above video works really well.

I've taken a survey of all the BSPs I can get my inkstained little hands on (and asked around in various forums), and the results are... interesting. It seems that the ebonite pushrods all take 4.7mm feeds, and that the stainless steel pushrod pens take either 4.7mm or the 5.1mm feeds, with 4.7mm being more common. However it also appears that in most cases the 5.1mm nibholders will work with 4.7mm feeds, and that the variation is due to several waves of design changes when switching over from the ebonite to stainless steel pushrods. I'll update my above post to reflect this latest info! Apparently I can't, so for anyone from the future reading this:


>>> GET A 4.7mm FEED REGARDLESS OF THE PUSHROD TYPE <<<

@dipper I love & cherish my boston safeties because:
1.) they're the only modern pen that lets you use absolutely any inks
2.) You can fit Waterman Ideal #2 flex nibs into them with no modification

Personally mine are all filled with some combination of Speedball acrylic dip inks, high acidity iron gall inks, a bunch of weird chemicals (Ethylene glycol, KMnO₄, several different acids), glass etchants, glues, plating substrates, low-temp wax, etc.

The translucent ones aren't ebonite so are not nearly as chemically resistant, but I have several and they work wonderfully for acrylic inks (I'm not sure what was used for the body of the pens, but it seems that acrylic doesn't like to bond to it!). They're extremely good tools, the only modern ones being made anywhere near their price point, so if you use your pens for calligraphy they're incredibly beloved. If you're a collector of pens as art and don't do want to modify your pens, I wouldn't recommend them (and not just because I don't want competition buying them...)

I ended up using a cheap curved carving tool from the dollar store and was very careful shaving it down to not chip off the tip. It fits good now but another problem has arisen. I only get a couple sentences before there is seemingly no more ink supplied to the nib. Any tips for that would be great. Also here is the result of the feed. Thanks!43879255-4A3B-420E-AA4F-D192CA8C8ADE.thumb.jpeg.2a46df50f66bd4b15346b749a24a0ce0.jpegB7259155-DA53-44A9-BF0D-8642837E747D.thumb.jpeg.f5ac5e776d23d637ea463e06016d03e2.jpeg

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Have you tried retracting and re-extending the nib? The few times I found the pen seemingly dry up while there was still ink in the barrel, that worked to loosen the flow.

In my case, the pen works fine with the broken-off feed (that nice tip broke off). Also, I use another cap most of the time, so I don't need to retract the nib. The flow is just fine.

a fountain pen is physics in action... Proud member of the SuperPinks

fpn_1425200643__fpn_1425160066__super_pi

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