I have a full size Skyline that i bought off a respected seller who said it was restored but i can only get it to hold 5 drops of water/ink. Now i have read that this pen is known to have a lowish ink capacity but is it that pathetic!!??

The nib writes with above average wetness so when i use the pen i need to refill it constantly. This bugs me, so the pen now gets little use which is a shame.

If the consensus is that the pen should hold more ink i will return to seller for reassesment.

Please let me know your experiences. Thanks

The Skyline has a breather tube, and it requires several cycles of the lever to fill completely.

A Skyliner should fill full with three lever cycles, and it should expel about 21 drops of ink. If no bubbles emerge after the first cycle of the lever, the breather tube is not functioning properly.

--Daniel

Richard,
Is the breather tube necessary in this pen? I've found them both with and without breather tubes and I've not seen any appreciable difference in performance between the two - but I've not restored more than a couple of dozen.

thanks,
kg

Given the filler's inability to empty more than a fraction of the air in the sac with a single stroke of the lever, the breather tube is essential for reasonable ink-drawing function. Without a breather tube, a Skyliner may draw only eight or nine drops of ink.

If you still have some restored pens with and without breather tubes, go ahead and do a capacity test and let us know the results.

--Daniel

Ah, i see.

I have just filled my pen about 5 times and the result is that it takes from between 7 and wait for it...14(!) cycles of the lever for the release of bubbles to cease. And the capacity is 18 drops every time.

Well, i'm alot happier now!

Thanks for all your help.

That's way too many lever cycles. Are you allowing the lever to go all the way back to flush with the barrel and then pausing for several seconds between strokes?

--Daniel

Hi, Daniel. Yes i am pulling the lever out from it's position flush with the barrel to it's full extent which is just under about 90 degrees from it's initial position then i am pushing it back fully to that initial position. Then i wait up to about 5 secs before repeat.

Are careful to keep the nib submerged up to the section flange while drawing ink?

--Daniel

Daniel, yes i have been careful to ensure that, so i don't know why it takes so many cycles before no more bubbles can be ejected.

Daniel,

Good idea - I'm away from my pens at the moment, when I get back home later this week I'll round up the Skylines and run a test. I'll likely start a new post with the results. Sounds as if I'll be fashioning some breather tubes!

Kelly