Inks That Tend To Clog....

[Lazarus Long]

I finally got around to checking my Tanzanite for SITB. I used a coffee stirer, swirled around a bit, and looked - I didn't see any stringy bits hanging off, nothing floating on top, no gummy stuff on the bottom, so I don't think I have SITB.

 

However, I did notice that the paper cap liner didn't stay with the cap - it was essentially glued to the top of the bottle. None of my other inks have done that. Somehow I managed to get it off without turning my hands purple.

 

As I was looking I kept thinking - this is a nice purple. Too bad it doesn't work.

[coldman]

However, I did notice that the paper cap liner didn't stay with the cap - it was essentially glued to the top of the bottle. None of my other inks have done that. Somehow I managed to get it off without turning my hands purple.

 

That has happened to me with several ink bottles. The solution has usually been a drop of superglue in the cap and then to push the liner firmly into place for a few seconds. Sometimes the cap liner glue is poor quality or there simply isn't any.

[jiamin]

I have also had trouble with my bottle of PR Tanzanite. Both my Safaris are wet writers, and handled PR Lake Placid Blue and Noodler's Nightshade and Heart of Darkness very well. But when I put Tanzanite in them, I started having trouble.

 

I've tried diluting it with water, as well as putting some drops of glycerine in, but alas there has been no change. I am giving up, for now.

 

I also thought I had SITB in this bottle as well, because there was a spongy mass when I first got it, but when I checked it recently it has gone. And there are no stringy bits when I poke a stirrer in, so perhaps that was just sediment.

[PDW]

I'm having trouble with Diamine Jet Black. Both cartridge and bottle versions seem to clog and dry out the nib of every pen I've tried them with - Esterbrook J, Rotring Esprit, Pilot Decimo, Pilot Pluminix - and each time I've flushed and refilled a pen with other inks it has worked perfectly. For example, I tried an Estie J with three different nibs, and in each case the Jet Black clogged the pen. Flushed and refilled with Noddler's Dark Matter and the pen starts perfectly day after day, as does the Decimo refilled with Sailor Black.

 

I've had no problems with other Diamine inks (just watch Syrah coming off a gold nib ), which was why this was such a shock. I love the not-quite-black colour of Jet Black and really want it to work - does anyone have a solution?

Edited November 11, 2011 by PDW

[welch]

I'm new here (hello!) so forgive me if you've already pecked this to death.

 

I love Private Reserve inks because of their saturation and variety of colors. HOWEVER, it seems to be very cloggy. Frequrently, even if I've just cleaned the nib, the pen will stop writing even though there is still plenty of ink remaining in the cartridge. (I use almost exclusively cartridge v. bottle due to portability.) I can tap, tap,tap (gently!) the nib, squeeze the cartridge, LICK the nib -- and it just won't flow.

 

Currently I have a Michael's Fat Boy, Waterman Edson, Levenger, Laban and Delta who ALL, though recently cleaned, refuse to write.

 

All I can think of is that PR ink must be VERY fast drying within the nib, resulting in a clog.

 

Comments?

 

I have never had a problem with PR. I use mainly PR, Diamine, and Iroshizuku Asa Gao or Penman Sapphire when I can afford or find them. For reference, I use various blues...black is boring and I don't feel a need for red/orange/green inks.

[ThirdeYe]

I've had clogging issues with Noodler's Burma Road Brown in 3 of the 4 pens I've used. It works fine in my Platinum Preppy, but it clogged up my Parker Vacumatic and my Sheaffer Balance, pens that normally work perfectly fine. I forget what the other pen was that it clogged. When I tried to flush out the Balance, I literally had to soak the nib/section in an ammonia solution to get the ink to come out. After soaking it for quite a while, a big glob of black sludge-like ink came out into the sink.

[lovemy51]

never had a PR ink -and i own more than a dozen diff colors- clog my pens.

[tenney]

I was thinking of inking a pen with a PR ink, but with all of these comments about clogging... I'm having second thoughts now.

[Surnia]

I was thinking of inking a pen with a PR ink, but with all of these comments about clogging... I'm having second thoughts now.

 

Perfectly safe ink across the colours I've used. No clogging has been noticed, and it both flows and writes extremely well in any pen I ink PR in. Frankly they're a bit on the wet side... I've used Shoreline Gold, Orange Crush, Spearmint, Avacado... As mentioned in my earlier post from April the pens tend to be inked for month or two before they're fully consumed and there's no issue at all with clogging over time.

 

I'm having trouble with Diamine Jet Black. Both cartridge and bottle versions seem to clog and dry out the nib of every pen I've tried them with - Esterbrook J, Rotring Esprit, Pilot Decimo, Pilot Pluminix - and each time I've flushed and refilled a pen with other inks it has worked perfectly. For example, I tried an Estie J with three different nibs, and in each case the Jet Black clogged the pen. Flushed and refilled with Noddler's Dark Matter and the pen starts perfectly day after day, as does the Decimo refilled with Sailor Black.

 

I've had no problems with other Diamine inks (just watch Syrah coming off a gold nib ), which was why this was such a shock. I love the not-quite-black colour of Jet Black and really want it to work - does anyone have a solution?

 

third to 1/4 droplet dish detergent to the tip of the cartridge, squeeze the cart in and out a few times to draw it in slightly... then invert a few times to mix, repeat the squeeze and invert, then dab off excess dish detergent with a tissue. The point of this is to extract a SMALL amount of surfactant without swamping the cartridge with too much. the inverting allows mixing of the surfactant into the cartridge, while the squeezing makes it slightly more accessible to the ink.

 

I have what I believe to be "dark brown" in my box of diamine assorted cartridges and it was super dry and useless in my Kaweco. Useless to the point where it would not flow after a sentence, and needed a hard knock with the cap on to get it back down the nib again. Did the above trick and now it works beautifully and shades beautifully.

 

There has been mention of using a proper detergent/surfactant for this purpose (as the common varieties have an ionic interaction) across the forums, but I'm a cheap and lazy University student. Dish detergent works great.

Edited November 12, 2011 by Surnia

[PDW]

 

third to 1/4 droplet dish detergent to the tip of the cartridge, squeeze the cart in and out a few times to draw it in slightly... then invert a few times to mix, repeat the squeeze and invert, then dab off excess dish detergent with a tissue. The point of this is to extract a SMALL amount of surfactant without swamping the cartridge with too much. the inverting allows mixing of the surfactant into the cartridge, while the squeezing makes it slightly more accessible to the ink.

 

I have what I believe to be "dark brown" in my box of diamine assorted cartridges and it was super dry and useless in my Kaweco. Useless to the point where it would not flow after a sentence, and needed a hard knock with the cap on to get it back down the nib again. Did the above trick and now it works beautifully and shades beautifully.

 

There has been mention of using a proper detergent/surfactant for this purpose (as the common varieties have an ionic interaction) across the forums, but I'm a cheap and lazy University student. Dish detergent works great.

 

Thanks for the tip on applying detergent via the cartridge tip - just bought some fairly pure washing-up liquid and will try it using your technique. It also means there's no chance of cross-contamination between inks if you apply the detergent before you unseal the cartridge.

 

BTW I'm a university lecturer, and you've also surprised me by demonstrating that at least some students know about soap

Edited November 12, 2011 by PDW

[Surnia]

Thanks for the tip on applying detergent via the cartridge tip - just bought some fairly pure washing-up liquid and will try it using your technique. It also means there's no chance of cross-contamination between inks if you apply the detergent before you unseal the cartridge.

 

BTW I'm a university lecturer, and you've also surprised me by demonstrating that at least some students know about soap

 

Well the cart does need to be unsealed, but the way I have it applied, the ink doesn't cross contaminate xD You are right though, it can be applied while unsealed but I'm thinking it could be a bit high in concentration...

 

Its great fun being a chem student sometimes, until you have to memorize millions of organic reactions >_<

 

We ran an experiment last year identifying the CMC of SDS, and it happened at VERY low concentrations. Made me realize how little you actually need to work for a cartridge of ink...

Edited November 12, 2011 by Surnia

[KrazyIvan]

I have mostly PR inks and have not had issues. I clean between ink fills, even with the same color. Flow problems for me have always been nib/feed issues

[JimB]

Private Reserve Sepia cannot be coaxed out of any of my pens for consistent, smooth writing. I have tried a Pelikan, a Lami (with the 1.1 nib!), and a Noodler's Ahab, but not one will flow without drying out, skipping or (in the Lami) clogging into clumps! This is not my only PR ink. I have and use regularly Spearmint, Sherwood and Plum, and I have zero issues. But that most beautiful of shading inks, that best sepia I've seen, will NOT work for me.

[Bo Bo Olson]

I may have missed it, but I flush my c/c pens with a rubber ear syringe.

That is the fastest and best way to clean out a pen on the whole.

 

A real dried out pen can be flushed with a 1-9 ammonia to water with that rubber ear syringe after soaking.

 

I have a ultra sonic cleaner, that I use very seldom, unless it is a vintage pen.

 

Normally I do not have any clogging problems but do not use Private Reserve which has some sort of history.

 

Buy a rubber sponge for stamps and keep it wet. Then just dip the nib tip in it. That might solve your problem of pens not starting.

[mongrelnomad]

Midnight Blues and Chocolate are in constant rotation. Never had a problem with either...

[happy_time]

I have recently acquired Polar Black Noodler's ink but noticed that while it flows quite well on "Waterman Expert" and "Cross ATX" it does not flow well on "Parker IM" and "Parker Reflex". I am guessing it is the problem common with Parker and Noodler's ink.

 

When I refill Noodler's polar black ink into the converter and insert it into the Parker IM and Reflex, sometimes drops of ink just flows straight out of the nib and once I clean the dripping ink from the nib, the nib becomes extremely dry and rest of the ink in the converter does not come out well.

 

Nothing like this has happened to Parker IM and Reflex when I used Quink or Parker cartridge. Nothing like this happened to Waterman Expert or Cross ATX.

 

Can someone explain what is going on between Parker and Noodler's ink?

[inkstainedruth]

So far the only PR ink I've used is Purple Mojo. I have not had clogging issues, but I *have* had flushing issues (especially with refilled Parker cartridges). It's hard to get that last bit of ink out of the crevices in the cartridges sometimes.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Surnia]

I have recently acquired Polar Black Noodler's ink but noticed that while it flows quite well on "Waterman Expert" and "Cross ATX" it does not flow well on "Parker IM" and "Parker Reflex". I am guessing it is the problem common with Parker and Noodler's ink.

 

When I refill Noodler's polar black ink into the converter and insert it into the Parker IM and Reflex, sometimes drops of ink just flows straight out of the nib and once I clean the dripping ink from the nib, the nib becomes extremely dry and rest of the ink in the converter does not come out well.

 

Nothing like this has happened to Parker IM and Reflex when I used Quink or Parker cartridge. Nothing like this happened to Waterman Expert or Cross ATX.

 

Can someone explain what is going on between Parker and Noodler's ink?

 

That I've observed, the Noodler's Black inks tend to be higher in surface tension... This usually translates into the ink having more trouble entering small openings, and to me, a slightly drier writing experience.

 

If the feed protrudes far enough into the converter though (like the Kawecos), Its usually not an issue at all (the ink is more than capable enough to enter the feed) but the writing is still relatively dry.

[MyDarnSnakeLegs]

I have mostly PR inks and have not had issues. I clean between ink fills, even with the same color. Flow problems for me have always been nib/feed issues

 

Yep, this. I've been using various PR inks for years and I haven't had any clogs at all. They do seem thicker than some of my other inks, and they do take longer to get out of my pens when I've used them.

 

Where does one get one of those ultrasonic cleaners some of you have mentioned? Are they more effective and speedy than rinsing the section and forcing water through it?

[MyDarnSnakeLegs]

Removed, doubled somehow.

Edited May 7, 2012 by MyDarnSnakeLegs