Waterman Nib Breather Hole Burping

[perth]

Ink comes out of the breather hole while writing. I'm using Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Black which is supposed to be the driest inks around. Any advice on getting it to behave normally?

 

I feel as if the nib is really dry but has a waterfall for a feed.

Edited January 12, 2015 by perth

[domnortheast]

Hi perth,

 

Burping of ink specifically, could be caused by an erratic airflow back up the feed causing a vacuum to build up in the ink sac which, eventually, is released in one go creating a 'burp' of ink.

 

On the other hand if the feed has a very heavy but steady flow of ink which is not reaching the tip this may be caused by a contaminant in the nib slot or misalignment of the tines (too tight together) preventing the ink from flowing down.

 

Have the nib and feed been removed recently? Have you flushed the pen thoroughly to remove any possible dried ink or foreign bodies from the feed / nib / section?

[perth]

I've definite flushed the pen and cleaned it quite well. The pen only burps whilst writing; as if the inkflow is so wet it spills out of the breather hole.

 

The nib tines are quite close together but it's not easy to fix due to the fairly responsive nature of the nib.

[domnortheast]

Hmm, well if it has a reasonably flexible nib then the tines will be moving apart as you write so that would indicate it's not an issue with them being too close together. I think if it were mine and I had tried flushing it out with some pen flush with no success (even perhaps leaving the section submersed for a couple of hours to dissolve any crud) then I would probably get the nib and feed off and take a look. It sounds as though the ink is accumulating in the feed but not transferring to the underside of the nib properly.

[perth]

I saw a Duofold's feed made drier once. It seemed to have had a small rod inserted between the feed and the nib.

[domnortheast]

Well that would certainly do something to the ink flow...anything that inhibits the transfer of ink from the feed to the nib.

 

I'm using a Waterman Thorobred that I bought recently which arrived with a very firm fine nib so I swapped it out at the weekend for the nice soft, spare Ideal nib that I had knocking around and it is much nicer to write with, however, while the flow is very wet it skips a little and hard starts occasionally. I am pretty sure it just needs the relationship of the feed and nib adjusting so will pop it out again soon once the new ink sacs arrive.

 

Have you tried looking at the feed and nib under a loupe or magnifying glass to see whether the underside of the nib is touching the feed or whether it is standing off from it?

[terim]

It may be that the nib is too tight against the feed in the area from the breather hole forward to the tip. I'd take a thin brass shim and run it between the nib and feed on both sides, maybe you have some gunk in there.

[perth]

The nib slit is clear, just very tight. I'm willing to live with it if the the breather hole didn't flood all the time.

[perth]

Anyone got any ideas on making the feed dryer?