Jinhao 159 Problem

[ianm]

Hi

 

New to the forum so I hope this is the right place to post my question.

 

I have a Jinhao 159 pen which was bought as a present for me, it has an ink converter in it. It writes great and is a nice pen to use but after writing for a while it drys up and I have to open the pen and screw down the converter to get the flow again. I have to keep doing this at intervals, should I have to keep doing this? would cartridges be better? Is it a problem with the converter? If anyone has any ideas I would be grateful.

[Kenlowe]

First thing to do is to flush out the pen with water and a drop of washing up liquid.

 

You shouldnt have to tweak the converter from time to time, in fact Jinhao pens normally run quite wet.

 

What ink are you using?

 

I would also try some good quality cartridges such as the Montblanc, stay away from Waterman cartridges in the 159, the nipple is marginally the wrong size.

Edited June 2, 2017 by OilMugs

[WJM]

I had a very similiar problem with two Jinhaos.

 

One with X750, which was resolved by a flush as suggested above by OilMugs.

 

The second one is one of my 159's and in this case even a few flushes didn't do anything. After a few sentences the pen goes completely dry.

 

I suspected this could be my fault, as with this pen I had some issues with the nib and feed, which I resolved with putting some shellac in the section to ensure the tight fit. It's possible that some of it just got into the feed and that's what caused flow problems. Then again, I dissasembled it again and made sure the feed was clean, so I'm not really sure whether that's the problem.

 

Still, the pen unfortunately is pretty much useless.

Edited June 3, 2017 by WJM

[ian1964]

I have to agree that I think it is a nib/feed issue. I absolutely love the feel and look of the 159 but had issues similar. I really wanted the pen for the aesthetics so looked for a fix, I eventually swapped the feed and nib with a Bock. I now use a Beaufort Ink convertor (total pen cost was about 18 Pounds Sterling) and the pen is an absolute dream.

 

I know some will jump up and down and complain about "cheap" pens and QC issues but I have had very similar experiences with my Mb 145 and Pelikan 800. Both of which were bought brand new and cost significantly greater in effort and $$ to put right.

[Helen350]

Another suggestion if this persist, is to purchase a Schmidt international converter for your 159 on Amazon, or a Beaufort converter as previously noted. The metal Jinhao converters tend to be more reliable (at least that has been my experience).

 

Schmidt international converters - amazon.co.uk

Beaufort - beaufortink.co.uk

Jinhao metal converters - Ebay

[DarkAudit]

I flushed all my Jinhaos upon arrival and have had few issues. I've found that certain inks don't play as nicely as others in my 159. Starry Night and Brexit have been trouble free. Starts right up and just goes and goes and goes. Liberty's Elysium, OTOH, is not as well behaved in the same pen. Takes a bit to get going, but will perform well once it does... unless it's sitting uncapped and unused for a minute or two, then it needs another nudge to wake up again.

[truthpil]

What kind of converter did your pen come with? Is it the old version with the brass ring with Jinhao chariot logo on it?

Those usually work amazingly, even though they don't hold much ink.

 

If it's the newer and larger version, that might be your problem. It's a better-made converter, but I've noticed in my newer Jinhaos that the seal between converter and nipple can be too tight and cause a vacuum in the converter that prevents the ink from coming out after a few sentences.

 

If you've cleans the section, nib, and feed thoroughly like OilMugs suggested, the next step would be to try some other converters.

[Bluey]

When people say to flush it, it's the oily residue in the converter which is doing that causing an air bubble. So for this particular issue flush the converter out with dish soap and water then rinse with water. Done.

[Sasha Royale]

Modern manufacturing uses injection molded plastics. Often, there is an oily, mold release residue. A detergent flush removes it easily. Otherwise, it can affect ink flow. The 159 has a very large nib. Iwonderif the system can supply it adequately. I never have such issue with small-nib Jinhao pens, like the model x250 and model 500 . I know these two pens for easy starts and continuous writing until the reservoir is exhausted. Of the big-nib Jinhaos, I get best results from the x450 .

[alanlight]

Pull the nib and feed out and clean them thoroughly with soap and water.

Take a good look at the nib and hold it up to the light and make sure you can actually see through the tines (there should be a gap). The Jinhao nibs in the 159 usually come way too tight from the factory. If you can't see the gap, carefully adjust until the gap is there and the tines are even.

 

Re-install the nib and feed and you should be good to go.

 

If you STILL have a problem after this, you might need to (carefully) widen the feed channel.