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Thread: Vanishing Point ink flow issues

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    Default Vanishing Point ink flow issues

    So, I bought a Pilot Vanishing Point Decimo with a stock stub nib from a company and requested no grinds but please make sure the nib is smooth and has a good flow; I have a light hand, etc. I get the pen and load it with a Pilot Iroshizuko ink. The pen wrote awful. It skipped, jagged, hard starts. You had to press down to get good flow. Mind you, I've been writing with fountain pens for the past 25 years and have had cursive italics from Bacas, Mottishaw, and Masuyama. I sent it back. I finally got the pen and while the nib has been tuned, the flow is crazy. It spurts all over the place with feathering on fountain pen friendly paper and good ink. I don't want to go through the process again of sending it back as that took a really LONG TIME.

    Anyhow, does anyone know how to reduce the ink flow for a VP? It's so different than a regular pen. Do you just try to compress the nib and the feed?

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    Default Re: Vanishing Point ink flow issues

    HERE is the link to Jet Pens nib-tuning notes.

    HERE is the link to Richard Binder’s Nib Tuning .pdf.

    If you are not experienced, you run a significant chance of screwing up your nib. Replacement nibs for vanishing points are ~$80 or so. They’re more difficult to tune than a “regular” nib (like a Bock #6) because they’re smaller and simply harder to grab with your fingers.

    The nib works as a valve. The farther the tines are apart, the more “open” the valve and the more freely the ink flows. The closer, the more “closed”.

    Your challenge is to close them. Hold your index and middle fingers out. Now lower your index finger and cross it under your middle finger. Repeat the process with your middle finger crossed under your index finger. That is the principle usually employed to close the tines.

    If you choose to try this, start gradually (or with Jet Pens “squeezing” technique, which I don’t find to be particularly useful). Otherwise you close them to the point that it does not write. You are also unbalancing (see Binder’s notes) the tines by doing this, and they need to be realigned.

    I would recommend you practice first with cheap nibs, to include Pilot Varsities.

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    Default Re: Vanishing Point ink flow issues

    Thank you so much for this! Very helpful. I will repost after I get a chance to hone my skills!


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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