How Do I Stop It Blotting?

[Bingy]

I have really cheap EH Faber Eversharp fountain pen with a lever fill. I bought it to start learning basic repairs like strip/clean and re-sacing. All has gone well, but I cant get the ink flow right.

 

The nib is an extra fine so I would expect it to be on the dryer side of things, but half way through a sentence it decides to be "sick" all over my page leaving a nasty wet blot! I have tried adjusting the position of the feed and nib in the section but I still experience this range of ink flow all in one sentence. I dare not use it at the moment for fear of the "blot"

 

Any advice would be greatfull.

 

Thanks

Edited September 20, 2012 by Bingy

[Richard]

The nib is an extra fine so I would expect it to be on the dryer side of things, but half way through a sentence it decides to be "sick" all over my page leaving a nasty wet blot! I have tried adjusting the position of the feed and nib in the section but I still experience this range of ink flow all in one sentence. I dare not use it at the moment for fear of the "blot"

My guess is that the sac has a pinhole. With a pinhole, air can pass through but ink can't. So when you are writing, the pen seems okay until it suddenly throws a blot. One way to check for this is to hold the pen upright, uncapped, with the nib downward. Turn the pen so that the nib faces away from you and watch the area of the nib and feed. A magnifier will help. The amount of ink clinging there will slowly increase as you watch, to the degree that a drop will form and eventually drop off.

[Bingy]

Richard I have tried what you suggested and ink does gather on the feed as you suggested. I also noticed that if I grip the pen in my closed hand (pointing down)the rate of ink flow and blotting increases. Does the warmth of my hand somehow speed this problem up? before I replace the sack are there any other things I need to check? Thank you for your advice!

[Kelly G]

Richard I have tried what you suggested and ink does gather on the feed as you suggested. I also noticed that if I grip the pen in my closed hand (pointing down)the rate of ink flow and blotting increases. Does the warmth of my hand somehow speed this problem up? before I replace the sack are there any other things I need to check? Thank you for your advice!

 

Heat transfer and increased ink flow has been debated several times. I'm not sure anyone has a definitive answer. Common wisdom is that if your ink sac is too snug, in other words, making too much contact with the interior of the barrel, that will contribute to increased ink flow through heat transfer.

 

If your sac has a pinhole and it is too snug in the barrel, it is I suppose plausible that the heat transfer is aggravating the problem of increased ink flow.

 

It is probably best to check the sac for a leak and make sure it is not too large. The rule of thumb is to find the sack that is slighly snug and go a size smaller. What you lose in ink capacity you will gain in not risking a blobbing pen.

 

Good luck with your pen.

[Bingy]

The nib is an extra fine so I would expect it to be on the dryer side of things, but half way through a sentence it decides to be "sick" all over my page leaving a nasty wet blot! I have tried adjusting the position of the feed and nib in the section but I still experience this range of ink flow all in one sentence. I dare not use it at the moment for fear of the "blot"

My guess is that the sac has a pinhole. With a pinhole, air can pass through but ink can't. So when you are writing, the pen seems okay until it suddenly throws a blot. One way to check for this is to hold the pen upright, uncapped, with the nib downward. Turn the pen so that the nib faces away from you and watch the area of the nib and feed. A magnifier will help. The amount of ink clinging there will slowly increase as you watch, to the degree that a drop will form and eventually drop off.

 

Thank you so much for your advice. I finally got round to looking at the pen and there was a tiny hole in it. I have replaced the sac and it works a treat now. I also took the opportunity to go down a sac size just incase it was being nipped by the J Bar. I must admit that is probably the last thing I would have changed because I knew I had already changed it!

Fantastic help as ever guys. Thanks.

[Rose Nibs]

Currently I have a post-war Mentmore lever filler with this problem. I replaced the sac but it still blots. Is there any other likely cause? It seems to me that air must be getting in somewhere but the feed is a good fit in the section.

[ac12]

 

Currently I have a post-war Mentmore lever filler with this problem. I replaced the sac but it still blots. Is there any other likely cause? It seems to me that air must be getting in somewhere but the feed is a good fit in the section.

 

It could also be the ink is too wet.

I have a Parker 180 a c/c pen, it would drool with Parker Quink ink. Changed the ink to Cross/Pelikan and no more drooling.

[Rose Nibs]

Of course, I keep forgetting that. Thanks.

[Actor-out-on-loan]

Interesting info here.

 

I have a A A Waterman's 1903 eyedropper fountain which I use a little everyday. However, in the last few days it has started to blot. Any ideas?

[PAKMAN]

Eye droppers tend to work best when full. When the ink supply gets low, many of them tend to burp out a glob of ink.

[Ron Z]

Even modern pens do this. The modern Parker repair manual under the complaint "Pen floods," says "Tell the customer to fill the pen." i.e. some pens flood when its almost out of ink.

[CS388]

Even modern pens do this. The modern Parker repair manual under the complaint "Pen floods," says "Tell the customer to fill the pen." i.e. some pens flood when its almost out of ink.

 

Yes, I've noticed this with my eyedropper pens, often when they are under half full.

 

Easily remedied by a fill up - but, curious if anyone can explain the 'why' of this phenomena?

 

Thanks

[BaronWulfraed]

Hypothesis:

Air expands/compresses more than liquid as pressure/temperature changes.

 

With a larger air "bubble", a small temperature change (room temperature to body temperature from holding) expands the air, pushing ink out.

 

While this effect is also present in converter/cartridge (and sac based fillers), said units are sort of double insulated -- body heat warms the air surrounding the converter before it gets into the converter, and converters hold so little fluid the feed can keep up with the inflow. Large piston filler pens, I could see being affected, though it may depend upon the thickness of the body.

[Actor-out-on-loan]

Thank's for all the input folks. Who would have thought it was something so simple, Fill Your Pen!! A lesson learned. Here, I was thinking it Barometric pressure or something seriously climactic of that sort and I'd have to move house.