Cleaning Your Converter - Squeeze And Piston Differences

[jxu101]

I'm about to get a Pilot Metropolitan, and I have the option of getting the CON-50 for a few bucks extra. I like the extra capacity of the squeeze converter, but I'm concerned it won't hold up as well to wear and tear and if it will be harder to clean (being a rubber sac vs glass/plastic).

 

Anybody have experience with cleaning these aerometric converters? Does the rubber stain easily?

Also, how often does a squeeze converter need to be cleaned or replaced? How about for piston converters?

 

Thanks! Excited to be getting my first pens soon.

[hari317]

I would take the Con50. Pilot rubber on the Con20 is good, have never faced a failed converter sac in decades of use but I have faced some problems with the sac bloating with certain inks. the sac resumes its shape once the pen is flushed and left to dry...

Edited September 9, 2013 by hari317

[novarider]

The con-50 is a twist converter

 

http://www.gouletpens.com/Pilot_CON_50_Piston_Converter_p/pn69899.htm

[rafapa]

Not sure the con50 will fit inside the metropolitan. I suggest to ask before buying.

[Felix1]

The con-50 is a twist converter

 

Conversely, the included CON-20 is a squeeze converter which I assume is what the OP was talking about.

[ac12]

I got a CON-50 for my Metro because I find a screw converter easier to use for me than the a squeeze converter.

• I can see the level of ink in the screw converter.
• I can push ink out a "little bit" at a time. I find it useful if I let my tip dry out. But, pushing a bit of ink out does not always work, sometimes I get a BLOB of ink dripping onto the notebook. So this is a risky thing to do. A very quick dip of the nib in water is probably better.
• The screw converter is easier to see that you got ALL the ink out. Especially important when you are changing ink colors.

re: the squeeze converter

• It does not matter if the sac stains, as long as the stained ink does not leach out.
  It never bothered me when I used a lever filling sac pen, years ago. I just soaked and rinsed till the water came out clean.

re: cleaning

I don't think it is the converter that needs to be cleaned, but rather the feed channels in the feed, so the feed channels don't get blocked.

Rinse either converter with water and you should be fine.

Edited September 9, 2013 by ac12

[Felix1]

Not sure the con50 will fit inside the metropolitan. I suggest to ask before buying.

It fits.

[Sasha Royale]

Draw in clean water. Slosh it around. Expel the water. Repeat until expelled water is clear.

I doesn't have to be colorless, just clear. At the same time, you will be flushing your nib and

feed. Shake iout excess water and re-ink.

[jxu101]

Thanks for all the replies. Another concern I've read about regarding the CON-50 is that it has some surface tension issues and doesn't flow as well as the squeeze or CON-20, but I think now they've added an agitator ball to the CON-50?

[F104]

It's not a ball, but they have added a tube that accomplishes the same thing. I've been using one in my Vanishing Point for months without incident.

[Pentulant]

I've been using the squeezie with my Metropolitan and have had no trouble with it. My thought is that I'll use it until I have trouble and then change to the 50.

 

If the squeezie doesn't sound like fun to you, the cost really is only a few $, as you point out.

[bogiesan]

My Sheaffer squeezers are black rubber; no way to see the ink supply or water remaining after a flush operation. I will gradually replace them all with Sheaffer pistons.

[DanF]

Either is easily flushed out with a syringe, much easier and faster than using the mechanism itself. A syringe develops a lot of pressure, like a mini fire hose. Get a good sized one and have at it! You might ask for one with a blunt point so there will be no danger of puncturing the rubber sac in the Con 20.

 

Dan

[Renfield]

I find the cleaning using the squeeze converter really quick and easy.

 

Been using the squeeze in a Pilot 78g for the last year with no issues at all. and the capacity is great.

[rajmo]

I have faced some problems with the sac bloating with certain inks. the sac resumes its shape once the pen is flushed and left to dry...

I had the same problem with the converter that came with my Pilot Metro. Never suspected that ink is causing it. I was using one of the locally ( Indian) made inks. After washing and drying, it is back to normal. But ink flows poorly with the converter and I am using refilled cartridges now

[pencils+pens]

I find cleaning c/c pens a bit of a pain and a slow process if you use the converter to suck water in and out of the pen.

 

I put together two ideas I got from SBRE Brown.

 

To clean the pen:

 

1. Cut the back end off a cartridge that fits the pen. You will keep this "cleaning converter" for as long as it lasts.

2. Use the cleaning converter with a bulb syringe to flush the nib and feed.

 

To clean the converter (squeeze or piston doesn't matter):

 

From a clean glass suck up water with a blunt tip syringe. Insert the syringe as far as it will go into the converter without blocking the hole. You need to leave room for the water to escape. I found the faster I depress the syringe the faster the converter is cleaned. A fast depression seems to add a blasting effect. Usually I only have to do this two or three times and the converter is clean.

 

Safety note - make sure the converter is pointed down when you flush it. If the converter is pointed up, you will get ink all over the place - BTDT.

[Flounder]

Is there such a thing as a long international standard squeeze converter? I'd like one, best of both worlds for capacity and flushing.

[Dillo]

My Sheaffer squeezers are black rubber; no way to see the ink supply or water remaining after a flush operation. I will gradually replace them all with Sheaffer pistons.

 

Personally, I prefer the Con-20 to the Con-50 since all the measurements I have done seem to say that the Con-20 holds more ink.

 

Anyway, bogiesan, I'm willing to buy all your Sheaffer squeeze converters off you. I convert them to use silicone sacs and use them in my pens.

 

Dillon

[Kvothe_011]

This is four years late to the party, but I'm contemplating on purchasing a con-50 converter for my Pilot Metropolitan because of a few minor-ish issues with the squeeze converter.

 

I find that, even after numerous flushing in water, the ink previously in the pen will sort of cling to the rubber sac which ends up severely affecting the colour of the ink I fill the pen with (especially when changing from a black or dark ink to a lighter one.). I had some Noodler's black in my pen, and after that had run dry, I flushed my pen in water until the water was clear. I then proceeded to dry the pen, and then flush it some more. Again, the water runs clear. Upon filling the pen with Waterman Serenity Blue, however, the resulting colour shifted between very murky blue-black to a bluish grey.

 

There is a chance that the ink might have come from feed residue, but upon flushing this tainted blue, the "flush water" is distinctly not Serenity Blue.

 

Another issue that I have with the squeeze converter is the opaque-ness of it which prohibits your ability to see your ink capacity. This is trouble some if you're running low on ink. Anyways, I hope this is still relevant considering the original thread was started in 2013..