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Piston fill vs Cartridge/Converter


Shelley

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One thing no one has mentioned is that if you like to switch colours frequently, the converter is a heck of a lot easier to flush and you can just pull it off and run water through the section.

 

Having said that, I have lots of each and don't make that a factor in deciding whether or not to buy a pen.

 

As it happens, I was using 2 Auroras last night, a gold 88 and a sterling Optima. There isn't all that much to choose between them in size once you post them although the Optima has a lower profile in the pocket and flat ends unlike the rounded ones of the 88. I'd just choose whichever you prefer the looks of.

Bill Spohn

Vancouver BC

"Music is the wine that fills the cup of silence"

 

Robert Fripp

https://www.rhodoworld.com/fountain-pens.html

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Thank you all for your most welcome comments, there were all useful, I have decided to go for another piston filler this time-I am buying a second hand (third actually I think) Aurora Optima black resin with chrome trim. this has modified cursive italic nib that the current owner finds too toothy, so is looking for a new owner.

My wife has decided that the new owner is going to be me, has decided to pay for it then hide it until christmas time-very good of her. To make matters even better my sister who is in England has bought ne a bottle of Aurora black and is posting it shortly-all the positive reviews have made me want to try this and its almost impossible to buy over here.

 

However I still would like to try the Talentum for some reason...the search seems endless but I have decided that this will be my last major pen purchase this year, of couse next year is really not that far off...

Lamy 2000-Lamy Vista-Visconti Van Gogh Maxi Tortoise Demonstrator-Pilot Vanishing Point Black Carbonesque-1947 Parker 51 Vacumatic Cedar Blue Double Jewel-Aurora Optima Black Chrome Cursive Italic-Waterman Hemisphere Metallic Blue-Sheaffer Targa-Conway Stewart CS475

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One thing no one has mentioned is that if you like to switch colours frequently, the converter is a heck of a lot easier to flush and you can just pull it off and run water through the section.

 

Okay, but that does not sound any easier than on my Pelikans, unscrewing the nib and flushing out the chamber. Just my two cents.

We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.

Winston Churchill

Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities... because it is the quality which guarantees all others.

Winston Churchill

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I actually prefer cartridge converter fillers. They offer the best of both worlds - the ability to use a piston filled container, with the practicality of being able to use cartridges when required. Piston fillers do have a rather greater ink capacity than removable converters, but this is not a major issue as you can always carry several cartridges with you more easily than you can carry extra ink bottles. And they are easier - and less messy - to use. I don't consider the filling system a key criteria of what I seek in a pen. They essential thing is always how well the pen writes, not how you fill it with ink.

Edited by Bennington1967
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I like both types of pens.

 

For daily use, I prefer a piston filler, because I can fill it with ink a lot faster and with less possibility of mess.

 

For cleaning, a converter pen provides the necessary visibility to ensure that the pen is really clean.

 

I don't like lever fillers or button fillers or any other filling system that involves rubber sacs. This includes 1970s cartridge/converter fillers that use a "squeeze converter".

CharlieB

 

"The moment he opened the refrigerator, he saw it. Caponata! Fragrant, colorful, abundant, it filled an entire soup dish, enough for at least four people.... The notes of the triumphal march of Aida came spontaneously, naturally, to his lips." -- Andrea Camilleri, Excursion to Tindari, p. 212

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  • 1 year later...

Like the rest of you, I prefer piston fillers.

I find it clean, fast, simple and reliable. Usually these pens have an ink window or transparency, so you will know how much ink is left, without having to disassemble the pen. They hold a lot of ink so you don't have to refill often.

 

I’m a fan of vintage pens and in my experience piston fillers live longer than other pens and they are more easily maintained.

 

Sometimes I really can't understand why other systems were invented

 

Converters, well to me they are ok, but in general, they hold very little ink – and you have to take the pen apart to fill it.

 

Regards Henrik

 

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I think that anybody who prefers cartridges does so due to the fact that they can carry a whole pocket full of them when underway in case of an emergency-refill.

But WOAH....you can do the same with the other types of FPs too. I have only piston fillers, or -- as a meek substitute -- their converter pals.

All I do is that I always take a 15 ml = 1/2 oz bottle of ink in any pocket with me, too. So what's the diff?

 

Cliff

Life is too short to drink bad wine (Goethe)

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There is just something about emersing the nib in the bottle and then turning it that I like.

 

I do not get the exact same pleasure from filling a converter, it is a pleasure but its not the same.

 

What is the difference? If you close your eyes can you tell whether what you are turning is attched permanently to the pen or whether it comes out? Because that's all that separates a piston filler and a converter, although the former tend to have higher capacity. There are even 'captive converters' which have the lower capacity but are permanently bonded to the section.

 

All this kvetching about converters' vs. piston fillers reminds me about a bunch of wine fanatics nattering about corks - who gives a flying fig how long the cork is or what composition it might be - pull the darned thing and get to the only enjoyable part of the whole exercise, tasting and drinking the wine.

 

Same thing for pen fanciers. A whole lot of energy spent on whether you should fill the danged thing this way, that way or some other way, when they only real pleasure is NOT nattering about minutiae but applying nib to paper (for me, anyway).

 

To each his own, of course, but I always shake my head at the amount of worry and fuss that goes into some 'issues'.

 

 

 

Bill Spohn

Vancouver BC

"Music is the wine that fills the cup of silence"

 

Robert Fripp

https://www.rhodoworld.com/fountain-pens.html

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I definitely prefer pistons. I also like the piston converter that came in my Pilot Vanishing Point, for the same reason, though having it not be integrated (and kinda small) are slight turn offs. I'll never use a plain cartridge again if I can avoid it... I had no choice but to use them in a cheapo Parker I had a couple years ago... getting away from that is what started me down the road of FP collecting in the first place (since I decided to replace that pen with a Pelikan, my first "real" FP).

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The only thing I dislike about C/C fillers is them not having a universal standard - there are too many proprietary variations.

 

Here here! And I honestly prefer converters as they allow me to keep my nibs clean. I hate a beautiful nib that you can't see due to ink so I take the converter out and fill before I insert it into the pen of choice. A universal screw in converter would sell me for life.

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I generally prefer pistons, but I do have a couple of good C/Cs which I like and which hold a lot of ink - the Pilot Bamboo with the huge Pilot CON-70 button converter, and my Danitrio Cum Laude which has a very long high-capacity piston converter.

http://twitter.com/pawcelot

Vancouver Pen Club

 

Currently inked:

 

Montegrappa NeroUno Linea - J. Herbin Poussière de Lune //. Aurora Optima Demonstrator - Aurora Black // Varuna Rajan - Kaweco Green // TWSBI Vac 700R - Visconti Purple

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I prefer piston fillers for most things, but I also like the variety that c/c pens offer.

deirdre.net

"Heck we fed a thousand dollar pen to a chicken because we could." -- FarmBoy, about Pen Posse

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A lot depends upon the particular converter. I just got a Pilot Custom 742, with a Con-70 converter, and it holds a LOT of ink. Button filler, and smoooooooth, with the FA nib. I am in love!

 

I also have Chinese pens with dinky converters which hold very little, which I do not love nearly as much, due to low ink capacity (plus they don't have nearly the nib the 742 does, but I could buy 20 of them for what I paid for the 742 -- and worth every penny)

 

Donnie

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
Edmund Burke (1729 - 1797)

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For me, it is both ways...

Fountain Pen is for people who have a delicate taste in writing

 

Pens Actively In Use

MB 149-f; MB Solitaire SS (FP-ef,BP,MP)

MB (LE) G.B.Shaw (FP-m,BP,MP); MB LeGrand (RB,BP,MP)

Parker Duofold Presidential Esparto sol.SS (FP-f, BP)

Parker Duofold PS SS (FP-f, RB)

Parker Doufold Marbled Green (FP-f,BP,MP)

Parker Duofold Marbled Gray (FP-xf)

S.T. Dupont Orpheo XL Platinum Diamond Head (FP-m)

S.T. Dupont Orpheo XL Platinum/ChinLacquer Black (FP-f)

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I prefer piston fillers because I like to fill from an ink bottle. It is easier to fill a piston filler, since one does not need to take his pen apart to fill it. The ink capacity is much larger too. I hate cartridges. An ink bottle lasts a long time. Cartridges need to be replaced too often. I do not have any desire to keep purchasing cartridges, and I do not wish to bother with syringes when I can simply use piston filler pens with no muss, no fuss.

Laura

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  • 9 months later...

Sorry to reply to this rather old thread...

 

But I was just wondering, what is really the difference in the experience one can get from filling a piston system compared to a converter?

 

I thought the proper way to fill a pen with a converter is to fill with the nib in bottle exactly the same way as a piston filler, am I doing it wrong? And in most pens you twist the end bit of the converter to operate the smaller piston inside, just as if it is a piston pen (from my understanding). I have had my CC pens for many years and had never used cartridges (thought they are too expensive compared to bottles), so have never detached the converters from the section, except at times when I am doing a thorough cleaning. So except the fact that converters hold less ink than a piston (for a larger sized pen), and the fact that you have to unscrew the barrow first to get to the piston mechanism, are there other differences that I cannot appreciate? (I thought the modern piston filler mechanism is just a larger converter mechanism, made in a more robust way obviously, am I wrong?)

 

I have to admit I never had a piston filler, but is considering one (really interested in pelikan M600). However, I am slightly concerned by the fact that

 

1) most piston filling pens have their piston operating knob exposed, thus are there any risk of accidentally operating the piston? (I know for example old MBs had a double filling mechanism that allowed some free rotation of the knob before it actually operates the piston, but I understood that feature is gone on newer pens, how about the other brands, like pelikan?)

 

2) Is it possible to dismantle the mechanism by one-self (without having to re-gluing stuff etc.)? For regular service purposes, like greasing? Is regular service necessary, and do I have to send it off?

 

3) Is there an inner layer for holding the ink? Say if I accidentally dropped the pen, and unfortunately the barrow cracked, would the ink leak out?

 

What are your advices? Thank you very much!

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I quite like refilling old carts with my Monoject 412.

 

Levereging an old sac is OK. Squeezing an aero is better.

 

I don't enjoy screwing with pistons so much.

 

Sheaffer Vacuum-fil is deeply gratifying.

 

But pumping the Vacumatic is Zen.

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The piston on my Lamy 2000 locks so it is not easy to accidentally engage it. The pen definitely holds more ink than the converter in my Lamy Al-Star does though.

 

I confess that I have not yet disassembled the 2000 for cleaning (I've only owned it for a couple of weeks).

Too many pens; too many inks. But at least I've emptied two ink bottles now.

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