Success! F-C Nib in Vac 700
My Vac 700 nib was disappointing. I could not get the tines to allign (one is actually slightly longer than the other) and the tipping is very small. I could have sent it back to TWSBI for a replacement or I could risk trashing the nib and try to hack a Franklin-Cristoph swap. Well I am an FP Geek so you know what happened. Bought a #6 steel nib from F-C. Pushed the F-C feed and nib out of the housing from the back using a small torx driver (just a convenient diameter). Used a a spare keyless drill chuck as a hand held drill and carefully drilled out the Vac 700 housing. The F-C nib is slightly larger than the Vac's so the Vac housing had to be enlarged. Work up through a progression of 3 drills, with the last drill being a 0.246 D wire gauge drill. I think a 0.25 might be too big and leak. Made sure there were no burrs, washed everything and assembled. Et Voila, it worked pefectly, no leaks! The F-C nib is fairly stiff, but so is the Vac nib. I used an EF nib but would like to try a M or B and get more ink on the paper. The F-C nib could use a little tuning, but not bad for a one hour project. If you want to try this, remember it is irreversible and the original Vac nib will be no longer usable.
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