Diamine Ink Issues?

[JakobS]

My first thought goes to the different PH's of the inks used, Pilot Iro inks are in the alkaline range, and Diamine are neutral (except for Registrar's ink which is acidic). I wonder if perhaps the Pilot Iro is interacting with the barrel, or barrel coating TWSBI uses to prevent interior scratching in a way that causes the Diamine ink to then react with the coating that causes it to clog?

The best way to see this, would be to use a new 580 untouched by any ink, and see if these inks behave similarly, knowing full well this is a more expensive proposition than using a different ink, but its a sure way to limit variables. I suppose you could also use any new pen, but that presents its own/new variables as well.

Having used ~38 Diamine inks so far, I have never had any clog on me, even the ones often mentioned (i.e. Grape, Majestic Blue), but I have never used Amazing Amethyst, Spring Green, or Salamander. I use mostly vintage pens, mostly lever fillers. The four Diamine inks I have used in my Twsbi Eco are Wagner, Mozart, Beethoven, and Silver Fox, all flowed/behaved as expected using a 1.1mm nib.

Edited July 26, 2017 by JakobS

[Chrissy]

Well when I changed from Old Man Winter to Amazing Amethyst I flushed cleaned the pen. Then again from Amazing Amethyst to Spring Green I flushed it through. Bearing in mind this is how I clean all my pens and I'm thorough.

 

When I went from Spring Green to Salamander I took the whole pen apart and cleaned it ultra thoroughly. Then in with Salamander and it did the same thing. So again I had to take her apart and deep clean her again. Back to Old Man Winter and she's now perfect.

 

I do see what you're saying about ink residue. But surely if it was a reaction the Salamander would have worked.

 

I think different pen time to check these puppies out is my best bet. Only issue is it's with my Parker Sonnet... we're not on speaking terms though

 

'Flushing it through', and taking apart the whole pen and using pen flush to soak every part, or even an ultrasonic cleaner to clean every part, are different. It would take a really thorough clean to get all ink from out of the fine channels of the feed and the internal feed. If you are saying that after using Old Man Winter, your pen was cleaned back to like it was when it was brand new, then I agree there could have been no possible contact between the two different brands that might have caused the clogging. If that's what happened then I don't know what caused the problem.

[The Good Captain]

I've had no issues with any of my myriad supply of Diamine inks at all. I love them. I think it's a cleaning issue rather than ink.

Having said that, my TWSBIs at present are inked with Noodler's, J Herbin and Montblanc but that's just luck of the draw!

[Neil Clarke]

I bought a Pilot Custom 823 three months ago. Filled it with Diamine "Chocolate Brown"... Skipping, drying up etc... Awful, and I thought it was the pen. Switched to Pilot ink after a full clean - simply no comparison. Now I see what all the fuss is about with this pen, and I will not be buying Diamine ever again.

[Uncial]

Never had any issues with Diamine, but have had issues with certain pens that function differently or oddly with issues of surface tension. This can happen with any ink but tends not to happen with Diamine (I've a lot of Diamine ink) with the possible exception of Salamander. Pilot and Montblanc seem free of such issues too in my experience.

 

*should add - I've never used Diamine Chocolate, so you might have hit an unlucky one.