What Are Some Things To Look For On Lever Fillers With Flow Issues

[eharriett]

I've got a number of pens I've been restoring which are good writers, fill fine, and the nib is good. But the ink does not flow well. I've got one right now that took a LOT of ink into the sac, for example, wrote, but ink isn't dropping into the feed consistently as it should. I have to pull the lever to compress the sac and squeeze it a bit to get more ink flow down there every couple of sentences.

 

Others, they write just fine for awhile, say, half the fill, and then it stops completely. I pull the lever and squeeze the sac to get it going again, and I'm good for the rest of the fill.

 

What are some things to look at that could cause these issues?

[GoldenNibs]

Have you pulled the feeds to inspect that the channels are clear and not clogged? Knocking out the nib and feed from the section is a good way to inspect if there is a severe clog inside. I have had a few pens go through my hands that were used with improper inks in the past which caused severe blockages which made writing impossible. Another question would be, what kind of ink are you using? I was told noodlers ink is a no no in vintage pens and can be a real mess to clean out when someone does use it. I think there are repair people that will void their warranties if you ink up your newly restored pen with Noodlers.

Edited January 13, 2020 by GoldenNibs

[eharriett]

Have you pulled the feeds to inspect that the channels are clear and not clogged? Knocking out the nib and feed from the section is a good way to inspect if there is a severe clog inside. I have had a few pens go through my hands that were used with improper inks in the past which caused severe blockages which made writing impossible. Another question would be, what kind of ink are you using? I was told noodlers ink is a no no in vintage pens and can be a real mess to clean out when someone does use it. I think there are repair people that will void their warranties if you ink up your newly restored pen with Noodlers.

I have not knocked the nib/feed out yet of this one, but it did spend about a week in Rapidoeaze. Separating the nib and feed is my next test. I have some modern Skrip green in the pen that's causing this issue. Can't recall the other inks. But, although I am a fan of Noodlers inks, they are almost exclusively in modern pens; I'm quite certain I have not used Noodlers in any of these with issues.