Lamy Safari Converter/flow Issue?

[Phlebas]

Is this normal?

 

Lamy Safari, Fine. I'll clean, dry, and then and fill the converter with ink: either Waterman Florida/Serenity or Intense Black. It writes nicely for a few pages, then starts to skip a bit, miss on a down or upstroke, lighten up as though I'm running out of ink or there is a flow problem but I can see that I have plenty of ink left. I'll try tapping/flicking the pen in case it's an issue of the surface tension of the ink. The only thing that helps, however, is if I tighten/loosen the converter, meaning to twist it in the down direction, as though I were expelling the ink, ie, pushing the ink further towards the nib. Doing that immediately fixes the issue and it's fine for another few pages and then I have to do it again.

 

Is that just the cost of doing business, or could something by awry?

[Sasha Royale]

It is an unfortunate ailment of mass production in plastics.

There can be petroleum residue that can be cleaned with flushing,

using five ounces of room temp water and 4 drops of Dawn dish soap.

Rinse thoroughly. I use a rubber, ear bulb to flush and backflush.

 

There can also be "burrs" of plastic. Inquire at the repair sub-forum

for suggestions. Finishing polish by craftsmen is an expensive step,

that modern mass production omits, in every field. (Last week,my neighbor

could not start his new Buick.)

 

Good luck.

[Anne-Sophie]

It looks like your feed needs to be primed, follow Sasha Royale great directions.

 

New owners of fountain pens must read post

 

The priming usually takes care of the problem, the other quirks described in the thread above are rare.

 

I have never fiddled with my nibs and feeds and all my fountain pens work just fine, they have either medium or bold nibs.

 

It might be a fine or extra fine nib problem.

Edited December 3, 2012 by Anne-Sophie

[Renfield]

I have had issue's with Lamy Converters before, but not with Waterman Blue.

 

Mine was mostly with Noodlers Black, and it was a case that the ink was not sloshing around in the converter, and "Sticking", so the feed would dry out/

 

It had to be tapped/banged, until the ink fell down, then it worked fine.

 

I also had issue with nib creep with that ink.

 

I never did solve it, I just changed ink, that solved it.

 

Did you flush the pen properly? Should like a feed issue, if the ink is falling in the converter, it is not getting to the feed unless forced.

 

A good flush should sort.

 

Ren

[Adventurer]

My safari has been that way for 5 years, 100s of flushes/cleanings and ink fillings.

 

I've always considered it normal.

Since to fill the converter it uses a vacuum to pull ink up into it against gravity, I figure gravity is not going to feed/pull the ink down to the bottom of the space, without releasing some vacuum... In turning it down, you release the vacuum/push the ink down.

 

I just crank it down a turn or so every morning before my first journal session...

 

G.

[doggonecarl]

I seen the same problem with a number of Lamy pens, my Vista and, depending on the ink, my CP1. I have yet to see the problem with my Lamy Nexx.

 

Lamy isn't the only pen manufacturer where I've have encountered this problem with the converter (maybe inconvenience is a better term). I have to "advance" the ink in my Rotring Inital and Newton too.

Edited December 4, 2012 by doggonecarl

[richardandtracy]

My Vista does this, I have a 1.1i or 1.5i nib & have always put it down to the feed not being able to cope with the demand from the nib. Sounds odd that a Fine nib has this 'feature' too.

 

Regards,

 

Richard.

 

 

 

[Mike 59]

Hi All, I own a few Safari's and have found they vary a fair bit in ink flow.

 

My Safari Vista has been improved so much with work on both feeder channels and tine gap, but yet a red Safari I bought last month is absolutely fine from new 'as is'. Both chrome medium nibs.

I wouldn't even ink a pen without giving it a good flush through, a couple of times if I feel patient enough, with dish washing up liquid, (just one drop) in a glass of warm water, then plain water several times.

Better to pour the solution slowly into the top of the section (where the cartridge would fit), watch it drip out. It's a slow process, but worthwhile doing.

Followed by a good shake to throw off any water, then stand the pen up on a paper towel for an hour.

This problem is across all brands I have bought, and is likely to be down to mass production, and oiliness on the surface of the plastic.

In fact Lamy are better than most, as they do ink their pens and 'test' before sending out. Note blue ink in brand new pens.

[Renfield]

My safari has been that way for 5 years, 100s of flushes/cleanings and ink fillings.

 

I've always considered it normal.

Since to fill the converter it uses a vacuum to pull ink up into it against gravity, I figure gravity is not going to feed/pull the ink down to the bottom of the space, without releasing some vacuum... In turning it down, you release the vacuum/push the ink down.

 

I just crank it down a turn or so every morning before my first journal session...

 

G.

 

I don't find it with any of my other pens. And a lot of them are cheap Chinese pens, also a couple of shaeffer

 

I can understand your theory about the vacuum, but that's why it has a breather tube, to overcome the vacuum issue.

 

I think it is a combination of a Lamy converter, and an Ink flow issue.

 

The only ink I have it in is Noodlers Black(Also Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Black,to a much lesser extent), but I think that is my only saturated ink. Any of the "Shading" inks, dont seem to cause the problem.