Opus 88 Pocket Pen Feed

[WolfeyedWitch]

So, dumb question here: does the Opus 88 Pocket Pen come with an ebonite feed, or a plastic one? I don't know enough to tell the difference, and I can't seem to find any specifications on it. I'm probably looking in the wrong places, but still. I figured it would be worth asking y'all to see if I could make life just a little easier on myself.

 

For context: I put an FPR ultra-flex 5.5 nib in my Opus 88 Pocket Pen. It flexes great, but sometimes ends up railroading. I'm trying to determine whether I need a wetter feed, or if I'm just asking too much of the pen. I'll upload pictures to show what I mean when I get a chance.

[amberleadavis]

@Detman101 might be able to tell us.

[Detman101]

On 1/24/2023 at 7:16 PM, WolfeyedWitch said:

So, dumb question here: does the Opus 88 Pocket Pen come with an ebonite feed, or a plastic one? I don't know enough to tell the difference, and I can't seem to find any specifications on it. I'm probably looking in the wrong places, but still. I figured it would be worth asking y'all to see if I could make life just a little easier on myself.

 

For context: I put an FPR ultra-flex 5.5 nib in my Opus 88 Pocket Pen. It flexes great, but sometimes ends up railroading. I'm trying to determine whether I need a wetter feed, or if I'm just asking too much of the pen. I'll upload pictures to show what I mean when I get a chance.

 

On 1/24/2023 at 8:51 PM, amberleadavis said:

@Detman101 might be able to tell us.

Standard #5 plastic feed on the Opus-88 Pocket Pen.
The feed would require a small modification for use with a Flex Nib such as the FPR Ultra-Flex.

[WolfeyedWitch]

12 hours ago, Detman101 said:

 

Standard #5 plastic feed on the Opus-88 Pocket Pen.
The feed would require a small modification for use with a Flex Nib such as the FPR Ultra-Flex.

What kind of modification? I have the ebonite feed that goes with the FPR 5.5 nib; would that work in the Opus 88 Pocket Pen?

[WolfeyedWitch]

@Detman101 Here's an image of the performance I'm getting at the moment. Please excuse the questionable quality. The top set is with the pen piston (whatever you call it on the opus 88 pens that supposedly keeps them from leaking) closed, and the bottom set is with it open. Its railroading quite easily, and sometimes I struggle to get the ink flowing again afterwards.

 

I tried to remove the nib and feed to see if the FPR feed that came with the nib would work. (I doubt it, because it looks like the original feed and the FPR feed have slightly different shapes, as well as the FPR feed lacking the little extension at the end of the original one. Im not sure how important that is for an eyedropper pen, but I know its important for cartridge and converter pens.) Problem was, I couldn't seem to get the nib and feed out! Im not sure how I managed in the first place to swap the nib, because those suckers are really stuck in there! I used a piece of rubber to help grip them; are there any other tricks I should try?

[WolfeyedWitch]

@Detman101 okay! So I finally got the nib and feed out after soaking them in warm water, and I tried to modify the feed. I took an x-acto to the central groove and very gently widened/deepened it. Now I have a different problem: the ink isn't making it to the tip of the nib at all.

 

The ink is in the feed just fine, and touching the back of the nib proves the ink is there towards the back of the slit in the nib. Is there a guide to modifying feeds somewhere? You mentioned that the feed would take a small modification to work with a flex nib; could you please elaborate on that?

 

I'm off to go Google how to fix what I did... and probably buy another nib unit...

[WolfeyedWitch]

Update: all is fine! Turns out that the nib just wasn't pushed in far enough. The feed is now keeping up with the flex much better.