Changing Ink

[pwsuba]

How often do you change the ink in your pens? Is it possible to change too often, could it cause issues?

 

 

At this point, only have 2 MB and a few other FP that I enjoy using I find that I have a craving to change colors often. I flush the pens with water, but I had a worry that maybe doing so too often could cause issues with the pistons later.

 

I use MB inks as of now. I'm working towards the 'better' solution of just having more pens, but as of now I'm limits to the two.

[Tom Kellie]

How often do you change the ink in your pens? Is it possible to change too often, could it cause issues?

 

 

~ pwsuba:

 

Never.

The ink in each pen is rapidly used as I write a lot.

No pen has had ink in it long enough to ever consider changing ink.

Thank you for asking an essential question.

Tom K.

[alwayssunnyalwaysreal]

I rarely refill the pen with the same ink. Each pen gets inked for about a week, then I clean it after it runs dry. Then another pen gets into the rotation. In general I keep around 6 to 10 pens inked.

 

This way I find the most balance between using the pens and making sure that each pen is kept in excellent condition.

Edited October 18, 2017 by alwayssunnyalwaysreal

[Driften]

How often do you change the ink in your pens? Is it possible to change too often, could it cause issues?

 

 

At this point, only have 2 MB and a few other FP that I enjoy using I find that I have a craving to change colors often. I flush the pens with water, but I had a worry that maybe doing so too often could cause issues with the pistons later.

 

I use MB inks as of now. I'm working towards the 'better' solution of just having more pens, but as of now I'm limits to the two.

 

 

I don't think you are going to cause a problem. Its more of an issue to leave ink for really long periods of time in the pen. You are just wasting ink flushing it down the sink instead of using it up on a page.

 

I would not suggest putting it back in the bottle. You may contaminate the bottle that way. You could put it into a sample vial to maybe reuse that ink later. In my case I happened to have an empty sample (15ml) bottle for Kon-peki that I emptied that color back into to keep my large bottle pure when changing from that color to others. Since that is my favorite ink I just happened to have the small bottle around. Others get washed down the drain.

 

If you change colors a lot you might want to get a converter fill model. They are faster to clean out between colors and don't hold as much ink.

[pwsuba]

I should say, I'm most worried about with the amount that the pens get rinsed out, will that cause the pistons to get sticky?

[Tom Kellie]

I should say, I'm most worried about with the amount that the pens get rinsed out, will that cause the pistons to get sticky?

 

 

~ pwsuba:

 

Thus far I've never experienced any sticky pistons.

Pens rinsed many times function normally.

Your concern is certainly understandable.

Tom K.

[meiers]

Good fountain pen inks will help lubricate the piston. Keep them fueled up and use them. Many piston problems are caused by dried up ink.

Edited October 18, 2017 by meiers

[Driften]

Good fountain pen inks will help lubricate the piston. Keep them fueled up and use them. Many piston problems are caused by dried up ink.

 

 

Yeah what he said....

[niksch]

 

 

Yeah what he said....

 

Matt knows.

[Mulrich]

I've never tried to remove the nib unit from a MB but when other pens' pistons get stiff I'll add a tiny bit of silicon grease directly along the piston seal and that does the trick. I believe there are also a few inks with particularly good lubrication that might help with stiff pistons. But in general I wouldn't worry about changing inks and rinsing out with water. The variety in inks is worth any piston maintenance you might experience.

[Chrissy]

I should say, I'm most worried about with the amount that the pens get rinsed out, will that cause the pistons to get sticky?

 

No it won't. In fact the piston is probably more likely to get 'sticky' if you leave the pens with the same ink in there for long periods.

 

I flush out my piston filling pens and refill them with different coloured inks all of the time. I've never had a problem with a 'sticky' piston.

[thygreyt]

No pen should get damaged from use... It's the other way around.

 

Enjoy the colors!

[pwsuba]

I probably enjoy the colors too much, I'm sure people find it unprofessional I choose to use color on my personal notes at work. But life needs a little color.

[inkstainedruth]

I probably enjoy the colors too much, I'm sure people find it unprofessional I choose to use color on my personal notes at work. But life needs a little color.

 

I have a friend who I discovered was an FP user a few years ago. She's a tech writer and uses hers for work, and color codes the ink and pen (which I mostly DON'T do, partly because I have too many inks and partly because even I'm not that OCD). The engineers she works with thought it was "cute" until they realized that when she was taking notes at meetings it was "Person X is going to be starting on this piece of the project and so stuff regarding him is in red (with the red pen); whereas person Y is doing bug fixes at the moment so the notes regarding that are in green (with the green pen)...." [My friend has 5 Levenger Truewriters and was using Chesterfield inks in them, because she likes jewel tones and smaller size bottles; I keep meaning to check and see what the equivalent Diamine inks are so I can tell her what to get when she runs out of ink.]

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Driften]

 

I have a friend who I discovered was an FP user a few years ago. She's a tech writer and uses hers for work, and color codes the ink and pen (which I mostly DON'T do, partly because I have too many inks and partly because even I'm not that OCD). ...

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

 

I have thought about doing color coding in notes for writing my novels, but never worked it into a system so it does not happen. I do try and spread my different ink colors across pens so that they are not all the same.