Disassembly To Clean Ink Trapped In Stipula Passaporto Section

[htjester]

I have a clear stipula passaporto (later model, no threads on section) that has made a few transcontinental flights. No matter how well pens fly on shorter trips, I don't recommend taking them say Chicago to London. It is a mess.The pressure changes at that high of an altitude forced the ink straight down into the grip section between metal and plastic, pooling between the two levels in the section, particularly concentrated in the upper area that is sealed off with an o ring. Though I've been working on cleaning this mess up for quite some time a frustratingly large amount of ink remains up theretrapped inbetween the metal and the plastic on the grip section. I've used the search feature here, on youtube, and elsewhere to turn up quite a number of posts and blogs about disassembling the pens for cleaning but none have shown how to take apart this particular model of the pen.

 

hope this photo suffices. you can see the ink trapped in both areas of the section. Is there ny way to get it out? I am not inclined to purchase an ultrasonic cleaner just for this situation.

 

I have removed nib and feed, soaked and soaked but there's no way to get water in or ink out. I think the only solution is to disassemble the grip section. So far I've tried gentle force and it won't budge. I don't want to break the pen. Has anyone else manged to take this section apart and clean it?

 

Mods, sorry if this is in the wrong forum. I thought it would make more sense to post under Italian pens than repairs.

Many thanks for whatever advice you may be able to offer!

 

 

[ArtPen]

I too would love to hear if anyone has had success in getting the ink trapped in the section out - my Passaporto has ink in the grip section as well, and I'd love to be able to get it out of there and not have to live with it like that.

 

Thanks for any input!

 

Susan

[graystranger]

About buying an ultrasonic cleaner: I got one for about $40 on Amazon. It was not the cheapest but had some of the best ratings. Ignore the idiot reviewers who do not know the difference between "cleaning" and "polishing", they think the device should make their jewelry shiny looking, like tarnished silver. They give low ratings because they do not understand what a US cleaner does.

 

I had some old vintage pens I'd picked up that needed to be cleaned out from dried ink. Maybe decades old. Like Parker 21's and a 1940-ish Duofold. Got them cleaned out and sold them to restorers. Now I rarely ever use it for fountain pens, as routine flushing or a simple rinse does the job.

 

However, it is the best eyeglass cleaner ever. A couple of drops of Dawn dish detergent in 16 oz of tepid water and holy cow - it looks like smoke coming up from the nose piece and the metal rim around the lenses. I rinse in warm water and wipe them off with a microfiber cloth. The oils and salts from your face gets into all the nooks and crannies and come out in the US cleaner in two to three minutes. I used to have the metal the nose pieces attach to turn green over a year or two. Not any more. The lenses are totally clean too. It is also great for thorough cleaning of watch bands (came with a device to spread the band leaving the watch out of the water. All the oils and salts from your skin comes out. I clean my keys too. Pocketknives (stainless only). Sun glasses. Not to mention jewelry like rings (the dirt builds up underneath the stones, as well as all the nooks and crannies in your jewelry). We don't have pearls to worry about, I would not use it on them. But, you might find an US cleaner more useful than you thought.

[jar]

Yup, inks get in strange place were it can stay and is not meant to be cleaned.