Burping Cure?

[k3eax]

Does holding an eyedropper periodically nib up prevent or lessen burping? My thought is that this permits the expanded air to exit and thus the pressure is relieved within the barrel. Now, I've not tried this as the idea has just occurred to me.

[linearM]

I find that by holding an eyedropper with the nib up with my hand wrapped around the pen barrel, I've had less problem with the pen burping. I figure that the warmth of my hand expands the air inside so that when I hold the pen in the normal writing position the pen actually cools. I am using a Weidlich and a recently purchased Laughlin for correspondence and when I've followed the procedure haven't had the problem with burping even when writing long letters. If I forget to warm the pen first and just start writing I do have the problem.

 

I had never heard of anyone else doing it, but it has certainly worked for me. I don't know if the eyedropper you want to use is modern or vintage, mine were probably made between 1898 and 1910.

 

Give it a try and let me know if it also works for you. I have not found it necessary to turn the nib upright except when I first warm the pen barrel.

Edited December 10, 2016 by linearM

[k3eax]

I find that by holding an eyedropper with the nib up with my hand wrapped around the pen barrel, I've had less problem with the pen burping. I figure that the warmth of my hand expands the air inside so that when I hold the pen in the normal writing position the pen actually cools. I am using a Weidlich and a recently purchased Laughlin for correspondence and when I've followed the procedure haven't had the problem with burping even when writing long letters. If I forget to warm the pen first and just start writing I do have the problem.

 

I had never heard of anyone else doing it, but it has certainly worked for me. I don't know if the eyedropper you want to use is modern or vintage, mine were probably made between 1898 and 1910.

 

Give it a try and let me know if it also works for you. I have not found it necessary to turn the nib upright except when I first warm the pen barrel.

Thanks for taking the time to respond. Your advice gives me hope and I shall keep you informed.

[Kelly G]

The oft quoted cure for a burping eyedropper is to keep the pen on the full side. The more air in the barrel the more opportunity for axpansion and burping. This assumes a properly designed feed.

[Jamerelbe]

I've tried this approach too, with some of my eyedropper pens: holding it nib-up for a little while to allow the warmth of my hand to cause air expansion before writing, and/or pausing periodically during writing to repeat. I don't use these pens often enough to be definitive, but anecdotally it does seem to work for me!

[Jobesmirage]

I posted this a few months ago that you could try:

 

So I recently purchased some eyedroppers from FPR, these ebonite Wality pens which are eye droppers and was wondering at the issue of burping. Burping as a primer, for those reading, is caused by heating the air in an eyedropper or piston filler pen. The change in temperature expands the air in the pen which forces the ink to gush out of the pen. This often happens to eyedropper pens when they run low on ink. I have seen very few posts on solutions to this issue but I have seen a lot of people eyedropper pens, so Id like to see what people have done to solve this issue.

1. Preventative Measures - Generally the easiest solution I've seen is keeping the pen full, if the pen is full of ink there is little reason why it would burp, since there is too little air, so if you keep it full you should be good (unless massive temperature change). Similar suggestions are to heat up the pen a little before using by keeping it in your hand.

2. I've seen people change the feeds on eyedropper pens. Generally people with Indian Eyedroppers have found varied success with changing out the ebonite feeds (simple kind of like christmas tree shaped feeds) with sheaffer no-nonesense plastic feeds. For whatever reason, the plastic feeds help prevent burping. I havent tried this but I will soon.

3. Another solution that I've heard of is adding acrylic beads or plastic beads into the eye dropper pen. For some reason this also helps to prevent burping, I am not too sure why this works but I have heard of it working for larger eye dropper pens and am curious to attempt it as well.

4. A very interesting but non-feasible solution to this pen but might work for other pens is to add a sac to the pen. As a relatively famous pen company Ratnamson Pens have actually taken Wingsung sacs and guards and attached them to some models of their pens. I can see this working if your front section has enough space between the threads to attach a sac. (very interesting for some smaller models of eye droppers with some plastic section free.

5. Convert it to a blow filler (similar to option 4) - http://blog.peytonstreetpens.com/blow-fillers-are-back/

Any cool solutions you guys have thought up?

EDIT* Solution #3 was tried and it works! - just bought some of these and put them in the barrel with the pen, and yes it limited the amount of ink but I mean I still used the pen for a week before I felt the need to refill. http://www.ebay.com/itm/8mm-100-200-300-400-500pcs-CLEAR-FACETED-ACRYLIC-PLASTICROUND-LOOSE-BEADS-TY2368-/311691289025?var=610598101880&hash=item48923fa1c1:m:mfeauXuCk-Gyq9vnlTSZgEA

[displacermoose]

I dribbled some plain candle wax down the barrel of mine to cut the capacity down by about 2/3. Sounds much more dramatic than it is. I like to change inks, so a 5ml capacity is rather too much for me anyway. The pen now holds about 1.5 ml, which is still a lot of ink, and it doesn't burp.

[ajnyani1947]

I think this is a very practical solution.. I will definitely try this.

 

I dribbled some plain candle wax down the barrel of mine to cut the capacity down by about 2/3. Sounds much more dramatic than it is. I like to change inks, so a 5ml capacity is rather too much for me anyway. The pen now holds about 1.5 ml, which is still a lot of ink, and it doesn't burp.

I

[gopool]

Replace the feed with one from an old Sheaffer No Nonsense pen and it will never burp again.

[rwilsonedn]

To the OP's question, yes. I find that holding the pen nib-up with my fingers wrapped around the barrel before I begin to write helps a great deal. You have to hold it for what seems a long time--a full minute or two, depending on how long it takes your hand to bring the barrel up to skin temperature. But after than I find that I can write normally. Depending on the pen--some ED pens have very simple feeds and very large capacity, others are much more forgiving--this habit usually allows me to write the pen dry without burping; or maybe with, just before the pen is empty, only a couple of slow-forming drops that I can just wipe away from the end of the feed. Some pens will need to be refilled before this point, however, and some have slight air leaks and will burp no matter what you do.

ron