First Eyedropper 'conversion'

[MercianScribe]

Sorry, only a quick pic, but here is my Jinhao 992 eyedropper 'conversion'. Gorgeous isn't it!? I like the 992, and it's very cheap.

 

The conversion consisted of my taking off the Jinhao converter it came with, and filling it full of red ink. They come fitted with an otherwise meaningless o-ring so presumably someone thinks eyedropper conversions are a good idea?!). Not too technical I know... and I thought I'd got away with it, but it's not too successful either it turns out.

 

I used it to mark nigh on a hundred papers the first day, and when I took it out the next day I noticed wee red ink blotches on my hand, and although I can't actually see any hole or crack in the end of the barrel, discovered that's where it was coming from.

 

So, eyedropper converters:

 

1) What silicon grease brand do you use? Pics also welcome!

2) How to seal microscopic (or bigger!) holes...?

 

Thank you gentlepeople.

 

 

Edited September 14, 2017 by MercianScribe

[akrohn2010]

Not bad! It looks great with the red ink! My first eye dropper was a Nemosine Singularity with silicone grease from Goulet - worked flawlessly first time. Great pen for a conversion.

 

Sorry to hear about the leak - any chance some may have just leaked out of the feed and is in the cap threads? Ink in the cap threads can take several thorough cleanings to stop ending up ok your hands...

[SoulSamurai]

Is that just straight red ink or is it watered down? What ink are you using? Most inks are so dark that they don't show off a demonstrator pen to best effect, but yours looks great!

[MercianScribe]

Not bad! It looks great with the red ink! My first eye dropper was a Nemosine Singularity with silicone grease from Goulet - worked flawlessly first time. Great pen for a conversion.

 

Sorry to hear about the leak - any chance some may have just leaked out of the feed and is in the cap threads? Ink in the cap threads can take several thorough cleanings to stop ending up ok your hands...

 

Ahh, Goulet... I'm after a more generic brand, since I'll probably be getting it from Amazon Japan, or a DIY store over here. Goulet (and any of the US stores that use USPS) aren't worth my using since my American friend who was fielding and packaging and sending over all my US buys changed his job.

 

The leak's definitely not the threads or anywhere at that end. There's a little clear colourless knob at the end of the barrel there, and that's where it's coming out... hence the need for a sealant.

 

Is that just straight red ink or is it watered down? What ink are you using? Most inks are so dark that they don't show off a demonstrator pen to best effect, but yours looks great!

 

It does look pretty, doesn't it? It's just straight, bog-standard Pilot Red. I've got a blue and a brown, and a green coming, so if I can get this to work I'll be regrinding them all to fine cursive italics, and inking them up with the same colours as the barrels.

[majorworks]

If you read the long thread on this pen in the Reviews section (as I happened to just yesterday), you will learn that these pens are extremely prone to cracking at the end of the barrel where they press-fit that plug. The thread is rife with stories just like yours, i.e., went ED, got leaked on. Some folks have tried repairing it with superglue, candle wax, etc. If Jinhao ever figures out how to insert that plug without cracking the barrel, these pens might make fine eyedroppers. Until then, you take your chances.

[MercianScribe]

Thank you - I'd missed that thread. I'll go and check it out.

 

But... there must be a simple answer to the sealant. I wonder if a silicone sealant would work. I guess I'll check and see what people have tried on that thread first, eh?!

[Sasha Royale]

Your pen came with a very reliable converter. I would assume that it was intended for such use.

The converter holds a fair amount of ink, and I enjoy the twenty second ritual of filling my fountain pen. You will learn that there are other negatives to eyedropper conversions. Have fun.

 

(BTW: Consider limiting to "washable" inks, until your get through all the experiences.)

[torstar]

Your pen came with a very reliable converter. I would assume that it was intended for such use.

The converter holds a fair amount of ink, and I enjoy the twenty second ritual of filling my fountain pen. You will learn that there are other negatives to eyedropper conversions. Have fun.

 

(BTW: Consider limiting to "washable" inks, until your get through all the experiences.)

 

Done about a dozen conversions.

 

Some are disasters and some are great.

 

My rule of thumb is a metal section works a lot better than a plastic section.

[mhguda]

In my experience superglue works for a pen like yours. Once it's done and the glue cured, test with just water before filling with ink...

[MercianScribe]

Your pen came with a very reliable converter. I would assume that it was intended for such use.

The converter holds a fair amount of ink, and I enjoy the twenty second ritual of filling my fountain pen. You will learn that there are other negatives to eyedropper conversions. Have fun.

 

(BTW: Consider limiting to "washable" inks, until your get through all the experiences.)

 

Ahh, is that what that thing was?! It is a very good converter, but it will work very well in another pen too.

 

My reasons for wanting to convert to an ED:

 

1. I do a lot of marking and corrections and can go through more than a converter's worth of red ink in one sitting.

2. I thought it would look really pretty. It did!

3. Curiosity.

4. I like the simplicity of EDs. I like the simplicity and the mechanism and the ritual of converters too (more so than levers, although I have more of those. Most of my levers are a little... fiddly for my paws), but I like the greater simplicity and the lack of mechanism and the ritual of filling an ED.

 

In my experience superglue works for a pen like yours. Once it's done and the glue cured, test with just water before filling with ink...

 

In the end, that was one conclusion I came to, so I picked up a Daiso demo FP and a ¥100 tube of elastic adhesive to test on it. Cheers though!

[Stratguy]

I'd love to try this, but I'm afraid that it would leak all over. Good on you for giving it a shot!

[mhguda]

My reasons for wanting to convert to an ED:

 

1. I do a lot of marking and corrections and can go through more than a converter's worth of red ink in one sitting.

2. I thought it would look really pretty. It did!

3. Curiosity.

4. I like the simplicity of EDs. I like the simplicity and the mechanism and the ritual of converters too (more so than levers, although I have more of those. Most of my levers are a little... fiddly for my paws), but I like the greater simplicity and the lack of mechanism and the ritual of filling an ED.

Most of your reasons for converting to ED echo mine. I have an additional one:

5. For some of my pens, cartridges or converters are impossible to find, especially at reasonable prices. So the ED conversion solves that problem, too.

[mhguda]

My reasons for wanting to convert to an ED:

 

1. I do a lot of marking and corrections and can go through more than a converter's worth of red ink in one sitting.

2. I thought it would look really pretty. It did!

3. Curiosity.

4. I like the simplicity of EDs. I like the simplicity and the mechanism and the ritual of converters too (more so than levers, although I have more of those. Most of my levers are a little... fiddly for my paws), but I like the greater simplicity and the lack of mechanism and the ritual of filling an ED.

Most of your reasons for converting to ED echo mine. I have an additional one:

5. For some of my pens, cartridges or converters are impossible to find, especially at reasonable prices. So the ED conversion solves that problem, too.

[bugsydog55]

I also have several of these but have not found it necessary to make the conversion. Have checked out several videos by Chrisrap and WaskiSquirrel about this. With the small cracks in the bottom of the barrel, sealing with superglue will work but it could get interesting if you put too much in there-you can get a cracked ice type of look. I prefer the silicone. Have to remove the small plug in the base, thoroughly apply the silicone grease or a thin superglue and coat the whole base area. Super glue the base plug back in and let cure. If this doesn't work, look at the Jinhao 991. It is more eyedropper friendly and it actually costs less than the 992 while using the same screw in nib units.

[Arkanabar]

The informal review thread (currently at 23 pages) suggests that one pop out the plug, and with gentle, short strokes, use a round needle file to slightly enlarge the hole at the base of the barrel before gluing the plug back in place. As long as the barrel is exerting pressure on the plug, cracking is somewhere between likely and certain.

[NicolausPiscator]

I have converted several pens to eyedropper fountain pens and I have to admit reconverted them because the benefit which I hoped to have didn't come. The ink flow was sometimes complicated and I had to refill the pens more often than with a converter as the ink flow was not stable. It was fun for me and interesting but at the end impractical.

 

But I hope you enjoy it and have fun with it!

[EMQG]

Trident silicone grease from Amazon is the way to go. Enough in there to last you a lifetime, and all for like $7.

[calvin_0]

Not bad! It looks great with the red ink! My first eye dropper was a Nemosine Singularity with silicone grease from Goulet - worked flawlessly first time. Great pen for a conversion.

 

Sorry to hear about the leak - any chance some may have just leaked out of the feed and is in the cap threads? Ink in the cap threads can take several thorough cleanings to stop ending up ok your hands...

 

ditto to that... Nemosine Singularity is an easy pen to eye dropper converted.

 

 

anyway, in regarding to your leaking, i found a video that address the problem..

 

Edited September 19, 2017 by calvin_0

[MercianScribe]

Thanks for the additional suggestions, chaps! Very helpful. I must confess that I thought it would be far easier. I have a couple more things I need to work on too, but I'll be back with an update (and I'll put it on the lengthy 992 review thread too!) when I've progressed.

 

I was also looking at some cheap Indian clear eyedroppers. I say, cheap, they're around $15, which of course, is cheap, but nowhere near the $2.50 or so I paid for the 992s. I've never bought from these Indian sellers either, so I don't know how reliable they are. Most of their eBay ratings are worse than the Chinese, and that's saying something! As for the 991, I'm afraid I don't like the shape enough - the 992 is really handsome, so I'm going to crack on with them for now (prob not the best choice of phrase!).

[Ebberman]

I liked the idea of having a pen full of ink instead of having a large fat pen (think Jinhao) with 1ml of ink in a cartridge or converter. On the other hand, I have too many plates spinning on sticks already and no time for another distraction.

The other day I bought some Indian fountain pens from eBay - "5 Camlin Fountain Pen Five Pens Smooth Writing Instrument Lot of 5 Student Pens" for £7

They are plastic and supplied with no cartridge or converter. Indeed they won't accept a cartridge or converter. No instructions were given, so I filled the pen with ink (the whole barrel) and screwed it up. No leak. I removed the nib, replacing it with an old Platignum nib from a dip pen set. Job done. No 'O' ring, no silicone grease. 5 different colours and really cheap. Holds 3ml.

Oh, and there is a clear section so that you can see the ink.

Edit: The first pen was as described. The second one had ink travel the thread and made my hand inky. Silicone grease or PTFE tape would do the trick, no doubt, but these pens are designed to be filled and, as previously stated, can't use a cartridge or converter anyway. Therefore they are not reliable in their original supplied state.

Disappointed. No free lunch. It's a satisfying thing to fill a pen the old way. A bit like winding the alarm clock each night instead of wondering if a year has passed and the battery might need changing. I'm just trying to be an optimist.

Edited March 21, 2018 by Ebberman