Hello all,

I'm now the proud owner of The Write Fill Cartridge Converter fill kit.
http://www.peartreepens.com/The-Write-Fill...l-Kit-p/wfk.htm

(and also some lovely bottled ink samples.)

Yay. Guess I'll be getting some ink on my fingers after all.

Now I need to use it. I won't delve into it for another week, I'll be away on vacation, so I have plenty of time to mull this over:

What is the best way to clean out an ink cartridge of its original ink?

I have Waterman, Parker, Sheaffer and Lamy carts that I would like to refill, in varying colors. I'm sure there is some sort of approved technique for cleaning these? I've done a good rinse in warm water with a lot of shaking until what comes out of the cartridge looks clear, but I'd like to get accurate color from my bottled inks and wonder if anyone has any tips. Also, does a cartridge have a lifespan after which it ought just to be tossed?

(Yeah, I know - if I'm completely sold on this messy bottled ink thing, then I will consider investing in converters for them.)

Thanks much!

I do exactly what you did. Gentle streams of warm water until it runs clear, it works fine.

Cleaning your pen will get rid of the last of the previous color, but you may have to work a bit to get the cartridge ink back down to the nib.

I haven't found a lifespan for the cartridges yet, but I'm rather gentle with mine in that I don't squeeze them to prime the pen. I just let gravity do its thing. I do pay attention to how tight the fit is when I insert the cartridge. If it starts to feel loose, I'll immediately use a different cartridge.

The Write Fill is great. No inky fingers for me yet!

I use a syringe filled with clean water to clean my carts. Insert needle into cartridge, squirt water against the side of the cartridge. This causes inky water to be expelled out through the hole. I keep shooting clean water into the cartridge until all the inky residue has been expelled. Takes about 3-4 syringe-fuls. Then I suck out the clean water with the syringe (as much as I can get), then shake out the rest of the clean water. I let the cart sit over night to dry out the inside (I live in a dry hot climate), then reload with my favorite ink, and I'm off to the races. I've read that cartridges do wear out over time, but so far so good for me.

Is the Write Fill just a syringe with needles? What else does it have? I can only see the pictures.

I don't know. Green Velvet or someone who has that system can answer your question. I received some syringes by themselves from a fellow fp person for loading ink into cartridges, so I just use those.

There's a syringe and two "needles". One is metal, the other is a semi-flexible plastic. Both are flat, not pointed. Everything has the twist connectors for fast assembly and disassembly.

I use the same processs. No problems to date and I've been doing this for about a year.

As long as you don't go squeezing your cartridges, they should last a decent amount of time. Squeezing a cartridge can weaken the plastic and you could end up - most likely will end up - with a crack in the cartridge, rendering it a leaking mess. As Rocket Jones mentioned, you can place a pen nib down (with cap on, of course) for a minute and the ink will usually travel to the feed well enough without shaking, squeezing, tapping, etc. Just be careful, some wet pens and free-flowing inks combinations could lead to an ink gusher. You really don't have to wait long. It's my understanding that refilled cartridges will eventually wear out around the point of install with the nib, but I can say it is more than a few fills down the road.

You can also use syringes to fill converters. Depending upon the pen and the converter it uses, this is just as easy and perhaps a little more economical. My vanishing point pens, however, do not have converters to hold enough ink at all, as far as I am concerned, so I refill cartridges. Those vanishing points I received from Japan actually came with an empty cartridge installed in the pen in addition to the converter and a full ink cartridge, which made life very convenient in that I did not have to use up or empty and clean the full cartridge first. Those I bought in the US did not come with that convenience, and I empied and refilled the complimentary full ink cartridge supplied with the pen.

If refilling cartridges, I would keep a few spares around for that time when they do wear out and you need a replacement.

For most of my other cartridge/converter pens, I use the converters, but I fill those with syringes, as well.

I do that too.

Ditto.

Been using the write fill system for about 6 months, Love it. Use it especially for Parker 45 refills.