Issues With The Ink Drying Out In Parker Im

[andreasn]

I've had this issue in my Parker IM that the ink seems to dry completely out in under a week. I fill it up completely with the Parker pump converter (though it does seem to happen with cartridges too) and a few days later all the ink is gone and it writes really dry and skips like crazy with the small amount of ink that's left.

[Anirban4u]

Really, this should go to the Parker forum..

 

I have a parker IM myself and I have never faced such an issue of the ink drying out completely.I don't think a complete fill will go dry in a 2/3 days unless it's very dry and hot, almost like a desert...

 

Since you've said that it seemed to happen with carts also, I believe the ink used is quink ?

 

1. How does the pen write immediately after a fresh filling? Is it still dry?

2. How does the pen write after 4-5 hours of non use ?

3. Where are you storing your pen ?

 

&

 

4. Is the pen (or the inkwell) haunted ?

[ac12]

 

I've had this issue in my Parker IM that the ink seems to dry completely out in under a week. I fill it up completely with the Parker pump converter (though it does seem to happen with cartridges too) and a few days later all the ink is gone and it writes really dry and skips like crazy with the small amount of ink that's left.

 

Forget the skipping, that is a result of the pen running out of ink.

Lets look at why the converter is running dry.

 

Give us more data about the situation.

- Which converter are you using; there is one with a sliding bar, and one with a screw knob. There is a 3rd with a lever that you press several times, but that is an OLD converter.

- How much are you writing? Approximate number of pages before it runs dry on you.

- What is the environment; specifically the humidity level where the pen is stored (at home) and where you are taking it to (work or school). Dry environments will dry out a pen more and faster than a higher humidity environment.

[andreasn]

the converter I'm using is the one with a sliding bar. right now I'm using a cartridge and one night after i put it in the pen had a quite hard start and wrote a little dry. I usually write about 3-5 pages (I think) before it drys out.

 

thanks for the responses!

[sandy101]

I think the answer is that the pen isn't drying out - just that the pen is a rather wet one which means it uses up the ink quite quickly. I have an IM (Premium) and it goes through cartridges very quickly.

[ac12]

 

the converter I'm using is the one with a sliding bar. right now I'm using a cartridge and one night after i put it in the pen had a quite hard start and wrote a little dry. I usually write about 3-5 pages (I think) before it drys out.

 

thanks for the responses!

 

When you put a new cartridge into an empty pen, the ink needs to tavel down from the cartridge into the dry feed, through the ink channel to the nib. This can take a while. Usually when I put in a new cartridge, I will put the capped pen, nib down, into a cup, for about 30 minutes. This gives the ink time to move down into the feed and to the nib. This is one of the problems when you run out of ink with a cartridge, you need to give the pen time to get the ink from the cartridge to the nib. This is why I carried 2 pens in college, when pen #1 ran out of ink, I switched to pen #2. That way I did not have to deal with how long the ink took to get from the new cartridge to the nib. I used pen #2 while the ink was moving inside pen #1.

 

This differs from when you use the converter, because when you load ink into the converter, the nib and feed are in the ink bottle, so the feed is already loaded with ink, so you can begin writing immediately.

 

The sliding converter holds less ink than the cartridge. I just measured, my sliding converter holds 0.5ml, and a Parker cartridge holds 1.2ml. That is more than 2x the volume of the sliding converter. So yes the converter would run out of ink a lot faster than the cartridge. What some people do is, use an ink syringe to load ink into empty and cleaned cartridges, rather than use ink converters, for this very reason. The ink capacity of the cartridge is much greater than the ink converters. If you are a student, I can see that yes the pen will run out of ink in less than a week. I think in college my F nib pen would go through a cartridge of ink in about a week or less (college was a LONG time ago).

 

Sandy hit on a good point.

Look at the ink on the paper, as you write. Does the ink pool on the paper, or is it dry within a second or 2. If it pools, then your pen is indeed writing wet. You can change this by switching to a dry ink such as Pelikan, with your converter. This will slow down the ink flow and reduce the amount of ink that the pen is putting down on the paper, and draining from the converter/cartridge.

 

Your pen probably has a Medium size nib. A M nib will put down more ink and use up the ink faster than a F nib.

 

Also note your paper. Some papers (such as newspaper) are very absorbent, and will suck the ink out of your pen much faster than paper in a notebook. Try different papers to see how your pen behaves on them.

 

gud luk

[LamyOne]

Hello Andreasn,

 

I do not personally own an IM; however, they have been on my radar and as such, I did a lot of reading on them. A lot of the reviews I've read for that pen involve people complaining about the pen being skippy and dry until it is given a really good flushing out. I would try using a 15% clear ammonia solution, (15% clear ammonia mixed with 85% distilled water), or Goulet Pen Flush, or, warm water with a dash of dish soap in it. Let the nib section soak in any of these solutions for 2-3 hours, (if you use warm water, make sure you refresh it with new warm water regularly - so it stays warm), and then flush it out with one of the aforementioned solutions; then rinse with plain (distilled) water.

 

Shake the nib a couple of times to shake out the excess water; use a Kleenex or paper towel to siphon (wick) out most of the water trapped in the feed and then let it dry out overnight.

 

From what I've read, this could very well solve all of your skipping problems; as far as the ink evaporation, I'm not sure what to tell you.

 

Best regards,

 

Chris

Edited October 14, 2014 by LamyOne

[Sheshka]

I've had this issue in my Parker IM that the ink seems to dry completely out in under a week. I fill it up completely with the Parker pump converter (though it does seem to happen with cartridges too) and a few days later all the ink is gone and it writes really dry and skips like crazy with the small amount of ink that's left.

 

I have had issues with the pens drying out when capped - if you take a look under the clip, quite high up on the cap, there's a fairly large breather hole. I know many pens have these (many without issue, but also including the Sonnet, another pen with a reputation for drying out quickly/hard starts, and also a similar feel to how the cap fits). I assume this is to prevent ink being drawn out when the pen is uncapped, but I saw on Reddit recently that someone had taped over the breather hole. They reported that this improved the start issue - I wonder if it's a similar issue you're experiencing? (i.e. ink evaporating when the pen is capped).

I personally like the IM, but I do find drying out is an issue.

[LamyOne]

Hello Andreasn,

 

One follow-up question - how long have you had this pen?

 

The ink should not be evaporating like it is doing in your pen. I would get the box out, get the contact info for Parker and drop them a line. If you haven't had the pen very long, it should still be under warranty. I would have them repair or replace the pen if you can, (or if nothing else, see what they have to say about this condition).

 

Best regards,

 

Chris

[Renfield]

I have an IM with the same problem.

 

Its been soaked, cleaned, adjusted and it is still the same.

 

The only thing I have not done is hack the feed.

 

Once loaded with ink, I write a few pages and it just dries out. Until as you say I push more ink into the feed.

 

I also get hard starts unless the ink is totally saturated. I thought it was babies bottom, but I cured that ad it is better, but still dries out.

 

The only other pen i had that with was an Italix Parsons Essential, and to fix that I had to hack the feed, and once I opened up the channel, it fixed it.

 

 

As someone says, if it is a newer pen, I would contact Parker and try and get it swapped out. I have probably adjusted mine too much, to send it back, so I might attempt to hack the feed, to see how I get on

 

 

Ren

[ac12]

Ren

It sounds like the ink is too dry for your pen, the ink can't get through the feed on its own.

Clean it again, then try Waterman ink, it worked fine on my M and F nibs.

[Renfield]

Ren

It sounds like the ink is too dry for your pen, the ink can't get through the feed on its own.

Clean it again, then try Waterman ink, it worked fine on my M and F nibs.

its not the ink.

 

I have tried almost every brand in it. Including Waterman and Parker, same result.

 

I always use a easy ink like Waterman in my pen to begin with, before trying others.

[ac12]

 

its not the ink.

I have tried almost every brand in it. Including Waterman and Parker, same result.

I always use a easy ink like Waterman in my pen to begin with, before trying others.

 

Then my guess is the nib is too dry from the factory and needs to be adjusted for more flow.

[Renfield]

 

 

Then my guess is the nib is too dry from the factory and needs to be adjusted for more flow.

 

 

I already said, the nib has been adjusted numerous times. Its not the nib either.

[spideyx]

Apologies for reviving an older thread, but this is the exact same problem I am having.

I'm using the IM with a piston converter and various inks. Because I change ink colours often, the pen gets flushed before each refill.

 

So far I have discovered the following: Immediately after filling the pen writes without problems. Several hours after filling it depends on the ink used. Some still write well, others are starting to skip. Overnight the pen stops writing completely.

The ink loss is also terrible - I have done a small experiment and filled it with ink and left it lying horizontally on my desk. All of the ink was gone in a week without the pen being used once.

Mind you, I live in central Europe. The weather here is really mild. Now in the winter the house is heated to 21C during the day and 15ish over night. As such, it shouldn't be an issue of too much heat.

 

None of my other pens have this problem.

[Mike 59]

I had the same issue with my IM. After some tests, mainly with the cap, I found if I filled the cap with water, it poured out of an air vent which is totally hidden behind the clip.

So a simple 'fix' was to put a strip of clear tape round the cap covering the vent over. This has cured the drying out for me.

(The vent is under the 'feather' on the clip, and is about 8mm long, very hard to see, and as far as I know impossible to take the cap apart.)

Edited January 15, 2015 by Mike 59

[Ste_S]

It does appear as though it's a design fault with the IM, I've got two that have the same hard starting problem.

 

It's a shame, 'old' Parker used to make fantastic entry level pens whereas 'new' Parker's entry level stuff seems to be mostly junk.

[spideyx]

Yeah, I'm getting the same impression. The IM cost me as much as my other pens (Pilot Metropolitan, Lamy AL star and X-pen Fame) combined and it seems to be the worst by far.

When it writes it does so really well, however keeping it working is too difficult.

 

Mike, is it possible to do this fix on the inside of the cap? My IM is matte black, so tape would really stand out on it.

[Mike 59]

spideyx, I don't think it's possible to get the cap apart to do that. In my photo I used far too much tape, it was just to test the idea, which worked.

If you could use a better matching colour tape and do a neater job than I did, you might find the pen works so much better, as I have.

It might be a better idea to leave a 1mm gap that the tape does not cover, to prevent a vacuum when taking the cap off, I may try that.

Edited January 16, 2015 by Mike 59

[Sasha Royale]

You are a friendly, generous people, living in a beautiful country.

How is the relative humidity there, in winter ?