What's The Point Of Converters

[Ad_Astra]

One good reason not to do this - on most converters, they are fitted once and then refilled indefinitely the normal way. If you remove them and refit them every time you fill with ink, the interface between the converter and the stem in the feed will wear out and leak far more quickly than it ever would if you filled normally. The converters rely on slight elasticity in the plastic where it pushes over the nib feed, and you'll get leaks sooner or later using you rmethod.

 

I'm not sure how much faster it'll wear out, but at least around here, a new Lamy converter is around $5 USD. A bottle of 50 mL of ink isn't that much more, and you're certainly not saving 70+ mL of ink with the 'refill then reinsert' method.

 

Definitely not worth it if the risk of failure is even substantially increased.

[PenTieRun]

I just sent my second Montblanc in a year to Dallas to get the piston lubricated (apparently grease is too expensive to lube the pen properly during manufacture :mad: ). At least with a converter (or a Pelikan) you don't have this problem.

[Garageboy]

Why fill a converter with a syringe when a refilled cart holds more?

[mattyts]

Well i bought a parker converter today

 

i have 2 parkers but dont want to buy parkers cartridges as they are dear

 

So i got 1 converter for my everyday writer since it dosent hold as much ink i can change ink often which i do

And i used the big cartridge for my school pen to refil since i only use blue and wont have to refil often

 

So im sitting on the fence here!

[tinta]

Converters hold a reasonable amount of ink for my purposes & are inexpensive to replace when worn.

 

After filling a converter, draw back some of the ink from the feed into the pen.

Now that the feed is no longer flooded, wipe the nib/section off quickly, with a "damp", folded, three ply tissue (try to get a hard surfaced, no-lotion tissue).

When wet, the tissue does not absorb as much ink & cleans the section as well.

 

This method works for me.

[mattyts]

With a converter it goes in the place of a cartridge so you can fill the converter then put it in the pen

 

Wallah no ink wasted

[New_Falcon]

So for the last two weeks or so I've been using a converter with my pen.

 

I did follow the advice of filling the converter, expelling three drops and then drawing back the converter again, causing ink to be sucked back from the nib and feed.

 

This makes a big difference. Doing this means slightly less ink in the converter, which might be an issue for some people but when wiping the nib and section afterwards, there's definitely less ink waste and 'fuss'.

 

I maybe an ink converter convert!

 

Thanks all.

[Renfield]

Converters cost extra.

 

I prefer to fill my pens the way that causes least mess.

 

For me that is using a syringe, and as such, a converter is not necessary. I simply refill cartridges. I keep about 4 pens inked, so if one runs out then I use another one, and I work from home, so I do not have the travelling issues.

 

Once a pen runs dry, I flush it and change colour, so I always have 4 different colours.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Wiping the top of the nib is fine along with the section after filling, but when you wipe the feed, you suck up ink making it harder for the converter to start supplying ink.

 

Converters are there because are lots of beautiful colors in ink bottles, more than I can buy.

[checkrail]

I do like the way that with a converter it is easy to see how much ink is left compared with some filling systems.

Kind regards

Timothy

[stefanv]

Converters cost extra.

 

Yup. About the same cost as a syringe.

[New_Falcon]

Converters cost extra.

 

-[sNIP]-

 

Converters do sometimes cost extra, but with my Falcon I got one cartridge and one converter.

[Renfield]

Converters cost extra.

 

Yup. About the same cost as a syringe.

 

But I only need 1 syringe for all my pens

[MES]

I use cartridges primarily because they hold more ink than converters. Most of my pens are Sheaffers and I like the capacity of their cartridges. I refill the cartridges using a syringe. Pretty simple and quick once you get the hang of it. Rinsing the cartridge out to change to another color of ink has never really been a problem.

[mhosea]

I change inks a lot. I most often treat spent cartridges the way you would the body of an eyedropper filler. I rarely use my converters, but they are there if I want them. Personally, I avoid frequently installing and removing the converters because that will probably wear them out. Obviously I don't care much about wearing out spent cartridges. If I cared about ink capacity to begin with, which I don't, another reason would be that the cartridges hold more ink, specially the Pilot cartridges versus the Con-50. For some reason the plastic of the cartridges seems better suited to the job--it seems less easy for the ink to hang around at the wrong end of the reservoir when you turn the pen down to write with it. With some pens it is a little bit of a hassle getting the flow started, whereas when filling through the feed there is never any problem.

[rhodialover]

I know this is going to sound strange, but I like to refill every other day. Something about it relaxes me. This is made doubly weird by the fact nib creep creeps me out. (why would I not want to see the gorgeous two tone nib of my M600? )

[Newjelan]

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I use cartridges in my Starwalker because that's what they take.

 

I use a Faber-Castell Cartridge Converter in my Starwalker as a change from cartridges and it works well.

Edited September 11, 2012 by Newjelan

[rochester21]

Refilling a cartridge is not something you can do easily on the road, in the office, etc. Refilling a pen with a converter takes just a few seconds, whereas refilling with a cartridge requires you to remove the cartridge, suck up ink with a syringe, carefully put the ink in the cartridge, clean the syringe, etc. You'll probably lose a lot of ink every time you rinse out that syringe too.

 

Most of my pens are piston fill, but I've never wasted a lot of ink wiping the nib and section. After filling, turn the knob the other way to force about 3 or 4 drops of ink back into the bottle. Then turn the pen nib up, and turn the knob to suck the extra ink out of the feed and into the pen or converter.

 

When wiping the nib, stay away from the nib slit, and you won't waste much ink.

 

I strongly disagree. I could refill a cartridge using a syrnge while blindfolded without wasting ink or getting ink on my fingers or the pen. The problem with converters or pens that need to be refilled straight from the bottle is that you have to submerge the pen/converter in ink, which always leads to ink residue.

Besides, most converters are short, and when the ink bottle is not full or nearly empty, avoiding ink stains on the fingers from the contact with the neck of the bottle is almost impossible.

Using a syringe does mean wasting insignificant amounts of ink and they will require regular cleaning, but i rather clean the syringe than the pen or my blue fingers.

For me, converters are not that useful(especially the twist type), but usually they come with the pen, so it`s just a little extra.

Edited September 11, 2012 by rochester21

[faustulus]

I never understood people who use cartridges, but to each his own. After reading this thread I still don't see the appeal. To get them to work you either need to spend (bleep) loads of money to buy carts with limited ink selection, or use a work around to fill them with a syringe. The difference in ink capacity is negligible, and if that little bit is a concern then a piston filler would be a better choice from the get go. A pack of carts costs about as much as a converter, though almost all of my pens have come with one new, so that isn't really a concern. As for wearing them out, well, the soft plastic of the carts will wear out long before the harder plastic of the converter will. Then there is the filling method, sticking a nib into a bottle and pulling ink through it saturates the feed/comb, something you have to wait for with carts. And personally I don't want to mess around with a syringe to fill up a pen, in fact I don't want anything required to fill a pen external to the pen, save the ink.

[trickster]

By the way, when refilling a cartridge with a syringe I often find that the cartridge has a meniscus of ink across its mouth. When injecting the ink, the meniscus becomes a bubble that pops, spraying everything around with a tiny amount of ink.

 

This can be prevented by sucking some air out of the cartridge so that as the air is replaced from the outside, the bubble pops inside. Then you can charge the syringe with ink and refill the cartridge as usual.

 

That way the only thing you need to wipe is the tip of the syringe. If the needle has a cap I sometimes don't even bother to wash the syringe. The residual ink will remain liquid until the next refill (syringes and needles are cheap enough that I use one set per ink).

Edited September 11, 2012 by trickster