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#1
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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. -- For More Pen Talk, Images, Trading and Reviews: The Fountain Pen Network http://pagesperso.laposte.net/fpnet For Lupus Support and Info http://www.ghg.net/schwerpt/ASLFAQ/ |
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