Did some of the older ones come with a permanently attached CON-20 type converter? I have one that a friend gave me and I have tried to remove it for a thorough cleaning but I'm afraid I'm going to break it, it will not budge.

No. All of the converters are removable.

Try running it in some lukewarm water and them removing it. If it has not been used for some time, sometimes the dried ink causes it to stick in place. when removing the convertor be careful to not bend it off the axis of the pen as you can break the nipple on the section.

Well I try the lukewarm water that Stan suggested several times and even left it submerged in water over night and still isn't budging.

What I've done is I've used warm water closer to hot, since the plastic expands in the gap between the converter and the sleeve. It doesn't harm the pen at all as long as you use some care, of course. Try drawing warm water into the converter a couple of times. It could take a while, but you might find old ink leaving the pen. When you draw the water in, you're also cleaning the feed, nib, and the rest of the pen. After you do that, slowly twist and pull the converter out.

In a case like this, you don't want to damage the sleeve inside the pen. So hold the pen in your hand with the nib pointing down and use your thumb to push the converter out. At the same time, twist the converter with your other hand.

That might be all you need to do.

Hope that helps a little bit. Let us know if you have any more problems.

Cheers,

Shamouti

Well after trying out all of your suggestions and I was unable to remove the converter so I just walked away from it, thinking I will try again later. Well after one week of just sitting on my desk, I picked it up and tried twisting the converter and lo an behold it moved a little and so I applied some more force and it finally came out with no damage. There was some ink residue just inside the converter and the bottom of the section. I'll soak it overnite to get the rest of the ink out. Thanks for all of your help.

Whew! Thank goodness! I was worried you were going to damage the sleeve since those Pilots can be quite difficult to remove.

Always remember when you use a pen, flush it out well so the converter and the sleeve doesn't bond with dried ink. I kind of figured you knew that, but it's great to hear your pen is doing fine.

Come to think of it; sounds like surgery doesn't it?

Cheers,

Shamouti

Great! Glad to hear you were able to remove the converter. That's the usual issue--a little ink leaks past the lip and then hardens. After enough years, that dried ink acts like cement. A good long soaking is the general rule and an ultrasonic bath even better. Which nib style do you have? Is it the larger nib used in the Custom, or the smaller triangular one?

I guess mine would be considered the smaller triangle nib. It is the one that looks "hooded". The only marking on it is "Pilot" at the base of the nib closest to the section. The marking is not straight but follows contour of the "hood".

Both styles are very nice nibs. What size is yours? Is there any flex to it? Most of these were fairly firm nibs, with just a touch of flex.

Mine writes like a fine but it has some flex where with a little pressure, it's almost a medium.

I just bought one of these - black with gold trim - and it's never been inked. The converter will NOT come out. What's worse, it doesn't seem to hold very much ink. Bummer.

Got it! I'll have new muscles in my forearm from this one.