Cleaning Issues

[A Smug Dill]

The temperature-controlled (integrated and not removable) stainless steel tank in my ultrasonic cleaner doubles as a sizeable soaking tub. For really difficult cases, I would start with a three- or five-minute cleaning cycle, then just leave the pen components (nib, feed, housing, converter, cap, or whatever needs cleaning) to soak for anywhere from ten minutes to hours at 32° Celsius, then run another cleaning cycle, before transferring the components to the sink for flushing with plain water using a rubber syringe bulb.

 

The only pen components I've ruined by doing so are the parts of the wooden pen body on a Moonman M6. I gathered that the dilute ammonia solution in the tank completely stripped the coating from the wood, and the wood itself get saturated with water and swelled up, to the point that the cap would not screw back on properly. It took about three days for the wood to dry out enough for it to return to normal size and the threads to fit again. I haven't used the pen again since, though, because even when the coating on the wood was intact, the cap was still very ineffective at preventing ink evaporation, so until I can (be bothered to) find some suitable wax to apply on the wooden body, there is just not much point in filling the pen, especially I don't really like using the nib on that pen that much.

[alexwi]

Hi,

 

I feel compelled to add that despite all the praise that soaking receives as being the least "invasive" cleaning technique, that isn't always the case.

 

I had an Elysee section ruined by this and the discussion I started about it revealed that Elysees aren't the only pens one shouldn't soak: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/341705-never-ever-soak-an-elysee-section/

 

Alex

[A Smug Dill]

I had an Elysee section ruined by this and the discussion I started about it revealed that Elysees aren't the only pens one shouldn't soak:

 

Thank you for the reminder.

 

Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever seen soaking in the instruction booklets/leaflets, or published recommendations online, from any of the Japanese, German or Italian fountain pen brands. (I'm not going to speculate whether FPR, Nemosine or Noodler's have ever given their customers the suggestion to soak the gripping section, or even the entire pen, if ink has been unfortunately left to dry completely in or on it.)

[Bibliophage]

In my experience with razors, pens, etc, plating stripping is on

 

1) Plating that isn't plating. It's tinted lacquer (probably nitrocellulose). Found on Wearever pens and those nibs just labled '4' (or is it 4k?) The soaking alone can compromise this. (Same stuff they used on musical instruments to make them 'gold' coloured)

 

2) plating that's already severely compromised, even if you can't normally see it. There's no fix for this; the cavitation bubbles will loosen anything that's not completely bonded - that's how they clean.

 

Don't worry so much about your chrome plated pen, unless they used crappy pot metal and it's showing pest

[eharriett]

 

"Another option is Rapidoeze, which will dissolve any ink left in the pen. Soak it for about an hour or so, and see how it goes. I'm pretty sure that Rapidoeze won't affect the gold plating. I've only had to use it once, but that was with a Parker 75 nib and did amazingly well."

 

I use Koh-I-Noor's Rapido-eze solution almost exclusively these days. Expensive, but it works so well, it's reusable (to a point), and I also "cut it" with water for more mileage. Not only does it unclog pens faster and more completely than home-made solutions I've tried, you also need to only rinse it out a couple of times. Great for soaking - 100% safe (and I have a lot of pens).

 

This answer.

 

And ultrasonic cleaners COULD damage pens that are a bit on the fragile side, either by design or age. The Rapidoeaze is less likely.

[Bibliophage]

This answer.

 

And ultrasonic cleaners COULD damage pens that are a bit on the fragile side, either by design or age. The Rapidoeaze is less likely.

*sigh*

 

So could a toothbrush. ANY tool can damage a fragile item. The best thing to do is find out what you have, and then decide what tool to use. I use ultrasonic cleaners all the time, and the only plating I've lost is the aforesaid tinted lacquer, and I don't care about that stuff on a nib.

 

[A Smug Dill]

So could a toothbrush. ANY tool can damage a fragile item.

 

That was what I was going to say, and the example I was going to offer was that even wiping and rubbing with a soft facial tissue could damage a fragile item.

 

Also, sometimes people seem to want to overlook the distinction between something that is fragile by design (e.g. hand-cut lead crystal glasses with extremely thin walls as a hallmark of superb workmanship), and what has become fragile and/or defective over the product's lifetime inadvertently (albeit perhaps unavoidably). An item in the latter category doesn't warrant better or more careful handling than a new product of the same value that suffer from manufacturing or material defects, and it's not a matter of normal handling being unduly harsh or risky.

[azbobcat]

Hi Alex,

 

It means DEIONIZED water; which is ultra pure, it goes beyond the routine distillation process and is primarily used in medical applications and specialized industries. My hats off to Azbocat, but I just use ordinary distilled water.

 

Sean

 

There is Deionized and then there is DEIONIOZED water!! Most of the stuff that they sell at Walmart that is labeled as "distilled" is actually low grade deionized water.

 

When I was a research laboratory directory we used ultra-pure DEIONIZED water. I think at that time it was a two unit 7 cartridge system made by Millipore corp. and cost something like $3,000 -- that was back when $3,000 was a LOT of money. The water produced was 0.00 MHO. That type of water is used in Microbial Research for media prep. What is labeled as "distilled" water would take a lot of time and expensive as hell due to the energy consumed to produce even 1L (yeah I at one time I distilled my own water. Small unit, that held up to 10 Gallons. It took FOREVER to fill that thing, and just as soon as it was produced people drained it.) unless you have industrial grade distillery; OTOH RO + DI that is not intended for super critical research purposes can - depending on size -- produce 1L per minute -- or less -- without breaking a sweat. This low grade DI water is roughly equivalent to water you would get if you distilled the water. I use distilled and D.I. interchangeably here. Indeed if you look at the label of some bottled water sold as "distilled" it will note that the water was produced by RO.

[alexwi]

THanks for explaining what Deionized (D.I.) water is!

 

Alex

[corniche]

 

Hi Alex,

 

It means DEIONIZED water; which is ultra pure, it goes beyond the routine distillation process and is primarily used in medical applications and specialized industries. My hats off to Azbocat, but I just use ordinary distilled water.

 

Sean

 

There is Deionized and then there is DEIONIOZED water!! Most of the stuff that they sell at Walmart that is labeled as "distilled" is actually low grade deionized water.

 

When I was a research laboratory directory we used ultra-pure DEIONIZED water. I think at that time it was a two unit 7 cartridge system made by Millipore corp. and cost something like $3,000 -- that was back when $3,000 was a LOT of money. The water produced was 0.00 MHO. That type of water is used in Microbial Research for media prep. What is labeled as "distilled" water would take a lot of time and expensive as hell due to the energy consumed to produce even 1L (yeah I at one time I distilled my own water. Small unit, that held up to 10 Gallons. It took FOREVER to fill that thing, and just as soon as it was produced people drained it.) unless you have industrial grade distillery; OTOH RO + DI that is not intended for super critical research purposes can - depending on size -- produce 1L per minute -- or less -- without breaking a sweat. This low grade DI water is roughly equivalent to water you would get if you distilled the water. I use distilled and D.I. interchangeably here. Indeed if you look at the label of some bottled water sold as "distilled" it will note that the water was produced by RO.

Hi Azbocat,

 

Thank you for the breakdown, that was an interesting read. 👍 I'm gonna have to check out my distilled water jugs now.

 

Sean

[awa54]

Ultrasonic cleaners come in a lot of power and quality levels. The plastic cased "home jewelry/glasses cleaners" are usually 25 watts ultrasonic power *or less* and are pretty much safe for all sorts of delicate items. 35 watt and higher machines (often if there's a tank heater, the heater wattage will be added to the vibratory transducer wattage, so almost any "100 watt" US machine is really much less powerful) are the ones you need to be careful with... they can damage lots of delicate materials, both with heat from extended cleaning times and outright cavitation strength.

 

I have a small all stainless US, that looks like the larger commercial versions, but is only 25 watts and has no heater, it hasn't caused any damage whatsoever to modern pen parts, though it doesn't remove dried on ink anywhere near as quickly as a commercial unit would.

 

I use either mild ammonia solution 9:1 or a generous squirt of rapido-eze in the water to accelerate cleaning, plain warm water works, but it's much slower.

 

Another item I use regularly are 30-80cc vet syringes. These can *push or pull* water through a pen section very quickly and in a sustained stream, much more effectively than a rubber bulb IMO. I make cartridge adapters for each brand I need to clean by piercing the back end of the correct brand cartridge so that it will fit on the end of the syringe in place of a needle.

[Dr.X]

"I make cartridge adapters for each brand I need to clean by piercing the back end of the correct brand cartridge so that it will fit on the end of the syringe in place of a needle."

 

VERY clever! I was thinking of using rubber or vinyl tubing on the outside of the section and syringe tip. Will still have to do it this way for my vintage pens.

 

Thank you for the idea.

Nick

[Arkanabar]

+1 on using an ultrasonic for only limited periods. Don't leave it running.

[Bibliophage]

Most ultrasonic cleaners have programmable cleaning cycles. I _think_ mine goes in 30 second increments to 480 seconds, or 8 minutes. The lowest number is 90 seconds, IIRC.

 

Large commercial cleaners are the only ones that are 'turn them on and leave it'. Even then, most have something like a timer dial, or a cut off after a certain length of time.

 

It's still a good idea to use a cleaner in bursts. I like to run a nib/feed section for 90 seconds, then let it sit for a while. (Also razor parts and pocket knives) If it dumped enough (bleep) that I can't see properly in the water, I'll flush everything out, and refill with solution to go for another 90 seconds or more (sometimes water, sometimes water/Dawn, sometimes water/ammonia, rarely water/Dawn/ammonia) I'll do a last short cycle, at the end, on plain water to help rinse out whatever cleaner I was using.

 

I just wish I had a nice air compressor nearby. They make drying things off SO much easier. (Not for pens!)