Noodlers Ahab Nib Adjustment - Railroading Fix 

I have 3 of these. One has literally been set on fire. One is the loveliest thing. Never been a bother. One was lovely then suddenly randomly decided to start railroading or vomiting ink which is infuriating. And the reason I found this video! You are absolutely correct: we have to endure more than any other consumer group in existence. Why I put myself through this I will never know

LOL! When pen nerds get tough: "I am done playing games." DIY meets the Spanish Inquisition. Thanks, Doodlebud! That was good--maybe Nathan T. will see it and make some tweaks.

Obviously I’m here because I’m having the same problem. I really appreciate the honesty of your video. I reached out to Noodler’s (Luxury Brands of America) about this issue. First of all, you can’t reach them by phone. They direct you to email. I suppose they got tired of people complaining over the phone. Anyway, they told me that the easiest and most common solution is how you fill the pen. They instructed me to plunge it in the ink 4 to 5 times to fill the piston completely. They seem confident that this would do the trick. It didn’t. i’ve also done the thorough cleaning of all the parts of the pen as well as heat setting the feed. I bought a second Ahab from a different distributor, same problem. It’s really confounding that they continue to manufacture a pen that doesn’t work consistently. I realize I’m a bit upset right now, but this is fraud. They’re fleecing their consumers. One shouldn’t have to go to such lengths to modify a product to get it to do its very basic function. Ugh! Anyway, thanks for your video and the humor!

You CAN'T cut the feed channel to the very end of the tip! If you do the ink will just leak out like yours. Nathan of Noodler's makes that very clear in his video on adjusting the feed.

Im a translator and I use Ahab & Heart of Darkness for book length texts (waterproof). Work like a train toilet (as we say in Finnish). Got two Twisbis, both too dry. Thx for your vids 👍

Had fun watching. Novice fountain pen user. Learned a lot. Thanks!

The one feed adjustment I've done is to run a utility blade along the ink groove a few times just to make sure it was opened up. I did this to a Noodler's Charlie pen and it changed the behavior drastically. It's still one of my worst pens in every aspect so I still don't use it, but that one time, I did get ink to flow by modifying the feed was nice.

Thank you for your knowledge! Just cut out the groove on my Ahab and now it’s actually working. It’s actually working!!! Anyway I appreciate you and your channel. Keep up the good work

Noodler's Ahab was my first FP. Not a big fan of the flex but swapped it for a Jowo XF. Still love it after 4 years.

Super informative... as always... Congratulations for the 1K. This is just the beginning :)

I have the Noodler's Konrad. It railroads, I heatset it, very little difference. I adjusted the nib's placement on the feed, as someone suggested. No improvement. So I watched this, and took it easy. This was after your vid and the creator of Noodler saying what you can do with a ebonite feed. So it writes better. Does still railroad if I push it, and sometimes stops, but improved. But now it sometimes bleeds into the cap LOL. The Noodler has been a great educator.

Thanks for sharing your experience. I already did a horrible job of scratching my ebonite feed with a Kanwrite ultra flex nib. It never runs out of ink now, but burps sometime. 😃

Love the motto and really love your approach to you channel. Thanks

My Noodlers Ahad had every issue you could think of. It burped, it skipped, it railroaded, it smelled horrible. I tried pretty much every non-destructive "fix" I found being discussed online to see if they would help. I tried heat-setting the feed multiple times. Just as bad as before every time. After a while, I decided to stop worrying about it and only use it to test new inks with the only flex pen I owned at the time. Eventually, though, the issues went mostly away on their own. Doesn't burp anymore. Doesn't skip. Only railroads with certain inks or if I try to write really quickly while flexing. I have no idea what did it. It only got better months after the last time that I tried anything. At first, I considered the possibility that, by pure chance, the nib and feed fell into the perfect configuration and, if I took it apart, it would go back to how it was. So I took it apart, and I have taken it apart multiple times since, and it still works fine. I have started to wonder if the Ahabs just need to be broken in and all the people who swear that it was either this or that "fix" that worked on their pen only think that it was what they were trying at the time when the pen was always going to break in eventually. I have no idea what part/s of the pen would need to be broken in though. I can't discard the possibility based on my experience though. I keep meaning to purchase a batch of them to do some tests but, whenever I have that kind of money to spend on pens there have always been other pens that I have wanted to get more. But one day I will do it and try to keep it as scientific as possible. The thing still stinks to high heaven though. I suspect I might need an exorcist for that.

Man you're such an awesome dude. I think if we worked together we'd have lots of fun in the office lol. I just ordered this pen and hope not to have those kinds of issues. This should be resolved by the manufacturer!

I had a similar problem with a Ranga I bought stateside with a stub nib. I only used a razor on the channel -trial and error. Now works perfect.

Great video yet again Doodle Bud you don’t make anything but good videos. My biggest meltdown during lockdown was with 2 Noodlers Arab Pens in the end I sent them back when I’d had enough. To do with the ink flow and the fact that when I opened the caps on the pens there was a river of ink each and every time. My levels of manual dexterity fell well below what was needed. Shame really as great writers. A good everyday flex nib which produces very good results if not great. Anyone with good manual skills should persist. And yes pens can be disappointing not just Noodlers. Even my last Pilot purchase was slightly below the mark compared to my others. Slight problems also with 2 Platinum pens. It’s a shame. Keep up the good work. Bud

I like your video ideas! Great work.

I just twisted and pushed the nib and feed and it helped a lot. Ahab is made to tinker with LOL

like the theme. keep it up. newly excited to see what you do.

Tried this on a spare Ahab nib, works fantastic now.

1K - And to think, I was there at the monumental, historical beginning 🥱 lol. NBP... Like it. BTW...Dremel tools are quite helpful in cutting and grinding. 😁

Dude this video is hilarious lol . Liked and subscribed . BTW your recommendation on just opening up the center channel first is a good one! I did that on my Ahab and Charlie pen and now there great writers!

Great idea! Thanks

That was a win for sure.

Thank you! You saved my life!! 😊

I also build models. There is a tool we use to scribe lines and widen panel lines. That would be perfect for feeds. It’s a small razor. Should look into it. 👍🏻

Okay, I am new to fountain pens. I have an Ahab, and it just stopped writing on me. I did everything I can find to do online, and everything seems fine, but no ink flow at all. I can get it to write for a few lines by dipping the nib into ink, but then it stops. When I cleaned it out -- twice, at least -- I can run water through the little tube and it comes out the tip. But INK won't do that! I got some silicone grease and greased it, although it did seem to be airtight before. I can blow through the thingamajib and it comes out the hole where it should come out. But no, it won't write. What do I do? I have a $1 or maybe a $3 pen from China that writes and writes and writes, and is like writing with silk. So I've ordered a variety of other $1 to $3 pens from China. But as to my Ahab -- can I send it to Noodlers, or Goulet pens, and will they fix it? Will it cost more than the pen did to begin with?

Wet. Fixed the burping. Looks perfect to me.

Damn... and here I thought I broke my Ahab when I (stupidly) used mini pliers to remove the nib and squished the feed a little... I love my Ahab, even the smell... the only anoying thing (today) is that the piston usually stay stuck and I can't filled it "normaly"...

Did know ave had a pen channel very nice call out to the princess power fister / hazard fraught

Hey Doodlebug, enjoyed this video immensely, the content is up my street and you seem cool:) New sub:)

oh i was trying to do this and broke the feed in two.. hoping sticking it with glue will do the trick, cause its my favourite pen... it was sad it had railroading

The Noodler's Ahab, Danger to Manifold edition

Eurgh I'm trying to tune my pen, but it's dummy wet, and the flex of the tines keeps saturating the page

Thanks. I find that a hacksaw blade works great for opening up the ink channel on ebonite feeds.

So true about the disappointment. I so wanted to like the Opus 88 Koloro I got but it never wrote well and the materials didn’t feel good. Contrast that with TWSBI who always feel great to me and write excellently every time (as well as never drying out).

I got the free Charlie pen with the giant bottle of Heart of Darkness. Free pen! Who doesn't like that? It leaked everywhere. People were doing all kinds of things to make them work. I just changed the ink. I cleaned it out really well and filled it with Waterman Serenity Blue. It hasn't leaked since. I got the idea when I picked up a 4 pack of Wing Sungs. The only one that leaked was the one with Noodlers. Changing the ink fixed that one too. Love Noodlers. All of my pens, unfortunately don't.

Hi, I may have damaged the tip of the tines of my noodler's ahab, nib do you suggest to turn it into a untipped nib? I'm based in italy and we don't have nib replacements available here, thanks!

Doodlebud one year ago: “no bad pens!” Hongdian 1845 today: “hold my beer.” 😬

The Charlie pen of Noodler's the feed is quite wet, not that wet but it keeps up with me when writing fast which is not an easy task. I can make rollerball and ballpoint pens skip at writing my full speed. The only downside is when I write way slower at times it can bleed through and makes it go from the fine to medium nib to almost a broad in line width. You can tell my writing speed very clearly in the rough draft Im writing for a book.

Doodlebuuuuud! Has it dried yet?

I like your mantra of no bad pens! Is there a place to buy the repair stuff like nib grinding mater oil als, ink sacs, etc., etc.?

Doodlebug- can you direct me to some sites to find used pens or stalk them as the case may be!

This was so interesting! I learned a lot! I have Noodler’s and vintage european and chinese ebonite feeds. One of Noodler’s was too dry. I just widened the channel using heat, at one spot where it had been compressed. Ebonite is so wonderfully ”plastic” in the physical way, that the material ”plastic” seldom is. (However, I’ve succeded a couple of times to heatset standard plastic feeds. Albeit with a heat gun, not with the safer hot water method) I’d love to contribute with some videos about that, but I haven’t gotten to it, yet. I’m so grateful for your work.

there is in deed one Ahab outside there that writes perfectly, but sadly it is not meins. Thanks for the video.

I’ve been debating if I should buy an ahab or not for awhile now. Idk if this swayed me in either direction hahaha

Your awesome

The finer fins doesn't just hold ink. It also regulates the flow. If I were to experiment in widening the fins, I would have opened the back, not the front of the feed. You could have made a longer video by progressively increasing the channel, followed by widening the fins with samples after each adjustment. That way, youcan get insight on widening teh channel vs widening fins.

I have a FPR v1 pen and it railroads like crazy. Do you think doing something similar would help it ?

That isn't a fountain pen. That's a firehose.

I was having the opposite problem with my triple tail flex pen. It burps ink Do you have any solutions to fix this? Thank you

Maybe try a thicker dip pen style ink inn it now. You might not have a pen that you would want to carry cuz of leaks but with thick ink you might have a awesome drawing pen

At the moment I'm trying to figure out if flex pens are at all useful to me personally. Results remain inconclusive...

Is there any more nib creep or ink leak in the cap?

My gawd, I’m feeling absolutely frustrated right now. I’m about to throw my Triple Tail at the wall! It’s taking all my self restraint to not rip this pen apart and hack the he%% out of it… glad I stopped here first to catch my breath… ‘I am done playing games!’ That’s when you **know** a fp user has gone full on gangster…

Was that curved item you used a blade or file?

Open up the slit!!!!

Do you have a web site?

Maan you should not widen the channel groov only the wings.. 😭😭😭😭😭😂😂

Foist, I'm foist!!!!!!!

"No 'BAD' Pens ..." A worthy goal, and probably easy to accomplish ... if you have an unlimited budget and can afford to spend up to several grand for one pen ... and a few gross bottles of ink from various manufacturers. As a mere mortal, I don't have an unlimited budget. $49.⁹⁵ for a pen TO ME is a helluva lot of money. So is $14 for a 10~25 ml bottle of ink, come to that. Of my four Jinhao X450's, single 51A, and even a no name free pluss shipping Lamy knockoff that came from WISH (with 10 black ink cartridges and a converter), Not a bad pen in the lot. One of the X450's nibs needed tuned ... and to be honest, I have some Fine nibs inbound to swap in for the Medium nibs the X450's came with. I write too small for a Medium nib. Eventually I will get a couple stub nibs and an Ultra Flex nib for them. Question: I've read online (so it MUST be true 🙄) that pens can be ... persnickety ... about what inks they are fed, nibs may need tuned and polished, etcetera. Wouldn't it make more sense to make sure the nib is tuned, and the pen likes the ink, before modifying the feed? I may be mistaken, but doesn't a feed cost more than a replacement steel nib? An old adage you might want to keep in mind: "... You can't put back on what you cut off." WHY didn't you widen the feed channel and TEST TO SEE IF THAT FIXED THE FEED PROBLEM before widening the feed fins?!? If its going to randomly put down a blob of ink like that now, IMHO, that makes it unusable. A new feed is required. It may have been a 'bad' pen before you started. It is now a 'WORSE' pen now. BTW, the surface area of all those narrow fins is probably the same as or greater than the surface area of the far fewer widely spaced fins. I know you have a digital caliper, from watching you use it in another video on nibs, measuring line widths. Why didn't you measure the width and depth between the fins on those two feeds, do the math, and verify which has the greater total surface area, before modifying/irreparably damaging that poor nib?

Chopped uP and railroads. 😅

Fountain pens users are the most disrespected category of customers, we buy overpriced pens from dishonest companies that have, for the most part, absolutely atrocious quality control, often taking Chinese or Pakistani made pens and rebranding them before putting a price tag that is 10x the actual value (Stipula, I'm looking at you), the best part is that, despite understanding all too well the whole grift, we still fall for them hook and sinker, we are the worst kind of addict. Now off I go buying yet another Visconti with misalined tines and shit feed, lol.

😂😂😂

arm ass this fate ...

Can you fix a pen that's too wet then? 😇🩵🙏🙌