Different Standards Of Jinhao Converters?

[WJM]

Some 5 years ago I bought two Jinhao pens with dragon motifs. I bought them mostly of curiosity, because of their garish looks I never really intended to use them much and I never did, though they both write very well.

To the point. They came with converters, looking something like what you can see here:

http://thumbs.picclick.com/00/s/MTAwMFg3NTA=/z/HTcAAOSw65FXq7oP/$/New-Jinhao-Grey-Gt-Flying-Dragon-Fountain-Pen-Converter-Fine-_57.jpg

(found on Google)

And here's my problem with these converters: they don't fit any other pens I have. I assumed they are standard international, as are my newer Jinhaos are recently bought (X450 and 500, which came with converters compatible with international standard, like eg. Waterman), but these two older ones won't take other any other converters, and the converters wont fit in any other pen, even other Jinhaos. I thought maybe it's a Parker standard, but no, they don't fit Parker pens.

So, does anyone know what's the deal with these converters? Did Jinhao change their standard over recent years? Do they use different standard in different models? Or perhaps the pens and converters are fakes?

[hbdk]

Have fun!

 

There are many different types of Chinese converters. Most of them (including the one pictured) are standard international converters. That being said, several of them wont fit in other pens. The one in the picture has a metal ring around the opening which makes it too fat for most pens. Others have a pipe stub that is too short to attach it safely if you use it in a Western pen (or even some other Chinese pens than the one it was made for).

 

The only international standard converter that I have seen that fits in most pens that take international cartridges is the Waterman converter - but that is rather long and not all pens are long enough to accommodate it. I have a box of some 30 converters - all international "standard" converters - but I sometimes have to try out 3 or 4 before finding a match for a new pen.

 

It is a lot easier with proprietary converters - e.g. a LAMY converter in a LAMY pen.

 

A science in itself

Edited December 21, 2016 by hbdk

[WJM]

The thing is it doesn't work with supposedly proprietary converters either. The Jinhao converter I got with Jinhao X450 I can no problem use in Waterman Expert, and a Waterman converter fits Jinhao X450. The converter I got with Jinhao "Dragon Offspring" (I think it also goes as Jinhao 888) won't fit in Waterman Expert and won't fit in Jinhao X450, despite it's from the same brand. And it's not too fat, the opposite - it's completely loose.

Edited December 21, 2016 by WJM

[Mech-for-i]

Might be its one of those that Jinhao OEM produced by Hero and use the Hero standard converter which had a wider opening at the feed end. Typical international standard should have an opening something like 2.4mm but I have seen genuine international standard converter that will not fit on genuine international feed ( both Schmidt in fact ) and I have to find something like a 2.2mm opening converter. Some feed somehow are just wider and I need to find something like a 2.5mm opening converter.

 

Hero's own standard used to be 3.2mm opening aka Parker/Aurora, then sometime in the 90's they switch all the way to their current 2.6mm opening which I believe its their own as nobody else use this sized opening on their C/C. Some NOS Hero/Wingsung Pen still have their wide mouth feed ( 3.2/3.4 depend on how you measure it ) so its not uncommon to encounter such. You might want to check. So if that Jinhao would fit loose on a Parker, its probably 3.4, if it won't go on but its too narrow, likely its the 2.6

 

Also loose does not mean the opening is too wide, it might just be the converter body hanging on the feed , being too wide to go into the section due to its diameter being too wide for the section opening ( not the feed )

Edited December 22, 2016 by Mech-for-i

[1791thinkshop]

Have you tried the A66 Jinhao converted? It's seems to be the standard screw-plunger converter for Jinhao these days...

Semper Fidelis, Shannon

[MrsHobie]

I bought a bunch of 10 jinhao converters on AliExpress, and in fact there is in fact 2 different models, not the same size to fit in the FP.