Today, my Wality 69 ED was acting up. It's always pretty wet, but today the feed seemed to be leaking where it inserts in to the section, and several times during my all-day workshop (always a joy... ), I ended up w/ Parker Blue-Black on my fingers. And then, it threw a huge blot of ink, a good mL, on to the page. After I cleaned up the spill, I resorted to the only other writing instrument I had at hand: the basic ball-point pen issued to all attendees.

What a lot of work! I've only been using fountain pens exclusively for a couple months, but the adjustment back to a BP was just uncomfortable and unpleasant. Dragging the point across the page to lay down that gummy ink was hard slogging. After one page of notes, I had had enough. I went to the bathroom, washed off the ink as best I could, grabbed several squares of TP to act as an emergency blotter, and went back to the Wality, leaks and all.

Thoughts on 1) how to slow the flow of ink or 2) diagnostics to address the leak? I'm thinking the answer to 1) may be to gently adjust the nib, but 2) seems to have to do with how the feed is seated, which seems tricky.
Ultimately, it's only a $20 pen -- I'm reluctant to pay to have it serviced, so I think I'm looking at my first attempt at FP adjustment. However, since it's an eyedropper filler, I think there are only five parts to it, including the cap, so how complicated could it be? Yeah, complicated enough for me to ruin it, but that'll be almost as much fun as fixing it.

If this is the eyedropper, you just need to put some silicone grease (plumber's grease at Lowe's) around the threads of the section, to seal it, but not permanently. I had the same problem with my Wality 71 eyedropper until I saw the thread here on FPN about eyedroppers leaking, and how to fix it. Since I did this, I had one incident with a glob, but that was because I bumped the pen -- it didn't just let loose with a glob.

Donnie

Hello There,

I've had similar "blobbing" issue with my Wality EDs - if you do a search, you'll turn up several posts about the issue, including a few of my own.

A couple of thoughts:

In an effort to rectify the problem, I have tried just about every adjustment imaginable - reseat the nib and feed (with and without heat); vary the distance between end of feed and point; recarve the feed channels; etc. Nothing worked. However...

I've recently switched to a truly old-school solution - the kind of solution used by fountain pens users back in the day when EDs were common. I make a point of keeping my Wality no less than three-quarters full; that seems to have alleviated the blobbing issues. (If you consult old instruction sheets for ED pens, you'll find that they often caution that blobbing or leaking may occur when the level of ink drops below a certain point.) As I understand it - and I hope someone with more knowledge will correct me here - the reason for this is that the heat of the hand, transmitted through the barrel, expands the air in the ink chamber, forcing ink through the feed. When there's a favorable ratio of ink to air - that is, more ink, less air - the phenomenon is less likely to occur.

Another option, if you like the way the Wality writes (I do), might be the piston-fill version of the Model 69. Same shape, same size, same nib...but with a piston filler. I have a few of those, and I haven't encountered any blobbing or leaking with them.

Obviously, quality control is not an area to which Wality allocates significant resources. So the "fill 'er up" solution may not work for you, if there's some other misalignment or fault causing the problem. Similarly, your Wality piston-fill experience might not be as positive as mine; I've heard stories of leaks in these pens as well. But I would certainly try the first option (free); and I wouldn't hesitate to try the second (very modest cost - about $6 at ISellPens.com for the burgundy, and a little more at Restrodesk.com, for a wider range of colors). The usual "no affiliation" disclaimer applies. Either alternative is preferable to a ballpoint, heaven knows!

Good luck! If these weren't typically such good writers, we wouldn't bother with any of this.

Cheers,

Jon

Try a Pelikan M200. It's inexpensive, a piston filler, holds a lot of ink, and you can get customized nibs if you wish a "specialized" writing experience. I own four of them and they are as reliable a pen as you can buy. Check out oscarbraunpens.com or richardspens.com Pam has the best prices (and good service) around and Richard has great custom nibs, as well as the bodies (great service as well - he will test your pen before shipping to make sure it writes perfectly).

Note: not affiliated with either seller, simply a satisfied customer.

I would concur with Univar as to the diagnosis - my first question would be, how full was the pen? I have a Wality that has great flow - except when it is almost empty, in which case I have many of the same problems. It is one reason why the ink capacity of ED pens is somewhat over-rated - you really can't reliably use most of them to the last drop.

And on that note - some Fountain Pen Humor from The San Francisco Call, August 26, 1900



John

Thanks for the replies.
Pen was close to empty, so there's the likely culprit (tho on a more fundamental level, the culprit lies between the pen and the chair).
Nice tip about the plumber's grease -- another reason to go in to a hardware store (must ignore the pretty, shiny barbecues and power tools; must ignore the guilty compulsion to buy equipment needed to satisfy many items on my wife's Honey-do list).
I very much like the way the pen writes, and the price-performance is out of sight.

I'm already there, owning a pretty wonderful Binder-ized Pelikan M200. I just don't carry all my pens with me all the time (yet).
I trust that was in the spirit of "get another pen" (always a welcome suggestion), not "get another pen and stop using this one" (heaven forfend).




I suppose this is a matter of perspective and disposable income: for me, any object that costs me more than about $50 starts to feel like real money. Relative to some of the fine Italian or German pens, or Maki-e pens, an $80 M200 is inexpensive; relative to most Walitys, Heros, or a Pelikano, not so much. I do think the M200 is a good value, no doubt about it. I'm glad I have one; it's excellent. I'd like more.

Absolutely "get another pen" I would be the last person to recommend getting rid of a pen - at least judging by the number of pens within arm's reach on my desk!

Here was my attempt to fix it. It has worked pretty well.

http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...1&hl=wality