Twist Converters And Ink Flow

[Bill Wood]

Wrote with a smooth Carene today and had trouble with the Waterman converter. It's been suggested to take apart the converter and add a bead such as a bead in an ink cartridge. Sooo let's try that. Which ink cartridges use a bead that can be salvaged and inserted into a waterman or Schmidt converter? Would a small seed bead work ?

[UDog]

I have had similar problems with two Franklin-Christoph pens. Give the converter a little twist and flow is normal. Write for a page and do it again. I have cleaned the converter, used carts; and it's always the same. I have returned every nib and gotten only marginally better in return. There is a design flaw in these JoWo nibs. I have given up on them. Wasted a lot of money.

[tutelman]

On occasion I have had the problem described above by RMN. Lately, I have solved it by recycling the beads used in cartridges.

 

For example, Platinum's proprietary cartridges have a small bead. When the cartridge is empty, I cut it open, remove the bead, and install it in a convertor. Voila! Problem solved. (Although the convertor's ink capacity is somewhat diminished.)

[Dillo]

Hi,

 

I haven't noticed a difference between my twist and press-bar converters. Usually it's the feed of the pen, not the converter itself, but sometimes you can get a problem where the walls of the converter don't wet well and ink gets stuck in the converter preventing ink from flowing. In my experience, the hard plastic converters seem to wet better than the soft plastic ones. I never had any problems with my Platinum or Aurora converters wetting properly. I also have Sailor converters that work well.

 

One of the converters I can think of that notoriously doesn't wet well is the Schmidt K5/6 and K2 (the worst) and the derivatives like the Lamy converters. Montblanc uses a derivative of the K5, but they asked that Schmidt put in a spring to prevent this thing from happening, and I happen to like the unit Schmidt provides to Montblanc. (look in the MB converter. There is a spring to keep ink flowing).

 

There are a few converters that I really don't like. The Waterman converters, the new type, often end up leaking at the tip. The Schmidt converters sometimes get ink behind the piston beside having a problem where the plastic doesn't wet well. I also don't like the old Pilot Con-50. The plastic doesn't wet well and ink gets stuck. The new one has a tube to prevent this from happening, and I like it much more.

 

Most of my pens use the press-bar converters like the Pilot Con-20 and Aurora Trik-Trak and Sheaffer Press-bar converter, and I have a total of one Schmidt converter, the one in my Lamy ABC. I also have a few Sailor twist converters and a few Platinum twist converters, but they work quite well as a rule, and I've never had any problems with them. The Sailor ones sometimes get a little ink behind the seal, but it doesn't bother me as much.

 

Dillon

[RMN]

Before you accuse the penmaker/nibmaker: try the pen with a regular cartridge.

 

Remember: a converter is something that converts one thing to something it really is not.

 

A cartridge pen is not made to function with a converter, it is made to work with cartridges. If you want it to make do as a piston filler you are likely to run into problems.

If you don't like a cartridge pen, don't buy it. Buy a real pistonfiller instead.

 

You can take a bicycle and put a motor on it, but that does not produce a Harley Davidson. Don't yell at the producer of the bicycle.

 

D.ick

Edited October 3, 2013 by RMN

[Bill Wood]

Before you accuse the penmaker/nibmaker: try the pen with a regular cartridge.

 

Remember: a converter is something that converts one thing to something it really is not.

 

You can take a bicycle and put a motor on it, but that does not produce a Harley Davidson. Don't yell at the producer of the bicycle.

 

D.ick

True Dick - but the Schmidt converters are pretty standard with Edison Pens - production line for $150. Watermans on the other hand are not. Hey Dick .. by the way -- have you ever taken apart a waterman converter ? Do they come apart? Thanks

[Dillo]

True Dick - but the Schmidt converters are pretty standard with Edison Pens - production line for $150. Watermans on the other hand are not. Hey Dick .. by the way -- have you ever taken apart a waterman converter ? Do they come apart? Thanks

Yes, the Waterman converters come apart. They use a thread locker between the ring and plastic body. You can just unscrew the ring, but most of the time it's quite tight. If you take apart a new one and an old one, you can see how much they cheapened up the new one. It's clever, but when it comes down to it, it's just bad design.

 

Dillon

[Laura N]

Have you guys tried cleaning the converters with soapy water? I do this with every new Edison pen, and it has eliminated the problem for me. It seems easier than having to fiddle with metal beads.

[Dillo]

Have you guys tried cleaning the converters with soapy water? I do this with every new Edison pen, and it has eliminated the problem for me. It seems easier than having to fiddle with metal beads.

 

It really helps the converter wet. One doesn't want to remove too much lubricant though since it can make the converter piston stick. Personally, I apply a surfactant to the converter, then I wash it and relubricate it if it is having problems.

 

Dillon

[Bill Wood]

I'm testing two converters most often mentioned in this thread. A Waterman, and a Schmidt / international converter. In the waterman converter I've added a 3mm stainless steel coil, and in the Schmidt converter I've inserted 4mm round hollow stainless bead. Both the coil and the round bead are from jewelry crafting.

 

Nibs are a Carene nib in the Waterman, and a Jowo stainless nib in the Schmidt. Jowo nibs are installed in the Edison production pens. Inks are the well behaved variety. Waterman blue black, and pilot Kon peki. Ill also try some higher saturated inks including Sailor blue black, and some Noodler Asa Gao and Navy. Ill report back on this thread to see if the flow from the converters has increased. Under no circumstances will I twist the converters to increase flow.

[UK Mike]

Remember: a converter is something that converts one thing to something it really is not.

 

A cartridge pen is not made to function with a converter, it is made to work with cartridges. If you want it to make do as a piston filler you are likely to run into problems.

If you don't like a cartridge pen, don't buy it. Buy a real pistonfiller instead.

 

You can take a bicycle and put a motor on it, but that does not produce a Harley Davidson. Don't yell at the producer of the bicycle.

 

D.ick

 

I have no wish to be offensive but that is nonsense.

 

Just because someone chose the description as "converter" rather than "Removable piston filler", should not, and does not, imply that this method of filling is inferior in any way.

Whilst there will always be advocates of a piston-fill pen, others find the flexibility and easy cleaning of a "removable piston fill" pen to be a genuine asset.

Ask any of the pen manufacturers and they will tell you that it is the feed and nib that work together to determine ink flow and none of their products are optimised for either cartridge or the other filling system.

[Brian C]

I have noticed this issue with most converter pens excepting Platinum. Every Platinum I use will write until it is out of ink. Oftentimes I don't realize I am running out of ink until I have no more ink.

[BT-7274]

I haven't had this issue either with any of my converters. They all flow just fine, especially if I've put BSB in them and then switched inks later. Weird how that works, but truth be told, I don't have issues even with my Chinese fp converters. In my experience though, Sheaffer converters generally work the best, as they seem to be just wide enough to avoid most of the surface tension issues, even with Noodler's X-Feather.

[sandy101]

I've had this problem. I thought I'd got air bubbles in the ink which blocked the feed. A twist of the converter usually solves the problem. I'll try a thorough clean when it's time to fill up again.

[georges zaslavsky]

Never had problem with any of my converted pens

[Bill Wood]

I thought I may post my findings on converters. I'm using a small bead in the International converter and the ink flow is very, very good even with some dry nibs. The only nibs I use are from Edison, and they use a standard converter.

 

A small 4 mm crafting bead works perfectly and does indeed help with the ink flow in my Edisons.

 

The jury is still out on the Waterman converters. The converters are rather thin and I have not found a bead with forces bubbles out of the converter, AND addresses the problem of sticky inks in the converters. I did use a small bead - but it ended up blocking the converter rather than increasing flow. The best bead to use is one that floats.

 

I continue to work on the Waterman converters.

[torstar]

I write a lot sitting up in bed and sometimes that is too much for the pen at that angle.

 

Writing at a tilt may require some pens to get a little bit of help along the way.

[Dillo]

I thought I may post my findings on converters. I'm using a small bead in the International converter and the ink flow is very, very good even with some dry nibs. The only nibs I use are from Edison, and they use a standard converter.

 

A small 4 mm crafting bead works perfectly and does indeed help with the ink flow in my Edisons.

 

The jury is still out on the Waterman converters. The converters are rather thin and I have not found a bead with forces bubbles out of the converter, AND addresses the problem of sticky inks in the converters. I did use a small bead - but it ended up blocking the converter rather than increasing flow. The best bead to use is one that floats.

 

I continue to work on the Waterman converters.

 

It's possible that you can use a sliding spring like the one in MB converters and in some Parker slide converters.

 

Dillon

[conib]

sometimes you can get a problem where the walls of the converter don't wet well and ink gets stuck in the converter preventing ink from flowing.

 

 

It really helps the converter wet. One doesn't want to remove too much lubricant though since it can make the converter piston stick. Personally, I apply a surfactant to the converter, then I wash it and relubricate it if it is having problems.

 

I've seen a demo where silicone grease was put onto the rim of the rubber plunger (as well as onto the plastic piston jack screw) of a disassembled and cleaned converter prior to reassembly.

 

I've wondered whether putting silicone grease onto that plunger, where it can go on to coat the walls of the inside of the converter, is a good idea. Dillon, do you think that silicone-greased walls might interfere with wetting and potentially cause a problem with ink flow?

 

-- Constance

[Dillo]

Hi,

 

With a piston converter, the silicone grease is very necessary for the converter to work properly. In my experience, it seems that even with the silicone grease, some converters wet better than others due to the plastic they are made of.

 

Dillon