Help! Flow Problem On Vintage Pen!

[dahallengren]

Hi everyone! I posted in the forum a couple months back about a Rool's fountain pen from the 20's or 30's that I found at a flea market in Brussels (link to images). I sent it out for a replacement of the box assembly and the ink sac, and on its return, I also polished it up and applied some varnish. Long story short, she's now a beautiful pen that writes beautifully, with one caveat: she blobs (image attached). All of a sudden, the ink will accumulate on one side or other of the nib and feed and hang heavily until eventually falling.

I understand part of this is down to the way pens were made at the time, but this seems to go beyond that. It'll happen over and over and over again, and then at other times, I'll have no problems over a whole page.

I've had mixed success forestalling the problem by refilling the pen. Does anyone have any idea what the problem might be, and if there's anything I can do to correct it?

 

[Bo Bo Olson]

One Waxes...one does not varnish a pen.

 

Have you tired other inks? What ink are you using?

[dahallengren]

Apologies, I meant wax. I did not varnish.

 

I've tried out a few: J Herbin Perle Noire, Diamine Bilberry, Noodler's Black Swan in Australian Roses. All the same story.

[Mauricio]

That big ink blob might be caused by one or more of the following reasons:

• The replacement lever box or pressure bar are the incorrect ones for that pen, and one or both of them are exerting unwarranted pressure on the pressure bar and sac, which in turn is expelling more ink than through the regular capillary effect.
• Some remnants of the old sac were left inside the barrel, compressing the new rubber sac at all times.
• The lever is not left in its fully closed position after you fill the pen with ink. A not fully closed lever will exert unwarranted pressure on the pressure bar and sac
• The new sac is too big for that pen to the point the sac is always compressed to a certain degree. Any minor vibration will cause it to be expelling more ink than requested through the regular capillary effect
• Incorrect or worn/warped feed, section or nib for that pen
• Improperly set up nib and feed onto the section
• You are shaking the pen or exposing it to sudden and unnecessary movements, such as carrying your pen in a back pack, etc. Any unnecessary shaking will cause the pen to burp, blob and over saturate the feed with ink.
• Other reasons

Hope this information is helpful to you and you can sort it out.

Edited October 19, 2017 by Mauricio

[Inksomnia]

Are you holding pen too high up on the barrel? One of my vintage pens is really picky about where I hold it. If I hold it too high up too long, it will do same thing, huge ink blop comming out of nib.

[fountainpen51]

In my old Waterman 12 it happens, but what I do is warm with the hand for a while for the grip section and that is already removed, although in my pen instead of piling the ink on top, it is piled under the nibs tines.

[ac12]

Try a dryer ink, like Pelikan.

I had a Parker that would drool, switched to Pelikan ink and the drooling stopped.

[siamackz]

That big ink blob might be caused by one or more of the following reasons:

• The replacement lever box or pressure bar are the incorrect ones for that pen, and one or both of them are exerting unwarranted pressure on the pressure bar and sac, which in turn is expelling more ink than through the regular capillary effect.
• Some remnants of the old sac were left inside the barrel, compressing the new rubber sac at all times.
• The lever is not left in its fully closed position after you fill the pen with ink. A not fully closed lever will exert unwarranted pressure on the pressure bar and sac
• The new sac is too big for that pen to the point the sac is always compressed to a certain degree. Any minor vibration will cause it to be expelling more ink than requested through the regular capillary effect
• Incorrect or worn/warped feed, section or nib for that pen
• Improperly set up nib and feed onto the section
• You are shaking the pen or exposing it to sudden and unnecessary movements, such as carrying your pen in a back pack, etc. Any unnecessary shaking will cause the pen to burp, blob and over saturate the feed with ink.
• Other reasons

Hope this information is helpful to you and you can sort it out.

In order to check if its onenof the first 4 points, one might simply empty some ink and keep only a little in the sac. If the pen stops leaking, youd know the problem was due to pressure against the sac. Correct?

[Mauricio]

In order to check if its onenof the first 4 points, one might simply empty some ink and keep only a little in the sac. If the pen stops leaking, youd know the problem was due to pressure against the sac. Correct?

 

Absolutely not. What you propose is a simple shortcut, which no specific target at all. It will certainly not address each issue separately and its entirety. You would never know what actually caused the problem. Each one of my points require proper course of action to eliminate the cause(s) one by one:

 

(1) Check whether the lever box is the correct one for that pen model. Also remove the section from the barrel and check for a correct pressure bar, that is not warped, worn or butchered and that is doing what is supposed to do in that pen with that new lever box.

 

(2) Check inside the barrel and especially under the pressure bar to ensure there are no remnants of the old sac stuck in there. Sometimes there are some very little pieces of dried sacs that are very hard to see and very stubborn to get out.

 

(3) Ensure the lever is in its fully closed position. Do it gently. Do not put too much pressure as there might be other problems related as to why that lever piece is not fully closing and you can inflict additional damage to your pen.

 

(4) Remove the section from the barrel and check for correct sac size for that particular barrel, lever box and pressure bar. Take into consideration any eventual warping in the pressure bar or the use of an incorrect lever box and act/adjust accordingly. One minor nuance like this might be the actual root of the problem!

 

As you can see, this is a more holistic approach that addresses each issue individually and its entirety. Some of the advice above is recommended to be performed by someone who really knows this type of more advanced repair work, and not by an amateur who can inflict more damage into the pen or might not even know how to determine what is the correct part for a certain pen model.

Edited October 26, 2017 by Mauricio

[siamackz]

Makes sense

[Ron Z]

I don't know that I agree with Mauricio. That isn't to discount the need to have all of the old sac out of the pen etc. But once the sac is in place, which it has to be to fill the pen, few of these items, especially the ones related to the lever, will cause the pen to blob.

 

Assuming a proper size sac (it should fit in the barrel and stretch a bit to be snug fit on the sac nipple) and a sac nipple that is not damaged (cracked or chipped), and you used shellac to secure the sac in place for a good seal, look for a sac that has a puncture, a feed that has the air channels cut too deep (common on 3rd tier pens), or a feed that is not set properly against the nib. I've also seen pens leak when the old sac was not completely removed from the sac nipple.

 

Even a pin hole can allow air into the sac, causing the pen to drip. This is the first thing that we check. Replace the sac. A feed with the ink channels cut too deep will allow more air into the sac than it should, which causes the pen to ooze. This is a common problem on the cheaper pens, and does pop up from time to time on the first generation Vacumatics.

[woleizihan]

I suspect it's either an oversized sac or the sac has not been properly installed. In the first case, the sac is too large that even the slightest movement of the lever will push against the sac. And you can imagine, when writing with the pen, the lever could possibly move a little as you move the pen. A proper sized sac should fit comfortably inside the barrel leaving some space for such slight movement. In the second case, there's a leak. One really easy way to check is simply remove the section from the body and try to write with the section alone to see if you are still having this problem. If not, it's almost certainly the first case.