Jump to content

Sheaffer Student Fountain Pen Ink Flow


Glinzan

Recommended Posts

Hello Everyone,

 

I am fairly new to the site and thought I give posting another try. I have, what I believe to be, a Sheaffer Student Demonstrator cartridge fountain pen with a steel fine nib. The nib works as it should only; however, after prolonged use, the nib itself become too wet and begins to gradually expel ink. The nib then becomes saturated with ink. When I place the cap back onto the pen, it only makes the matter worse.

Please note that I have clean the nib with simple cold distilled water. I removed the nib and feed for a thorough cleaning--since I purchased the pen used on eBay. I put it all back together twice, but the problem still persist.

 

Is there anything I can do to fix this?

 

Best Regards,

 

K.

post-48642-0-43174200-1471629168_thumb.jpg

post-48642-0-90645000-1471629173_thumb.jpg

post-48642-0-43087700-1471629180_thumb.jpg

post-48642-0-44008700-1471629185_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 15
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • pajaro

    5

  • jar

    3

  • virgilio

    2

  • ink-syringe

    2

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

There are those who feel that a pen new to a collection should be torn down and reassembled, and there are those who believe that every disassembly is an opportunity for trouble, because parts might be broken or simply not optimally reassembled. I suspect that your reassembly might be faulty, nib and feed contact not optimal or nib and feed not reinserted into the section with the best fit. I suspect that if you get the fit right, the pen will work right. Sometimes you have to work with and adjust the nib and feed position and how and where they fit into the section.

 

I have this same pen, that has the handicap of having an Esterbrook cap, 304 nib, and it works perfectly. It is one of my better pens and a nostalgic favorite. I did not tear this pen down, so I guess you know which camp I fall into.

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.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have a small army of student pens of all styles and eras. The earlier open nib versions have ebonite feeds and when flushed correctly and in good repair can often be wet writers. If yours is excessively wet you might have a cracked feed. If you are looking for a cheap replacement that is likely to be drier those Cartridge pens that have the Stylepoint tend to be dry writers. I have a few dozen of them (got them in lots) and they frequently are much drier than the open nib and short conical nib Cartridge pens. The Skripsert Stylepoints look to also have ebonite feeds but for some reason tend to put out a lot less ink.

 

A good trick for cleaning out a Sheaffer Cartridge pen is to use a regular fine needle syringe. and very gently insert that into the slot in the cartridge piercing nipple and gently force water through it. No need to disassemble. Soaking also helps... *or* puncture a used Sheaffer cartridge and insert the syringe on one end and the fix the cartridge to the section and flush, that works too.

Edited by ink-syringe

Looking for a cap for a Sheaffer Touchdown Sentinel Deluxe Fat version

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A good trick for cleaning out a Sheaffer Cartridge pen is to use a regular fine needle syringe. and very gently insert that into the slot in the cartridge piercing nipple and gently force water through it. No need to disassemble. Soaking also helps... *or* puncture a used Sheaffer cartridge and insert the syringe on one end and the fix the cartridge to the section and flush, that works too.

 

Brian G does that last trick here:

 

https://youtu.be/cNZ39gUiLB4

Looking for a cap for a Sheaffer Touchdown Sentinel Deluxe Fat version

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

The Stylpoints are drier to begin with, but a razor blade between the tines will fix that. Also some extra detergent in the ink. They are then very smooth writers, much smoother than the last incarnation of the Scheaffer cartridge pen, the one with the flat ends. They were after all the midrange Sheaffers in the late 50s and early 60s, at a price of $2.95.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Rather than using a razor blade, I use the thinnest automotive feeler gauge, which is a brass one, like .006, to floss the nib. Others use brass shims. Some people have posted that using something sharp might harm the tines. Sometimes I have used a Post-It note to floss a nib.

 

I bought a bulb syringe in a drug store and cut the front end to a size that will go around the back of the section. I fill the syringe with water and put it over the section threads. Then I gently squeeze water through the section until it flows clear. I often have to repeat the process. This is something frequently recommended in these fora.

"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.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The symptoms described sound like an air leak. Either the cartridge isn't sealing to the nipple properly, or there's a tiny little hole somewhere that is messing up the air/ink exchange. Looking at the picture, the feed does seem a little out of alignment with the point, and I'm not positive the point is set deeply enough in the section relative to the feed-- this might be the source of the leak.

Ravensmarch Pens & Books
It's mainly pens, just now....

Oh, good heavens. He's got a blog now, too.

 

fpn_1465330536__hwabutton.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The symptoms described sound like an air leak. Either the cartridge isn't sealing to the nipple properly, or there's a tiny little hole somewhere that is messing up the air/ink exchange. Looking at the picture, the feed does seem a little out of alignment with the point, and I'm not positive the point is set deeply enough in the section relative to the feed-- this might be the source of the leak.

+1

 

Folk, if you stop pulling nibs and feeds out of sections you are gonna be a whole lot happier. They were never meant to be take out regularly or for cleaning.

 

My Website

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Back when I was in school and used these pens regularly, I would squeeze the cartridge with the nib in a bottle of ink to draw up some ink. After a while the cartridge would cease to be a tight fit onto the section, and then the pen would leak ink at the section-cartridge junction. I would get ink on my hands when I unscrewed the section. I recently rediscovered this phenomenon. Sometimes, as recently, ink would leak from the nib and feed because of the air leak.

 

I have found that a Monteverde clear plastic converter can be used with these pens. With some converters the fit is nice and tight, and it works to perfection, and fits into the barrel. With other samples of this converter the fit has been loose, and I used heat on the front nozzle that plugs into the section to tighten it up.

"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.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My question is the cartridge. Are you using new carts or reusing. Old carts tend to fit poorly after a while and let in air thus excessive flow.

PAKMAN

minibanner.gif                                    Vanness-world-final.png.c1b120b90855ce70a8fd70dd342ebc00.png

                         My Favorite Pen Restorer                                             My Favorite Pen Store

                                                                                                                                Vanness Pens - Selling Online!

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The pen is NOT a demonstrator, it is simply a clear pen.

Sheaffer made that pen is various transparent colors; clear, green, blue, red, maybe more.

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

www.SFPenShow.com

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Of course the usual remedy for a pen so wet that it blots or feathers is to turn the nib over and gently press down until the tines are a little closer together.

 

That, or change to a drier ink.

 

If that doesn't work, you can use some snub-nosed pliers, or whatever the official name is, to press the tines together, but you will have to pull the nib.

 

Pajaro, that is a good idea of using something made of brass, or better yet of bronze, to coax the tines apart. A razor blade was recommended by Frank Dubiel, but maybe something harder than steel, for example bronze, would be safer and more likely to polish the inside of the tines at the same time you are widening them.

 

I polish nibs with the 'ladder' on the back of a copper (not brass) penny, formed by the columns on the Lincoln Memorial, as I believe I mentioned on this site some years ago. Most people were skeptical, but after trying it, found that it really works.

 

Some pens are MADE so that you can pull the nib easily with your fingers, and since the feed is plastic, no heat-setting is required. An example is the wonderfully smooth and wet (after a little adjusting) Universal Scolastica pens made some decades ago in Turin, Italy.

 

The feed puts a definite upper limit on how wet a nib can be. I had a pen once that wrote too dry, and no amount of tinkering with the nib made it wet enough. Only when I looked at the feed, only to disover that the ink channel was defective, was I able to cure its ink-flow problems.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I see you think the issue is nib related. This is often the case. With these pens, however, those of us who have used them extensively, even if in grade school, can reflect on our adventures with these pens and come to understand that the issue is more likely a loss of the seal between cartridge and section. This happens if you take the cartridge off repeatedly to fill it with a syringe, or if you squeeze the cartridge to suck up some ink from a bottle. The cartridges were designed as throw-away, and you will have to get a new cartridge after a while. This is similar to having a converter or ink sac that has lost the seal and vacuum for any reason, such as sac deterioration or the wearout of the seals in a converter.

"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.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I see you think the issue is nib related. This is often the case. With these pens, however, those of us who have used them extensively, even if in grade school, can reflect on our adventures with these pens and come to understand that the issue is more likely a loss of the seal between cartridge and section. This happens if you take the cartridge off repeatedly to fill it with a syringe, or if you squeeze the cartridge to suck up some ink from a bottle. The cartridges were designed as throw-away, and you will have to get a new cartridge after a while. This is similar to having a converter or ink sac that has lost the seal and vacuum for any reason, such as sac deterioration or the wearout of the seals in a converter.

It can also be the result of piercing the cartridge outside the pen instead of dropping the cartridge in and piercing it by screwing in the section or of using a cartridge that had been pierced in another pen in a different pen.

 

My Website

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It can also be the result of piercing the cartridge outside the pen instead of dropping the cartridge in and piercing it by screwing in the section or of using a cartridge that had been pierced in another pen in a different pen.

I agree. These pens seem to vary slightly in the size of the cartridge piercing. nozzle. Cartridges pierced on different pens won't always

fit if you switch them around. They might even fall off of the nipple.

"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.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree. These pens seem to vary slightly in the size of the cartridge piercing. nozzle. Cartridges pierced on different pens won't always

fit if you switch them around. They might even fall off of the nipple.

Plus if you pierce it outside the pen instead of inside and get just a hair off center you end up with an oval instead of round hole when in the pen.

 

My Website

 

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
      33494
    3. Ghost Plane
      Ghost Plane
      28220
    4. inkstainedruth
      inkstainedruth
      26626
    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...