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View Full Version : Stipula Passoporto.....



Nomdeplume
May 20th, 2014, 04:35 PM
Is there a rule against pointing to places like Mass Drop?
Cause there's a drop of the clear or black Passoporto right now at really reasonable rate!

Jon Szanto
May 20th, 2014, 05:15 PM
I don't think there is much that isn't allowed around here. I'd only offer one caveat: check to see of these are the models with the threads on the end of the barrel. Why? Well, my FPN Passaporto had threads, and about 6 months ago I bought another, thinking they ALL were threaded. Nope. Most don't and it means they don't post well at all, usually falling off, and the pen is so small it *has* to be posted. The clear I bought now permanently has a small bit of clear tape wrapped on the end of the barrel for secure posting. Not elegant.

Great little pens, just offering that bit of info.

Nomdeplume
May 20th, 2014, 06:46 PM
They definitely do not have the threads. I do prefer the ones with threads but have learned how to patiently post! At the Drop price, I can live with it!

gwgtaylor
May 20th, 2014, 08:57 PM
My two non-threaded passaportos post perfectly. It's an awesome deal. Tempted to frap a black to go with my clear and ruby. Very tempting. The little stub is amazing. I have it on my clear and adore it

Jon Szanto
May 20th, 2014, 09:07 PM
I agree they are great pens. I wished the last I bought posted well, but the damn thing just falls off, and I spoke with a number of people who had the same problem. Apparently this model went through a fair number of iterations and changes. Such is life, but I think I'll stick with two for the moment.

earthdawn
May 20th, 2014, 10:12 PM
Yup... I love mine BBUT it does not post well at all as it does not have the threads on the end.

I wish there was a fix to this that was not an eyesore.

But the stub nib write really really well and is smooth... really smooth

I got the blue demo.

Tsuki yo
June 16th, 2014, 04:51 PM
I bought this pen on a whim on Saturday night, read the reviews on Sunday morning. I am a bad pen geek. I really hope that mine posts well, because all other aspects of it seem really cool, and I want to love it. I guess I'll see when my package arrives from the Andersons next week.

Jon Szanto
June 16th, 2014, 05:12 PM
A virtually unobtrusive fix is to use a very narrow strip of clear cellophane tape, probably no more than 1/8" wide, placed on the end of the barrel as far up as the cap would post. If you cut it cleanly (I use clear packing tape), you almost can't see it, but it gives just a bit more diameter for the metal ferule on the cap to hold on to. Not as slick as the threaded models, but it kept me from not using my 2nd PPorto (the one with no threads). Other than this one issue, I love them - I hope you do too!

Tsuki yo
June 16th, 2014, 10:54 PM
I was thinking I might use a bit of sticky tac if I was planning on writing for long sessions with it. I have fairly small hands, so hopefully it won't be too much of an issue for me. I watched sbrebrown's review of it, and given where it sits in his huge hands I think I might luck out even if the one I bought doesn't post well.

Jon Szanto
June 16th, 2014, 11:14 PM
You would have to have really small hands to write with this unposted. Not counting the nib (cuz you can't grab the nib!), the section and barrel are only 2.75" long. If I hold the section between my first finger and thumb, the butt end of the pen doesn't even touch the crook of my hand.

Tsuki yo
June 17th, 2014, 07:45 AM
hmmmm. With the extreme angle my fingers take when I write (forefinger almost perpendicular to thumb, with the body of the pen resting on the web of my thumb) it may just have enough length. But what I was actually thinking was that, if the posting was weak, it probably won't be a huge issue for me, because point at which the pen posts will probably sit on my hand instead of hovering in the gap between my fingers and the web of my thumb. If that makes any sense, so that I would in effect be putting less pressure on the weak connection of the cap and the barrel.

Although, if the posting is really really weak it won't really matter how it rests on my hand. And I'll probably end up sticking a hunk of sticky tac on the end of them pen before I write.


I really want this pen to get to me. I am so super curious to see what kind of character it's going to be. It may even end up as one of my few named pens.

Tsuki yo
June 24th, 2014, 06:00 AM
So, it arrived yesterday. And it will be going back to the Anderson's today. The pen is unwritable dry, after several soakings and flushings I can get it to write a word, then it dries up. I've never had a pen be so resistant to having water forced through the feed, and I can barely even blow air from the back of the section through the nib. So something is clearly obstructing flow, and it's assembled so tightly I can't disassemble it. So, hopefully they will be able to help me out, because I loved everything else about the pen, and it posted firmly.

Yesterday was a sad day.

Mags
June 24th, 2014, 09:58 AM
I had to take mine apart and nib floss it to get mine to write. It worked but took effort to make it write. I sold mine for $5 less than I paid and felt lucky. Good luck.

earthdawn
June 24th, 2014, 04:36 PM
So, it arrived yesterday. And it will be going back to the Anderson's today. The pen is unwritable dry, after several soakings and flushings I can get it to write a word, then it dries up. I've never had a pen be so resistant to having water forced through the feed, and I can barely even blow air from the back of the section through the nib. So something is clearly obstructing flow, and it's assembled so tightly I can't disassemble it. So, hopefully they will be able to help me out, because I loved everything else about the pen, and it posted firmly.

Yesterday was a sad day.

Ugh thats frustrating to say the least... BUT

The good news is that the Anderson's are awesome with customer service and Brian is a master at repairs & adjustments. You should get it back quickly and writing beautifully in no time. Mine with it's stub nib writes a super smooth line with perfect flow. As I said in a prior post it's only flaw for me was getting it to post, non-thread version, and stay on well while writing.

Tsuki yo
June 24th, 2014, 06:58 PM
That's good to know, as of yet we haven't gotten an e-mail back from him. So I will wait to see what he says.

gerigo
June 26th, 2014, 11:35 AM
I just got my transparent one through Massdrop. I thought too that without the threads at the end of the barrel, the cap will pop off all the time, rendering the pen useless.

However, I found to the contrary the cap posts quite well. You do have to be a little more forceful and kinda wriggle it back and forth twice to get the cap to sit securely. I have not had the cap fall off when writing.

gerigo
June 26th, 2014, 11:45 AM
I had the same problem with a Bon Voyage, which shares the same nib as the Passaporto. The nib tines were so close together the pen did not write unless I pressed the nib really hard to spread the tines.

Then I saw this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0pNht6vsfE and replicated their method with a small set of pliers. It worked like a charm and now my Bon Voyage worked like a dream.

Caveat: I would not do this with more expensive pens with gold nibs. I am sure this method is frowned upon by all nib meisters and people who know how to tune nibs. I used it on the Bon Voyage because it was a cheap pen and I did not mind destroying the nib. Proceed with care.

LagNut
June 26th, 2014, 12:57 PM
Then I saw this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0pNht6vsfE ...

I loved the video, more for the feed check than the tines adjustments.

Another one of those "well duh" moments.

Tsuki Yo - Hope your pen works out, I'm sure it will. One of the benefits of a good shop over eBay.

Mike

Nomdeplume
June 26th, 2014, 12:58 PM
Got mine last week...love the .9 stub! But, section started showing little (and growing) stress fractures on the section around the nib. The experience of contacting MassDrop about the issue has been very satisfying! Great customer service!

Tsuki yo
June 26th, 2014, 04:08 PM
Brian has contacted Stipula on my behalf because his stock is very low. I know that this is the case, because I got the last .9 he had. My husband suspects the pen was assembled too tightly and that the feed has been crushed or something. There is definitely something obstructing the flow, and the pen did not come apart easily, so I didn't force anything to find out what's actually going on. I'll wait to see if maybe I can get a replacement section. If worse comes to worse maybe I can exchange for something else.

*edit, the little bit that I managed write with the pen was very pleasant, and the pen posts nice and firmly. Apparently I have very tiny hands because I did not find that I really needed to post the pen, though it was a bit more comfortable posted than not. If it was not for the feed problem, I would be very happy with this pen.

bec11mort
July 18th, 2014, 11:16 PM
I got mine today (after completely forgetting I purchased it from Massdrop)! Despite all if the negative reviews on the internet, mine writes beautifully out of the box, nice and smooth and wet. I haven't had any issues with it staying posted, but I can also write with it easily without posting.

raging.dragon
July 20th, 2014, 10:57 PM
I got mine today (after completely forgetting I purchased it from Massdrop)! Despite all if the negative reviews on the internet, mine writes beautifully out of the box, nice and smooth and wet. I haven't had any issues with it staying posted, but I can also write with it easily without posting.

Stipula have had some QC issues and disappointed customers tend to more vocal than happy customers. Thus the negative reviews.

KBeezie
July 21st, 2014, 02:46 PM
I got mine today (after completely forgetting I purchased it from Massdrop)! Despite all if the negative reviews on the internet, mine writes beautifully out of the box, nice and smooth and wet. I haven't had any issues with it staying posted, but I can also write with it easily without posting.

Stipula have had some QC issues and disappointed customers tend to more vocal than happy customers. Thus the negative reviews.

They're also a little pricey compared to some other brands offering the same. (Pricey and QC issues don't exactly mix well, making the negatives even more vocal).

Tsuki yo
July 26th, 2014, 08:11 AM
Well, it's come back to me. And while the feed is no longer obstructed, the pen still will not write a consistent line. I suspected babies bottoms, and after a look through a loupe or two, it seems like I'm right, but after some time smoothing flow was only increased a small amount. And the pen still requires constant pressure to achieve ink flow. This is a major disappointment, I love everything else about this pen, but it stubbornly refuses to write.

AtomicLeo
July 26th, 2014, 10:08 AM
I have two. The first one I bought at my local B&M store and it was fantastic. Bought a blue one from speerbob with the same lovely stub nib and it wouldn't post. I was very disappointed. BTW, I think the Stipula factory stub is one of the best italic nibs out there.

raging.dragon
July 26th, 2014, 07:05 PM
Well, it's come back to me. And while the feed is no longer obstructed, the pen still will not write a consistent line. I suspected babies bottoms, and after a look through a loupe or two, it seems like I'm right, but after some time smoothing flow was only increased a small amount. And the pen still requires constant pressure to achieve ink flow. This is a major disappointment, I love everything else about this pen, but it stubbornly refuses to write.

Apply pressure spreads the tines a bit. To get the pen writing without pressure, you probably need to spread the tines a tiny bit.

LagNut
July 27th, 2014, 11:12 AM
I'd agree that spreading the tines a bit would be my next step, but I use brass shim (.001") to do it. Actually, I end up at .002", but I like wet writers.

Careful though, increasing the gap is easy, closing it back is not.

If you are thinking about doing this, look up nib flossing, but the basic idea is to insert the shim at the breather hole or underside(Not at the tip) then out to the tip.

I do it with ink in the pen - you can tell when it's right.

Good luck,
Mike

Jon Szanto
July 27th, 2014, 11:19 AM
+1 on the brass shims. Very inexpensive to buy some (I think I got mine from Dale Beebe of pentooling.com). All they are is little pieces of brass to slide in there, just be careful to not cut your finger!

Tsuki yo
July 28th, 2014, 08:50 AM
Oh we've tried the brass, I've used three different thicknesses and it's still drier than my martini's. There doesn't really seem to be anything I can do to make it work. So it's going in a drawer until I can justify the expense to send it to a meister.

LagNut
July 28th, 2014, 10:48 AM
Can you slip a piece of paper between the nib and feed?

Barring a gap there, if you put a paper towel into the breather hole, does it immediately fill with ink?

Also, do you have a loupe? Is there indeed a .001" gap at the tip?

Mike

LagNut
July 29th, 2014, 07:33 AM
And now I look back and see it just came back from Anderson's. Never mind, these steps would have been done.

I think you're on the right path, sorry this is not working out.

Mike

Tsuki yo
September 3rd, 2014, 08:14 AM
I think I've found the issue. The collar (once I finally got it out of the section) has a crack in it that runs about 80% of the length of the collar, and end of the collar looks like it used to have a lip on it that was shattered at some point. It looks to me like it was assembled with a zeal that resulted in all this damage.

I won't be sending it back again, I looted the nib and stuck it in a Jinhao 599. The body will remain a show piece until I can find an appropriate collar for it down the line.