I have two of those 8-ball desk pens, and have found the ink to dry out really quickly. The sac is pliable and I'm quite sure the filling mechanisms of the pens are working as they should. However the pens are completely dry after a week and a half of sitting in the bases, with only a few words written with them. Is this normal?

It wouldn't surprise me. I have a NOS 8-ball desk set and I've noticed there isn't a good seal between the pen and the base. I had an older one and assumed it was worn out, but even the pristine one is the same way.

I use mine every day or two and it does tend to dry out if I forget to use it for a few days. Frankly, I think they weren't designed for people who only use a pen for a few words here and there - back then if you needed a desk pen you were probably doing a lot of writing.

I wonder if different inks would give you less problems with drying? I'm using Private Reserve Black Magic Blue. Maybe a thinner ink would be better?

Good to know that I'm not the only experiencing the drying problem.

I've used Private Reserve Sonic Blue and Quink Black in my desk pens. Oh well. I just need to clean up my desk more often so I can actually see, and then reach for the pens.

The key seems to be making sure that the pen is pushed snugly into the base. For a while I had the same problem, pen running out of ink way too frequently. Now, I make certain that the pen is pushed all of the way in and, like the magic 8 ball that it is, the ink lasts as long as one would expect.

Thanks for that tip. I'll have to try it out the next time I ink the pens.