Lamy Pens – Drying Out Problem

[Retro-user]

Is it possible to leave an ink cartridge in the Lamy Vista for a couple weeks without it drying up? I have found with past Lamys I've owned that such treatment results in a dried out pen - ink seems to have evaporated. I'm asking because I'm getting ready to use a Lamy violet cartridge in a brand new Vista and I want to make sure I can commit to that ink color for a length of time to justify using it.

[RMN]

Is it possible to leave an ink cartridge in the Lamy Vista for a couple weeks without it drying up? I have found with past Lamys I've owned that such treatment results in a dried out pen - ink seems to have evaporated. I'm asking because I'm getting ready to use a Lamy violet cartridge in a brand new Vista and I want to make sure I can commit to that ink color for a length of time to justify using it.

Sorry for a late reply

 

 

That is the problem with all pens, cartridge or internal filler. If left alone for a longer time (some pens suffer from this very badly, some stay ready much longer) the ink on the exposed parts, nib and external feed, will dry out and the pen will hard-start. This has nothing to do with the cartridge or converter, but with the air-tightness of the cap.

I don't know how long the Vista will stay "fluid". I would say: try it out.

 

There are some tricks to get a dried up pen working again Tissue paper is the best in my opinion. Wipe the nib clean, and then grip the nib and feed between thumb and index finger (with the tissue covering both) The capillary function of the tissue will draw ink. If this doesn't work (worse case of drying out) wipe the nib with a damp tissue (just tap water) or hold the nib under the tab for a few seconds and then wipe it with a dry tissue.

A method I use sometimes is wet my finger with some saliva and wipe the nibslit. That helps sometimes. It will earn you a lightly coloured finger...

 

If all these don't help you will have to proper flush the pen.

 

 

D.ick

[minddance]

Lamy2000 dries out real slowly, so slowly that I would say it doesn't dry out.

[jchch1950]

I was travelling for three weeks, today I uncap my Lamy Safari and began to write without any hesitation.

[minddance]

Lamy vista/safari/al-star all have drying out problems. No doubt. My alt-goldgrun ink gets darker and darker in these Lamys until it completely dries out. And this ink has to be in Lamy because of this characteristic otherwise, it would be messily illegible.

[senzen]

I haven't had problems with any of my 7 Vistas starting, save for one lately, but the evaporation does change the colour of ink, notoriously with green blues; my current solution seems to help, even if it's not exactly pretty, I'm just covering the "windows" with masking tape:

 

 

A more permanent solution might be a Vista rollerball barrel, not sure this exists for regular Safaris.

[MYU]

If you're planning to leave a fountain pen unused for a few weeks and are concerned about it drying out, you may just want to put it inside a ziplock bag. Cheapest solution that is pretty effective!

[minddance]

I have tried leaving fountain pens unused for a few weeks, I have splendid results with Pelikan, TWSBI, Lamy2000, Kaweco, Wingsung 3008,698, Pilot, Platinum 3776 and Preppy, (Sailor).

[Astronymus]

 

I haven't had problems with any of my 7 Vistas starting, save for one lately, but the evaporation does change the colour of ink, notoriously with green blues; my current solution seems to help, even if it's not exactly pretty, I'm just covering the "windows" with masking tape:

 

 

A more permanent solution might be a Vista rollerball barrel, not sure this exists for regular Safaris.

Interesting. Wouldn't it be easier to just buy a spare part Vista rollerball barrel?

 

Edited March 4, 2018 by Astron

[senzen]

 

 

Interesting. Wouldn't it be easier to just buy a spare part Vista rollerball barrel?

 

 

 

Easier but more expensive; although not ridiculously so; I've only found one store that sells them, in the UK though.

[Safari_Camo]

I want to get this vials and test if works with a Waterman Kultur and some Lamy Safaris.
They have the same issue

[Astronymus]

"Vials". Funny. These are just petlings. Blanks for plastic bottles.

[senzen]

I want to get this vials and test if works with a Waterman Kultur and some Lamy Safaris.

They have the same issue

 

 

 

I ended up looking at similar solutions, took off the masking tape from my Vistas, I'm using several pen pouches but it;s no very practical. A wooden box with a glass window would be more practical but they get expensive quick... For 22 pens!

[taimdala]

This morning I opened up my zippered pen case to use one of my Lamy AL-Stars and it hard started, which was unusual for that particular pen/ink combination. I checked the ink supply and saw with some shock that the cartridge was running on fumes--or droplets, in this case. I immediately thought I'd sprung a leak or burped the ink out but no, everything was clean and dry.

 

I hadn't used the pen much in the past few months but I store my pens carefully and to my knowledge no one else has been using my pens in the middle of the night while I slept, so how did the ink disappear?

 

All I could think of was this: I'd taken my pen case with me on my vacation (just last week). Perhaps traveling in a hot car might have evapped the ink out of the cartridge. I had the AC on fairly strongly whenever I was driving but of course, I had parked the car for a couple of hours and the AC would be off during those times. Cars are like ovens in the summer and this summer (Toronto, PEI, NYC, North Carolina) has been pretty oven-like. The pens always followed me into the hotel room for the night and stay for the hours I didn't haul my pens out with me.

Is there a time limit or a life span to a Lamy ink cartridge? How much does it vary due to temperature vs. use?

 

I have reached a point in my collection that I have a few more pens than I can use and all are currently inked up ... but if Lamy cartridges last unused in a pen for only a few months, I need to figure out how to store them better against evaporation. Otherwise, I will spend more time cleaning out my pens than writing with them and my bank account will suffer from buying more cartridges.

Also, I am saving the cartridges (especially of the hard-to-replace LE colors) with the idea of filling them with a different color of Lamy ink, to make new colors and possibly introduce sheen to a color that normally doesn't have one. Has anyone thoughts or results to share on this as well? If I am going to be pulling evapped cartridges out every two-three months, I might as well try to get some use out of the ink residue sticking to the cartridges.

[taimdala]

If you're planning to leave a fountain pen unused for a few weeks and are concerned about it drying out, you may just want to put it inside a ziplock bag. Cheapest solution that is pretty effective!

 

I will try this! A gallon zip lock should hold my zipper cases nicely. ^_^

[arthury]

I have the 3 LAMY AL-star and they are doing the same thing. Tried different inks and they still dried out easily.

I even changed the nib from Fine to Medium and it still did not flow well.

 

Inks I have tried include but not limited to:

• Pelikan (Edlestein and regular Pelikan)
• Pilot
• LAMY

 

When I'm writing, I had to fight with the pen and it is becoming a very ineffective tool.

Any ideas what I should do alleviate this issue?

[senzen]

Gave up on the masking tape and got a bunch of these, evaporation problem solved for my 7 Vistas and Mujis. They're made of a velvet like material.

 

Edited August 17, 2018 by pseudo88

[arthury]

Im soaking mine in warm water to clear out any possible gunks and re-start again.

[rollerboy]

As a test I left my most expensive pen uncapped while I emptied my bowels. About 10 to 15 mins later there was a tiny tiny tiny hard start but it was fine.

 

How did I manage to not comment on that post back in 2014.

[Retro-user]

If you're planning to leave a fountain pen unused for a few weeks and are concerned about it drying out, you may just want to put it inside a ziplock bag. Cheapest solution that is pretty effective!

Great idea!