Evaporated Cartridge Rejuvenation

[tbaley]

I need some advice about bringing seven Mont Blanc cartridges back to life. The reason I would like to resurrect them is they are the old Racing Green that has not been made for quite some time. They are brand new, but have been sitting in a drawer for about a million years (well, almost), long enough for them to suffer some evaporation despite being sealed. Probably most of us have experienced that with other brands, too.

 

My thought was to refill them or replace the missing liquid using an extremely fine syringe (I have some 31 gauge insulin syringes laying around) with distilled water. Looking at other, new cartridges, they are filled fairly full, usually leaving just a single bubble in the cartridge. To do this, I suspect I will have to puncture a second hole to allow displaced air to escape. If that is the case, perhaps I will just insert them into a pen that uses standard international cartridges to puncture the end and make topping them off easier. I also have some much longer needles that I can use to swirl the ink around to thoroughly mix the liquids.

 

Any advice would be appreciated. I suppose, also, a source for a bottle of that ink would great, too.

 

 

[Graphene]

There is a way with only the little 31 gauge hole.

 

Fill syringe no more than halfway with water. Insert needle into cartridge. Hold it all pointing up, so the ink is at the bottom (piston end) of the syringe. Withdraw to pull a vacuum inside the cartridge. Hold the plunger fast and invert everything. Ink will go right in. Rinse and repeat if needed.

[EclecticCollector]

What I have done in the past is to first puncture the cartridge by inserting it normally into a pen, removing it to add distilled water until full, and finally re-inserting it into the pen. I add the water using a syringe with its tip submerged deep into the ink so that it mixes relatively evenly right away.

[Ink Stained Wretch]

I would puncture the cartridge with the proper pen, then pull the cartridge out and just refill it to the point you desire with the syringe. Then put the rehydrated cartridge back into the pen and turn it end for end in your hard a number of times. After that leave it along for a little while. The ink and water should mix all right.

 

It is possible that the resulting ink may not be quite what you want. There may have been more than water evaporating through the polyethylene over time. But this is probably the best you're going get in a cartridge right now.

 

Good luck with whatever method you choose .