The first pen I inked up, a cheap Hero, was dry next time I wanted to use it. After fixing it, the same thing happened. It took a while to learn that this is not normal, but that this particular pen is bad.

Because of what it took to clean out, I think ink dried inside the mechanism. So why? When reassembling, I noticed that the clip was loose. I wonder if this lets air circulate through the little holes that the sheet metal clip is attached through, and this lets the pen dry even when capped.

Is that a real problem? How might I fix that? Why should I care about a $1.40 pen? Because I want to fix them up and Q/A them individually and sell them for $12. It's also the first pen I inked up! Probably the first one I put into my cart on that souvenir shopping trip in 昆明 because I kept them in order.

--John

bump

Put the cap to your mouth and attempt to blow through it - you'll figure it out soon enough :-).

It may be retardedly "compliant" with the Euro-concept of having a breathing hole in case a kid swallows it. In that case, plugging it (reversibly, with wax or similar) would be the way to go. Sometimes, the location of the "breathing" holes isn't too obvious, so blowing through it is really the thing to do.

fwiw

bargain pens seem to cut costs by eliminating the secondary cap. with tab attached clips they are always going to be evaporators unless something is used to seal where the cap attaches.