Refill To Leak Help

[ewbiggers]

Hey all,

 

I have a Parker Sonnet, and I absolutely love it. However, every time I refill it and ten replace the cap, next time I open it up there is ink all over the grip and the nib. I can't tell what's causing it, I've thoroughly cleaned both the nib, the grip, and the cap to no avail. Any idea what could be causing this or suggestions to fix this? Thanks!

[thedeacon]

First off, welcome to FPN. Glad you joined us, you'll find a lot of great folks and info here.

 

We (maybe just me) may need a little more info on what is going on. Starting with: what you are using (cartridge or converter) and how are you refilling your Sonnet? Are you using a sringe to refill either? How are you storing the pen? Nib up? I (we?) may just need a few more details to help you out.

[ewbiggers]

Thank-you! I greatly look forwards to my time here.

 

I am using a converter and am refilling it with bottled ink (I don't have the specific brand nor colour at this moment). I am not using a syringe to refill either, and the pen is being stored nib up.

[thedeacon]

I'm not trying to tedious, but how about walking us through the procedure you use for refilling your Sonnet. I don't want to suggest anything, that's why I'm asking. Try not to leave anything out, the devil is in the details. Who knows what the one thing may be?

[ewbiggers]

Tedious is good, it's how problems are solved. Here are the steps:

 

1) Remove body of the pen so that the converter is exposed

2) Empty all remaining ink in the converter into the sink by depressing the piston

3) Rinse off nib and grip in cold water

4) Dry off nib and grip with paper towel

5) Immperse nib in ink, up to the golden rim on the bottom of the grip

6) Draw up ink by drawing up the piston

7) Empty back into ink bottle by depressing Piston

8) Repeat steps 6 and 7 two more times

9) Repeat step 6

10) Remove excess ink from nib and grip with paper towel

11) Wash out cap with cold water

12) Replace back of pen, replace cap, and replace cover to ink bottle

 

Hope this helps! Thanks for responding to this, it's a problem I'd love to find a solution to since, being a student, using my pen rapidly is a necessity, and taking the time to wipe off the excess ink at the beginning of the lecture and losing notes is a major annoyance.

[thedeacon]

It sounds like you are doing everything the way I know to do it. Something has to be "pushing" the ink out while it sits overnight. It shouldn't just flow out on its own. The only two things I can think of, using Occam's Razor, would be: are you using a Parker converter and is their an ink cartridge in the body of the pen? Sometimes a cartridge comes with the pen that could be stuck in the body of the pen. Does the body go on the pen without any resistance? I'm just making sure there is nothing pushing the converter piston that would cause the ink to be pushed out. BTW, is this a new pen? Have you had this issue since you purchased it? If there is nothing in the body of the pen, have you tried filling the converter then expelling a little ink then backing the converter piston off? It may be a question of pressure, or I could be over complicating things.

[pajaro]

Some inks can cause nib creep, ink creeping through the feed and onto the nib.

 

The converter seems to be a slide converter from the description of it.

 

I have had the same thing happen with a Sonnet. I am unsure of the cause.

 

Some say uncapping can cause a suction of ink from the nib or something like that.

 

Personally I have found it more common that the Sonnet nib will dry out between uses (even if capped), and a dunk in a jar of water is necessary to jumpstart it. I like these pens, and I have happened upon a few that work perfectly. Some others improved when a nib/section/converter unit from another Sonnet is swapped in.

 

There's no ecstasy quite like posting the cap of your Sonnet and, upon recapping the pen, finding the end of the barrel soaked in Parker black ink, which has gotten all over your hands.

 

Great patience is sometimes required.

[View from the Loft]

Annoying when this happens, isn't it.

 

As a suggestion, when you refill the pen, expel two drops of ink and then turn the pen nib up and draw the piston of the convertor all the way back before wiping off the excess ink etc.

 

It would be an idea to rinse out and then thoroughly dry the cap before introducing it to your pen again.

 

And finally, when you uncap it, try breaking the seal first, halt then and then take the cap off - so giving the pressure a chance to equalize (I have one pen that I need to uncap this way or I end up with an inky mess).

 

Can't guarantee any of these will help, but they might.

[ANM]

I was going to suggest that you dry the inside of the cap well before replacing it but View beat me to it. Another suggestion is to switch converters from the push one to the twist converter. If it is the converter's fault, that should show up the problem. As someone else suggested, putting a few drops back in the bottle might help too. If the converter is overfilled, warmness in the atmosphere might cause expansion of the ink and might cause the expelling of the ink out into the cap.

Edited October 29, 2013 by ANM

[ewbiggers]

Thanks guys, these are all quite helpful. Replacing the converter with one of the twist models sounds like a good idea, especially as I don't remember encountering such troubles when I used cartridges and I can't find any issues in the rest of the pen. I should imagine iar pressure can really be held responsible, since I am in Boulder CO and thus the atmospheric pressure is lower here than what is likely inside the converter. Any suggestions as to an inexpensive but reliable retailer from whom I can get a twist converter?

[ANM]

http://www.buycheapr.com/us/result.jsp?ga=us40&q=parker+converter

 

http://www.amazon.com/Parker-Fountain-Deluxe-Converter-5638200/dp/B00135JVKQ

 

This one is known and reliable.

http://www.gouletpens.com/Parker_Cartridge_Converter_p/pkr5638200.htm

Edited October 29, 2013 by ANM

[pajaro]

I think the twist converter will cost you about $8 from most sellers. That's plus shipping, so obviously you would be well advised to make it part of an order for other items you might need.

[ac12]

I do similar to View, with a slight change.

After I fill the converter, I will empty 3 drops of ink back into the bottle, then raise the tip and pull the converter back, sucking the ink into the converter.

What happens is the feed is VERY WET with ink when you load from the bottle. This procedure empties some ink from the converter to give you room to suck some/most of the ink on the feed into the converter.

 

When you open the cap.

VERY SLOWLY push up to break the seal.

Then as soon as the cap unlocks, STOP for a second.

Then continue to remove the cap.

Pulling the cap hard and fast will create a vacuum that will cause the pen to spit, into the cap or outside if the cap is off fast enough.

 

These have generally helped me.

BUT, I have a couple pens that have defied all my attempts at stopping them from spitting into the cap. And as Pajaro said, when I post the cap, I get ink on the end of the barrel that then gets all over my hands when I cap the pen. YUK. Black ink on a black barrel is virtually impossible to see, so I find out about it when I see the ink on my hands.

 

Another other option is to switch to an ink that is less wet, such as Pelikan. But that does not always work.

 

When you say "..next time I open it up there is ink all over the grip and the nib."

Is this immediately after you load, or is this hours or days later at school?

If at school, you need to think about how the pen is treated between home (where you loaded the pen) and when you use the pen and see the ink on the grip. Bouncing a fountain pen about is one way to get ink to spit into the cap, especially hard jerks (like when a pack is sitting on the floor of a bus). Getting the pen hot, in the trunk of the car, can also cause the pen to eject ink.

[ewbiggers]

Thanks for all the tips, I'll try them next time I re-fill.

The one good thing is, the barrel is stainless steel, so at least I can see the ink there. When I say next time, I mean anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour after filling. The pen has not been bumped or bounced too much, I keep it in my shirt and have a steady walk. The ink switch might be a good idea, but that's something I'll probably pursue when I finish this bottle.

[pajaro]

The Sonnet is a pen known to present some ink flow issues, usually poor flow, but sometimes they get ink all over the nib, and this appears to be what gets into the cap, the cap gets posted, and the ink gets on the end of the barrel. I find this seems to follow on the heels of nib creep. I wouldn't have expected this, but Parker Black Quink crept all over the nib of one pen, and after this I find the ink on the barrel.

 

Since the sections are all black, I just switched the section/nib/converter with another pen, and the issue is resolved. I conclude that the cap is the culprit. Some of the Sonnet caps seal better than others.

[ac12]

What ink are you using?

 

You could also send the pen to Parker for warranty repair/adjustment.

However, the standard warranty line by many companies is, if you are not using their recommended accessory (in this case Parker ink) they are not responsible for the results. They may say, the pen is fine, the problem is the ink you are using. So before you send it back, you should test using Parker ink, that will eliminate that as an argument; Parker pen + Parker ink, "should work." Also, Quink is what they will use to test with when they adjust/fix your pen.

[Mister Bean]

Coincidentally, I'm in Boulder, and I've got almost exactly the same problem.

 

I was given a Sonnet a few years ago. It was a very nice gift, except that ever since the first use it has leaked around the metal ring at the end of the section. I've cleaned the section and the cap thoroughly, and it will be fine until the next time I put the cap on. And then when I take it off, there will be a spots of ink around the ring again. In the image below, you can see the blue on the metal ring where ink has leaked out.

 

Unfortunately mine came to me without a box or warranty card. So warranty repair was never an option.

 

I use pretty much the same process for filling it (and I do on my other pens that have never had similar problems). I also saw some advice before about leaving the pen upright for a little while after filling to allow the ink to settle, and that didn't make a difference either.

 

I am already using a twist converter. From what I can see in how they work, I don't think atmospheric pressure could make a difference as they're not sealed (they can't be if they draw up the ink). Just to check, I have ordered a set of Parker cartridges to see if they behave any differently from using the converter.

 

http://www.myrealnameismatt.com/Misc/sonnet_leak.jpg

[ANM]

The ink in the pen is sealed when the cap is on due to an inner cap, but atmospheric pressure would not be an issue unless it changed from the time it's capped to the time it's uncapped.. like going up in an elevator in a very tall building. If the cap pulls off, it could be suction pulling the ink out or if the pen is filled in a cool room and then carried next to a warm body for a while, heat expansion could force out some ink. There could be a gap in between the feed and section or too big a channel in the feed as well that might cause some leakage.

 

PS when I said to change to a twist converter, I was not meaning to suggesting that it is better, I was suggesting a change to see if the converter itself was the problem. Sometimes the converter does not fit as tightly as it should.

Edited November 9, 2013 by ANM

[cwhite5]

This has happened to me on occasion. I've completely disassembled my Sonnet and think I have an idea of what's happening. The Sonnet section has the glossy black outer section, and the inner section that the nib and feed actually screw into. When you dip the section into the bottle, ink can get in between the inner and outer sections, and pulling off the cap seems to pull this ink onto the lower ring. There's a thread that describes these parts here.

 

The first time I fully disassembled the pen I found a fair quantity of dry ink in between these two parts, which seems to support this idea. Additionally, if I fill the converter from the bottle instead of dipping the pen in this issue seems to go away. If you fill the converter straight from the bottle, you can just push a bit of ink into the feed to get the pen going.

 

(I would advise against trying to completely disassemble it, mine just happened to work itself apart one day while writing.)

[Mister Bean]

That's an interesting theory. I'm trying a few tests that may help verify it.

 

1. I tried pulling the cap off a couple ways. Slowly and gently - this produced some spots of ink, but not much. Very quickly - this produced much more ink.

 

2. I have created a cap of sorts out of aluminum foil. It should have minimal air flow so it doesn't dry out, but will not create a seal, so ink shouldn't be pulled out of that area. After putting it on, and taking it off several times, I haven't gotten any ink out of it. Obviously this isn't a solution, but it does seem to indicate that the seal created by the cap is at least part of the problem.

 

Trying to think of more permanent solutions. Is there any way to create a better seal between the nib/feed assembly and the section? Maybe a little wax or something similar? Or how about breaking the seal on the cap? My other pens don't have seals, and they don't seem to dry out any more quickly than this one does.