My First 146 - Are These Issues Normal?

[EclecticCollector]

I recently purchased a 146 and am having some issues with the pen. This is my first modern Montblanc piston filler so I was hoping someone could tell me if they're normal and how to address them. My vintage Montblanc piston fillers and my other brand piston fillers don't have these symptoms.

 

1. If I retract the piston quickly when filling it makes a "shkk" sound as if it's taking in air as well as ink. Is it normal to have to fill these slowly?

 

2. Even if I fill slowly, after the first fill there will still be a decent sized air pocket left. Without removing the pen from the ink, extending the piston again will expell much of this air and a second fill attempt will suck up much more ink. Is this also normal?

 

3. After cleaning and flushing, there will be some water droplets left in the window "bars". These clear areas seem to be recessed, as moving the piston past them doesn't disturb the droplets at all. It's been two days now and the water is evaporating and fogging up the ink chamber. I've left the pen nib down on a paper towel but it doesn't seem to help. How can I dry out this water before I get mildew growing in there?

 

Thanks for any help you can provide.

[FoszFay]

1. When you say the "shkk" sound makes you think it is taking air in when you draw up ink, is it actually taking air in, or is it just sucking ink up quickly, which could also make the "shkk" sound?

 

2. Every piston-filler I've had (no Montblancs) takes two fills to get a complete fill. I think it is quite normal, as you first have to saturate the feed, which leaves air in the barrel. When you fill the second time, the feed it still saturated, and no air gets sucked into the barrel.

 

3. Again, every piston-filler I've had never expels 100% of what is inside, whether ink or water. The only way you can do this is remove the nib unit (which requires a special tool on Montblanc pens), or try and wrap a tissue or paper towel around the nib, and shake the pen around and hope the centrifugal force expels the last droplets. The only other option is wait, and let it evaporate out. You won't start growing mold/mildrew in the barrel for some time, so I wouldn't worry too much about that. The water will evaporate before the growing starts.

 

Also, are you trying to completely dry your pen out to re-fill it with a different ink, or to put it into storage? If it is the former, just fill it anyway. 1-2 droplets of water isn't going to affect your fill of ink, especially since you are making two fills, so the water simply gets mixed in with the ink in the bottle.

 

Tom.

[EclecticCollector]

Tom, thanks for your advice.

 

1. I now realize it's due to the air in the feed (which you pointed out) mixing with the ink under higher suction.

 

2. The 146 has a much larger feed than my other pens so it makes sense that more air would result. I probably just never noticed with my other pens.

 

3. I don't expect all of the water to be expelled, but I am surprised that there are areas the piston apparently doesn't even touch inside the barrel. I would have thought that the piston would form a seal against the walls of the ink chamber but apparently not, as the water in the window slits doesn't get pushed by it.

 

I'm cleaning to store, I have a large number of pens in my rotation and can go months before coming back to the same one. Thanks for the reassurance about not needing to worry about stuff growing.

[Ed44]

Make sure that the nib and feed are down deep enough into the ink well so that it can't slurp air when filling. For pens that are the size of a 146 or 149, your ink bottle may need to be pretty full or you won't have enough depth to prevent slurping. Hope that helps.

[meiers]

The nib needs to be completely submerged.

[EclecticCollector]

Thanks Ed44, meiers. Any idea about the water left in the barrel after cleaning? In the end, it took almost two weeks to dry. Is that normal?

[empty]

The more recent Montblanc piston seal is shaped differently. The old one would press against the barrel at the leading edge so you would see it touching the edge of the barrel in the ink view window. The newer piston has the sealing edge at the end toward the piston. My guess is that either they standardized it across the line (it has been used before in some WE pens without ink windows) or they didnt want the edge of the piston seal rubbing and potentially scratching the inside of the clear resin window.

 

To speed up the drying time place the cleaned and flushed pen nib down in a cup with a paper towel at the bottom. Gravity and capillary action will get most of it out.

Edited March 17, 2015 by empty

[EclecticCollector]

To speed up the drying time place the cleaned and flushed pen nib down in a cup with a paper towel at the bottom. Gravity and capillary action will get most of it out.

Thanks, that's what I did and most of the water was gone after just a day or two. A small bit of condensation remained after that, and it's this condensation that took a while to finally clear out. Maybe I'm being overly paranoid, but I always worry about moisture and mold.

 

Your explanation about the change in the piston seal design explains why I wasn't able to push the water down.

Edited March 17, 2015 by EclecticCollector

[canibanoglu]

I understand your concern about moisture and mold but frankly just a bit of condensation won't really do anything to your pen. I wouldn't even worry about a couple of drops in the pen really. These pens last a very long time and you'd have to be using some exceptionally dirty water to really do some damage to it by just leaving some water in it.

[Mister Mont Blanc]

At first I thought you may have had the issue I just noticed which is a small scratch or possible crack on the inside barrel (clear ink reservoir). I too don't get much ink into my 149 which comes with many bubbles and now seeing the crack/scratch, thought maybe the vacuum was compromised in the ink chamber because of a leak. But this is all speculation. I now know to fill my pen twice for better capacity

As long as your condensation is on the inside of the ink chamber, where the ink and piston are, and not between the ink chamber and black barrel, you are fine. Empty explained it better than I could! I had this same question with my first piston filler less than a year ago and found out the answer was Montblanc changed their piston seal design. It looked like a gab between the reservoir and the piston!

 

It sometimes is impossible to get every last bit of water out. I have a TWSBI Diamond where every part is easily removed and found that even when disassembled and left to dry, some water/ink pockets are just happier stuck in a corner than evaporating into the air.

[Kaseyg]

When filling it twice do you need to hold the pen upright and then twist the blind cap clockwise, then re-dip in the ink well and fill again ? Or can you just refill a second time as normal ? My novice experience says that you would just expel the ink you filled when you try to fill a second time.

 

Does that make sense ??? ;-/

[Ed44]

When filling it twice do you need to hold the pen upright and then twist the blind cap clockwise, then re-dip in the ink well and fill again ? Or can you just refill a second time as normal ? My novice experience says that you would just expel the ink you filled when you try to fill a second time.

 

Does that make sense ??? ;-/

 

 

You should keep the nib and feed down in the inkwell when you do the fills. I usually start with the piston about 2/3 extended, I then submerge the nib and feed and then will do 3 or 4 half fills until any air bubbles stop coming out from around the nib and feed and then I do my two full fills. That's probably overkill but the pen always looks about as full as it can get. If the piston starts at fully extended and goes up into the pen for awhile before ink starts to be pulled into the pen, then that could mean you have a leaky piston seal.

[Ed44]

Thanks Ed44, meiers. Any idea about the water left in the barrel after cleaning? In the end, it took almost two weeks to dry. Is that normal?

 

I usually ignore it. There isn't enough of it to do much of anything. If you have a vintage MB with a cork piston seal, then a little moisture might help. I guess if you have really hard water, you could possibly get some mineral build-up, although I've never seen that happen.

 

I wonder if maybe a can of compressed air from the computer store that has the thin red tube might work. That might get out some of the water, I don't know. Now I'll have to go see if that works or not.

[EclecticCollector]

I actually do have extremely hard water, but I deal with that by filtering and then boiling the water I use for cleaning.

[meiers]

The water droplets or the mineral content of sterile water left inside the pen are not an issue.

Eventually the inside of the pen will dry out.

You're very diligent.

Edited March 18, 2015 by meiers

[EclecticCollector]

You're very diligent.

"Diligent" is a much kinder word than I would have used, so thanks for that.

[TLMG]

I recently purchased a 146 and am having some issues with the pen. This is my first modern Montblanc piston filler so I was hoping someone could tell me if they're normal and how to address them. My vintage Montblanc piston fillers and my other brand piston fillers don't have these symptoms.

 

1. If I retract the piston quickly when filling it makes a "shkk" sound as if it's taking in air as well as ink. Is it normal to have to fill these slowly?

 

2. Even if I fill slowly, after the first fill there will still be a decent sized air pocket left. Without removing the pen from the ink, extending the piston again will expell much of this air and a second fill attempt will suck up much more ink. Is this also normal?

 

3. After cleaning and flushing, there will be some water droplets left in the window "bars". These clear areas seem to be recessed, as moving the piston past them doesn't disturb the droplets at all. It's been two days now and the water is evaporating and fogging up the ink chamber. I've left the pen nib down on a paper towel but it doesn't seem to help. How can I dry out this water before I get mildew growing in there?

 

Thanks for any help you can provide.

 

1) That's a normal sound and caused by the ink sucking in. As long as you are keeping it fully submerged, you're fine.

 

2) Don't worry about that pocket. It is the nature of the beast... You can't get all the air out of the system as there is no bleed mechanism. The most you can do is put the nib pointed UP and push out air until ink is pouring all over you.

 

Worth it? No.

 

3) That's normal too. Don't stress. Water is a universal solvent. Next time you ink up, it will grab whatever minerals were in there and "write" them out. If you're really scared, just use DI water.