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Showing results for tags 'eco leaking'.
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I received my new medium nibbed ECO a week ago. It is a wonderfully designed and engineered pen, and I'm very happy with its design and material choice. Very well done overall. Just one slight annoyance... After filling in accordance with instructions, that is, carefully wiping the nib so that the feed was not overly saturated and the air channel was clear, I noticed that the feed was indeed filling to overcapacity. The flow was very heavy and a drip of ink would form on the feed. I'm using Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Black, but I tried Sheaffer Skrip Blue and experienced the same behavior. For the life of me, I couldn't see the problem. I pulled the piston, re-greassed it with silicone, and checked the seal for leaks. None found. I pulled the nib and feed, checked for manufacturing flaws and fit, then cleaned and re-set the nib and feed correctly. No help; still the same behavior. This was making me crazy. Something was happening to the delicate balance of ink and air exchange causing the ink to leak from the nib. The ECO has a clear, one piece barrel and section. Very well designed, and fortuitous in that I could see everything that was happening to the ink flow. So, using the adhesion properties of glass to ink, I held the nib to the edge of the ink bottle and allowed the ink to flow from the pen into the bottle along the surface of the glass. As the reservoir was emptying, I could see air passing around the outside of the feed, between the feed and section chamber, around the outside of the stem, and bubble into the reservoir. AH HA! I got you. Now, I'm reasonably sure that my problem is the seal between the feed and the section even though it was a nice, tight fit. I sealed the fit with some silicone grease to test my hypothesis, and was rewarded with limited success. Limited in that, although at first the feed did not overfill, after a short while I could see the air working its way through the seal. The problem returned slowly, but I was sure of my hypothesis. I suppose that if the reservoir was smaller, the grease alone would've sufficed. To resolve this problem in this pen, I needed a gasket. I cut a paper gasket from thin copy paper, in the form of a disk, the same diameter of the feed. In the center of this tiny disc was a hole to accommodate the feed stem. I impregnated my newly formed gasket with silicone grease and placed it on the top of the feed, with the feed stem passing through the hole in the gasket. I had to be very careful not to get any grease into the feed channel or I would play hell trying to get it out of there. I put a little extra grease on the top of the gasket and re-set the nib and feed. The pen now writes beautifully, well behaved, smooth, reliable and consistent. The feed is well saturated, but not overly so, and the air channels stay clear. I can't say for sure that I have fixed the problem until I have gone through a few fills, but early observation looks promising. I really like the pen, and already have bought another. At least now I'll be ready!
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- eco leaking
- feed oversaturated
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