Hi guys. New guy here. I've been reading about adding a drop of dishwashing detergent or ammonia to a glass of water to soak/clean a nib, and this is my question.

On a pen that has the nib attached--at least I couldn't get it loose on my new/used Lamy 2000--how is this done? I want to clean out the nib of old ink and load a fresh batch. As I understand it, the normal steps are:
1. Detach nib assembly from barrel
2. Soak entire assembly overnight in the above mixture
3. run clear water thru the nib and converter
4. Let dry, and reassemble/fill with fresh ink.

So do I soak the lower part of the pen, from the tip up to the upper part of the nib assembly?

Thanks in advance for the help.

tarheelJim

I've managed to remove the nib from the nib unit (not exactly on purpose at the time, but it seems to be fine hehe). The nib and feed actually push out backwards (ie back through the nib assembly). I'm not sure how much force is necessary, but my one is pretty loose after the first time (doesn't affect it when writing when the pen is assembled).

However, the procedure you've thought about looks alright as well. I don't think the nib assembly would mind being soaked overnight, the materials should be fine.

I'm a bit of a newbie myself, but if a pen is writing without problems, I'll just flush out the old ink by holding the nib section under a tap, then using a converter filled with water to flush the pen, several times if need be to get the last vestiges of the old color out. Giving the nib section several sharp flicks gets most of the water out, then I load away with whatever ink.

The only pens I've soaked are two pens I got secondhand and had ink dried up in them. If the ink is dried up in the Lamy, better wait for some pro advice (i.e. not me) as to whether the 2000 nib sections will be ok immersed.

Edit: Neotiger beat me by 3min Ignore me!

The Lamy nib can be soaked - it's always being soaked by ink.

The section unscrews from the barrel - there's a seam where the two clutch tabs come out of the pen. It unscrews CCW. Be careful no to lose the 0 ring inside, make sure that the nib and feed are seated back in the section if you take them out, AND make sure that you don't lose the clutch ring with the two tabs.

IMHO, the answers to your questions depend on the condition of your pen.
If the ink is completely dried in the nib and feed and you can't get any water into the pen using the normal piston action, then dis-assembly is required.
If you can load the pen with water, then flush it a few times with cool water; fill it with water and then place it nib down in a juice glass (or any container that works for you) with wadded paper towel in the bottom; make sure the nib is surrounded by the toweling. This will pull the water and any remaining ink from the pen.
If you suspect there is dried ink remaining in the pen, fill and flush it with a water/ammonia mix - 10% ammonia, 90% water. Flush with clear water after using the ammonia mix.

There is no need to disassemble the pen unless the pen can't be made to write using less invasive techniques. That is unless you just want to see "what's under the hood". The biggest problem with dis-assembly in lieu of routine flushing is there is more risk of damage going the dis-assembly route.

One more thing - if you do remove the barrel from the section on your Lamy 2000, take the opportunity to lubricate the piston seal with 100% pure silicon grease - it's just like Brilcreme - "a little dab'll do ya".

Have fun with your pens!

No extra o-ring, it's just that metal clutch ring.

And yeah, don't lose that, I don't think you can get a replacement easily.

Here's a link to an old thread about taking apart Lamy 2000s. For some reason it's very hard to retrieve with FPN's internal search.

I'm putting it here for whoever needs it and so I can find it again.

Maybe it should be added to the Pinned Repair Reference Information thread:

Taking apart a Lamy 2000