Jump to content

Refilling Cartridges With Bottled Ink


Archman66

Recommended Posts

Anyone refill emptly cartridges from botted ink with a blunt tip syringe? I thought it would be less expensive than buying cartidges, the convenience of cartridges, yet the variety of bottled ink. Any thoughts, advice, suggestions or warnings?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 19
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • Charles Rice

    3

  • Archman66

    3

  • Sinistral1

    1

  • Sasha Royale

    1

yes, if you search around, you will see that this is a very common practice amongst people on FPN. In fact you can buy a blunt tip syringe from some fountain pen vendors, such as Goulet pens, expressly for this purpose. I can think of no warnings, except go for it, it works great.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

PS - You might be able to get a syringe for cheap at your local drug store. I bought one last week for 25 cents.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Do you just use spent cartridges and refill them from the opening in the bottom? You can tell I'm new to fountain pen and this site. Yes, I was looking at Goulet pens and also like that you get small samples of ink to narrow down your bottle purchase options.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, Walgreens gave me a free dispenser syringe! I don't know if the plastic tip is too wide to fill cartridges, though. It's not as narrow as the metal tips like the syringe at Goulet Pens.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Ray Cornett

I ended up getting a converter and I use a syringe even though I don't need to. But it is the easy way to get a 100% fill each time fast.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Do you just use spent cartridges and refill them from the opening in the bottom? You can tell I'm new to fountain pen and this site. Yes, I was looking at Goulet pens and also like that you get small samples of ink to narrow down your bottle purchase options.

 

Yes, empty cartridges are used to refill. Just get a small syringe pack from a drugstore and use it to suck ink from the bottle and fill the empty cartridge. Inject the excess ink in the syringe back to the bottle. Rİnse the syringe with water to clean. And you are done.

 

If you use the same cartridge for a long time the opening may crack or get too wide and leak. They are made of cheap nylon which will wear over time. Then It is time to use another fresh empty cartridge.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I use syringe all the time. I currently use a blunt tip one, but had used a regular (sharp) one in the past. A clean way to refill your empty cartridges (or converters). Also a way to empty cartridges (if you want to change the ink) and clean dirty cartridges. With a syringe, you get to choose the exact ink you want and decide how much to use. This way you can use your favorite ink with various pens that take different cartridges. All you need is one empty cartridge per pen brand.

Dan

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have a warning/advise: Buy a blunt tip one. I have a normal, sharp tip one and i regularly pierce myself.

 

After a few years, one learns to avoid self-impalement. Big ones work better than small ones. (Veterinarian)

Okay, the blunted one from Goulet is best choice. Mine is a surgical syringe with 3.0 cc capacity and a

20 gauge needle. Yes, it hurts like the dickens !

 

1. Inserting the needle deep into the cartridge and injecting a strong stream of water, will flush out old ink.

2. Inserting the needle deep into the cartridge and injecting a strong stream of air, will blast out remaining water.

and dry the cartridge.

3. Inject ink very slowly, OR ELSE . . . . . . .

 

Ink is cheap.

Auf freiem Grund mit freiem Volke stehn.
Zum Augenblicke dürft ich sagen:
Verweile doch, du bist so schön !

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You asked if you fill the cartridge from the bottom. You don't. Since the cartridge has already been punctured at the top when it was used, it's into this existing hole that you will put the needle into for flushing and refilling with new ink. Poking a hole in the bottom would mean having two holes in the cartridge, and ink in lots of places you don't want it to be.

Breathe. Take one step at a time. Don't sweat the small stuff. You're not getting older, you are only moving through time. Be calm and positive.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've even mixed inks in a cartridge. May not be the most scientific or exact method, but when wanting to use a mix it works good enough. As someone else mentioned, put ink into the cartridge slowly. Often a bubble will form over the opening and make a mess. The cartridge needs to let air out as the ink comes in.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If they make a converter for your pen, I recommend that you get one. In the long term, it is the easiest way to use bottle ink.

However, if max load of ink is a concern, then you need to refill a cartridge. The converter mechanism takes space that could be use to hold more ink.

 

If they do NOT make a converter for your pen, or your pen is such that a converter will not fit, then refilling the cartridge is the only option. I have a couple pens that there are no converters for, so I have to refill the cartridge.

 

BUT, when refilling a cartridge, if you load the pen immediately it is OK.

The problem becomes when you want to store the refilled cartridge for a period of time. Example as a spare cartridge of ink in your school bag. You need to have a way to SEAL the cartridge so that you do not have a mess of ink in your bag. And that seal needs to be easily removed when you change cartridges in your pen.

Edited by ac12

San Francisco Pen Show - August 28-30, 2020 - Redwood City, California

www.SFPenShow.com

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I refill carts from time to time and like I said elsewhere, sometimes I fill them with water. If you do this and don't flush the pen you get an extra cart/converter's worth of ink out of it! The result isn't quite as saturated as the original but sometimes Ilke a pastel.

skyppere

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have syringes going all the way from .5ml to 60+ ml. No blunt needles. The 5ml size seems about right for me. And no, I don't have any pens that need the 60ml syringe though it is handy if I want to transfer from one bottle to another.

 

About a month ago I took my wife in for a routine exam. I asked the nurse if they had any syringes she could give me and she gave me three - gratis. I did show her my fountain pens when I asked.

 

Sometimes I do use a syringe to fill a converter. Some of my converters are fussy about sucking in ink.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'll add to the chorus here agreeing that refilling cartridges is a great endeavor. I've been doing it for 10+ years and I can put any bottled ink into any of my cc pens.

 

Most of my pens are cc fillers and I get a lot of practice. Someone from here even did a video on YouTube about refilling cartridges. You'll see the bubble issue mentioned there.

 

You can also mix inks in a cartridge, if the syringes are graduated well enough. That way you can see if you like a particular ink mixture enough to want to mix up a larger batch of it, and if you don't you'll have only a small amount of the mixture you don't like.

 

Of course bottled ink is far more economical than ink that comes in cartridges :thumbup: . As for cartridges to fill, when I started this I wanted more than the few empty ones I had around so I bought some watery, no-name ink in cartridges on e-Bay for a very low price and used those up so that I had lots of cartridges that I could refill. They do wear out over time, but IME they last for quite a while before that happens.

 

Good luck with refilling cartridges.

 

On a sacred quest for the perfect blue ink mixture!

ink stained wretch filling inkwell

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Absolutely. I find that this is the easier way to fill converters especially. I'm a klutz and twisting that little knob whilst hovering over a bottle of ink probably is not a grand idea.

 

I don't even bother blunting the needle although I understand that in some parts you may find them already blunted.

:happycloud9:

 

Cathy L. Carter

 

Live. Love. Write.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I haven't bought a cartridge in years. Still have ones that I am refilling with various inks from syringes for pens that don't have an available converter...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Most Contributions

    1. amberleadavis
      amberleadavis
      43844
    2. PAKMAN
      PAKMAN
      33501
    3. Ghost Plane
      Ghost Plane
      28220
    4. inkstainedruth
      inkstainedruth
      26627
    5. jar
      jar
      26101
  • Upcoming Events

  • Blog Comments

    • Shanghai Knife Dude
      I have the Sailor Naginata and some fancy blade nibs coming after 2022 by a number of new workshop from China.  With all my respect, IMHO, they are all (bleep) in doing chinese characters.  Go use a bush, or at least a bush pen. 
    • A Smug Dill
      It is the reason why I'm so keen on the idea of a personal library — of pens, nibs, inks, paper products, etc. — and spent so much money, as well as time and effort, to “build” it for myself (because I can't simply remember everything, especially as I'm getting older fast) and my wife, so that we can “know”; and, instead of just disposing of what displeased us, or even just not good enough to be “given the time of day” against competition from >500 other pens and >500 other inks for our at
    • adamselene
      Agreed.  And I think it’s good to be aware of this early on and think about at the point of buying rather than rationalizing a purchase..
    • A Smug Dill
      Alas, one cannot know “good” without some idea of “bad” against which to contrast; and, as one of my former bosses (back when I was in my twenties) used to say, “on the scale of good to bad…”, it's a spectrum, not a dichotomy. Whereas subjectively acceptable (or tolerable) and unacceptable may well be a dichotomy to someone, and finding whether the threshold or cusp between them lies takes experiencing many degrees of less-than-ideal, especially if the decision is somehow influenced by factors o
    • adamselene
      I got my first real fountain pen on my 60th birthday and many hundreds of pens later I’ve often thought of what I should’ve known in the beginning. I have many pens, the majority of which have some objectionable feature. If they are too delicate, or can’t be posted, or they are too precious to face losing , still they are users, but only in very limited environments..  I have a big disliking for pens that have the cap jump into the air and fly off. I object to Pens that dry out, or leave blobs o
  • Chatbox

    You don't have permission to chat.
    Load More
  • Files






×
×
  • Create New...