Problems With Kaweco Sport

[bayindirh]

I'm having strange problems with my relatively new Kaweco Sport. The pen I have has plastic black body and gold colored (plated?) steel nib. I'm using the pen exclusively with Kaweco Caramel Brown cartridges.

 

1. It seems that the pen has baby bottom nib (didn't look with a loupe yet, so didn't touch it) and starts hard or skips, but in some papers (with more absorbent ones) it starts immediately.
2. When the pen starts, it starts to skip after some writing. Feels like the feed cannot carry enough ink to feed the nib/tip.

This is my second Kaweco Sport. The other one is a AC Sport and both behave similarly. Since I'm used to Parker's, Lamy's and Sheaffer's always feeding, instantly starting pens, this seems odd. Anybody having the same problems or have any suggestions?

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Hakan

Edited October 10, 2017 by bayindirh

[EMQG]

Baby's bottom for sure. Fairly easy to fix. Look up a video on it, I think Goulet has a good one

[Chrissy]

In my own experience with Kaweco Sport pens, they need a lot of flushing out before they write well when they are new.

 

(N.B. Maybe the 'Other brands - Europe' forum would have elicited more responses.)

[bayindirh]

In my own experience with Kaweco Sport pens, they need a lot of flushing out before they write well when they are new.

 

(N.B. Maybe the 'Other brands - Europe' forum would have elicited more responses.)

 

I force flushed it twice already. Maybe I will leave it in a cup of water for a day or so. Thanks for your comment.

[chromantic]

This was happening with my Cognac Sport, some hard starts but the bigger problem was it would write a couple lines then start skipping like crazy. I pulled the nib and feed out and there was a tiny little 'ridge' across the ink channel, about half-way down (it looked like the little bit sometimes left on a molded item where the two halves of the mold met). I very carefully used an Exacto knife to scrape some of it away and the pen performed perfectly after that. A Sport ICE I bought around the same time also had this problem but, fortunately, my Metallic Purple wrote perfectly out of the box. I came across this fix here on the forums. The hard part is keeping the nib properly aligned on the feed when you shove them back in the section.

Edited October 10, 2017 by chromantic

[bayindirh]

This was happening with my Cognac Sport, some hard starts but the bigger problem was it would write a couple lines then start skipping like crazy. I pulled the nib and feed out and there was a tiny little 'ridge' across the ink channel, about half-way down (it looked like the little bit sometimes left on a molded item where the two halves of the mold met). I very carefully used an Exacto knife to scrape some of it away and the pen performed perfectly after that. A Sport ICE I bought around the same time also had this problem but, fortunately, my Metallic Purple wrote perfectly out of the box. I came across this fix here on the forums. The hard part is keeping the nib properly aligned on the feed when you shove them back in the section.

 

Thanks for the information. If everything fails, I will inspect the ink channel as you suggested.

[bayindirh]

Baby's bottom for sure. Fairly easy to fix. Look up a video on it, I think Goulet has a good one

Will buy a loupe to check the nib and the ink channel as chromantic suggested. Thanks for the feedback.

[Needhelp]

dish soap in water (mainly the lemon flavor works the best) and soak the section overnight and give thorough cleaning until there is no soap otherwise your writing will feather a lot on the page. It has always worked for me.

[ENewton]

Search the forum for "Kaweco nib problem." There are various threads in which people discuss how to improve their experience with Kaweco nibs.

[bayindirh]

dish soap in water (mainly the lemon flavor works the best) and soak the section overnight and give thorough cleaning until there is no soap otherwise your writing will feather a lot on the page. It has always worked for me.

Will add to the list of things to try, thanks.

 

Search the forum for "Kaweco nib problem." There are various threads in which people discuss how to improve their experience with Kaweco nibs.

Thank you, will do.

[almoore]

I had a similar problem with my Brass Sport and AL Sport. I stripped them down, cleaned them and reloaded and still I had the problem; I cleaned them again and changed cartridge (I went from a Diamine cartridge to a Herbin cartridge) and it has been fine ever since. In my case it was just matching the pen to the ink and since then I've had no problems; I sometimes don't use either of them for weeks and I get no hard starts or skipping with the Herbin ink.

 

I've found this true with other pens where an ink that works well in one pen is terrible in another but when you change inks the pen works fine; the hard part is remembering which pen liked which ink

[Needhelp]

I had a similar problem with my Brass Sport and AL Sport. I stripped them down, cleaned them and reloaded and still I had the problem; I cleaned them again and changed cartridge (I went from a Diamine cartridge to a Herbin cartridge) and it has been fine ever since. In my case it was just matching the pen to the ink and since then I've had no problems; I sometimes don't use either of them for weeks and I get no hard starts or skipping with the Herbin ink.

 

I've found this true with other pens where an ink that works well in one pen is terrible in another but when you change inks the pen works fine; the hard part is remembering which pen liked which ink

I think some people make journals or records of which pen has which inks and if it works you can do the same and by adding the word like this ink is good in this pen or something like that.

But i totally agree with one ink may work in one pen but maybe not the other.

[bayindirh]

I had a similar problem with my Brass Sport and AL Sport. I stripped them down, cleaned them and reloaded and still I had the problem; I cleaned them again and changed cartridge (I went from a Diamine cartridge to a Herbin cartridge) and it has been fine ever since. In my case it was just matching the pen to the ink and since then I've had no problems; I sometimes don't use either of them for weeks and I get no hard starts or skipping with the Herbin ink.

 

I've found this true with other pens where an ink that works well in one pen is terrible in another but when you change inks the pen works fine; the hard part is remembering which pen liked which ink

 

 

I think some people make journals or records of which pen has which inks and if it works you can do the same and by adding the word like this ink is good in this pen or something like that.

But i totally agree with one ink may work in one pen but maybe not the other.

 

 

Thanks for your answers. While you're correct about ink and pen compatibility, I'm using Kaweco ink on a Kaweco pen. I guess Kaweco will at least make some basic compatibility tests between their inks and pens.

 

BTW, the pen is currently taking bath in a cup of water for a thorough rinsing. I will try the suggestions on the pen from the simpler / less intrusive to complex / more intrusive.

Edited October 13, 2017 by bayindirh

[bayindirh]

After a bath of 24 hours, my Kaweco get a dish-soapy 30 minutes dip today. A pressured rinsing and after a good bit of wicking and drying it's now writing perfectly. I think Kaweco needs a better cleaning routine in the factory

[Bluey]

I think Kaweco needs a better cleaning routine in the factory

 

That's the buyers job. In most cases whenever there is a problem with flow it's because it hasn't been flushed out properly with dish soap and water, and this is why it should always be done with every pen.

[bayindirh]

That's the buyers job. In most cases whenever there is a problem with flow it's because it hasn't been flushed out properly with dish soap and water, and this is why it should always be done with every pen.

 

I was not that serious with that sentence actually, and I agree that it's the buyer's job. They're making pens for a very very long time, and they probably know way better than me. Thanks for the comment though

[Bluey]

Oh I know, but it just gives me the chance to ram the message home to people again.

[minddance]

I had similar problems with EF and F nibs. Waterman Serenity Blue was prevented from flowing on Rhodia. The flow problems persisted even after I flushed and ultrasonic-cleaned and flushed and ultrasonic and flushed and ultrasonic...

 

Then, I got myself B and BB nibs. The B is probably the best nib for me on Kaweco with Pilot Blue in it, very smooth and writes but no fun for me due to the dryness. The BB nib I got has serious baby's bottom but I alleviated the effects by using more absorbent papers and flowy inks.

 

The Kawecos I have are way toooooo dry, especially on papers that do not like inks.

 

The EF and F nibs are now banned in my Kawecos.

 

Dear Kaweco: why make dry pens + baby's bottom?

Edited October 27, 2017 by minddance

[ENewton]

I wish that either Kaweco or some other manufacturer would make a good replacement nib for the Sport.

[Larry Barrieau]

Baby bottom and dirty, (oily), nibs are not the buyers problem. Every pen should come out of the factory ready to write well.