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Has anyone successfully realigned the tines on their pen by bending them by hand and eyeballing it?


Rainbowpizza

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I just did it to my metropolitan because it was writing scratchy and now its buttery smooth. Luck was on my side that's for sure!

1. Law of Mechanical Repair - After your hands become coated with grease ink, your nose will begin to itch and you'll have to pee. 2. Law of Gravity - Any tool, nut, bolt, screw, when dropped, will roll to the least accessible corner. 3. Law of Probability - The probability of being watched is directly proportional to the stupidity of your act. 4. Variation Law - If you change lines (or traffic lanes), the one you were in will always move faster than the one you are in now.

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well done, luck only because you may still be somewhat inexperienced... with time it becomes a rather ordinary thing.

 

I've just done it today on a pen that I had just re-inked after storing it for quite a while but felt oddly scratchy, a quick look with a loupe, there it was, misaligned tines.

A quick pull on the lower one, back to perfect alignment, and smooth writing. Does happen.

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I did on an old Parker 21. When the person gave it to me it was pointing north. 

"Respect science, respect nature, respect all people (s),"

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My most recent effort was on a Rotring Renaissance with a F nib.  I think it was sold after being hardly used because of the tine misalignment.  I aligned them and smoothed out the tip with some micromesh and it's now like ...wow!  I am super pleased with the result.

 

I've also had to do tine realignments on a couple Pelikan M20x/40x nibs.  But they were not out by much.  Enough to create enough of a cringe-worthy sensation.  They're now fine as well.

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I used to do adjustments only by hand and writing feel.  It's possible to pick up the skill without too much trouble.  However, a $10 loupe helped immensely when troubleshooting more complicated problems.  Sounds like you're in for a great start.  I'd recommend reading some of the articles on RichardsPens.com for more information. 

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I wonder how many people try a fountain pen with misaligned tines, don't know enough to recognise the problem, and go "I'll never buy a **** their pens are rubbish" or even worse "I'm going back to Bic".

 

Tinkering is par for the course. You've made a nice start.

Too many pens, too little time!

http://fountainpenlove.blogspot.fr/

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true, not only, I've quite a few time bought used pens that were likely sold off as defective only due to misaligned tines...

actually more frequent than falling into buying a real dud...

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A good once in a life time 10 X good coated glass loup cost @ $35, or you can get a cheap Chinese 40 X = real 10X for some $5-6.00 or even less....might be cheaper to buy a new one when the battery dies...........old English and German saying, 'I'm not rich enough to buy cheap.|

You need one; a 1 1/2 inch thick magnifying glass won't do....a huge honking magnifying glass is useless in fountain pens.

 

It is a common needed tweek......if you bang your nib or order on line, with robots and workers kicking packages 70 yards, misaligned nibs are the normal of the day.

With your thumb nail at the breather hole or end of slit, Press the up nib down completely under the low nib for @ 2 seconds, release and check, can do that about 2-3 times and it should be realigned.

 

I do it or have done it so often, I don't even think about it. But that first time....:yikes:

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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There is no way to measure the right nib adjustment, so, in the end you have to eyeball it somehow. A good watchmaker’s loupe and experience help of course. But in the end, only writing tests will tell you whether or not the latest tweak did the trick. A good problem analysis shortens the path to success immensely.

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I do it by eye all the time. Loupe only comes out if it's being particularly fiddly. I've probably ruined maybe two nibs ever, when I was starting out.

 

 

Selling a boatload of restored, fairly rare, vintage Japanese gold nib pens, click here to see (more added as I finish restoring them)

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I was lucky running across one was supposed to use a loup here on the com.....so it was only half as nerve racking as it could have been.

That and enough folks telling how.

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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