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Heat-setting feed



 
 
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  #1  
Old October 7th 04, 11:14 PM
Perry Donham
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Default Heat-setting feed

Anyone have experience heat-setting a feed? I have a couple of Skylines with
a fairly large gap between nib and feed that I'd like to repair. Is it
easier to work with the nib off the feed, or on the assembled unit?

Perry
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  #2  
Old October 8th 04, 12:46 AM
QuarterHorseman
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With the feed and nib in the section I think there's too much risk of
winding up with a bridged feed, and then the feed's going to have to
come out anyway. Remember the idea is go get the *entire length* of the
feed to sit up against the nib, not just the last 1/16". I like to have
the nib and feed in hand and be able to eyeball how they look together
as well as individually. I've had to fix several attempted repairs where
the owner tried to heat-set a feed to a slightly-sprung nib, and in all
those cases what came out the other end of those attempts was a bridged
feed under a sprung nib, with the typical hallmark of writing a few
words, then running lean for 2-3 more, then quitting altogether until
the pen was shaken.

The section, feed, and nib comprise an aligned system. If the parts
aren't aligned (straight) individually, they'll never go together right.
Since I want to check on that as well as whether the section hole is
ovaled with age/stress or drilled at an angle or off-center, I always
disassemble first.

I don't claim my way's the best, just that it's the best for me. I like
having a baseline.
  #3  
Old October 8th 04, 01:59 AM
Perry Donham
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Default

I think that makes sense. Do you apply direct heat, as from an alchohol
lamp, or indirect in someway? My fear is that the feed will just burst
into flame if I stick use a lamp.

Perry

QuarterHorseman wrote:

With the feed and nib in the section I think there's too much risk of
winding up with a bridged feed, and then the feed's going to have to
come out anyway. Remember the idea is go get the *entire length* of the
feed to sit up against the nib, not just the last 1/16". I like to have
the nib and feed in hand and be able to eyeball how they look together
as well as individually. I've had to fix several attempted repairs where
the owner tried to heat-set a feed to a slightly-sprung nib, and in all
those cases what came out the other end of those attempts was a bridged
feed under a sprung nib, with the typical hallmark of writing a few
words, then running lean for 2-3 more, then quitting altogether until
the pen was shaken.

The section, feed, and nib comprise an aligned system. If the parts
aren't aligned (straight) individually, they'll never go together right.
Since I want to check on that as well as whether the section hole is
ovaled with age/stress or drilled at an angle or off-center, I always
disassemble first.

I don't claim my way's the best, just that it's the best for me. I like
having a baseline.


  #4  
Old October 8th 04, 01:07 PM
QuarterHorseman
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I generally start really easy, with a good soak in hot water. My water
heater is set to 130 degrees F. which seems to work in most cases. If
that doesn't work on a particular feed, then I use a hair dryer. You can
also use a heat gun as long as you start at the low end of adjustability
and work your way up. Do not use flame to straighten a feed -- it is
overkill, like trying to solder the pipes to your new bathroom sink with
a MIG welder.

"Heat-setting" is actually a misnomer, though its use persists. The
"set" actually is accomplished by quick cooling after the feed is
straightened while hot, usually by dunking right into cold water.

If this is your first time, I would strongly recommend buying a junk or
cheap (or both) pen that has a feed made up of the material you plan to
work on on the "real" pen, rubber or plastic. Play around with the junk
feed to get a feel for what it's going to do under heat and cold. As you
get better with setting feeds you will discover the peculiarities of
rubber and plastic feeds, how easy/hard it is go get them to yield, and
how easily they take the cold-water set. You will find that plastic can
be surprisingly-meltable and that in certain cases even just a small
amount of heat can warp the feed channels, making that feed useless
(another reason for pulling the feed, so that warpage doesn't happen
invisibly, under the bottom of a nib you've accidentally gotten too hot
over a hair dryer or heat gun, leading you do wonder why the pen doesn't
work at all after the heat set).

When reading any publication showing how to heat-set a feed while the
pen is assembled, keep in mind the relative softness of plastic, versus
rubber at the same temperature, when deciding what process to use, and
be aware that it is very easy to imprint a hot plastic feed with
whatever you press up against it.
  #5  
Old October 8th 04, 01:15 PM
QuarterHorseman
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Let me clarify something he


The
"set" actually is accomplished by quick cooling after the feed is
straightened while hot, usually by dunking right into cold water.


What I should have said was that the "set" is accomplished by quick
cooling as you hold the still-hot feed in its re-straightened condition
while dunking it into cold water. While still holding the feed re-bent,
keep it in the water for 10 or more seconds, then pull it out. It should
"remember" the position you held it in when it was hot.
  #6  
Old October 8th 04, 05:09 PM
KCat
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The section, feed, and nib comprise an aligned system. If the parts
aren't aligned (straight) individually, they'll never go together right.
Since I want to check on that as well as whether the section hole is
ovaled with age/stress or drilled at an angle or off-center, I always
disassemble first.


I've already had a feed set for me by the seller but I was wondering how you
would deal with the following:

When removed, the feed arched away from the tine tips, yet when replaced in
the section the loss of contact was in the middle where the breather hole
was. Causing ink to pool in this area and sometimes gush. This is a
vintage Pelikan nib, quite flexible and pooling ink in a flex nib made for a
mess when pressure was applied. As I said, it has been fixed but I would
like to know how for future reference. Seems that in this case the best
way to reset would have been with nib and feed remaining in the section?

Thanks
kcat


  #7  
Old October 9th 04, 01:01 AM
QuarterHorseman
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The one missing piece of information is whether the nib itself was
perfectly-straight. It may have been bent down somewhere in the middle,
causing it to contact only the tip of the feed. Hard to say without
having the parts in hand.
  #8  
Old October 9th 04, 02:37 AM
KCat
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yeah - I can't really tell you whether it was or not. I looked at it but -
I wasn't sure what I was looking at at the time. Thanks though.
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