Let's Reevaluate Converter Filling Fountain Pens

[bgray]

I just recently finished a new article and published it on the Edison site.

 

http://edisonpen.com/page.cfm/Reevaluate-Converters

 

Let me know your thoughts, thanks!

 

Brian at Edison

[BillZ]

The delivery method is not my concern. I have piston fill pens, cartridge only and C/C pens. I only care how they write when the nib touches the paper. Proprietary cartridges are sometimes troublesome because of my location but I travel to Houston at least once/month and get what I need at Dromgoole's in Rice Village.

[cnjackson]

I just recently finished a new article and published it on the Edison site.

 

http://edisonpen.com/page.cfm/Reevaluate-Converters

 

Let me know your thoughts, thanks!

 

Brian at Edison

Great article! Really interesting to know some of the history behind "getting the ink INTO the pen." I'd never thought about it that way!

 

Thank you!

 

Chris

[Biber]

I just recently finished a new article and published it on the Edison site.

 

http://edisonpen.com/page.cfm/Reevaluate-Converters

 

Let me know your thoughts, thanks!

 

Brian at Edison

 

Thank you, it all seems so familiar...

[dragos.mocanu]

Very nice article, thanks! Being somewhat against c/c pens (mostly because they are everywhere, hence boring) I've never thought it the way you exposed it in the article; I will revise my opinion... I do own a Parker 45 (my only c/c) and it's one of my smoothest and most reliable writers; It's the one pen I carry with me everywhere. However, as a filling mechanism, I enjoy the ocasional piston, aerometric, vacumatic and snorkel (now that's sexy!) a lot more.

[Jamerelbe]

Hi Brian,

 

A well-thought-out article - I've found myself increasingly thinking the same thing. When I first re-engaged with fountain pens in a big way (about 15 months ago), I found myself reading a lot of negative commentary about cartridge converter pens - and without thinking, was inclined to agree with them. But that's changed somewhat as my pen collection has grown (mostly cheap Indian or Chinese pens, and a fair few of them cartridge converters!).

 

I have a few piston pens, and am grateful for the greater ink capacity - but there's a fair bit involved in disassembly for cleaning purposes (though my sac-fillers are worse). Moreover, because I like to have multiple pens inked up at the one time (with different colours), the smaller capacity of the cartridge converters is rarely a problem - in fact, quite the reverse!

 

One criticism of cartridge converter systems that I'm more sympathetic to is the fact that some pen companies choose not to provide a converter with their pens, included in the purchase price - an omission that's particularly aggravating if it's a proprietary system (Lamy and Parker being the main offenders in my limited experience).

 

I think you give a fair, balanced and highly articulate breakdown of the advantages (and disadvantages) of c/c pens - and the basic point that the writing experience, in the end, is far more important than the filling system (as long as it works!).

 

As a matter of curiosity, your article implies that you may continue to experiment with other filling systems - without expecting you to give too much away, do you have anything particular in mind (i.e. are is there some mystery project on the drawing board, or in the works, right now)... or are you simply keeping your options open??

[bgray]

 

One criticism of cartridge converter systems that I'm more sympathetic to is the fact that some pen companies choose not to provide a converter with their pens, included in the purchase price - an omission that's particularly aggravating if it's a proprietary system (Lamy and Parker being the main offenders in my limited experience).

 

 

As a matter of curiosity, your article implies that you may continue to experiment with other filling systems - without expecting you to give too much away, do you have anything particular in mind (i.e. are is there some mystery project on the drawing board, or in the works, right now)... or are you simply keeping your options open??

 

Thanks to everyone for the comments!

 

Regarding not including a converter with a pen, that's way beyond me. This doesn't make sense to me either.

 

With regards to future filling systems, there's literally 4-5 novel ideas in my head, but the largest obstacle is finding the time to engineer them! We have been (thankfully) very busy the whole year this year. We are probably bringing on a new employee soon which will free me up some. I'm hoping to have something new coming before the year ends. Thanks!

Edited September 25, 2014 by bgray

[brunico]

I wonder whether antagonism towards converters tends to correlate with discovering fountain pens later on in life and perceiving them as idiosyncratic luxury goods from a bygone age rather than as straightforward workaday tools for the present day. Hence all those questions - can I use another manufacturer's ink in my pen? do I need to clean my pen every fill? have I damaged the pen by getting ink onto the section? - none of which would ever have occurred to me during school. And if they had occurred to me, I'd have been remorselessly teased about it.

 

While I think pistons are more elegant in design, converters were all I had throughout school and college. Yet somehow they always held enough ink and never attracted disparaging remarks, even from some very disparaging people.

[Notgatherox]

I used to hate c&c pens, not because of ink capacity and whatnot, it was because of the difficulty in cleaning them when I wanted to swop colours out.

 

After I got my hands on the bulb syringe...

 

For my daily writer, it's a piston (large ink capacity woots!) but because I have lots of ink samples and love trying different inks, the c&c pens are awesome because I finish the inks much more quickly and I can put more new colours in yay!

 

 

~Epic

[stevesurf]

I just recently finished a new article and published it on the Edison site.

 

http://edisonpen.com/page.cfm/Reevaluate-Converters

 

Let me know your thoughts, thanks!

 

Brian at Edison

 

 

Brian, this is a great article, many thanks!

[ac12]

I posted this on the other thread in FirstStop also.

 

I have this "air lock" issue of the ink being trapped in the back of the converter with an air bubble at the front of the converter. This happens with different inks (Waterman (a wet ink), Sheaffer, and Cross/Pelikan (a dry ink)) and different converters (Sheaffer, Parker, Lamy, and Chinese). The Sheaffer black ink is the only ink that might have a high dye load. And frustratingly it is Sheaffer ink in a Sheaffer converter and I get "air lock."

And interestingly I have the same "air lock" issue with a Reform 1745 piston pen. The Reform 1745 is a small diameter pen. And the ink is Waterman, again a wet ink).

 

I "think" the problem has to do with the small diameter of the cylinder of a converter (and the small Reform 1745), allowing the surface tension to form and hold the ink in the back of the cylinder (converter or small diameter piston). I think the larger piston pens and vacs are too large in diameter for the surface tension to form and hold the ink in the back of the cylinder.

 

The practical fix as Brian mentioned is a STAINLESS STEEL ball in the converter, so when the pen+converter is inverted, the SS ball will fall and break the surface tension. Plastic balls will not work, as they do not have enough mass to fall through the surface tension. I have a couple converters will plastic balls, and the ink gets stuck on the back like a converter without a ball. The plastic ball does not have enough mass to fall through the surface tension. The problem is some converters are not able to be disassembled, at least I have not been able to disassemble them. So I cannot put a SS ball into them.

[kazoolaw]

First, a nit to pick: line 2 the word is deCision.

 

Second, many people are unable to think independently, and so parrot what others think. Piston, eyedropper, crescent (my personal favorite. today.), lever (why DO people hate levers?), they're just ink delivery systems.

 

At least they're not soul-less cartidges!

 

Very nice article,

 

gary

[londonbooks]

Interesting article. I've always liked the converter system but now my taste has changed to the piston fillers and next month I'll probably prefer some other type. I do have a question that you can answer if you have time. Do threaded converters have any advantage over the non-threaded? I've always thought the threaded were better.

[bgray]

First, a nit to pick: line 2 the word is deCision.

 

 

 

Dammit! I hate when I do that! I've proofread the stupid article multiple times over the last week and there's a type-o in the second sentence!!!!

 

Thanks for the comments, and yes, thanks for the correction!

[bgray]

Interesting article. I've always liked the converter system but now my taste has changed to the piston fillers and next month I'll probably prefer some other type. I do have a question that you can answer if you have time. Do threaded converters have any advantage over the non-threaded? I've always thought the threaded were better.

 

Personally, I haven't found an advantage to either (except from a manufacturing standpoint that I'll mention below). A threaded converter will not seat or seal better or worse than a non-threaded converter.

 

I will say this - I avoid threaded converters since pretty much all of our pen sections are made from acrylic, ebonite, or another non-metal.

 

If you have a threaded converter going into an acrylic section and you over-tighten it, you can very easily crack the section.

 

This is not a concern with a metal section, but putting threaded converters on acrylic sections is not very good engineering due to this risk, my opinion.

 

So there is a disadvantage from a manufacturing standpoint, and I avoid them for that reason.

Edited September 25, 2014 by bgray

[ac12]

 

Interesting article. I've always liked the converter system but now my taste has changed to the piston fillers and next month I'll probably prefer some other type. I do have a question that you can answer if you have time. Do threaded converters have any advantage over the non-threaded? I've always thought the threaded were better.

 

It depends....

• If the threaded converter seals on a ledge where the nipple would seat, or if the seal is where the converter pushes onto the section, then how tight you screwed it in could make a difference in how good that seal is.
  Not tight enough and it leaks, a little too tight and you start distorting the threads, way too tight and you strip the threads.
  The problem here is determining how much is just right? How much is too loose, or too tight? Then doing that consistently.

• The seal/gasket/O-ring of a push on converter removes the question of how tight to turn the screw on converter. And in theory would seal well, but I have had 3 converters where it leaked from the front, so obviously a poor seal. But I have many more that have ZERO leaks from the front.

[londonbooks]

Good advice bgray. I like the website that you write for and will take a look around when I have time

Edited September 25, 2014 by londonbooks

[londonbooks]

 

 

 

It depends....

• If the threaded converter seals on a ledge where the nipple would seat, or if the seal is where the converter pushes onto the section, then how tight you screwed it in could make a difference in how good that seal is.

  Not tight enough and it leaks, a little too tight and you start distorting the threads, way too tight and you strip the threads.

  The problem here is determining how much is just right? How much is too loose, or too tight? Then doing that consistently.

• The seal/gasket/O-ring of a push on converter removes the question of how tight to turn the screw on converter. And in theory would seal well, but I have had 3 converters where it leaked from the front, so obviously a poor seal. But I have many more that have ZERO leaks from the front.

 

 

That's good to know. The technical side of things has never been one of my strengths so your explanation is welcomed. Always eager to learn.

[ac12]

 

That's good to know. The technical side of things has never been one of my strengths so your explanation is welcomed. Always eager to learn.

 

Brian's comment about cracking the section is new to me, and coming from the manufacturer, it is worth considering.

I used to think the screw converter was better, then I realized that I did not know how tight is tight enough, and how tight is too much.

Just like how tight do you screw on the screw cap fountain pen?

[Algester]

Hi Brian,

 

A well-thought-out article - I've found myself increasingly thinking the same thing. When I first re-engaged with fountain pens in a big way (about 15 months ago), I found myself reading a lot of negative commentary about cartridge converter pens - and without thinking, was inclined to agree with them. But that's changed somewhat as my pen collection has grown (mostly cheap Indian or Chinese pens, and a fair few of them cartridge converters!).

 

I have a few piston pens, and am grateful for the greater ink capacity - but there's a fair bit involved in disassembly for cleaning purposes (though my sac-fillers are worse). Moreover, because I like to have multiple pens inked up at the one time (with different colours), the smaller capacity of the cartridge converters is rarely a problem - in fact, quite the reverse!

 

One criticism of cartridge converter systems that I'm more sympathetic to is the fact that some pen companies choose not to provide a converter with their pens, included in the purchase price - an omission that's particularly aggravating if it's a proprietary system (Lamy and Parker being the main offenders in my limited experience).

 

I think you give a fair, balanced and highly articulate breakdown of the advantages (and disadvantages) of c/c pens - and the basic point that the writing experience, in the end, is far more important than the filling system (as long as it works!).

 

As a matter of curiosity, your article implies that you may continue to experiment with other filling systems - without expecting you to give too much away, do you have anything particular in mind (i.e. are is there some mystery project on the drawing board, or in the works, right now)... or are you simply keeping your options open??

in my country Lamy, Parker, cross and sheaffer gives out free converters for every fountain pen purchase plus 2 cartridges of any color available for Lamy except the 2000 since that's a piston filler... so it's really up to your country's "marketing" team do I say were lucky? not that I could say Sailor does it differently the converter is sold seperately with their lower priced pens like the Crystal and Lecoule Edited September 26, 2014 by Algester