Mysteriously Vanishing Ink

[rorschah]

Weirdness: sometimes, all the ink disappears overnight out of my Pilot Vanishing Point. I have made sure to try storing it only nib up, and yet still, the ink just vanishes. There isn't any sign of spillage, and I can't find any trace of the ink anywhere obvious, though there are mysterious nooks and crannies to this pen that aren't open to investigation.

 

Any ideas for fixes? Thanks!

-thi

 

[MisterBoll]

Leave the pen in another part of your apt/house and see if it still happens.

[Mesu]

How much ink is left in the VP when you finish writing with it for the day?

 

Might be that your writing is leaving very less ink in the VP which is vanishing by the morning(?).

[c4bb0ose]

Well it is a 'vanishing' pen, perhapes it happens with the ink as well?

in all seriousness fill it up with ink and leave it for a day, if all the ink is gone from it and has not pooled anywhere contact as physicist about a potential ink alternate dimension, if it pools then the pen has a leak, if it does not change you are really writing with it until no more ink is left and the last little bit that was allowing you to write has dried up.

[rorschah]

I have definitely tried:

 

1. Filling it up completely with ink and leaving it overnight.

2. Leaving it in different places

 

And very often, the ink just disappears.

 

Where might the leak be? Do you think replacing the converter will help, or is this a send it to a repair shop kind of deal?

[MisterBoll]

Is there anything else happening in your place like batteries draining from mobile phones?

[inkstainedruth]

Is the pen being stored someplace that is relatively dry? I remember Amberleadavis complaining awhile back that it happens to her because Vegas has such low humidity.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[I like mango cheesecake]

I've been having this problem recently too, but most of my converter pens. I could lose up to half, sometimes 3/4 in a day or so. I hardly wrote about a page's worth of ink and it sucked about 4 or 5 pages of ink.

 

I had better luck with cartridges than converters.

[c4bb0ose]

really the only way would be to for a day fill it up with some pre measured ink and then leave it, after a day remove the contents and measure it to see how much has gone. Do the same with just water and compare the results (do all this without writing with the pen at all).

I do suspect that it just all soaks into the paper you are using when writing with it and you under estimate how much ink you actually use for writing, or that as stated above the water in the ink is evaporating and you are left with ink there, but it is much much darker than say straight from the bottle.

I would perhaps look at the seal between the converter or cartridge and the section nipple if that is the case.

[msolok]

Where do you live? What ate the conditions around where the pen is left.

 

Sounds like simple evaporation to me. If you are in a very dry hot location the water content of the ink will evaporate very quickly.

A air condition works by striping moister out of the air, so if you leave the pen near an air conditioner sect it to dry up quickly.

Combine both of the above for even quicker results.

 

If there is no ink pooling, evaporation is the only real explanation.

[Dr.Grace]

The same thing happens with my VP. Clearly it's evaporation, but the question is whether this is typical for VPs or whether there is an air leak somewhere in the mechanism of my pen and that of the OP? Perhaps other VP owners could chime in.

[Fountainer]

What if a pen was stored in a humidor, would it lose less ink by evaporizing? Would a hard starter work better? Should we put some wet foam in the cap for extra moisture? Maybe there's not enough space though...

 

A bad piston filler can leak the ink behind the piston, thus secretly losing some from the reservoir.

[mirosc]

I suggest some serious talking to your cat.

[Dr.Grace]

Also, I'd suggest that the moderators move this topic to the "Land of the Rising Sun" forum.

[MisterBoll]

Well it is a 'vanishing' pen, perhapes it happens with the ink as well?

 

I just noticed this. Good one!

[RobertS]

Hmmmm. . . Sounds to me like the insidious Ink Gremlin is afoot.

[rorschah]

Ah - I think you guys are right about evaporation. It's happening without any writing on my part - I actually tested it by putting a full pen overnight over a fresh piece of paper. Significant ink loss, no spill. And the ink that's left is darker. AND the disappearing ink coincided with a major 20 degree downward cold snap and intense drying of the air - I should have noticed. Half my friends are complaining of cracking skin.

 

This hasn't happened in previous winter years though. Perhaps there's some loose connection or something inside the pen itself? Maybe the converter is getting old?

 

What's weird is that this only happened to the vanishing point, not my other pens. But: I guess the vanishing point is the only pen without a cap, where the main nib structure is always open to the air...

Edited December 10, 2013 by rorschah

[Dr.Grace]

The VP has a mechanism that's supposed to seal the nib when it's retracted. As I wrote above, this is possibly a typical problem for VPs, or maybe not. Maybe the flap isn't sealing as well as it should be.

 

Also, you probably already know this, but do you have the nib assembly fully immersed in the ink as you're filling it? Some people dip the nib only part way and draw in mostly air.

[Mike 59]

Hi, It's strange to read about ink evaporating. I have some used/ in rotation, spare cartridges standing up in a pot, part full of ink, they can be there for months at a time, and I see no evaporation, or very little at all.

I wouldn't even think about trying to seal the ends to prevent them drying out, because it doesn't happen. But then I live in the UK, the phrases 'hot' and 'dry' don't get used much. (!) ( Conditions today; Temp=8C, Pressure=1030, Humidity=82%.)

Edited December 11, 2013 by Mike 59

[loudkenny]

This could be a couple of things. Either you aren't holding the pen in the ink long enough when you're filling it, or your cap is leaking air somewhere and your pen is drying out. Try putting another cap on your pen and see if the problem continues.

 

I do admit I can't actually see a penfull of ink just 'drying out' in one night, unless the air where you live is incredibly dry.

 

ken