Sensa Meridian in Carbon

[KrazyIvan]

This was my first fountain pen as an adult. It came a couple of years before the Lamy. I installed the cartridge, used it for a few pages then forgot about it over a summer. When I remembered it again, the cartridge ink had evaporated. I went to FPN and looked up how to clean a pen. I purchased some more cartridges through the Goulet's. Brian was a big help because I really did not know what to buy back then. When I realized I had the converter for it in the box, I started buying bottled ink. Someone on FPN is asking about the nib and that got me nostalgic for it again. I thought I would post some pics.


Sensa Meridian Carbon Fountain Pen by IvanRomero, on Flickr


Sensa Meridian Carbon Fountain Pen by IvanRomero, on Flickr


Sensa nib by IvanRomero, on Flickr

Next to my TWSBI 530 to show it is probably a Schmidt nib/feed.


TWSBI VS. SENSA Feed by IvanRomero, on Flickr

Next to my TWSBI 530 and Lamy Vista for a size anchor.


Lamy vs. TWSBI vs. Sensa by IvanRomero, on Flickr

[Bogon07]

KI, now that Sensa is a really really interesting looking pen and the one that started your collection.
It reminds me of the styling of my Stabilo Bonic ballpoints (in fact I purchased another the weekend before last & Mrs Bogon stationery radar hasn't detected it yet!) The black and chrome go well together. Is the grip area a soft rubberised material ?


Fountain Pen Sith Lord, I see you've added a salutation to your title 'Daakusaaido'
I found this interesting link:

http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts-app...japanese/d3c6/

d3c6_daakusaido.jpg

The Backstroke of the West

In today's lesson, subtitlers for Japanese bootleg DVDs will learn how to make English nouns plural.
In order to make an object plural, add "ses." For instance:
I hope that these dreamses really can't become.
If the word already ends in "s," add "eses" to make it plural. Some example sentenceses:
I had enough of these politicseses.
Send these troopseses only.
This helpful grammar tip brought to you by some elephants and the Presbyterian Church.

A Stormtrooper and Darth Vader on a red cotton t-shirt with the Japanese "Daakusaido" (aka Dark Side) vertically. Note: the print is distressed and the fabric is extra soft for a vintage feel.

[KrazyIvan]

Very observant on the grip section and daakusaido. I gues that is why you are in the line of work that you are in.

Yes, the grip section is a funky plasma gel rubber conglomerate. Sensa invented it and I can't remember the big name pen company that bought them out started to use it in their pens. It was when I had death grip syndrome and I thought a gel grip would fix it. It did not. I just had to relearn how to hold a pen.

On the tshirt. I have seen it! I actually ordered a different one from threadless.com that has the image on my desktop. A stylized brush stroke storm trooper. See the desktop thread for the image. On the iPod right now or I would link to it directly.

[writingrav]

I have one of these but lost the converter. Any idea what would work in it?

[Bogon07]

"a funky plasma gel rubber conglomerate" I'm always worried they will deteriorate over time or after contact with some inoccuous substance on your hands like the gel blob in my mouse mat.
Uniball has alot of alpha gel grip pens and so does Pilot with Dr Grip these could be a similar compound. Most of these gel grip feel too squishy and slightly tacky/sticky to touch. The Lamy Nexx grip section is a harder rubber type.


Is the pen comfortable and how does it write ?
The nib appears sort of finish in your photos. I like the artistic blue reflection on the chrome in this photo too.

5448893057_f06d43feb5.jpg


That stylized Storm trooper brush-stroke image is very effective.

The other part I liked about the t-shirt site was "You eat with lightsaber chopsticks.This shirt is the next logical step in the progression."
Do you have lightsabre chopsticks by any c ?hance

[John the Monkey]

I wondered about the grip section too - not my cup of tea, personally, but interesting.

"Ergonomic" grips seem rare outside of school pens & the like on fountain pens, although they're all over the place on gel pens & ballpoints.

[KrazyIvan]

I have one of these but lost the converter. Any idea what would work in it?

I think any standard converter will work. I'll try some tonight and see what I come up with.

"a funky plasma gel rubber conglomerate" I'm always worried they will deteriorate over time or after contact with some inoccuous substance on your hands like the gel blob in my mouse mat.
Uniball has alot of alpha gel grip pens and so does Pilot with Dr Grip these could be a similar compound. Most of these gel grip feel too squishy and slightly tacky/sticky to touch. The Lamy Nexx grip section is a harder rubber type.


Is the pen comfortable and how does it write ?
The nib appears sort of finish in your photos. I like the artistic blue reflection on the chrome in this photo too.

5448893057_f06d43feb5.jpg


That stylized Storm trooper brush-stroke image is very effective.

The other part I liked about the t-shirt site was "You eat with lightsaber chopsticks.This shirt is the next logical step in the progression."
Do you have lightsabre chopsticks by any c ?hance

I wondered about the grip section too - not my cup of tea, personally, but interesting.

"Ergonomic" grips seem rare outside of school pens & the like on fountain pens, although they're all over the place on gel pens & ballpoints.

It is comfortable if you do not have a death grip. The gel or plasmium, as Sensa calls it, is really soft. Much softer than say the Uniball Alpha Gel grip. If you have a death grip, you will squeeze it until you hit the metal barrel underneath and it get uncomfortable. Especially down by the nib, there is a lip under the grip and squeezing too hard will have your fingers resting on it. Once I learned to control the death grip and loosen up, it is very comfortable.

It does realease a greasy substance when left for a while but it has been more pronounced in my Ballpoint/Mech Pencil set that I store in the provided case. If they have been sitting for a while, I have to wipe down the grip to get the stuff off.

Here is a picture of the ballpoint/mech pencil and case.


Sensa Carbon Classic Pen/Pencil + Case by IvanRomero, on Flickr

[KrazyIvan]

Sorry I did not report back. A Schmidt converter will work. I tried others and they were too loose.

[KrazyIvan]

Well, I did my first grind for someone other than me. I just finished it up and it is related to this pen so I thought it was appropriate. There is a story attached. I happened on someone asking about nib compatibility with the Sensa Meridian. They wanted a finer nib and said they had a medium. I wanted a wider nib and my Sensa has a F nib. I thought "TRADE!". Well the nib arrived but 1. It is not an original Sensa nib and 2. It was an F nib. What to do? I want to keep my Sensa original so I am backing out of the trade at this point. I notified the person of what was going on but thinking this a good opportunity, I offered to grind down his F nib to an EF. He accepted.

The nib unit had a bit of ink on it. Immediately after pulling the nib from the collar my mind went into panic mode. "I know this shade of ink! Crud. I KNOW THIS INK." I quickly shoved the nib and feed back into the collar before I could get drippy Baystate Blue everywhere. Whooo. Safe. My fingers, not so much. After some PM'ing back and forth we confirmed the BayState Blue to be what was in the feed. Now at home, I took my time and setup a cleaning solution and my ink brush for getting the nib unit ready to soak and clean before any grinding attempts.


Nib and feed by IvanRomero, on Flickr

It took about three hours of soaking and three brush attacks with 30% ammonia water to get the feed and nib in acceptable shape. This is not a knock on Baystate Blue. It is a fact of life with that ink. I respect it and treat it carefully. What surprised me was how stuck on to the backside of the nib the ink was. The feed was the last thing to come clean. It still has that purplish sheen but it is mostly gone now.

With the nib unit clean and dry, I installed it in my Meridian and loaded it with Noodler's Blue. After about an hour last night and another 45 minutes this morning I got it to what I think is a good EF nib. I even polished up the front side of the nib so that an super extra fine line can be achieved by flipping the pen around with the feed away from you. A trick I learned from drgoretex on FPN and later found out that was something that some vintage pens were known for.

I just flushed the pen and it is drying now. It should be ready to ship on Monday.


A note for Steven by IvanRomero, on Flickr


Normal Nib Position by IvanRomero, on Flickr


Flipped Nib Position by IvanRomero, on Flickr

[leudom]

I have two Sensa Meridian pens love there look and feel but I'm having a lot of trouble with my nib/feeder, it continuously stops flowing after a few lines of writing. I was wondering in your comparison of pens, if you were actually able to interchange the nib+feeder between the TWSBI or the Lamy with the Sensa?
Thanks for your help

This was my first fountain pen as an adult. It came a couple of years before the Lamy. I installed the cartridge, used it for a few pages then forgot about it over a summer. When I remembered it again, the cartridge ink had evaporated. I went to FPN and looked up how to clean a pen. I purchased some more cartridges through the Goulet's. Brian was a big help because I really did not know what to buy back then. When I realized I had the converter for it in the box, I started buying bottled ink. Someone on FPN is asking about the nib and that got me nostalgic for it again. I thought I would post some pics.


Sensa Meridian Carbon Fountain Pen by IvanRomero, on Flickr


Sensa Meridian Carbon Fountain Pen by IvanRomero, on Flickr


Sensa nib by IvanRomero, on Flickr

Next to my TWSBI 530 to show it is probably a Schmidt nib/feed.


TWSBI VS. SENSA Feed by IvanRomero, on Flickr

Next to my TWSBI 530 and Lamy Vista for a size anchor.


Lamy vs. TWSBI vs. Sensa by IvanRomero, on Flickr

[KrazyIvan]

I have two Sensa Meridian pens love there look and feel but I'm having a lot of trouble with my nib/feeder, it continuously stops flowing after a few lines of writing. I was wondering in your comparison of pens, if you were actually able to interchange the nib+feeder between the TWSBI or the Lamy with the Sensa?
Thanks for your help

leudom I received your PM and just replied but I will post my answer here also for the benefit of others.


I have not tried interchanging feeds between the two pens. The Sensa is out of production so I just want to keep mine original. That's just one of my quirks.

The old TWSBI 530 is going to have a feed that is closest to the Sensa as they both have Schmidt hardware. Newer models will not since TWSBI changed to Bock then Jowo nib/feed hardware. The Lamy will not interchange at all.

Here are a few things to look at before trying to swap feeds, if you have one.

Did the pen work fine before and then later developed the skip or has it always skipped? If so, you may have a nib adjustment issue or a dirty feed.


Pull Sensa Nib by IvanRomero, on Flickr


Pull Sensa nib by IvanRomero, on Flickr


Nib and feed by IvanRomero, on Flickr

Is the nib properly aligned and flow adjusted? You need a loupe to check the tine alignment. See these videos by Doc Brown: http://youtu.be/RRvKrrZdXLs
http://youtu.be/AUdMiv0mW7A

Do you have some brass shim stock? There may be paper fibers in the nib slit that are hindering ink flow. This is especially true if you use low quality office paper or pads.

What ink are you using? "Dry" ink will tend be more difficult but work better on cheap paper. Maybe try a wetter ink.

Is it a cartridge or converter? Is the ink flowing well from the cartridge/converter to the feed? Sometimes the ink stays near the top of the converter or cartridge and it needs a good flick with a fingernail to fall towards the feed. Sometimes what I will do if I know everything is clean, I flick the ink converter so it falls towards the feed then leave the pen capped, nib down, overnight. This will ensure the feed gets fully saturated and get the capillary flow going again.

As you can see, there are several factors that can affect ink flow.

Hope this helps and let me know if you have any further questions. I know this may be a lot to take in. I may have missed something so if anyone else has something to add, please do.

[tiffanyhenschel]

I miss my Sensa Meridian. It was the second pen I bought after I got into fountain pens seven years ago. (The first was a True Writer.) It was really comfortable. I had not ventured into the rabbit hole of bottled ink yet and loved the fact that you could store an extra cartridge in the pen body. :-) It was stolen out of my desk one day before I wised up and realized that I could not leave anything of value at work there, even in a locked room.