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Leaking Sailor Converters


Tanzanite

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Just recently, I have had a Sailor converter empty its contents into the barrel of my mid-size 1911 Red Marble Mozaique.

This pen's barrel is made up of three parts, separated by two metal rings.

 

I was very surprised that a full converter's worth of Akkerman #10 was safely held inside the Mozaique's barrel. The barrel components must have been well cemented & the O-ring around the pen's section sealed the ink in.

But, it may have been just luck that there was no major leak.

 

Before my Sailor converters are used for the first time, I take them apart. All the parts are washed in a detergent/water solution, they are thoroughly rinsed, then reassembled. I check to see how tightly the piston fits inside the barrel of the converter. Finally I make sure that the converter is pressed into the section completely & the chrome sleeve in the back is tight.

 

I've already rejected a couple brand new Sailor converters, because their pistons were loose, but this one, the one that leaked all inside my Mozaique seemed OK when I installed it.

A Schmidt K5 converter has two seals on its piston head but the Sailor has only one ring of contact between the piston & the inside wall of the unit.

 

Could this be a design fault in an otherwise well constructed Sailor converter?

After all, this converter serves their pens from the lowly mid-size 1911s to their super deluxe KOPs.

Edited by tinta

*Sailor 1911S, Black/gold, 14k. 0.8 mm. stub(JM) *1911S blue "Colours", 14k. H-B "M" BLS (PB)

*2 Sailor 1911S Burgundy/gold: 14k. 0.6 mm. "round-nosed" CI (MM) & 14k. 1.1 mm. CI (JM)

*Sailor Pro-Gear Slim Spec. Ed. "Fire",14k. (factory) "H-B"

*Kaweco SPECIAL FP: 14k. "B",-0.6 mm BLS & 14k."M" 0.4 mm. BLS (PB)

*Kaweco Stainless Steel Lilliput, 14k. "M" -0.7 mm.BLS, (PB)

 

 

 

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Just left Kingdom Note in Tokyo. My one leaky Sailor converter was purchased there along with one of their LE pens. The converter leaked much of the first load of ink after which I disassembled and cleaned it, reassembled it making sure everything was fitted together snugly. It leaked again. KN exchanged converters and filled the new one with the same ink they dumped out of the leaky converter. I am happy with their service and hope this one will not leak. They will notify Sailor of the problem and hopefully it will be corrected.

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  • 2 weeks later...

One of mine has started leaking too. :( I'd noticed that the converter had the inconvenient tendency to unscrew itself, and thought the leakage was due to that, but it is still leaking. I have a couple of new converters on the way, and if they don't work I'll try the silion grease. :(

 

I was thinking of getting a 1911S, but no more c/c Sailors for me for the time being. :(

 

On the plus side, however, all the ink from the leaky converter stayed in the barrel. It could have been worse.

I was once a bottle of ink, Inky Dinky Thinky Inky, Blacky Minky Bottle of Ink!

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My converter leaks to the back, so I just refill a cartridge and voila!

Pens:

Sheaffer Targa M / Parker 45 M / Sheaffer Imperial M / Parker Arrow

Lamy Vista F / Lamy Safari EF / PELIKAN M400 M Vintage (for sale)

Pilot Custom 74 F / Namiki Falcon SF / Pilot VP M / Pilot Prera / Pilot Metropolitan F M

Sailor Sapporo B / Platinum 3776 BB Stub

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Hmmm, this is really interesting. I have six Sailor pens and none of their converters leak (well, one is a Realo, so I guess I need to count the five with converters). Other than a Kabazaiku, I bought all of my pens more than five years ago. Is this a new problem with Sailor converters?

 

Erick

Using right now:

Visconti Voyager 30 "M" nib running Birmingham Streetcar

Jinhao 9019 "EF" nib running Birmingham Railroad Spike

Stipula Adagio "F" nib running Birmingham Violet Sea Snail

Sailor Profit "B" nib running Van Dieman's Night - Shooting Star

 

 

 

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My converter leaks to the back, so I just refill a cartridge and voila!

If all else fails, refilling cartridges is what I'll be doing too. I've more or less settled on the one ink I want to use with that pen.

 

My leaky converter isn't that old, less than 6 months. It was my first Sailor pen and at the time I bought it I hadn't read about converter leaks.

I was once a bottle of ink, Inky Dinky Thinky Inky, Blacky Minky Bottle of Ink!

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I think it is newer converters that leak. Those in my first pens do not leak. All bought in the ladt one and a half year do. I refill cartridges too. One bonus with doing that is that they have larger capacity than the converters.

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This is interesting that there have been so many sightings of leaking Sailor standard converters on this thread.

 

Could it just be the units of newer manufacture?

Could Sailor's design of having only a single seal ring on their pistons be the culprit?

Could it be the composition of this new single piston seal?

Could it be that the inside of the converter tube is not totally round or smooth?

 

The International converter varieties (usually by Schmidt) have two seal rings on their pistons.

On occasion I will see that the first ring has failed (leaked) & there is some ink in between the seals, but I have yet to find a totally failed (leaking) K5.

 

I have seven pens that take a Sailor standard converter & I keep four spare converters, just in case.

Had only one ink catastrophe in four years,..with all the ink leaving the back of the unit into the barrel.

 

I would suggest that if you have a leaky Sailor converter at least let the company (not the seller or the distributor) know.

I wrote them a letter with a fountain pen on good Japanese paper. They did not reply, but still, they have some feedback from the actual users.

For whatever it's worth..

Edited by tinta

*Sailor 1911S, Black/gold, 14k. 0.8 mm. stub(JM) *1911S blue "Colours", 14k. H-B "M" BLS (PB)

*2 Sailor 1911S Burgundy/gold: 14k. 0.6 mm. "round-nosed" CI (MM) & 14k. 1.1 mm. CI (JM)

*Sailor Pro-Gear Slim Spec. Ed. "Fire",14k. (factory) "H-B"

*Kaweco SPECIAL FP: 14k. "B",-0.6 mm BLS & 14k."M" 0.4 mm. BLS (PB)

*Kaweco Stainless Steel Lilliput, 14k. "M" -0.7 mm.BLS, (PB)

 

 

 

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I had trouble with my first Sailor convertor and bought another. I didn't have any major leaks with the first, but it did consistently get ink behind the piston, and I'd find myself sucking water through the twist knob to clean it. The second converter is better, but there's a noticeable reduction in the amount of torque required to move the piston toward the rear of the converter. I'm suspecting that the body of the converter is of inconsistent diameter, narrower through most of the body, but very slightly wider at the rear where the piston seal sits while the pen is filled with ink.

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. I'm suspecting that the body of the converter is of inconsistent diameter, narrower through most of the body, but very slightly wider at the rear where the piston seal sits while the pen is filled with ink.

Yes, my thoughts exactly, about the possibly of an inconsistent inside diameter of the Sailor converter tube. I've had some converters that needed a light twist to move the piston & draw up the ink, while others were stiff as all get-out, even after a dis-assembly, a though cleaning & a flush.

 

What gets me is that Sailor makes some gorgeous & very pricy pens with excellent gold nibs. They could put more effort into producing a quality converter that is used by both the Saporo & the KOP,...even if it is an item costing less than 10.00 CAD.

*Sailor 1911S, Black/gold, 14k. 0.8 mm. stub(JM) *1911S blue "Colours", 14k. H-B "M" BLS (PB)

*2 Sailor 1911S Burgundy/gold: 14k. 0.6 mm. "round-nosed" CI (MM) & 14k. 1.1 mm. CI (JM)

*Sailor Pro-Gear Slim Spec. Ed. "Fire",14k. (factory) "H-B"

*Kaweco SPECIAL FP: 14k. "B",-0.6 mm BLS & 14k."M" 0.4 mm. BLS (PB)

*Kaweco Stainless Steel Lilliput, 14k. "M" -0.7 mm.BLS, (PB)

 

 

 

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It boggles the mind that Sailor would devote such attention to their pens, nibs, and especially their inks, only to supply such a substandard converter. I've had the same problem a couple of times. It's hit or miss.

Rationalizing pen and ink purchases since 1967.

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