Lamy Fountain Pen Cartridges "evaporate"

[pom88]

I have six Lamy AlStar pens in a pen carry case, six weeks ago I put new, full cartridges in each of them. They have travelled to/from places without being used (I was on holiday) and now each is almost completely empty. No apparent signs of leakage, but the must have...or have evaporated...

Any similar experiences, or thoughts...? แทงบอลสเต็ป2

[mannschott]

Sure, the water will evaporate, especially if the cartridges have been punctured. Just add some water (distilled, if you've got it). Ideally, you'd want to fill it up to the level it was at when last you used them. I probably wouldn't know that if I were in your situation, so I'd just fill them half way, give them a little shake and see how the color is after a page or so of writing.

[dapprman]

I find my Safari suffer from evaporation, less so with my Al-Star - never that bad though. I suspect the view holes in the barrels may not help as there's always a little air that can get in round the cart.

[Olya]

The carts (also a converter's content) evaporates fairly quickly in Safari/ Al-Stars, most likely because it's a school pen and so can't be entirely air-tight, because of that law that school kids' pens must allow for air in caps to flow, in case a kid swallows a cap they don't suffocate (or sth like that). Though in spite of the evaporation, the pens usually start up well and don't suffer from drying out problems.

[dogpoet]

If the ink has evaporated out of the pens through the nibs, it might be worth giving the pens a flushing before replacing the cartridges as some of the ink that's left behind by its water content evaporating might have been drawn up into the feeds.

[LizB]

I have some vintage cartridges that are unopened and half full, but this is year and years of slow change. I agree with the other contributors, all my Safaris and AL-Stars will evaporate off a converter's worth of ink in a month or so if left unused.

[Bluey]

My old Lamy Studio was the only pen I had to completely dry up after a few weeks non-usage.

[hbquikcomjamesl]

1. Few, if any, FP caps are completely airtight. Certainly not the caps on my flock of Pelikans.

 

2. I've even seen Sheaffer cartridges -- arguably the simplest ink cartridges made -- have evaporative losses over a period of many years.

 

3. My Pelikans regularly show signs of evaporative losses; because of their large capacity, it's less noticeable. When I was actually using that Wearever I bought at a pen show (and promptly had to put a new sac and J-bar into) several years ago, it would dry up within a week or two, and eventually the brand new sac crapped out on me, at which point I pretty much gave up on it.

[Amory]

6 new cartridges

6 pens

6 weeks

 

6 6 6 ~~~~~spooky

[dogpoet]

6 new cartridges

6 pens

6 weeks

 

6 6 6 ~~~~~spooky

 

You think an exorcism will stop the problem recurring?

[sub_bluesy]

 

You think an exorcism will stop the problem recurring?

Suggest refilling with water from Lourdes to be safe

[Donald2]

All the ink in all of the converters in all of my Lamy Safari fountain pens evaporated too. As a matter of fact, even the ink in my 2 Pelikans and my Waterman Phileas fountain pens evaporate too when the converters in them are full of ink and when the pens are all sitting in their pencil cups for a few months unused. I don't use them for a long time, sometimes for as long as 6 months to one year plus.

[Donald2]

I'm going to have to start using them so the ink inside the converters don't evaporate like they always do.

Edited February 26, 2018 by Donald2

[Astronymus]

I image the evaporation rate is up in the winter months. Dry air, more evaporation.

[Markall]

The cap is the most underrated part of the fountainpen in my view. I think it would be great to start a new topic on it. Or is there already one?

[Amory]

I image the evaporation rate is up in the winter months. Dry air, more evaporation.

Wales is so wet the cartridge absorbs water from the atmosphere

 

year round

Amory

Edited March 15, 2018 by Amory

[MYU]

The only cartridges I've owned that haven't evaporated have been from PILOT, the ones sealed in foil packets. Of those without foil packets, Platinum seems to do pretty well, perhaps due to the steel ball blocking the opening (it gets pushed inside and then rolls around helping to move the ink). LAMY packaging is lightweight... so no surprise the cartridges may dry own fairly soon. If it's fairly fresh ink, the idea of injecting water into it and shaking should be sufficient to revive a cartridge. Much older ink generally won't work that well, because there will be little bits of ink that don't dissolve and end up clogging the feed.

[AmandaW]

I gave up using my Lamy Safaris during the warmer months of the year. I clean them out in spring and put them away until autumn. I'm lookiing forward to getting them out to play soon.

 

When I tested my pens and figured out there are plenty that don't evaporate, I decided not to fight with those that do.