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Xun posted:Can I use bottled ink with pilot parallel cartridges or does that somehow screw them up? Bottled ink in the Parallel's "cleaning converter" works just fine, no need to refill cartridges.
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Feb 15, 2015 03:06
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breathstealer posted:Bottled ink in the Parallel's "cleaning converter" works just fine, no need to refill cartridges. You can't see the ink level though. I say go for it.
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Feb 15, 2015 05:54
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Swagger Dagger posted:I've been using the ARC system paper from Staples with a F-nib Metro for notes, there's no bleed through or anything with that paper. It's a bit more expensive than your average filler paper, but I like the whole ring system since I can slot in handouts or printed pages wherever they need to go in with the notes. I use the Circa/Arc/Rollabind system with custom printed HP 32lb. paper and it is literally the best thing. The HP 32lb. is better, smoother paper and comes out to be cheaper per page at the end of the day. Of course, it also means that you need to buy a $50 punch.
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Feb 15, 2015 18:48
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Fall posted:You can't see the ink level though. I say go for it. I saw a youtube where some guy just refilled the cartridges with bottled inked using an eyedropper. That's my plan.
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Feb 15, 2015 19:46
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Get a blunt-tipped syringe. You can find it in pharmacies and often travel stores.
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Feb 15, 2015 20:06
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Kessel posted:Get a blunt-tipped syringe. You can find it in pharmacies and often travel stores. Or a regular syringe and blunt up the needles. That works wonderfully.
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Feb 15, 2015 20:38
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Goulet sells blunt syringes with needles larger than you're likely to find at a pharmacy. (18 and 20 gauge). I bought the full pen maintenance kit and it comes with two of each, plus brass sheets, pen flush, and a bunch of other stuff.
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Feb 15, 2015 21:46
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The eyedropper that comes with the large Noodler bottles fits perfectly in the Metro cartridges. You have to be a little careful if there's surface tension, but that's really easy to avoid.
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Feb 15, 2015 23:45
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Finally joined the 51 train - someone listed a pile of 51-vacumatics on and I managed to snag one for under £30 all-in.  It'll be with me in-time to get bits to service it at the Cambridge show. Might be able to get parts to fix the poor bastard Snorkel I picked up that someone did loving awful things to the sac protector, too.
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Feb 16, 2015 21:21
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So it seems that I was drunk in control of an ebay account a few days ago. A 10-pack of Hero 616s dropped through my letterbox today. The first one I try doesn't fill properly. I'm sure I can find a workable pen in the other 9.
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Feb 16, 2015 23:26
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Soylent Yellow posted:So it seems that I was drunk in control of an ebay account a few days ago. A 10-pack of Hero 616s dropped through my letterbox today. The first one I try doesn't fill properly. I'm sure I can find a workable pen in the other 9. Remove the metal cover on the sac, press it directly. It will fill up more efficiently and better.
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Feb 17, 2015 02:15
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Soylent Yellow posted:So it seems that I was drunk in control of an ebay account a few days ago. A 10-pack of Hero 616s dropped through my letterbox today. The first one I try doesn't fill properly. I'm sure I can find a workable pen in the other 9. I'm pretty sure a 10% usable rate is about normal for Hero pens, so you're about where you should be if that's the case. So I mentioned that I was excited about what Greg Minuskin put up for sale after the LA Pen Show. I lucked out, and nabbed this beauty just now. I don't know what it is about the pearl white, but I absolutely fell in love with it when I saw it. What is wrong with me?
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Feb 17, 2015 02:16
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I honestly like writing with the kakuno more at work due to the finer line weight And lighter weight, but I'm paranoid of it not having a clip or anything.
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Feb 17, 2015 20:54
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pienipple posted:I honestly like writing with the kakuno more at work due to the finer line weight And lighter weight, but I'm paranoid of it not having a clip or anything. A Pilot Young Rex or Cavalier might be good options. Same nib width options and very light.
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Feb 17, 2015 21:16
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pienipple posted:I honestly like writing with the kakuno more at work due to the finer line weight And lighter weight, but I'm paranoid of it not having a clip or anything. How so? Even though a lot of my FPs have clips I don't like to clip them to my clothes as it's how I lost my first Safari (charcoal 1.1 italic). It's just fun to see the different design elements for each company like Pelikan's metal clip and various variations on old logos through out the decades. The only time I dislike clips is when they dominate the entire design like Sailor's new clip... I do store everything in a pen case than in a regular pencil case so I might be a little obsessive about not misplacing my stationery items too.
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Feb 18, 2015 04:54
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pienipple posted:I honestly like writing with the kakuno more at work due to the finer line weight And lighter weight, but I'm paranoid of it not having a clip or anything. You can fit one of those kaweco sport clips onto the kakuno's cap. It catches that depression and is perfectly functional.
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Feb 18, 2015 16:36
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loving bollocky shithouses. I've followed this thread for a while now, and I've always scoffed at stories of TWSBIs self-destructing. But then, last night... (Dear Penthouse - I always thought that your letters were made-up, until...) And sorry for the dark photos - I should have played around with the exposure. I was writing something last night, and I started to feel as if my VAC 580 (I think it is) was falling apart, slipping somehow. An odd feeling - like those nightmares where your teeth are falling out? I stopped writing, dumped as much ink as I could, and looked at it again this afternoon. OK, pics. Turns out that the black plastic threaded section at the end of the nib has broken off, and is stuck in the shaft of the pen. Broken nib unit left, good one on the right.   And at the very limits of my photography skills, the broken piece, left in the pen.   So. Bugger. I guess it's back to TWSBI for a fix. By all accounts, they're used to dealign with repairs. 
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Feb 18, 2015 17:49
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TWSBI should not be having as many manufacturing errors in their mature product lines as they currently do. It's nice for a company to have a good reputation in dealing with repairs of broken bits, but it would be nicer if they didn't break that often in the first place.
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Feb 18, 2015 17:54
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That's pretty much exactly where I am mentally, with the company. I've got a couple of spare nibs for the thing, but I'm in half a mind to gently caress it in the bin and carry on with my Parker Vector and Metro. I don't want a pen that's going to leave me in the lurch, and the Vector, in particular, has shrugged off about 20 years of abuse.
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Feb 18, 2015 17:57
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Teach posted:That's pretty much exactly where I am mentally, with the company. I've got a couple of spare nibs for the thing, but I'm in half a mind to gently caress it in the bin and carry on with my Parker Vector and Metro. I don't want a pen that's going to leave me in the lurch, and the Vector, in particular, has shrugged off about 20 years of abuse. I don't have a horse in this race but I do admit their Q&A could be improved upon. However, they are a small(er) fountain pen company and have fostered quite a bit of goodwill within FPN and related communities. If a person were looking for a affordable piston-filler I'd go with Pelikan but their pens are overpriced nowadays by at least 30% and TWSBI is good enough for $50. Is there room for improvement? Ofc but it's a challenge as most pen companies are going into the high-end luxury market than producing reliable writers. I do say the big 3 JPN companies have exceptional Q&A and good prices esp since the yen has tanked the last few months since I checked. Their nibs run finer due to their preferences for writing but still good pens all the same.
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Feb 18, 2015 18:41
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Teach posted:loving bollocky shithouses. I've followed this thread for a while now, and I've always scoffed at stories of TWSBIs self-destructing. But then, last night... I've had that exact same thing happen on both of my 580s. Just email TWSBI and they'll send you a new barrel and nib collar thing. Making the nib unit structural was not the greatest design move on TWSBI's part. At least the ECO is going to be essentially unibody. Edit: The current estimated release date for the ECO is "April." If they do manage to keep it under $30 and it's not a complete piece of poo poo, it might legitimately be a safari-killer. Or, at least, drive the Safari down to its Asian price-point here in the USA. http://www.peneconomics.com/blog/2015/2/16/brand-analysis-twsbi Rudeboy Detective fucked around with this message at 19:04 on Feb 18, 2015 |
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Feb 18, 2015 18:58
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I love my TWSBI mini, and I abuse the poo poo of this pen. Still no structural problems with it. It's too bad that TWSBI has such big component level QA issues, because that's prevented my from buying other products from them for fear of not getting this lucky on round 2. 
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Feb 18, 2015 19:46
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Gotta admit, that's a way for a Twsbi to break that I've not seen before.
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Feb 18, 2015 20:46
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That's a fascinating blog! Thank you.
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Feb 18, 2015 23:20
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How do you all decide what pen to use when you have several to many? I have 10, which I know is less than a lot of you guys, but I have to keep them all inked because I can never decide which to use. Do you go in rotations or something?
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Feb 19, 2015 02:18
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rio posted:How do you all decide what pen to use when you have several to many? I have 10, which I know is less than a lot of you guys, but I have to keep them all inked because I can never decide which to use. Do you go in rotations or something? I don't have a huge collection but I have enough to rotate pens in and out. I try to keep 3- 5 or so inked so I can use different colors (always have black and blue on hand for official work stuff then a few fun colors) and a range of nib sizes so I'll have a couple F/EF, one M (maybe), and one or two italics. I also keep one in my bag but that one doesn't get swapped since I bought it specifically for that purpose.
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Feb 19, 2015 02:30
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I pick a pen to match my tie, either with the body as a complement or the ink as a contrast.
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Feb 19, 2015 02:32
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rio posted:How do you all decide what pen to use when you have several to many? I have 10, which I know is less than a lot of you guys, but I have to keep them all inked because I can never decide which to use. Do you go in rotations or something? Some of my pens are broken, so I can't use them, and some of them are special-purpose, so I don't use them daily/often. The three pens I always have inked up take their roles based on what they are and how much I value them. The Metro with a Kakuno nib lives at work. It's sturdy, the clip is perfect for me, and it doesn't have a screw cap so I can just pop it open and back closed quickly. It always has Heart of Darkness in it because I have to write in black. The TWSBI Diamond 540 lives in my bag so I always have something to write with, the M nib is a really easy starter, and the screw cap makes me feel secure that it won't leak all over. I keep whatever fun ink I want in there (just refilled it with Lie de Thé tonight). The Custom 74 is my most expensive pen and also an anniversary present, so it lives on my desk and stays inked with Shin-Kai (a birthday present). I used to have a Vista for work but I gave that away to be someone's first fountain pen.
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Feb 19, 2015 06:12
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rio posted:How do you all decide what pen to use when you have several to many? I have 10, which I know is less than a lot of you guys, but I have to keep them all inked because I can never decide which to use. Do you go in rotations or something? I haven't doubled up on pens yet, they all got jobs to do.  3776 UEF is for mathematical/scientific notation, taking notes that require handwriting specific lines of code, and chinese characters. Basically anything that needs to be printed with some sort of precision. The Centurys aren't too pricey so makes a good general carry. I always drop my 'fun' inks in this guy because my other 2 are dedicated blue/red pens respectively, all I need from this is for it to be a different colour. Really enjoying shin-ryoku atm. 743 custom is the real workhorse, any significant handwriting, note-taking etc. Build quality is incredible, the SU nib just glides along the paper and it's one of few pens I genuinely enjoy writing posted - great balance, very sturdy. Always filling blue, looks great with shin kai but lately kon peki is really impressing me. The SU shape dynamics play well with kon peki's vibracy and makes for great shading. LAMY is what it is. I keep momiji in it nearly all the time, but occasionally fill with drawing ink for when I need to do any traditional pieces or tattoo designs for clients. Gets a lot of use due to reliability and that I don't mind beating the poo poo out of it. Given that I've got all bases covered at this point I think future purchases are all going to cosmetic upgrades rather than necessities. Still looking for an excuse to cop a music.
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Feb 19, 2015 13:42
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rio posted:How do you all decide what pen to use when you have several to many? I have 10, which I know is less than a lot of you guys, but I have to keep them all inked because I can never decide which to use. Do you go in rotations or something? I have two rotation of pens, daily writer pens and fancy pens. Basically one set consists of pens I'll leave at work while they're inked and if they were pilfered it wouldn't be such a big deal to replace them, although currently it's the Vac 700 which is like 70~80 bucks, but the current fancy pen is the Lamy 2000 which is like 150~175 depending. The fancy pen I use at home and sometimes I bring it to work in my shirt pocket where it remains until I need to take notes. Next up for the fancy pen is probably my VP, the daily writer...I dunno, maybe the Monteverde Black Tie or the 530, I don't think either of those have been inked recently. I don't have a planned rotation, I just ink up whatever I can't remember using recently.
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Feb 19, 2015 16:15
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rio posted:How do you all decide what pen to use when you have several to many? I have 10, which I know is less than a lot of you guys, but I have to keep them all inked because I can never decide which to use. Do you go in rotations or something? I keep my Safari in my shirt pocket for work and notes on the go, typically inked with 54th Mass or Pelikan's Brilliant Black. I have one Metropolitan in silver inked in a Noodler's red of some variety (usually Nikita or Black Swan in English Roses) for editing duty. I have another Metropolitan in black for letters or journaling that rotates ink depending on how I'm feeling or what I want to play with. I have my parallels inked up only when I want to play/practice with them. The rest of my pens just tend to get used when I'm feeling like something different. Usually I swap them for the black Metro for journaling.
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Feb 19, 2015 17:42
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Teach posted:loving bollocky shithouses. I've followed this thread for a while now, and I've always scoffed at stories of TWSBIs self-destructing. But then, last night... drat it all, mine did this too. I've had it for months (years?) how's their support? I loved that pen.
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Feb 19, 2015 21:21
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AnimalChin posted:drat it all, mine did this too. The other side of TWSBI's notorious quality issues is the fact that they'll send you new components free of charge if you email them about it.
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Feb 19, 2015 21:40
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diddy kongs feet posted:
Hmm---I'm interested in the UEF nib but so far I've only tried PO and Fine by Pilot and Sailor respectively. Not sure if I want to take a gamble on Platinum yet. How does it write? I dislike any idea of feedback for my XXF nibs because I'm interested in recording my thoughts not fighting the paper for notes. What width is the SU nib? IIRC someone said it was a 1.0 mm stub but it's a finicky writer due to having to deal with proper writing angle which is understandable for calligraphy but not so much for EDC. Always curious to read reviews for factory stubs or italics as they are uncommon nowadays. I use a daily rotation depending what I plan on writing or working on for that day. For example, I have set of student pens <$30 and a pen box of vintage pens which I keep at my desk for journals or correspondence. Also, I'm actively reducing my accumulation to (hopefully) under 40 pens in '15 because minimalism is good  I only like blue, blue-black, and black inks so they live in my desk drawer too. Although I have samples of some inks in brighter colors I don't really find much of a use for them for school work or journals.
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Feb 20, 2015 00:07
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I reach in to the pen holder and grab one. Full size for work, pocket otherwise.
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Feb 20, 2015 02:30
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Alder posted:Hmm---I'm interested in the UEF nib but so far I've only tried PO and Fine by Pilot and Sailor respectively. Not sure if I want to take a gamble on Platinum yet. How does it write? I dislike any idea of feedback for my XXF nibs because I'm interested in recording my thoughts not fighting the paper for notes. I do a lot of work with traditional drawing dip nibs - G-pen, maru, saji etc., the UEF feels similar. If you've ever used one of these before they're a good example of how sharp/fine the platinum UEF is, although it is definitely slightly blunted compared to a fresh drawing nib, it's still sharp enough to pierce the paper quite easily at the wrong angle. This combined with the coarse feedback of a sharp nib on most papers are my only gripes. Certainly doesn't feel as 'sturdy' as the pilot 743 due to the lighter build and a slight rattle from the proprietary converter. With all that said, it still puts down some beautiful handwriting and some seriously fine lines. The SU is around 0.9mm, I can't find exact measurements for some reason. It actually has a surprising flex to it too and with a modest amount of pressure puts out some very fat lines. I must have spent upwards of 4 hours trying the entire 743 range before settling on the SU for it's smooth writing feel and huge amounts of character in it's shape dynamics, thanks to the broad tip and the slight flex. Proper writing angle is an issue, this is a pen that comes with a learning curve, particularly if you haven't previously made a habit of writing with a certain degree of slant. It did only take about a month for me to feel fully comfortable with it though, and now I can't look back. Holding the pen at optimal angle comes automatically once you're familiar with the nib. I also write crazy fast with this pen no issues. Biggest downside is having to double linespace more often due to nib fatness.
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Feb 20, 2015 03:26
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For my birthday, as a part of my present, my boyfriend ended up giving me his first pen (a Cross something or other) and a bottle of Noodlers Rome Burning since my favorite color is olive (and purple, which is the color the ink turns when exposed to water). This pen has a M nib on it and I'm really enjoying how consistent everything is, to echo other people in here. I'm already looking into getting F or EF pens since I dont think this one has exchangeable nibs.
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Feb 20, 2015 16:19
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@diddy kongs feet: Thanks for the detailed info. Hmm---I'm envious that you were able to try the FPs in-person as 90% of the time I'll be basing my ideas on online reviews or photos.
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Feb 20, 2015 19:38
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NeurosisHead posted:The other side of TWSBI's notorious quality issues is the fact that they'll send you new components free of charge if you email them about it. Emailed them a picture of my broken pen. The response was that I twisted the piece on too tight (I didn't) and that they would be happy to ship me a replacement part but that they were out of them and to check back in a few weeks.
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Feb 20, 2015 22:16
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AnimalChin posted:Emailed them a picture of my broken pen. The response was that I twisted the piece on too tight (I didn't) and that they would be happy to ship me a replacement part but that they were out of them and to check back in a few weeks. The time table on the follow up is unfortunate, but that they'll do it for free is good. It would be better if they didn't have to do it at all, but that's irrelevant now. You can buy a replacement nib unit in any size from EF to 1.5mm from Goulet for $20 if you're feeling impatient. e: now that I think about it, they're trying to get the Eco out in a couple of months, I'm not surprised that there's some component shortages for their previous models while they focus on the launch of a new product line in the last stages.
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Feb 20, 2015 22:27
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