Drier Refill For M B Document Marker?

[Joane]

Is there a drier refill available that fits the MB document marker 166? The MB yellow highlighter is really fun to use but very liquid and it smears not only ink but any printed type. Even trying to go as fast and lightly as possible, the text underneath dissolves. Smearing puts a damper on the fun part for sure.

 

I was wondering if anyone knows of a drier marker refill that can fit this model? One would think they would use a quick-drying fluid in an instrument where where it comes in contact with other printed or written matter. Any ideas? TIA

[meiers]

I would contact mb service and shared this problem with them.

[______Zaphod_Beeblebrox]

Mmmmmmmm, I have two of these pens, one is the green ink and the other the yellow. I have never had an issue with smear of the print that I am highlighting. The ink is wet yes, but so is fountain pen ink.

Maybe it is the print ink you are highlighting over that is the issue. I do not think it was design to highlight of fountain pen Ink.

 

What are some examples of the printed materials you are highlighting that are smearing. Any photos?

Edited January 27, 2015 by Zaphod_Beeblebrox

[______Zaphod_Beeblebrox]

Oh, and I do not think there is any "drier" version available. As far as I am aware the refill is only avaliable thru Montblanc. And they just have two choices, yellow or green.

 

I personally would not want them drier.

Edited January 27, 2015 by Zaphod_Beeblebrox

[______Zaphod_Beeblebrox]

I did some quick experiments on various printed items.

On some, no smearing at all. Others it would smear sometimes.

On paper with various ink examples it was the same, sometime it did, sometimes it did not.

 

A lot of it depended on the paper, and the ink, the line thickness also played a part.

 

This is not limited to just Montblanc, other highlighters (with the feeder style bodies) preformed about the same.

 

So bottom line is, well sadly, I doubt any can be done about it. At least, for me anyway, what I use them for has not been an issue.

[Joane]

Thank you, Zaphod_B for taking the trouble to do some tests. I don't have photos but the latest thing I tried to highlight was an inkjet photocopy of an invoice and the black type was caught up in the yellow. I would not be surprised to see smearing of f/p ink but was surprised a photocopy did not hold fast.

 

By drier I really mean quick-drying. It can be fluid in usage but with some solvent that evaporates very quickly upon contact with air.

 

I would contact mb service and shared this problem with them.

Yes, I could go and check out what the people in the MB boutique have to say about it.

[______Zaphod_Beeblebrox]

I see, quicker drying. Probably would be better, could be a bad batch if your smearing is extreme.

[Joane]

I see, quicker drying. Probably would be better, could be a bad batch if your smearing is extreme.

It could be a bad batch and it could be a problem with aging. The marker is a bordeux one I found on sale (at an authorized dealer's closing sale). The refill could have been a newer one put in at any time but it could also have been sitting in the marker for a couple of decades. It might be a good idea to try a new refill when I go to the boutique.

[macball]

Usually the MB refills are already on the dry side. This may be due to the partial evaporation of the highlighting ink before sale. The lifespan of a refill is also variable and they are expensive. For several years I have refilled the cartridge with highlighter ink. I have used Pelikan but there are other inks available too. The Pelikan ink is quite wet but does not smear the black ink from a laser printer or typeset or bleed through 20 or 24 lb paper. Amazing. Perhaps other inks might be less wet. The instructions for refilling the cartridge can be found in this forum. If the page you are highlighting is very thin you might consider the Sanford Bible Highlighter which is essentially a thick yellow lead mechanical pencil.

[Joane]

Macball, interesting you should mention lead pencil. Before indulging in the conceit of an MB marker, I was perfectly happy to use a yellow-leaded art pencil. it worked perfectly fine but I couldn't resist the novelty of an MB marker on extreme sale.

Edited January 27, 2015 by Joane

[______Zaphod_Beeblebrox]

Macball, interesting you should mention lead pencil. Before indulging in the conceit of an MB marker, I was perfectly happy to use a yellow-leaded art pencil. it worked perfectly fine but I couldn't resist the novelty of an MB marker on extreme sale.

I used to use a set of colored pencils to "highlight" until one day my boss saw me using them. He told me that I was wasting time "coloring" and gave me a cheap highlighter. So that is why I bought my pair of Montblanc Document Markers.

[Joane]

I used to use a set of colored pencils to "highlight" until one day my boss saw me using them. He told me that I was wasting time "coloring" and gave me a cheap highlighter. So that is why I bought my pair of Montblanc Document Markers.

 

Yet another excellent reason to buy a Montblanc!

[______Zaphod_Beeblebrox]

Yet another excellent reason to buy a Montblanc!

If only Montblanc had a Sharpie refill!

[mmpen]

Please provide a link for how to refill document marker cartridge

[macball]

Somewhere there is a thread with pictures on how to do it but I am having trouble finding it. I will continue to look. Briefly, there are two ways to do this. The simplest method is not the one that I use so I don't have much experience with it. The method is the same as filling the rollerball refills. 1) There is a yellow plastic cap on the top of the refill. Using needle nose pliers pop the cap off. It comes off fairly easily. Using a pharmacy dropper or tuberculin syringe add .75 to 1 ml of Pelikan M205 ink to the top of sponge. There is a breather hole hidden in the angled plastic sleeve near the felt tip. If you overfill the refill ink will flow out of the breather hole sleeve so do this over the sink or paper towel. Let any excess ink flow out of the refill and gently wipe the end. Pop the yellow plastic cap back on. 2) The method I use also serves to clean the felt tip of any ink it picks up from the books or laser print being highlighted. Attach a short segment of Tygon plastic tubing to a 3 ml syringe. The tubing diameter fits over the plastic sleeve including the felt tip and the breather hole. Then 0.75 to 1 ml of ink is injected into the refill through the breather hole and somewhat through the felt tip. Pulling the plunger back and forth pulls air out of the refill, cleans the felt tip, and injects the ink into the bottom rather than the top as in method 1. Of course this should also be done over the sink or paper towel. Some have said that refilling rollerballs or highlighters is too messy, but that is not my experience. I use my highlighter several times a week. The refill is over two years old and still works perfectly.

 

[macball]

I should add a caution ... It is important not to overfill as this will cause a mess outside and possibly inside the pen. Look at the diameter and length of the refil. That volume is filled with a sponge. It cannot be filled with more than that volume. It is actually pretty small, so it is not surprising that some people complain about the short life. It helps to let the refil sit for awhile to allow the sponge to saturate before putting in the pen.

 

For anyone wondering why method 2 is so unusual... Early highlighter and rollerball refils had a solid metal top. The plastic caps were added later. The only way to get ink into the refill is through the tip in the early design. My intention was to refill with ink through the microfiber tip. By fortune my tubing fit snugly over the entire black plastic tip. When filling by push and pull i noticed air coming out of the slanted plastic tip. I did not consider the possibility of the breather hole which of course must exist for the pen to work. MB has hidden it under the slanted plastic. Overfilling a RB refil from the top will reveal the location of the breather hole in the RB in a similar location. In my method most of the ink is actually entering through the breather hole and very little through the microfiber tip.RB tips dont get dirty so I refil those by the standard top method but continue to refil my highlighter refils through the bottom because it cleans the microfiber tip.