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Retipping material


The-Thinker

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What are the requirements for retipping a nib ? Can it be done using affordable machine ? Share your experience ! I have recently bought a Chinese welder for 100$ does it do the job or does it need more sophisticated tools both for gold and steel nibs. Thank you in advance 

 

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53 minutes ago, The-Thinker said:

What are the requirements for retipping a nib ? Can it be done using affordable machine ? Share your experience ! I have recently bought a Chinese welder for 100$ does it do the job or does it need more sophisticated tools both for gold and steel nibs. Thank you in advance 

 

If I am not wrong You need jewelry tools to do it, included some precious metals,

special blowtorch (soldering iron ???),etc. it is not an easy work and you need expensive materials.

Regards.

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I saw a video somewhere showing retipping being done.  The setup was 

 - a conductive (graphite?) surface with the tipping ball sitting loose on/in it

 - a current source, like a resistance welder or spot-welder connected to the surface and to the nib

 - bringing the nib into contact with the tipping ball, resulting in a hot flash and a weld.

 

I imagine the voltage and current and timing of the welding current source would need to be adjusted by experiment, so doing it yourself would take multiple experiments before you would want to do it for real on an expensive or special nib. 

 

I don't have a link or pointer or title or author for the video, sorry. 

 

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I was curious about this one day so I spent wayyyy too long reading old threads.* Consensus seems to be that this is best left to the specialists for numerous reasons.

 

For whatever it’s worth, Greg Minuskin just retipped and ground to a stub a Parker nib for me. I cannot emphasize enough how beautifully it writes. I expecting to have to do the normal tuning rituals (e.g., little alignment tweaks, micro-mesh, etc). The nib needed nothing. It left my hands missing its tipping and returned a flawless stub. 

 

*Here’s one such thread: 

 

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Beside from welding, a saw to precisely cut the tip will also be a difficult part.

The saw  should be extremely thin to make a thin cut, but extremely hard in order to cut the tipping material which is also hard.

I think this might be more difficult the the welding.

 

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Since we have some experts in this thread. I have a simple question:

 

For a given nib size, say #8 nib,  Is the tipping material  the only factor that determines if the nib is   Fine, Medium, Broad?,   while the tine tips would all have the same size for this #8 nib.

 

Or do you need wider tine tips  for the broad versus  narrower tine tips for the fine and extra fine?

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The nib needs to be able to support the tipping. 

San Francisco International Pen Show - The next “Funnest Pen Show” is on schedule for August 23-24-25, 2024.  Watch the show website for registration details. 
 

My PM box is usually full. Just email me: my last name at the google mail address.

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