I have Diamine Orange ink in my red and gold VP for about two weeks and I noticed a ton of orange caking on the nib today. I decided to never use this ink in this pen and decided to flush it out. Turns out that the hole through which the nib retracts also had some ink caked inside it so I decided to soak just the tip of the hole in water for a few minutes. After that I tried to dry the water out by pushing in a thin piece of twisted paper towel into the hole. It worked a couple of times, but the fourth time the spring that holds the trapdoor up came out with the paper!!

Note that this is not the main spring that helps the nib unit retract - that is still inside, but this is the small 1cm long spring that holds the trapdoor closed. I can't get it in (it might not be a trivial affair??)

Any help would be appreciated. How do you guys clean your VPs internals?

Thanks

I would contact Namiki if repair is necessary. I think the contact info is in one of the pinned topics I've heard some people rinse the part with water and dry it with a can of air. I just rinse it occasionally and dry with paper towel and Q-tips, but am careful with the shutter part.

Pilot/Namiki have been demonstrating excellent customer service. A recent testimony on FPN was a person with an older faceted Capless pen and the body managed to crack rather badly. She sent it in for service, expecting to pay some sort of usual repair fee. Customer Service called her and said the repair can't be done, but instead she'll be offered a FREE VP replacement pen. Superb!

I suspect if the spring should be replaced rather easily, though--no new pen, but they'll definitely have it take care of for you.

You are probably going to get good customer service from the distributor so I won't comment on that.

What I will say it that I clean my VPs by taking them apart and running water through the front part (where the nib comes out). I fill it up with water from the tap and then blow through the back to force the water through the door. After many repeated attempts, once the water runs clear, I usually just shake it a lot to get out any loose water and then leave it to dry. I don't soak the pens as they are basically almost all metal to may be prone to rust. I also don't get the back end (with the push button) wet as there's no need to clean this bit. I clean the nib units with basically the same actions but separate from the body of the pen.

I find that ink does collect on the trap door of the VP, as a matter of time (not 'if'). I hope that all of the internals are stainless steel. Maybe the spring isn't, by nature. Or perhaps it is coated to resist rust. In any case, I use an ultrasonic cleaner, dipping the tip of the pen into the cleaner while running. I'll also pour some lukewarm water in through the nib assembly opening. If there was a lot of ink built up, I'll flush the pen, change the ultrasonic cleaner water and do another round. Once the water remains clear, I'll dry out the pen thoroughly before reassembly. So far, none of my VP's have developed any trapdoor or rust problems (I've inspected them with a loupe to be sure).

I use a fine tip transfer pipette or a syringe and force water in through the front. This flushes a lot of the ink out that accumulates there without putting pressure on the spring.

Pilot will fix that baby right up for you and quickly, too.