How Fill Hero 100?

[dmorgen]

Today I finally got around to filling my gold Hero 100, or at least trying to! One squeeze of the aerometric filler gets a decent amount of ink into the sac, but not enough so it shows when the pen is pointed nib down. However, when I then try a second squeeze all that ink comes out before it fills again, i.e. no progress getting the pen reasonably full. Does anybody know the trick to getting this pen filled?

 

On the positive side, besides being a great looking pen (which I already knew), it writes GREAT! It writes a really fine line as smooth as can be, with no skipping, problem starting, etc. And writing with the "wrong" side of the nib is also very smooth and writes an even finer line with no problems. This is a joy after all the problems I'm having with a new Parker 100 to get it to write consistently ... and the Hero costs about 1/4 - 1/3 as much as the Parker (and that was with getting a great price on the Parker)!

 

BTW, I bought the Hero 100 from ISELLPENS.COM for less than $30! I also bought a Hero 100 Flighter, which I haven't had a chance to try yet. This is a lot of pen for the money! (Not to mention the great service from ISELLPENS.COM!)

 

Dave

[Sidney]

I followed the instructions meant for the pen it was copied from. Squeeze the bar six times holding the nib in the ink for a few seconds between squeezes and before removing after the final squeeze. It still doesn't hold a lot of ink. There is a thread on here somewhere on how to get more ink in it. IIRC, you hold the pen nib up after filling and squeeze out the air. Then you replace the nib into the ink so that it gets completely full. It sounds potentially messy, so I've never tried it.

[Bill D]

The real key is to quickly press and release the bar. Then wait for a few seconds before repeating. It's the gradual squeeze that re-empties the sac each time.

 

Bill

[Goodwhiskers]

Does anybody know the trick to getting this pen filled?

Look here (I repeated Bill's advice on the quick squeezing without attribution; sorry, Bill) for how to fill it as full as possible; usually more effort than it's worth.

[theking]

Congratulations! I grew up in China and Hero 100 was the best pen available fountain pen for common Chinese (a gold hero 100 costs half year salary for an average worker).

 

Anyways, I have been using this pen for a pretty long time. The pen is actually pretty easy to fill, even for the last few drops of ink from your bottom....

 

Here is how you do it.

 

Squeeze the filler, release it in the ink bottle, SLOWLY. After fully releasing it, wait 10 seconds. Repeat this process 2 or three time. The first couple of times you squeeze it in the bottle, you can almost feel air being pushed out. The key is this: make sure you are slow, and you wait.

 

The filling process is similar to piston filler as well. If you do it too fast, the pen won't be able to let enough ink get inside, and you end up filling your pen with a lot of air bubbles.

 

Filled correctly, you should be able to fully fill the pen. The sac actually holds a lot of ink: it seems to hold more ink than my MB 149.

 

Good luck!

[dmorgen]

Thanks everybody for the suggestions. I'll give them a try.

 

I wrote some more with the pen since my post, and it kept writing great! This morning I looked at what I wrote ... much smaller than I usually write, but I like how it looks & very readable. I do like the pen!

 

Dave

[Bill D]

Congratulations! I grew up in China and Hero 100 was the best pen available fountain pen for common Chinese (a gold hero 100 costs half year salary for an average worker).

 

Anyways, I have been using this pen for a pretty long time. The pen is actually pretty easy to fill, even for the last few drops of ink from your bottom....

 

Here is how you do it.

 

Squeeze the filler, release it in the ink bottle, SLOWLY. After fully releasing it, wait 10 seconds. Repeat this process 2 or three time. The first couple of times you squeeze it in the bottle, you can almost feel air being pushed out. The key is this: make sure you are slow, and you wait.

 

The filling process is similar to piston filler as well. If you do it too fast, the pen won't be able to let enough ink get inside, and you end up filling your pen with a lot of air bubbles.

 

Filled correctly, you should be able to fully fill the pen. The sac actually holds a lot of ink: it seems to hold more ink than my MB 149.

 

Good luck!

That's interesting. Do you squeeze it slowly and release it slowly or just release it slowly. I've had my best luck with a vigorous squeeze and release, but I'm open to trying to improve

 

thanks,

Bill