Namiki Emperor Leak

[marksteere]

Just got my red Namiki Emperor, medium nib. Writes super smooth with Montblanc brown ink. No skipping. Better than my Pelican, which I was pretty satisfied with except for skipping on upward and leftward initial strokes. One thing. When I hold the Emperor vertically, pointed straight down, a drop forms under the nib point. Is that normal?

[PabloAU]

One thing. When I hold the Emperor vertically, pointed straight down, a drop forms under the nib point. Is that normal?

 

Definitely not normal. It sounds like air is getting into your converter. Make sure the converter is fully seated into the section. The Pilot/Namiki converters should insert fairly deeply.

 

skipping on upward and leftward initial strokes.

 

My Pilot Custom Heritage 92 had similar symptoms OOTB that were fixed by very gently separating the tines to slightly increase flow. I'd recommend sorting the converter issue first and trying out a different ink before taking any action like this, because it could be potentially damaging and is difficult to undo.

[marksteere]

There's no converter. It's an eyedropper style.

[shuuemura]

Is your Emperor overfilled with ink? Or is the eyedropper shut-off valve opened too wide? It's not supposed to leak from the nib.

[marksteere]

It was the ink. I used the Namiki black ink and it cleared up the problem. I guess it's a little thicker. I should've known that. When I earlier tried to mix Namiki black with Pilot orange, the Namiki black just sank to the bottom and wouldn't mix at all. Oh well. Now I've got to search for different color Namiki inks. Like dark brown.

 

Anyway, thanks for the tip. You were right about the ink.

[marksteere]

Update: The Pilot iroshizuku ink works ok too. I guess the Montblank ink was just too thin for this pen. Anyway now I won't be limited to Namiki black and blue. I'm hoping to create a nice burnt orange by mixing the yu-yake with a little bit of black. I'll let you know how it turns out.

 

Update 2: Actually, now the flooding/leaking is happening again, even with the Pilot ink. I need to figure out where to send this for warranty work.

Edited November 30, 2014 by marksteere

[jchch1950]

What's the regular opening of the shutoff valve of a Namiki ? The same one of a Dani Trio?

[marksteere]

I have no idea. I'm fairly new to fountain pens. I started using a tiny sized Pelikan a month or two ago, and now I've got the Emperor.

[ehemem]

What's the regular opening of the shutoff valve of a Namiki ? The same one of a Dani Trio?

 

Yes.

[jchch1950]

Thank you.

[shuuemura]

Send it to Pilot. These pens have lifetime warranties.

[marksteere]

Send it to Pilot. These pens have lifetime warranties.

Ok, they said there's nothing wrong with it and they're sending it back to me. They said they did point it straight downward, and that a drop did form, but when they tilted it away from vertical the drop disappeared. When I'm writing with it though, at a 45 degree angle, the drop starts to form after a few minutes. I told them to hang onto it while I try and get some feedback, but the might have already sent it back to me.

 

Can someone try that with an emperor? Just point it straight down with a full reservoir and see if a drop forms after a few seconds. Thanks.

 

Or if you have any advice it would be appreciated. I've got a brand new, expensive pen that isn't working for me.

[shuuemura]

You aren't supposed to see a drop coming out from the nib during writing or if the pen is held nib down, even with a full load of ink. This drop suggests that there is a leak somewhere. If I were you, I would insist that Pilot replace the Emperor.

 

I had an similar experience two years ago now with a defective Namiki pen and poor customer service. Pilot initially sent me a Yukari Royale that would stop writing after half a page. Not sure why. There was also some cap/barrel thread seizure that irked me to no end. They couldn't fix it and would not take it back even though I sent it to them for warranty repair two days after it arrived. It took five months and involved writing emails to senior management and the CEO of Pilot USA but they eventually replaced the pen. Not an experience I'm eager to repeat.

[shuuemura]

Ok, they said there's nothing wrong with it and they're sending it back to me. They said they did point it straight downward, and that a drop did form, but when they tilted it away from vertical the drop disappeared. When I'm writing with it though, at a 45 degree angle, the drop starts to form after a few minutes. I told them to hang onto it while I try and get some feedback, but the might have already sent it back to me.

 

Can someone try that with an emperor? Just point it straight down with a full reservoir and see if a drop forms after a few seconds. Thanks.

 

Or if you have any advice it would be appreciated. I've got a brand new, expensive pen that isn't working for me.

 

Okay, I just inked up my Emperor with Pilot Blue-Black and tested it. No drops of ink seen. Just to check - the section is screwed all the way snug to the barrel, right? The ink shut-off valve is also supposed to be open just a fraction of an inch - no more.

 

If so, it sounds like you got a lemon there.

[marksteere]

I think I'm going to try to get the nib and feed replaced. Hopefully I won't have to pay for it myself, but if I have to I have to. I'll keep you posted.

 

Thanks for the feedback.

[Sblakers]

My experience with pilot has been less than favorable as well.

[Siv]

Do you get the ink drop when the shut-off valve is screwed all the way in?

 

If you do there is air getting into the barrel. There are two "seals" that prevent this from happening - one is on the barrel where the section screws in and the other is between the rod and the shut-off valve. Usually a tiny bit of silicone grease is used to provide a completely air tight seal at these points. And I mean tiny bit - these pens are made to very tight tolerances so you only need the smallest bit of grease to make the seal.

 

If not, then either you are unscrewing the shut-off valve too much or there is an air leak, most likely at the shut-off valve.

[thebeautyofwriting]

On 1/15/2015 at 10:19 PM, marksteere said:

Ok, they said there's nothing wrong with it and they're sending it back to me. They said they did point it straight downward, and that a drop did form, but when they tilted it away from vertical the drop disappeared. When I'm writing with it though, at a 45 degree angle, the drop starts to form after a few minutes. I told them to hang onto it while I try and get some feedback, but the might have already sent it back to me.

 

Can someone try that with an emperor? Just point it straight down with a full reservoir and see if a drop forms after a few seconds. Thanks.

 

Or if you have any advice it would be appreciated. I've got a brand new, expensive pen that isn't working for me.

Hello, I know this post has been for 6 years ago, but I just got an Emperor, and it does form the drop you described, that is why I am here. I am facing the same issue, I am using Sailor Manyo ink, I have not used any other inks, yet. The way I make the drop to disappear is by opening the nob and tilt the pen upward (nib facing up), and close the nob, then, the drop disappears. But, I do not think it is a solution for this problem because I have seen several reviews about this pen, they open the nob and write with no problem. Hopefully, by now, you find out the solution for this issue, if so, would you mind sharing, please? Thank you

[Maki-eMagic]

1 hour ago, thebeautyofwriting said:

Hello, I know this post has been for 6 years ago, but I just got an Emperor, and it does form the drop you described, that is why I am here. I am facing the same issue, I am using Sailor Manyo ink, I have not used any other inks, yet. The way I make the drop to disappear is by opening the nob and tilt the pen upward (nib facing up), and close the nob, then, the drop disappears. But, I do not think it is a solution for this problem because I have seen several reviews about this pen, they open the nob and write with no problem. Hopefully, by now, you find out the solution for this issue, if so, would you mind sharing, please? Thank you

 

Is the pen full or nearly out of ink? If it is nearly empty you can get a pressure differential with the temperature of the air inside the barrel vs outside which can have a push effect on the ink, if for example you're writing with warm hands and the air temperature in the room is falling then there might be a gap between internal and external. For me it isn't so much as the pen drips ink but certainly the flow goes from wet to extremely wet. This tells me it is time to refill the ink, unless I want to change ink in which case I can either live with it being super wet until it runs out, or just remove the ink that is left inside. I've two and both exhibit the same tendency.

 

If the pen is full then this should not be happening under normal use circumstances.

[thebeautyofwriting]

3 minutes ago, Maki-eMagic said:

 

Is the pen full or nearly out of ink? If it is nearly empty you can get a pressure differential with the temperature of the air inside the barrel vs outside which can have a push effect on the ink, if for example you're writing with warm hands and the air temperature in the room is falling then there might be a gap between internal and external. For me it isn't so much as the pen drips ink but certainly the flow goes from wet to extremely wet. This tells me it is time to refill the ink, unless I want to change ink in which case I can either live with it being super wet until it runs out, or just remove the ink that is left inside. I've two and both exhibit the same tendency.

 

If the pen is full then this should not be happening under normal use circumstances.

 

Thank you for your response, last week, I bought the pen and it is full with ink.