Pilot Metropolitan Capacity

[rafizip]

I purchase my first Pilot Metro (brand new) a few months ago. Writes well and has a good smooth feel. It came with a cartridge and converter. The cartridge lasted a fair time but the converter seems to be very limited in capacity - barely get more than a 1 1/2 days out of it.

 

Does anyone know if they make a larger capacity converter or is there a "secret" to filling it beyond a couple of hardy squeezes???

[fiberdrunk]

I purchase my first Pilot Metro (brand new) a few months ago. Writes well and has a good smooth feel. It came with a cartridge and converter. The cartridge lasted a fair time but the converter seems to be very limited in capacity - barely get more than a 1 1/2 days out of it.

 

Does anyone know if they make a larger capacity converter or is there a "secret" to filling it beyond a couple of hardy squeezes???

 

The CON-20 (which came with it) and the CON-50 both work with this pen. Unfortunately, the CON-50 holds even less volume than the CON-20. I think the trouble with the CON-20 is that it's hard to tell when those squeeze-type converters are really full. You have to squeeze them a lot. It should hold a greater volume than what you mention. The other alternative is, if you happened to save the empty ink cartridge, is to wash it out well, and then use a syringe to refill it with your favorite bottled ink. That will hold the most ink.

 

Goulet Pens sells these pens and ink converters here. They have a video there showing the different Pilot converters and how much volume of ink they each hold (the third video down).

 

eta: oops, I was wrong. It is not the CON-20 that comes with the Metropolitan. The Goulet video calls it a "cleaning converter." It's very similar to the CON-20, though.

Edited July 10, 2014 by fiberdrunk

[maverink]

+1 to refilling the empty cartidge with pilot bottle ink i am using the same trick on my metropolitian.

[Algester]

else find a barrel that would fit in a Con-70... :X

[rafizip]

I appreciate the input. I will give the cartridge idea a go or I guess I can always just use cartridges, but there is something special about using bottled ink.

thanks everyone.

[Taiin]

Definitely an interesting topic, as I just picked up a Pilot Metropolitan to see how it works. I don't want to have to use cartridges, as bottled ink provides so much variety! But I wouldn't be opposed to filling a cartridge with bottled ink to get some good life out of the pen.

[ac12]

The simplest solution is to make it a habit of refilling the pen at the end of the day.

That way, you always start the day with a full pen.

 

2nd solution is to get a 2nd Pilot Metro, to use as a backup/spare pen when pen #1 runs out of ink.

And this is an excuse to buy another pen

 

I would personally be a bit wary of pulling the cartridge so often, as the cartridge was designed to be a one-time-use item, so the seal may get worn by repeated removal/installs into the pen. But this wearing down may take quite a bit of time, and you may get many months of use out of one cartridge. Just watch for leaking at the front of the cartridge.

 

Oh, as for filling the converter.

Squeeze and let it sit for about 5-8 seconds before you squeeze again. And let it sit for 5-8 seconds after your last squeeze.

This is because it takes time for the sac to expand and suck up the ink.

Squeezing several times rapidly does not give the sac enough time to expand and suck up as much ink as it can.

[rafizip]

The simplest solution is to make it a habit of refilling the pen at the end of the day.

That way, you always start the day with a full pen.

 

2nd solution is to get a 2nd Pilot Metro, to use as a backup/spare pen when pen #1 runs out of ink.

And this is an excuse to buy another pen

 

I would personally be a bit wary of pulling the cartridge so often, as the cartridge was designed to be a one-time-use item, so the seal may get worn by repeated removal/installs into the pen. But this wearing down may take quite a bit of time, and you may get many months of use out of one cartridge. Just watch for leaking at the front of the cartridge.

 

Oh, as for filling the converter.

Squeeze and let it sit for about 5-8 seconds before you squeeze again. And let it sit for 5-8 seconds after your last squeeze.

This is because it takes time for the sac to expand and suck up the ink.

Squeezing several times rapidly does not give the sac enough time to expand and suck up as much ink as it can.

You know your simple solution is the best. In my focus to find a way to get more ink, I didn't even consider refilling it daily. I appreciate the input on the delay; the bladder does seem somewhat stiff, so the delay makes sense. I will definitely give it a try.

[Algester]

to me I hate aerometric converters... because I have mostly touch badly designed ones... yes that also includes a P"51" without a breather tube... its really a pain to get them a full filling this includes lever filler but what can I do... I have to contend with them if I want flex pens and not contend with button fillers

[Dillo]

to me I hate aerometric converters... because I have mostly touch badly designed ones... yes that also includes a P"51" without a breather tube... its really a pain to get them a full filling this includes lever filler but what can I do... I have to contend with them if I want flex pens and not contend with button fillers

The Pilot converter is one of the best press-bar converters. Press-bar converters do have more dead-volume by design, but they tend to be more efficient with space than a comparable piston-converter. Aerometric refers to the Parker "51" exclusively. It's a Parker feature that's patented and trademarked. The metal breather tube in the Parker "51" pens so equipped has a hole in the sidewall to make it aeroplane safe so that air pressure changes won't push the ink up the breather tube and out of the pen when one is flying. You can't have an "Aerometric" converter.

 

Dillon

Edited July 10, 2014 by Dillo

[parnesh]

An actual Con 20 will have more capacity. At some point i might experiment with a trimmed con-70.

[KBeezie]

Con-20, "Cleaning Converter" (the squeeze one that comes with some of them), and Pilot cartridges hold roughly 0.9ml

The Con-50 (piston converter) holds about 0.5-0.6ml (depending if you have the metal agitator in it)

And the Con-70 (Button filler for the Justus 95, Custom 74, Metal Falcon, etc) holds about 1.0ml

 

I prefer the 'cleaning converter' to the Con-20, because I find it easier to squeeze the sac with just that bar wrapped around (but the encased Con-20 works better for some pens, like the Pilot Elite Mini where not much of the pen sticks out the back. Otherwise I like re-filling a Pilot cartridge with a syringe if I want to see somewhat the ink level. The Con-50 isn't too big a problem for me since it gives maybe *roughly* the same capacity I get from a lot of my standard international converters.

 

to me I hate aerometric converters... because I have mostly touch badly designed ones... yes that also includes a P"51" without a breather tube... its really a pain to get them a full filling this includes lever filler but what can I do... I have to contend with them if I want flex pens and not contend with button fillers

Generally I hate them too, but the Pilot ones work very well for me, not like those silicone ones with the little breather tube in them that drive me nuts. At least the pilot one fills rather well just from one squeeze.

Edited July 13, 2014 by KBeezie

[Dillo]

Hi,

 

I also forgot to mention. To get a good fill out of the Con-20, press the bar on the converter, release and count slowly to ten as the sac reinflates. Press it again quickly, release, and count slowly to ten once more. Do this a third time, then pull the pen out of the ink. It's actually quite easy to remove the pen from the ink when the sac hasn't full reinflated yet.

 

Dillon

[Algester]

according to pilot both the con-50 and con-20 has .5ml of ink capacity... can anyone verify this?

[Dillo]

according to pilot both the con-50 and con-20 has .5ml of ink capacity... can anyone verify this?

In my tests, it's inaccurate. There are a lot more factors to ink capacity than how much the converter itself holds. That said, using the same pens, I was able to fill the pen with more ink using the Con-20 than with the Con-50. Since the metal piece in the Con-50 is where it is and doesn't affect piston travel much, it has a negligible effect on ink capacity. You also can't just fill the converter with a syringe to test the capacity since this does not account for the dead volume of the converter. The reason why the metal piece in the Con-50 has a negligible effect is because it occupies that would generally be dead volume in the converter.

 

With the Con-50 and the Pilot Capless, I was able to get about 0.6 ml and with the Con-20 and the same Pilot Capless, I was able to get about 1.0 ml at very least. You can also fill and weigh the pens before and after to see how much ink they have pulled up.

 

Dillon

[KBeezie]

according to pilot both the con-50 and con-20 has .5ml of ink capacity... can anyone verify this?

GouletPen has a video on this, the con-20 is the same capacity as the pilot cartridge which is about 0.9ml as I mentioned earlier.

 

[Dillo]

GouletPen has a video on this, the con-20 is the same capacity as the pilot cartridge which is about 0.9ml as I mentioned earlier.

The video has a methodical error that I talked about previously in my last post. You can't simply fill the converter with a syringe to see how much ink it holds. Converters have dead volume by design, and this method does not take into account dead volume. Also, the is ink held in the feed that is still critical and contributes the volume of ink the completely filled pen holds. This is something specific to pens filled from the bottle. The bigger the feed, the more ink often gets held there. Also the Con-50 with and without the metal piece hold the same amount of ink due to the design of the converter and the dead volume.

 

Dillon

Edited July 15, 2014 by Dillo

[Sasha Royale]

 

The CON-20 (which came with it) and the CON-50 both work with this pen. Unfortunately, the CON-50 holds even less volume than the CON-20. I think the trouble with the CON-20 is that it's hard to tell when those squeeze-type converters are really full. You have to squeeze them a lot. It should hold a greater volume than what you mention. The other alternative is, if you happened to save the empty ink cartridge, is to wash it out well, and then use a syringe to refill it with your favorite bottled ink. That will hold the most ink.

 

Goulet Pens sells these pens and ink converters here. They have a video there showing the different Pilot converters and how much volume of ink they each hold (the third video down).

 

eta: oops, I was wrong. It is not the CON-20 that comes with the Metropolitan. The Goulet video calls it a "cleaning converter." It's very similar to the CON-20, though.

 

Me, too !

A cartridge will, almost, always hold more ink because it doesn't "waste" space with a filling mechanism. The fastest way to wash out

a used cartridge is to inject a stream of water into the cartridge, using the syringe. Then, inserting the needle as far into the cartridge

as possible, inject AIR sharply to "blow" out the water. Goulet has a nice, safe syringe for this purpose.

 

Personally, I enjoy the ritual of filling my fountain pen, so ink capacity is seldom an issue.

[fiberdrunk]

 

Personally, I enjoy the ritual of filling my fountain pen, so ink capacity is seldom an issue.

Good point! Filling time means we're being more attentive to our pens, too, checking to make sure it's flowing properly and all that.

[Kuhataparunks]

I can't be the only one who does this.

I'm not a squanderer so I don't want to pay $10 + $7 shipping for a simple syringe you could ask for at a hospital.

 

I think the best way to go is refilling the cartridge for two reasons:

1. Ink capacity is highest by far

2. Ink level is visible, a distinct disadvantage for the non-clear converters.

 

I actually fill the cartridges using the converter as an eyedropper.

 

Stand the cartridge upright (I set them in the two holes at the top of a clipboard, it fits perfectly) and fill the bad converter, and using tiny, controlled drops, fill up the cartridge.