Picked a couple up as they were buy one get one free. Feels rather cheap and light, however smooth nib (almost as smooth as my pilot knight) and international cartridges make it a good buy. $16.99 and BOGO Free at Office Depot.

They were writing fine yesterday, but this morning I found the nibs to be dried out and no ink comes out then I try to write with it. I try to shake the pen but no luck in getting the ink started. Any suggestions for a stubborn pen such as this? Do I just need to break em in? Thanks

A year or so ago I bought an Aldo Domani mini fountain pen with a matching ball point at Office Depot. This little fountain pen is a treasure! It can be idle for two or three weeks, but the ink flows immediately and there's no skipping whatever. I love it! Just before Christmas I bought the same set that you bought - at least I think it's the same thing. Was it a set with full size fountain pen and a little mini ball point?

Anyway, I was so pleased with the Domani mini, I expected the full size Domani to be just as good. But I'm having the same trouble you are having. I have to scribble quite a bit to get the ink flowing. Even when it begins to flow, it skips as I write. How disappointing! I'm using a generic cartridge so - I don't know -maybe it's an ink problem. I'm going to put it in the pen cleaner today. I have some clean empty cartridges. I'll fill one with a syringe and give this pen another try with different ink. Hmm. Haven't decided what kind of ink yet.

Judybug

yes, thats the one, the full size fountain pen and the mini ball point! If only I could get em to write!

I bought a couple of those sets. Please let us know your results after trying a different ink.

I put this Aldo Domani full size pen in the pen cleaner with a drop of dishwashing liquid for 5 minutes. Changed the water and repeated for another 5 minutes. Dried the nib as best I could with a Viva paper towel. I loaded a clean empty cartridge with Private Reserve's Black Cherry and all is well. The pen starts right up, has a nice flow of ink, and is not skipping. Of course, the test will be whether or not it flows this well in a few days. I'll keep you posted.

Judybug

I bought the same set. I have to get the pen started each day, but once it gets started I haven't had a problem with skipping. I'm going to try leaving it on it's side rather than upside down in a holder. I haven't tried cleaning it yet.

ht

is it possible to grind these nibs to make them italic? how do we do it ourselves?

With fear and trembling?

Judybug

I have an extra Waterman Phileas converter and decided to try it on the Domani. It fits! I've been doodling with it for about 30 minutes and there is no leakage. My doodling is on a brown paper bag [this tip came from Old Griz, I think], and the nib is getting smoother.

Judybug

I was going to post about the Waterman converter working, so I'll just add to what Judybug said. I tried using the converter to clean the nib. It worked well, and the cleaning seems to have resolved the flow problem. If it writes in the morning without having to do anything to start the flow I'll be satisfied that it just needed cleaning.

ht

I also picked up a couple of these a few days ago. I've only been using one so far and it has worked well for me. I sometimes have to write a few lines to get the ink started, but then it seems to flow easily without problems for the rest of my usage. The more I use mine, the more I like the two-tone design and the overall look and feel of the pen.

So, any ideas on how to make these nibs italics? Thanks.

do you think this lays down a dry or wet line? especially compared to the VP?

I picked up what sounds like the same set on clearance at my local Office Depot. Taking heed of the "flush well before using" comments I've seen in connection with this pen, I gave the nib a stern washing out with and ear bulb and mildly soapy water before use. It still didn't come to life using the supplied cartridge, so the nib took a quick dip in some Levenger ink I had handy to sort of "prime" the feed. That did the trick -- the pen only seems to be skipping on the very start of the first stroke, and that appears to be improving.

Glad to hear about the converter fitting, as there's quite a bit of room in the barrel, but is juuuust too short to hold two small cartridges. Obviously this pen is not expensively made with the plastic section and IPG steel nib, but it is very light and comfortable to carry in my shirt pocket. Of the colors available to me -- silver/aluminum, red, and brown -- the silver seemed the nicest looking with the black cap and jewels. In my opinion, $13 well-spent for an everyday-pen.

Sometimes pens dry up because the inner cap is not airtight, especially around the clip.

"Not airtight" is one way to describe the cap for this pen. Also "leaks air like a punctured balloon." Blowing into the open end of the cap produces two nice streams of air on either side of the clip where it is connected.

This is certainly a solvable problem, though I don't have a solution in mind. Perhaps a little glue over the openings?

Use wax instead, that way it's reversible / easily adjustable w/o resorting to solvents.

Considering the high value of this pen I opted for some clear nail-polish applied to the inside of the cap with a Q-tip. Worked a treat, and now the pen starts up fresh after sitting idle for days.

I have a lot of pens that tend to dry out a bit before I get around to using them again and I've found that dipping the nib and feed into a little bottle of water gets them going very nicely.

I got one of the Yafa ink roller pens and had it for 2 days pretty much the same situation you described. Back to the store it went.

Kurt

Caution: wild unsupported hypothesizing ahead

I'm suspicious of Yafa ink quality, my highly scientific sample size of one cartridge turned out to have a mysterious lumpy quality to the ink which I found mildly distressing. My young son is getting a Yafa for Christmas as a "practice pen" and I plan to swap out the supplied carts. with a Waterman. I don't know if this is the cause of the non-functional rollerball, but ink quality is of course one of the points of the magic pen performance triangle (ink/paper/nib)

To my knowledge, Yafa ink is only available in cartridges, and seemingly only opaque plastic is used for them (although my pen had a normal clear-walled ink cart.) My inner pessimist says that their inks have something to hide, but again, I only have one incident of using their inks.

I seem to remember reading something about the refinement of ballpoint designs over the years, and that for a ballpoint, the greasy ink is almost required to make it work properly, since it needs to adhere somewhat to the ball's surface. I would think that an ink designed to be free-flowing like FP ink would have trouble in that department. Also, I would expect that someone like Waterman or Shaeffer would produce a cartridge-refill rollerball if such things were viable. Churning out ink carts is surely less manufacture-intensive than making ink cartridges, and probably cheaper, too.

Somewhere around here is a pointer to how to grind a nib. Can't find it at the moment, maybe you can google it up.

I bought the Aldo Domani mini set at Office Depot, and it has been sitting inked and idle for nearly 2 months. After reading this thread, I took it out. No skip at all... strong line from the first stroke. Too bad the pen is so small; I really think it is for a feminine hand. Maybe one day I'll find a female to give it to.

I have the same pen in my desk at work. I had the same problem with skipping until I snapped in a converter and put some Florida Blue through it. I'm just about convinced that you could hollow out a turnip and write with that stuff because it seems to work well in everything with a flow problem.