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Replacing an Esterbrook RenewPoint feed with an ebonite feed?


Aelfattrum

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I have an Esterbrook 9128 with a broken feed. I don't currently have any non-sacced Esterbrook, so I don't currently have a spare section to use to knock it out. I've been trying to find a broken Renewpoint that I could scavenge a feed from, but haven't been successful so far.

 

But meanwhile I was wondering - could I replace the feed with a non-Esterbrook one, specifically an ebonite feed. The 9128s sometimes run a bit dry if I'm a bit too flourish-y, and it could be nice to have a wetter feed. Has anyone done this sort of thing?

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I can't answer your question but I have a 2968 with a mangled nib you can cannibalize.  PM me if interested.

Dave Campbell
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Esterbrook Renew Point feeds are hard rubber.

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4 minutes ago, FarmBoy said:

Esterbrook Renew Point feeds are hard rubber.

 

Ah - somewhere here on FPN I recall seeing discussion that Renew Point feeds were some sort of injection moulded plastic.

 

(I suppose it's an empirical question, especially as I have a broken Renew Point feed...)

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The J series pens use a nib unit which screws in, so you do not want to be 'knocking it out'.

 

Your best route would be to soak the section and drill a small hole into the feed and use a small size stud remover to remove the old nib unit.

 

Esterbrook nib units are not hard to find

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3 hours ago, peterg said:

The J series pens use a nib unit which screws in, so you do not want to be 'knocking it out'.

@petergI think you might misunderstand my meaning. I'm using Esterbrook's old marketing term "RenewPoint" to refer to the nib unit. The nib unit in question is already unscrewed. The issue is that the feed (whether of ebonite or injection moulded plastic) is broken. So I'd like to be able to take out the nib and put it into a nib unit with a good feed. The reason I refer to the section is because I think the easiest way of (and I use the term here in its technical sense) knocking out the nib is to put it into a section first (see https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/239764-how-to-fix-an-esterbrook-nib-with-a-broken-feed/ ).

 

3 hours ago, peterg said:

Esterbrook nib units are not hard to find

 

Sure, but some particular types are an awful lot harder to find than others.

 

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Because the collar around the nib and feed is so thin, it is hard to knock the nib and feed out without a section in which to hold the nib unit.  Note too, that the collar is usually pushed in on the underside into a notch on the feed, to keep them from rotating in the collar as you screw and/or unscrew the nib unit. Not always, but usually the case on most of the nib made.  This tends to break if you just knock them out.  I try to heat the collar to soften the plastic, then rotate the nib and feed so that the notch moves out from under where it is pushed in.  Then you can knock them out without breaking the collar.

 

This is a good excuse to buy a parts/donor pen.

 

 

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18 minutes ago, Ron Z said:

Because the collar around the nib and feed is so thin, it is hard to knock the nib and feed out without a section in which to hold the nib unit.  Note too, that the collar is usually pushed in on the underside into a notch on the feed, to keep them from rotating in the collar as you screw and/or unscrew the nib unit. Not always, but usually the case on most of the nib made.  This tends to break if you just knock them out.  I try to heat the collar to soften the plastic, then rotate the nib and feed so that the notch moves out from under where it is pushed in.  Then you can knock them out without breaking the collar.

 

Thanks for the additional tips! Do you usually use some sort of dry heat (e.g. hair-dryer) to heat the collar?

19 minutes ago, Ron Z said:

This is a good excuse to buy a parts/donor pen.

 

Yeah, kestrel kindly sent me a donor nib unit with broken nib, but I still actually need a donor pen in order to have a spare section (all of my current Esterbrooks are sac'ed currently, so I'd rather not use any of them), so I've been watching for low-priced/damaged Esterbrooks and am sure I'll come across a good parts pen sooner or later.

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Always dry heat.  Hair dryer or heat gun.  Actually, most of the repair guys use an embossing gun.  It has a smaller opening, and you can control the heat by moving away from the opening.  A couple of inches is usually about right.

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On 6/28/2021 at 10:58 AM, Aelfattrum said:

 

Thanks for the additional tips! Do you usually use some sort of dry heat (e.g. hair-dryer) to heat the collar?

 

Yeah, kestrel kindly sent me a donor nib unit with broken nib, but I still actually need a donor pen in order to have a spare section (all of my current Esterbrooks are sac'ed currently, so I'd rather not use any of them), so I've been watching for low-priced/damaged Esterbrooks and am sure I'll come across a good parts pen sooner or later.

 

 Do you know if the ring around the Ren-New point collar is green or black?

 

 If it's green, it's a thermoplastic that is an utter pain in the rear end...

 

 If its a blackish color, you can place the nib in a cup of boiling water, (microwave) for a couple minutes, and try to pull the feed out, (just be careful).

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@AL01 It's one of the green ones (though most of the green is gone - eaten away, I suppose, by the residue of whatever dried ink it sat in for half a century).

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On 7/4/2021 at 11:37 AM, Aelfattrum said:

@AL01 It's one of the green ones (though most of the green is gone - eaten away, I suppose, by the residue of whatever dried ink it sat in for half a century).

 

 The green ones are tough...

 

 Try your best and take your time, (may be a couple days of attempts.)

 

 I wish you luck!

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Thanks, @AL01! Do you have any advice on the green renewpoints? Try to heat them and rotate away from the notch? Can they then be (carefully) knocked out? Or is trying to knock out nib/feed is bad idea?

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If you try to just knock the feed out, you stand a good chance of breaking at least part of the collar. I think its better to heat and rotate the feed away from the notch, which pushes the collar out of the notch.  Just go gently, and don't heat too close or for too long. 

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5 hours ago, Aelfattrum said:

Thanks, @AL01! Do you have any advice on the green renewpoints? Try to heat them and rotate away from the notch? Can they then be (carefully) knocked out? Or is trying to knock out nib/feed is bad idea?

 

 I have never knocked out a nib unit before, so I can't answer that question.

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I finally got my hands on a spare Esterbrook section. I tried twisting the renewpoints, but even with heat didn't make much progress. I ended up knocking out two of them (the one with the good nib and bad feed - a green one; and the one with the good feed and bad nib - a black one), and the collars survived fine in both cases.

 

I also think that the feeds are indeed *not* ebonite. I tried filing the broken feed a bit and it doesn't produce anything like the odour that hard rubber gives off. I think the feeds - at least the later ones - are injection moulded plastic.

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