Cleaning Dried Nano-Carbon Ink Out Of Nib

[Ada]

In the unlikely event that anyone is as stupid and careless as I was, I'm posting the method I used to clean out a nib I managed to completely clog by allowing nano carbon ink to dry out in a cartridge/converter pen 4 or 5 times. (And yes, I did know that you should never do that, but did so repeatedly anyways).

 

The pen is a Waterman Phileas, so I couldn't remove the nib from the section to clean it, and I did not want to search for (and pay for) a new section. After flushing with soapy water and soaking didn't work, I finally in desperation hit upon a method which seems to have worked:

 

Having removed the converter, I filled the section with dish soap, tightly wrapped a piece of paper towelling around the nib, and set it nib down in a cup. After the soap had run through, I held the section under the tap and let water run through it several times. It was still clogged, so I filled the section with dish soap, wrapped,the nib with paper towelling, and set it upright in a cup until the soap drained through 3 more times. I then filled the section with water, wrapped the nib in paper towelling, and stood it upright until the water ran through it repeatedly for a day and a half, until no more ink showed up on the paper towel. I then soaked it for a few hours, reattached the converter, and filled the pen with water 3 or 4 times, wrapping the nib in paper towelling each time. I then filled the pen with a low maintenance ink this morning.

 

So far, that method appears to have worked -- the pen is writing with no problems.

[Sandy1]

Hi,

 

Many thanks for sharing your method.

 

Patience and persistence go a long way when rescuing a pen. And your follow-up of running a benign ink, such as a Washable Blue is great: keep it wet and keep it running.

 

One thing that I will be so bold to add, has to do with matching pen to ink. If a pen tends to dry-out, then do not pair it with a nano ink, especially if it might be left sitting idle for more than a few days.

 

A pen should have a good cap seal. I believe the Platinum pens typically have great cap seals, as does my Sailor 1911.

 

Even the lowly [underestimated] Pilot Penmanship/Plumix seals very well. With those two pens I add a whisper of silicone grease to the cap seal and put a drop of water in the cap, which lets the nib+feed relax in a humid environment.

 

Bye,

S1

 

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For piston fillers I used this method : https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/247577-removing-dry-ink-from-pelikan-800/?p=2702656

Edited October 20, 2016 by Sandy1