Recommend A Good Converter For A Cs Pen

[Vlad Soare]

Hello,

 

Unfortunately, it seems my new Wellington suffers from the infamous converter problem. It writes flawlessly for about a quarter of a page, then it gets dry and starts skipping, then it won't even start at all. Using the piston to manually saturate the feed gives me a few extra lines, after which the problem occurs again.

 

Can someone recommend a 3rd party screw-in converter that works with Conway Stewart fountain pens, and which is known not to have any flow issues?

 

I'm not interested in cartridges.

 

Thank you.

Edited July 18, 2014 by Vlad Soare

[View from the Loft]

Hmm, thought these were CS branded Schmidt convertors - and my Schmidt convertors have never given me this problem. I've seen Faber Castell convertors recommended as a solution, but have never used them myself.

 

Personally, at this point, I'd be looking for a convertor with either a ball bearing or spring to breakup the surface tension, but I don't know which brands have these.

[Vlad Soare]

Searching for older discussions on this topic, I found something interesting. Someone suggested unscrewing the metal part from the CS converter and inserting a ball from a regular ink cartridge. That sounds like a neat idea. I'll try it and will report back.

 

Edit: I did that, and then wrote a full page without ink flow issues. At first glance it seems to be working.

Edited July 18, 2014 by Vlad Soare

[dneal]

Another solution is to try a different ink. Herbin 1670 (bleu ocean), and every De Atramentis I've tried have never "stuck" in the top of the converter. Visconti Blue seems to work as well. Caran d'Ache and Graf von Faber Castell are very problematic (for me anyway), with Montblanc and Pelikan Edelstein to a lesser extent.

Edited July 18, 2014 by dneal

[Vlad Soare]

That sounds reasonable, but I'm not willing to choose my ink depending on a specific pen's quirks. A good fountain pen must work with the ink of my choice, on the paper of my choice. If it doesn't, I won't use it.

 

Anyway, the ball thing seems to work like a treat. The ink used to stick in the top of the converter, I could see that. Now it doesn't. The ink now flows normally from one end of the converter to the other when I hold the pen nib up or nib down. And it's the same ink.

I can't believe it was that easy.

 

[The Good Captain]

I use the Faber Castell with great success even though they aren't screw.

[RMN]

There are basically 4 types of international standard converters in normal use, all based on Schmidt converters.

Schmidt has the very simple K1, all plastic, cartridge type plastic.

Then the K2, smae type of plastic but with a metal sleeve where the piston sits

next is the K5, high gloss hard plastic pushtype

and the K6 high gloss hard plastic screw type.

 

Most companies buy the K5 or K6 and have it printed with their name.

 

I believe Monteverde has their own type. Montblanc makes their own with a metal coil in it. The mouth there is different and it will not fit other brands (except modern Dunhills) making the MB converter proprietary.

 

And there are some Chinese made converters, but you do not find these regularly on the western market.

 

I believe the problem lies with the high gloss hard plastic. This is prone to static electricity, which adds to the normal forces of adhesion, cohesion and surface tension.. Airbubbles form as the converter empties. If the ink clings too much to the wall, these airbubbles will not move, resulting in bad flow. A ball, or metal coil in the converter will help breaking up the bubbles.

 

 

 

 

D.ick

[Vlad Soare]

Having a screw-in converter, I thought I'd need one with an identical thread, especially designed for Conway Stewart fountain pens. But then I realized that the tip of the converter is actually standard, and it's a push fit onto the nipple. The thread secures the converter to the nib housing, not to the nipple.

[raging.dragon]

Most brands use Schmidt converters, so the threading usually compatible across different brands. For example, I've used a Visconti converter in a CS pen and vice versa.

[mallymal1]

+1 for the Faber Castell...but I'm going to try out the ball thing, as well.

 

Good to hear that you seem to have your problem sorted out, Vlad.

[warblerick]

Hello,

 

Unfortunately, it seems my new Wellington suffers from the infamous converter problem. It writes flawlessly for about a quarter of a page, then it gets dry and starts skipping, then it won't even start at all. Using the piston to manually saturate the feed gives me a few extra lines, after which the problem occurs again.

 

Can someone recommend a 3rd party screw-in converter that works with Conway Stewart fountain pens, and which is known not to have any flow issues?

 

I'm not interested in cartridges.

 

Thank you.

The sad thing here is that CS is certainly aware of this problem, and haven't (to date) done anything to alleviate it. It will be interesting to see if their customer support remains the same, or if they begin to address current (and past) issues with the various models (converter issues, lever issues, etc.) under new management.

[RMN]

The sad thing here is that CS is certainly aware of this problem, and haven't (to date) done anything to alleviate it. It will be interesting to see if their customer support remains the same, or if they begin to address current (and past) issues with the various models (converter issues, lever issues, etc.) under new management.

So, how do you think customer support should deal with the problem of inkbubbles in converters? Given the fact that there are, to my knowledge no other western suppliers who are not competitors? Stopping providing a converter with the pen, with a message that converters are not really reliable and that you buy a converter externally at your own risk?

 

Besides, the problem does not stop at CS, as I have the same problems with my Watermans and many other C/C pens.

 

D.ick

[warblerick]

I would suggest using a different material for their converters. I have had issues with several of the supplied CS converters (as documented here in this forum), which disappeared when I switched to a different converter (Faber-Castell). I think the two converters are made from different types of plastic, with the F-C models more similar to a standard cartridge material, hence there is no problems with them. YMMV.

 

When issues continue to arise, even after the company is aware there is a problem, somewhere somebody in the company is not listening.

[Vlad Soare]

Could it be that the type of plastic they use is higher quality than the one of a standard cartridge? Perhaps more resistant to wear, less likely to develop leaks after repeated removal and reinsertion, or something like that?

I don't know, I'm just thinking aloud...

[arran]

My experience is that the schmidt converter improves after time after several inks used.

Secondly the graf converter did not solve the problem for me in the winston IM nib

After much discussion CS decided to let the IM grind from a B nib by oxonion

And what ?The pen had no problems anymore even with the same ink and converter!

So the nib design has also to do with it I think

Onoto also uses schmidt converters and these are my mostly used pens and had NEVER issues with my onotos

Isn't this strange?

It keeps on intriguing me!

Perhaps Industrial made nibs by CS have too pronounced baby bottom?indeed their are extremely soft

Ps none of my c/c Japanese pens have this kind of issues

In the end I put a small bullet in my schmidt converters and thus far no issues anymore

(Only practising this method for 2 weeks now) after reading this hint on the FPF

[raging.dragon]

So, how do you think customer support should deal with the problem of inkbubbles in converters? Given the fact that there are, to my knowledge no other western suppliers who are not competitors? Stopping providing a converter with the pen, with a message that converters are not really reliable and that you buy a converter externally at your own risk?

 

Besides, the problem does not stop at CS, as I have the same problems with my Watermans and many other C/C pens.

 

D.ick

 

Or they could do like some other brands. Test their coverters and ajust their nibs with their own line on inks and state that using other inks isn't supported?

Edited July 20, 2014 by raging.dragon

[raging.dragon]

My experience is that the schmidt converter improves after time after several inks used.

Secondly the graf converter did not solve the problem for me in the winston IM nib

After much discussion CS decided to let the IM grind from a B nib by oxonion

And what ?The pen had no problems anymore even with the same ink and converter!

So the nib design has also to do with it I think

Onoto also uses schmidt converters and these are my mostly used pens and had NEVER issues with my onotos

Isn't this strange?

It keeps on intriguing me!

Perhaps Industrial made nibs by CS have too pronounced baby bottom?indeed their are extremely soft

Ps none of my c/c Japanese pens have this kind of issues

In the end I put a small bullet in my schmidt converters and thus far no issues anymore

(Only practising this method for 2 weeks now) after reading this hint on the FPF

 

It is possible that many CS nibs are smoothed a bit too much, leaving them with baby bottom.

[arran]

In the end , this issue was suggested to CS and will be taken in consideration by the highest levelTo be followed.

Another FP producer to be named X , with goodinternal contacts suggested indeed inferior QC compared to theirs.

X mentioned also a difference in nib unit construction :

Whereas CS uses Bock nibs plus Bock feeds , X uses Bock nibs also , but with the Schmidt feed instead.

This factor would make the CS nib unit more prone to quality issues.

Sorry not to name the X , but was promised so to X

[GTOZack]

+3 or 4 for faber castell

[Vlad Soare]

Thank you all for your suggestions. I'll take them into account if I decide to buy a new converter.

However, I may not need to do that, as the cartridge ball trick seems to work perfectly. It's been two weeks since I did that, and I had no more problems. With three different inks, turning the pen upside down or right side up makes all the ink flow downwards. It never sticks at one end of the converter, and I don't need to manually saturate the feed anymore.

Admittedly, it's a little too early to draw a definite conclusion, but so far the results are really promising.