Improving Ink flow

[babydoc]

I hope that this is a simple question for the pen experts. I have several Pelikan GO pens, all of which write wonderfully (med nib). I purchased one with a fine nib and am having trouble getting decent ink flow--using Waterman Florida blue or Parker black ink. Is there a simple way to improve the flow without having all of the equipment used by the nibmeisters. I am not certain, but I don't think that these nibs can be removed and replaced--perhaps someone can clarify this for me. Any hints? TIA. Lenore

[Thesaurus Rex]

I got a new pen recently and was having real problems with it skipping. Then someone on PenTracers suggested to me that I flush it with a VERY mild solution of soap and water. I used about two drops of dishwashing liquid in a quart bowl of cool water.

 

Flush the pen with the converter, then fill it with ink and see if that doesn't help your ink flow along a bit. The soap changes the surface tension inside the pen and enables the ink to flow more freely. Hey, it worked for me!

 

Hope you get that worked out. A pen that won't flow can be a real headache.

[Gerry]

There are inks that flow better than others - try looking in Inky Thoughts for a listing of them.

 

If you are willing to experiment with your own ink, TR's detergent advice can be applied to the ink itself - add a drop or two of the dilute soap solution to the ink bottle and try writing with that. If you don't want to adjust the whole bottle of ink to see - try cleaning the pen with the soap solution TR recommended, then without rinsing in clean water, fill from the bottle. Enough detergent should have remained in the sac to help the ink properties a bit.

 

Flossing the nib and perhaps trying minor adjustments to the tine spacing might help. Check to see that the feed is not too tight up against the nib, nor too far away from it. It should be possible to just get a thin piece of paper between the feed and nib.

 

After that, you are into more advanced nib adjustment techniques that may involve removal.

 

Gerry

[wimg]

Hi Lenore,

 

Gerry and Rex said it all already, flushing and a piece of stiff paper between the tines should do the trick.

 

Regarding the nib: removal is very easy, it just pulls out. It is friction fit on the feed. If you need to do that, just make sure you pull it out straight, in order not to bend it.

 

HTH,

Kind regards

[smilined]

This is a great tip: I just bought a used Rotring that was skipping something terrible and flushed with dishwashing liquid and warm water and it's writing just fine now.

 

The only problem I have is the same problem I have when I clean my pen on a regular basis: when I flush the pen with water for any reason the ink will be watery for quite a while afterwards (perhaps a day or two until it gets back to normal). Is there something I am missing here? I have tried drying the pen with piece of cloth but no results. How can this be prevented?

 

Sorry if this is elementary but I am new to fountain pens.

 

-Ed

 

 

 

 

[Goshzilla]

This is a great tip: I just bought a used Rotring that was skipping something terrible and flushed with dishwashing liquid and warm water and it's writing just fine now.

 

The only problem I have is the same problem I have when I clean my pen on a regular basis: when I flush the pen with water for any reason the ink will be watery for quite a while afterwards (perhaps a day or two until it gets back to normal). Is there something I am missing here? I have tried drying the pen with piece of cloth but no results. How can this be prevented?

 

Sorry if this is elementary but I am new to fountain pens.

 

-Ed

 

The only conceivable way to remove all water from the pen is to blast air through the end where the converter meets the feed, or removing the feed from the section. Drying it out with a can of air or from a hair dryer would remove most if not all the water left in the feed. Caution, this could damage the nib if you don't have the proper set of pliers.

 

The other thing I just thought of(but again I haven't done this yet so I can't verify on how safe it is on a pen) might be taking an aquarium air pump, and those small rubber tubes it comes with, fit the rubber tube as tight as possible on the end so that no air can escape. If it works, it would be quicker than letting it naturally dry, and safer than removing the nib. The important thing is that air flow through into the feed to allow it to dry.

[Ray-Vigo]

Inksafe from Tryphon can help too. A combination of that in my ink along with a nib floss with metal foil helped a slow Sheaffer I have. It was very dry and unreliable before- but after I did a nib floss and added some inksafe to my ink mix it improved.

[Buzz J]

This is a great tip: I just bought a used Rotring that was skipping something terrible and flushed with dishwashing liquid and warm water and it's writing just fine now.

 

The only problem I have is the same problem I have when I clean my pen on a regular basis: when I flush the pen with water for any reason the ink will be watery for quite a while afterwards (perhaps a day or two until it gets back to normal). Is there something I am missing here? I have tried drying the pen with piece of cloth but no results. How can this be prevented?

 

Sorry if this is elementary but I am new to fountain pens.

 

-Ed

 

If you don't need to reink the pen immediately, you can leave the pen overnight tip down on a wadded up paper towel. The towel will slowly draw the water out.

 

Or you can wrap the uncapped pen in a paper towel and shake it down like an old fashion thermometer.

 

Finally, you can build yourseld a centrifuge device (no kidding) from a salad spinner like this: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...l=salad+spinner

 

Good luck!

 

John

[allergist1]

I have a similar ink flow problem and I hope someone here can help.

 

At the Columbus pen show last month, I purchased a new Taccia Staccato ebonite pen and had Richard Binder replace the plated nib with a vintage Waterman Red nib. It is a beautiful writer. However, after half a page or so, the ink simply dries up and the pen writes no more. I have tried taking the nib/feed unit apart, cleaning it thoroughly with soapy water, and reseating the nib more deeply, to no avail. There is no dried ink, so I have not tried flossing or similar measures.

 

I have found one peculiar remedy: when the ink stops flowing, I can simply turn the nib upside down and touch it lightly on the paper, and I can then turn the nib back to the original position and the ink will flow again for a while. So, I'm thinking, there is probably a gap between the nib and the feed, and that pressing the top of the nib presses the nib closer to the feed, restoring capillary action and ink flow. So, I took the nib/feed unit out and put them back, this time deeper into the section in an attempt to make the nib fit better and firmer on the feed. The nib size number 8 was showing before, but no longer does so. This worked for a while and I was so proud of myself for solving the problem, but now the problem has recurred. Before I send the pen to Richard, I would like to try everything I can first.

 

I have tried Waterman, Parker, and Sheaffer inks and they make no difference.

 

Do you think that setting the feed with heat would help? If yes, how does one go about doing this?

 

Can someone suggest a remedy?

 

Thanks,

Michael Dao

[OldGriz]

I have a similar ink flow problem and I hope someone here can help.

 

At the Columbus pen show last month, I purchased a new Taccia Staccato ebonite pen and had Richard Binder replace the plated nib with a vintage Waterman Red nib. It is a beautiful writer. However, after half a page or so, the ink simply dries up and the pen writes no more. I have tried taking the nib/feed unit apart, cleaning it thoroughly with soapy water, and reseating the nib more deeply, to no avail. There is no dried ink, so I have not tried flossing or similar measures.

 

I have found one peculiar remedy: when the ink stops flowing, I can simply turn the nib upside down and touch it lightly on the paper, and I can then turn the nib back to the original position and the ink will flow again for a while. So, I'm thinking, there is probably a gap between the nib and the feed, and that pressing the top of the nib presses the nib closer to the feed, restoring capillary action and ink flow. So, I took the nib/feed unit out and put them back, this time deeper into the section in an attempt to make the nib fit better and firmer on the feed. The nib size number 8 was showing before, but no longer does so. This worked for a while and I was so proud of myself for solving the problem, but now the problem has recurred. Before I send the pen to Richard, I would like to try everything I can first.

 

I have tried Waterman, Parker, and Sheaffer inks and they make no difference.

 

Do you think that setting the feed with heat would help? If yes, how does one go about doing this?

 

Can someone suggest a remedy?

 

Thanks,

Michael Dao

 

Michael,

Have you contacted Richard about the problem...... I am sure that if he did the swap and tuned the pen, he would want to know about the problem... his customer service is fantastic...

 

I would contact Richard.... the fact that you took the nib and feed apart though might be a problem to him....

[allergist1]

The only deterrent is Richard's turnaround time, which is stated at 17 weeks on his website. That is over 4 months!

If I can try some simple things to help myself and avoid the 4-month wait, I wouldn't expect Richard to mind. He has always been very generous in teaching me to take care of minor issues.

[OldGriz]

The only deterrent is Richard's turnaround time, which is stated at 17 weeks on his website. That is over 4 months!

If I can try some simple things to help myself and avoid the 4-month wait, I wouldn't expect Richard to mind. He has always been very generous in teaching me to take care of minor issues.

 

I can't speak for Richard, but from what I know of his work, if he had done the original job and it was not working for you it would have been moved to the front of the line as a warranted repair. Now this is only what I believe to be true...

The problem now is that you have removed and reset the nib.... I don't know what he story will be there...

I would still contact Richard and let him know the problem and let him tell you what can be done....

 

I know what you mean about the lead time on Richard's work. Personally, it does not bother me... when I need something done by Richard, it is something that I usually well willing to wait for... currently he has a matched pair of Chilton Golden Quills in the line up for me... so I am looking at seeing them something around St Patrick's Day... however, I do know that when they arrive, they are going be absolutely perfect as he can make them, including the replacement of one garbage nib with another Chilton nib and the original Golden Quill nib will write perfectly on the other pen.

[mdblue]

[

 

I know what you mean about the lead time on Richard's work. Personally, it does not bother me... when I need something done by Richard, it is something that I usually well willing to wait for... currently he has a matched pair of Chilton Golden Quills in the line up for me... so I am looking at seeing them something around St Patrick's Day... however, I do know that when they arrive, they are going be absolutely perfect as he can make them, including the replacement of one garbage nib with another Chilton nib and the original Golden Quill nib will write perfectly on the other pen.

 

Amen...

[extrafine]

The only problem I have is the same problem I have when I clean my pen on a regular basis: when I flush the pen with water for any reason the ink will be watery for quite a while afterwards (perhaps a day or two until it gets back to normal). Is there something I am missing here? I have tried drying the pen with piece of cloth but no results. How can this be prevented?

 

Another thing (along with all the suggestions above) that works is to ink it up again, then sponge ink out through the nib with a paper towel. Doesn't take long before all the water is diluted out.

[PAKMAN]

On the question of drying to get water out. If I want to re-ink a pen soon after I clean it I wrap the nib end in a thick wrapping of toilet paper and fling until it seems to be dry. Then I put it nib down is a cup full of toilet paper for a little while. It will suck the water right out. The weird thing is that you think the pen is as clean as a person could get it but when you pull it out of the cup the TP will invariably be ink stained.

[gregoron]

Here's the thread on how I improved the flow of my vintage Aurora 888:

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...rt=#entry438320

 

It's a process of elimination starting with the easiest fix first. Flush the section and nib with 9 parts water and 1 part ammonia as recommended in the thread above. Ink and test. It this doesn't work, flush again leaving the section in the solution longer. This time remove the nib, or nib & feeder, from the section if possible. Again, if this doesn't work, try to carefully align the nib after reading up on Richard Binder's website and other FPN threads on nib alignment. Finally, if all else fails, send it in for repair. If you're not comfortable disassembling the pen, send it in for repairs after the first or second flushes do not work.