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Ink Filling Systems. Do You Prefer Cart/converter Or Built In Reservoire?


max dog

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I have a couple of pens that don't really fit into my collection. Thinking of doing a giveaway... :P

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I enjoy the variety. However, larger ink capacity is no longer a consideration. C/c pens are easier to maintain.

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

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I started with c/c pens, and still have a lot, but have mostly switched over to converters for them. Like has been said before, every fill system has plusses and minuses. But I really have been very happy with nearly all my piston pens.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

"It's very nice, but frankly, when I signed that list for a P-51, what I had in mind was a fountain pen."

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There are clear advantages to both.

When I was younger, I very much preferred internal reservoirs for their much better ink capacity and greater general reliability (converter replacement is regarded as routine maintenance by many here, much like brake pads and tires on a car). I was also filling several pages of game notes for Earthdawn games I was playing in or running each week.

These days, I don't write nearly so much, and am likely to want to change inks long before they run out. This makes the c/c pen's limited capacity less of an issue. Also, if you can refill cartridges, a large pack can outlast the converter you'd spend the same amount of money to buy. Furthermore, c/c pens are clearly much less expensive to make.

But if I was getting a custom pen, I'd ask if I could get a button filler. I can get a TWSBI vac-fill pretty reasonably, and I am likely to do so at some point, but new button fillers are very few and far between.

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Piston-filler seem to be my go to system in terms of number of pens, but if I had to pick a current favorite system, it might have to be the vacuum filling Pilot Custom 823. Holds an enormous amount of ink and fills, essentially instantly. Vintage Sheaffer'S with vacuum filling systems on the other hand, cork seals and all, have generally been problematic, IME.

 

Nothing wrong with C/C pens per se.

 

Will

-----------------

 

Will von Dauster

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But if I was getting a custom pen, I'd ask if I could get a button filler. I can get a TWSBI vac-fill pretty reasonably, and I am likely to do so at some point, but new button fillers are very few and far between.

Thanks everyone. The responses are quite interesting, and I am surprised with how popular the C/C is here. There definately are advantages with the C/C system over built in ink fillers. C/C offer convenience of being able to use a cartridge when you are traveling or something and refilling from an ink bottle is just not practical, and I do worry about some of my expensive piston fillers if down the road they do fail. It could mean good by pen versus being able to swap out the converter for $5.

 

But in defense of built in ink fillers, all mine have been 100% in terms of reliability and consistent ink flow. With converters, depending on the brand, it has been hit and miss sometimes with the dreaded ink surface tension issue causing ink to clump in the converter resulting in poor ink flow, or the pen starts to write drier as the ink level drops in the converter. Whenever I get a pen with a built in ink reservoir I am confident it will be reliable and consistent throughout to the very last drop of ink in the chamber, whereas with converters I feel like I am taking a chance sometimes. IMHO.

 

Can Kaweco ever make a reliable converter! My new Dia 2 is unusable with the supplied Kaweco converter unless I borrow the Visconti converter from the Rembrandt.

 

My Faber Castell, Visconti and Montblanc converters among others have been perfectly reliable with ink capacity rivaling piston fillers. So I think it does depend a lot on the brand when it comes to cartridge/converters and their reliability.

Arkanbar, I like your logic. :thumbup: A button filler would certainly be unique in a custom pen these days.
Edited by max dog
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Which do you prefer if you had to choose between a cartridge converter or built in piston or vac filler system for a custom pen?

 

The clue of the problem is this "custom pen" thing.

 

Experience (i.e. TWSBI) shows us, that getting self filler right is much harder than most of us would expect.

 

Custom C/C pens on the other hand are usually build from kits. Everything that has contact with ink is part of the kit, and only exterior design is custom.

 

For this reason I would stick to C/C when it comes to custom pens.

 

On the other hand I prefer self fillers, but I choose only "battle tested" designs from established manufacturers.

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Personally prefer C/C. Its easy to clean, easy to replace the part which will first fail (the converter), and I can easily refill a cartridge before usage.

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I really like my Pelikan's m400 system, but I can't see that happening with the cheaper pens I buy - Safaris, Mujis - so I'll make do with converters, as long as they are reliable.

"The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt."

 

B. Russell

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Personally prefer C/C. Its easy to clean, easy to replace the part which will first fail (the converter), and I can easily refill a cartridge before usage.

 

 

 

 

 

It depends on the pen. Some of these pens have inner cap issues, leading to too much drying out, and a lot of aggravation.

 

Cartridge. Easiest to service and maintain. And to clean.

Cartridges are more expensive than bottled ink. You have to consider more than the filling system. You could end up with the easiest pen to service, maintain and clean that dries up the fastest, skips the most and starts the hardest.

Edited by pajaro

"Don't hurry, don't worry. It's better to be late at the Golden Gate than to arrive in Hell on time."
--Sign in a bar and grill, Ormond Beach, Florida, 1960.

 

 

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I'm surprised at the popularity of c/c (also my preferred system). Several years ago, the purists shamed the c/c preferrers for, I don't know, being lazy or not appreciating the finer aspects of filling a proper fountain pen and for being philistines.

 

I'll cop to being too lazy to pump a lever (and have it stick me under the thumbnail, a pain (literally)) and finding the methods involving sacs a hassle, even though I've been assured that filling cartridges with a syringe was more fussy. Obviously, what constitutes a hassle is up to the individual.

 

While I prefer c/c, I do like piston-fillers like Pelikan, Aurora, and TWSBI (to name three that pop to mind) with screw-in nibs or nib-sections. I usually fill my Pelikans with a syringe, too. (As I like to say, that's how you know you have a habit.)

_________________

etherX in To Miasto

Fleekair <--French accent.

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The only C/C pens I think are really good are Montblanc 144s and Sheaffer school pens with the translucent barrels. The rest generally cause me trouble, hard starts and so I put them down and reach for a Parker 51, Sheaffer school pen or a Montblanc 144, or possibly one of my desk pens. .

"Don't hurry, don't worry. It's better to be late at the Golden Gate than to arrive in Hell on time."
--Sign in a bar and grill, Ormond Beach, Florida, 1960.

 

 

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At home piston fillers. On the road c/c. I have a Visconti traveling inkwell but for business travel I don't want to be messing with inkwells of any sort.

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I've actually been working over a few ideas lately for a custom pen. I generally like C/C pens, but I have a very nice vintage nib I'm planning to use, so C/C isn't really an option. After considering several self filling mechanisms I'm leaning towards a button filler. Actually, I don't understand why they aren't more popular. I have one, it's reliable, holds a decent amount of ink, and best of all, I can run it with one hand, which means I can hang onto the ink bottle with the other. That's a good thing when I'm using a 15ml Nalgene bottle for ink. They aren't the most stable.

That said, vac fillers are fascinating, and it's a close second.

JS

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Anything but CC and eyedropper, lever fill only some Wahl Eversharp models. I like the fact it has a mechanism for this, and I love ink windows of any type.

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Japanese eyedroppers. They have never burped on me and the shut-off valve prevents leakage when not in use. Not to mention it holds a ton of ink and I don't have to bother to refill for 2-3 weeks. My Japanese eyedropper pen holds 6ml of ink.

 

I dislike c/c fillers and refuse to buy another one unless it's a hakase.

 

It's almost impossible to have an custom eyedropper pen made with a shut-off valve, so I'd go with a normal eyedropper for a custom pen. Still have danitrio, but I wouldn't call them custom made pens.

Edited by Mew
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There are pens for every taste.

"Don't hurry, don't worry. It's better to be late at the Golden Gate than to arrive in Hell on time."
--Sign in a bar and grill, Ormond Beach, Florida, 1960.

 

 

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