Hello.

I keep reading mention in these parts of ultrasonic cleaner water bath-thingies for cleaning pens.

My mother has just got one of these for here jewellery, and I was wondering:

When is it appropriate to use on a pen? What is the procedure?

In particular, are there any pens that should not be cleaned in this way?

Cheers, all.

I use mine mainly for cleaning Esterbrook nib units and it does a very good job.

As a one time collector of gemstones and jewelry I would suggest that any inlaid work on a pen would be at risk.

In general, it has been suggested that the Sheaffer Targa, Imperial and PFM nibs, which are inlaid, should not be cleaned in an ultrasonic. But I haven't found this to be true. I have cleaned these pens when clogged in an ultrasonic, with no damage to the nib or section.

A Sheaffer inlaid nib is held in place by tabs that are imbedded in the plastic, and therefore are not in danger of coming loose from the section. You might get some oozing under the nib and around the edges. But then you get that quite often with nibs that have never seen an ultrasonic, so I don't think that there is a cause-and-effect connection.

Such as the arrow in a Parker 61.

-Bruce

Gooooood point - I forgot about that one.

I did not mean nibs themselves, though I would keep a close eye on them while in the cleaner. What little experiance I have had with the one such nib has been very good.
What I meant was a lot of pens like the Esterbrook have "jewels" and as mentioned the Parker has its arrow. My biggest concern, and I do not have any real experiance other then with jewelry, are MOP inlays that are more and more common. They don't just fall out, they come apart.

The Estie 'jewels' aren't a concern, they are securely fastened, and aren't stones, but rather plastic.

Regards,

Gerry

I understand. I think that we're talking about two different things here.....

If talking about MOP, or real jewels (notice the absence of quotes) then I would agree. Placing an opal in an ultrasonic for instance, would be a big mistake.

However, placing a 51 or a vac with a plastic "jewel" in an ultrasonic wouldn't be a problem. With most pens, the 61 being the exception, you should be OK. Older hard rubber may be affected not by the ultrasonic, but by the exposure to water.

Let me expain.....

I regularly use an ultrasonic when restoring pens. I always use one to clean the nib and feed or modern nib assemblies, I sometimes use one to clean a cap (though Koh-i-noor pen cleaner and a brush are preferred), I usually use one to clean the barrel of a vacumatic or a vac fill 51. I don't use them to clean barrels of lever or button fill pens - I don't want to get the insides, and the spring or J bar in particular, wet. In general, any surface that is expected to be exposed to ink is fair game for cleaning in a wet environment. Ultrasonics are very effective in removing ink from feeds and nibs, though on occasion I still have to scrub with a tooth brush.

Caviats apply though. I keep the water cool, and I use only one or two 3 minute cycles for cleaning, then I flush with clear water. I've used an ultrasonic just about as long as I've been repairing pens, and have had one pen damaged, and that was a case where 1] the water was quite warm, and 2] I left it in much longer than I should have. If your ultrasonic cleaner doesn't have a timer, use an electronic timer that honks at you to force you to respond and turn it off after a set period of time.

Any problems with black hard rubber? Ebonite? (And are black hard rubber and ebonite the same thing?)

How about casein? Old celluloid?

For pens that shouldn't be submerged like lever fillers, would it be workable to hold just the nib underwater and run the ultrasonic? Would there be any benefit to doing so?

The usual solution for lever fillers is to separate the nib (for the screw-in ones) and submerge that, for others, separating the nib/section from the barrel is usually the practice. This is pretty easy during the refurbishing phase, as you will be separating the section anyway to replace the sac, and probably should be separating it to inspect the sac if it's not undergoing restoration.

For my eBay Esties, I usually buzz the section nib combination to loosen the nib, then do both individually (separated but in the same bath). Works a dream.

I also follow-up with the nib using a Radio Shack desoldering bulb to power flush the nib alone.

When that's done, only the most hopless cases don't respond (and those get the Koor-I-Noor cleaning treatment).

Regards,

Gerry

Since I got a US Cleaner about 6 months ago I now wonder how I ever managed without it.

Tepid water and drop of washing up liquid a couple of cycles and away it goes, Parker "51"s are fine it it, both Vac and Aero. Sonnets I take the nib out and drop it in there.

Also razor heads, Herself's Jewelery, modern stuff OK but some old stone settings may be a problem, take advice Electronic parts, but I use distilled water for that, cured a faulty micro switch on a cars electric window, that alone saved me the cost of the cleaner as the replacement switch unit would have cost more than I paid on eBay for the cleaner!

You may gather from this that I am totally in favour of these machines

Jim

Yup, and besides the other benefits, Jim no longer has to get into his wet suit to fasten his pens to the prop of his boat to clean them

Yes - as a matter of fact the Staedtler-Mars one that I have (and a second just purchased) have holders around the rim of the basket to hold pens (or technical pens) nib down in the solution.

Thanks, Ron. That's exactly what I needed to know.

I was reading up on them. The only serious complaint is that they tend to fail after a few months of operation at a fairly high rate. ...of course, people who have stuff fail will complain, while happy owners usually just disappear, so there is no way of knowing truly how accurate that is....

Seems like those who have bought them on this board have all had good success.

-Bruce

Well, I have two. One I bought that is working fine - and another given to me by a friend that isn't. I suspect that the non-working one has a defective transducer, although I haven't yet confirmed that.

Since a replacement transducer is going to probably cost as much as the cleaner itself, and fastening to the stainless steel tub will be challenging, the second one is destined to be parts in case anything else fails on the working one.

I'll have to wait to see if the switches in the lid are as unreliable as has been said - but I have no problem considering moving their function to somewhere that doesn't involve as much wire flexing. After all, they are just a couple of pushbuttons.

Regards,

Gerry

Ah.... the Harbor Freight/China models with the switch in the lid. It's not the switches, it's the wires that run through the hinge to the lid that are the problem. They flex and get twisted as you open and close the lid, and eventually break. They use really thin wires up to the switch and the LEDS. I have one sitting, waiting for new wires to be installed. If I try it with the lid closed, it won't start. Push the button with the lid open, and it starts.

I like the one from Brookstone - essentially the same unit, but with the switches etc. down on the front of the bottom half.

Has anyone else covered up the stupid blue LED on the Harbor Freight one??

Why would anyone do that. The blue light is way cool. The other day I noticed that it worked a bit like a black light - it illuminated some spots on the wall and made the sparkley.

This is the one I got. It costs a little more but Brookstone will exchange it if you are disappointed without any time limitation.

I actually installed an on/off switch on the line cord to deal with this.

--Daniel

Hi,

I had a Staedtler-Mars unit far before I had fountain pens. I have another one now, since my original unit was replaced. I use the little pen holders in the sides when I an using ultrasonic energy to chase ink out of under trim rings.

Dillon

A great unit Dillo. I've used one for several years now, and had to buy replacement baskets for mine.

The company that makes them is in the Dallas area. I had high hopes (and an order in!) to buy 12 of them a year ago, but after months of "any word on a delivery date?" they finally admitted that they're doing so much business making bumper guards for bowling alleys that they're likely to do a run for a couple of companies and then quit for good. They can't compete with the flood of Chinese ultrasonics.

So if you find one on the market, grab it!

If I purchase one of the cheaper 35w to 60w like HF or Brookstone, and use it to clean some my Omas celluloids that might have some ink build up over time, am I going to weaken the seals or damage the celluloid by running them through 1 or 2 90 second cycles?

TIA Best,
Mike

I don't think it's likely. The sealant isn't water based, so water/ammonia wouldn't damage it. If you did need to reseal the nib assembly in the pen, you can use Giovanni's section sealant.

I regularly clean Vacumatic barrels in an ultrasonic as part of the restoration process BTW. And my Omas Milord.

Thanks much Ron

Griz,

Now you have bin and gorn and dun it again, the mention of the you know what rubber suits. Peachez will get the vapours and Lady Murphy will take herself off to the East Tower again :doh: :doh: :doh: :doh: :doh:

Himself has just PM'd me, says he now has to buy a US Cleaner to placate things or summat

Please choose your words more carefully in future.

Jim

PS Next time I am under the boat, do you want some more fresh water muscles? Nice sautéed in butter with a touch of garlic

The noted absence of posts regarding MT has me thinking that they have gone "deep black" and are working on some super secret project. Which also makes one wonder if the world will be safe after development is complete.

The thought of a steam powered US is midly frightening!

I have one of those Harbor Freight Ultrasonic cleaners too. And the darn thing quit on me. No power. It happened while I was clicking the "on" button for a second session. I assumed the motor overloaded and that it's now worthless.

So, what to do but take the thing apart and see how it works. Took a while to see how it's put togeher. I applied sufficient pressure and managed to get the front/back halves separated. They're held together by some cheap glue gun stuff. The top/bottom parts are screwed together. Below is the motor and--what's this? A fuse. Sure enough it was blown. I'll have to see if I can pick up another, once I use a loupe on the fuse to see what type it is.

Btw, are these really any good? I've been trying to get a stylographic tip unstuck and I've run the thing 5-10 times across the span of a week--no dice. I'm using just plain water. I also tried Dawn and that didn't do anything. What's a good solvent to use with these cleaners?

If its got a motor, it's not an Ultrasonic cleaner - the US ones use a transducer (sort of like a solid state speaker to translate the electronically generated signal into motion which agitates the pen.

A good pen cleaner for the technical pens is one made for them by Koor-I-Noor called Rapido-Eze (sp?). It's often available at art supply shops or drafting suppliers.

Regards,

Gerry

Ron,

I cannot comment but would remind you that careless talk costs lives. MT Labs exists for the benefit of all penkind

Obi

Hmmm... well, I have seen some frowns on these Harbor Freight cleaners across the forum. It makes a mechanical racket that reminds me of an electric toothbrush. If it's supposed to have a nice "ultrasound hum" to it, then perhaps indeed this is a real POS, that's not even worth buying a replacement fuse.

The Harbor Freights are ultrasonic cleaners - and they do make a racket. If the fuse is blown, I'd replace it. If this is the one with the buttons on the top, it may very well have broken wires going up through the hinge to the buttons.

Mr. Z,

We are always listening

Work continues apace on the Item :ph34r:

Regards,
Ruaidhrí

Hi all!
Been using the Kohinoor K42 model Ultrasonic Cleaner for over 20 years and have only had to replace it once. This is the smaller model, not the mondo version...has the steel tank filled with a 2:1 mixture of Kohinoor Rapidoeze and purified water. Never fails!

As far as cleaning and unsticking Rapidograph-type pens, gotta use some kind of cleaner solution, not just water in the ultrasonic. The trick to getting tech pen point unclogged, besides the cleaner solution, is to soak the nib units in the solution overnite...then use the ultrasonic!

If you go with the cheaper plastic tanked units from jewelry stores, etc., expect a a short lifespan on the unit if you plan to do pen cleaning a lot and on a regular basis. If the electronics don't fail then the tank will eventuallycrack or split. Biggest mistake one can make when using a plastic tank unit (or even a steel tank version) is letting the unit run for long periods of time...overheating of the unit, overheating the solution (can deform a plastic or HR pen part) and splitting the plastic tank can happen.

Like Ron said, he goes in 3-minute cycles, which works for him...I usually don't go over 2-minutes at a time. If the item is pre-soaked for a reasonable amount of time, then the ultrasonic should do it's job in short order. Kohinoor's Rapidoeze ain't cheap, but still the best solution I've used (and used to be a dealer for it too...all Kohinoor stuff!) over the last 20+ years!
DocNib