Reloading A Cartridge

[EdgarAllanPen]

Hey - I've not tried it before, but I'm thinking of attempting to re-load a cartridge. Are they are things a rookie needs to know? Any advice is appreciated. I'll be dealing with a Pilot cartridge.

[ParkerDuofold]

Hey - I've not tried it before, but I'm thinking of attempting to re-load a cartridge. Are they are things a rookie needs to know? Any advice is appreciated. I'll be dealing with a Pilot cartridge.

Hi EAP,

 

 

Well, the best advice I can give you, (and be warned, I typically only use bottles); is to place the needle at the base of the cartridge and simultaneously gradually press the plunger while pulling out the needle... do it slowly, but evenly... and you should be fine.

 

Otherwise you're liable to create air pockets and have ink burp out on you... nasty business, that.

 

Good luck and as long as all of your insurance premiums are up to date,... including health,... you should be just fine.

 

 

- Anthony

 

 

Typo

Edited February 8, 2018 by ParkerDuofold

[ParkerDuofold]

Just to follow-up... do it over a sink or at least with a couple paper towels under your hands... just in case.

 

 

- A.C.

[ParramattaPaul]

Having done it, loading an empty cartridge with a preferred bottle ink, I suggest having plenty of paper towels on hand, wear gloves, and do it in on a surface that won't stain.

 

Added: go slowly pushing the syringe plunger.

Edited February 8, 2018 by ParramattaPaul

[ncpenfan]

Very easy. The needle should hug the sidewall as you slowly fill the cartridge - this avoids burps and air bubbles. Similar to pouring a beer into a glass!

 

Best regards!

[graystranger]

All the replies above have good points.

 

I have refilled Pilot and other cartridges for over 20 years. Usually using syringes. I rarely have any spills, it goes very smoothly. Just make sure you are not holding the cartridge and syringe over something that can get damaged (nice chair, good clothes, etc). A paper towel is handy. Having something stable to stand the cartridge upright so it won't tip over helps.

 

Pilot cartridges have that very large opening, so don't turn it over after it is filled, the ink will pour out of a Pilot cartridge!

 

A big plus with Pilot is that you can use a small plastic pipette to fill Pilot cartridges, simpler than a syringe. Pipettes have a larger tip than the ink syringe so you have to be a bit steadier, but I think it makes things easier.

 

Most of the time a pen's cartridge holds a good bit more ink than a converter, and the Pilot cartridges hold more ink than their converters.

Edited February 8, 2018 by graystranger

[inkstainedruth]

If you're going to refill them with the same ink as what was in them originally, you'll probably be okay. But if you want to use a different ink you'll have to flush the cartridges out, and that is a major PITA.

Regardless, you will need to seal them up after they're refilled until they're ready to use. When I first joined FPN, the best way to refill and seal cartridges was the first question I asked. A lot of people use glue guns, but I found that silicone caulk works just as well. You have to get 100% silicone, of course. This is different from the "normal" silicone that people use for lubricating pistons, etc. in pens; it's actually the stuff that you use to seal around bathtubs and such, because it becomes a solid but will not damage your pen if you don't peel all of it off the end of the cartridge.

And Anthony is right -- you want to do it slowly and use a needle syringe (some people get the kind that are used to refill printer cartridges because they're blunt, but I've had good luck with regular needles that have the ends blunted on a whetstone).

Truthfully though, after a while you're probably going to want to get a converter for your pen(s) eventually.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[graystranger]

Ruth, I flush the ink out of empty cartridges quickly and easily with a syringe, it has never been a PITA for me. I just gently flush clear water into the cartridge over a sink. That gets nearly all the residual ink out. I refill the syringe again with water and complete the flush. Takes less than a minute. The opening in a Pilot cartridge is wide open and you and just shake the ink out into a sink. I've even flushed out Pilot cartridges without a syringe. I let water flow into the end and shake it out, and repeat. Polyethylene is hydrophobic so the ink is flushed out quickly and easily.

 

I only fill the cartridge to be placed immediately back into the pen. I assumed everyone posting here was talking about doing this and not about storing open cartridges filled with ink. That is a can of worms.

 

And, a plastic pipette works just fine, I've used it many times and it works as well as a syringe for Pilot cartridges. All the others require a syringe. This is what I'm talking about:

 

[EdgarAllanPen]

Thank you all for the advice, warnings and tips. I'll be sure to let you know how it turned it. This was very helpful.

[Chrissy]

Go carefully and you should be OK. After washing out the cartridge, remember to ensure you get all of the water out before you start refilling. On my very first attempt, I had a little bit of water in the bottom of the cartridge and didn't notice it until after I started to refill it.

[WJM]

All the points about keeping a lot of paper towels around are always valid when handling ink, but in my experience refilling cartridges rarely gets messy and is much cleaner than filling a pen from the bottle.

 

I use a syringe and a medical, sharp needle, bought in a pharmacy for about $0.25. Never had any problems with it. The nib is too short to reach the bottom of a long cartridge, but I've never had any problems with air bubbles or anything.

 

Also I always only fill cartridges right before putting them in a pen. The idea of stocking opened, refilled cartridges seems odd to me.

[Bluey]

As I don't use converters anymore, I always fill the Pilot cartridge to the brim using a pipette(a syringe is not necessary here because of the size of the nozzle) while holding over a paper towel. That way, when I insert it into the pen it spills over, but that spill over has a purpose in helping to saturate the feed.

[sail1942]

I usually wear rubber gloves and work over the top of a paper plate. Have paper towels handy.

[tvradio]

Disposable pipettes or blunt-needle syringes work. When I recently decided to refill cartridges I asked around and those two options were recommended to me. I ended up getting this $7.48 10-pack of 3mm syringes with blunt tips, and it works fine, no problems. I rinse out the syringe and tip after I use it, and I anticipate the purchase will last many years.

[Amory]

I am glad to be amongst likeminded cartridge refillers. I find cartridge capacity far better than that of converters. Blunt syringe for me, I have some large 5 ml ones that I find useful if I want to mix just a cartridge full of inks.

Outside is where I refil incase of spills. Rubber wear - just gloves.

 

Added:

I also water down ink for artwork, lower saturation can give interesting accents, texturing tints etc.

Edited February 9, 2018 by Amory

[Pentode]

A bit of advice: after flushing the cartridge with water and a syringe, fill the cartridge completely with water, empty the syringe and then draw the full contents of the cartridge into the syringe.

 

If your syringe is graduated, make a note of the quantity of water you drew out. If its not graduated, make a mark with a permanent marker.

 

Now (when everything is dry) only fill your syringe to the required volume and it greatly reduces your risk of having ink overflow the cartridge.

 

Of course, Id still plan on having plenty of paper towels around... just in case.

[Olya]

I've switched (kinda almost fully) to solely refilling carts, using my converters less... I don't even fully remember the reasoning, but I think because it's less messy (and perhaps wastes less ink - no wiping the nib and feed, and possibly section).

 

I've never used gloves, but used to refill at the beginning at the sink, not anymore, I'm comfortable doing it at my desk.

 

The one lesson I learnt and adhere strictly to, is to go slow! The needle mustn't go all the way down, it's enough that you just insert the tip in the opening and then start refilling, which I also find easier because I can see the ink level better and not accidentally overfill. Never had a problem with air bubbles.

 

Gloves would be useful when cleaning a full cartridge or a somewhat full-ish one, that can get messy and inky hands are almost inevitable. But with care that won't be too big a problem.

 

In many many refillings I only accidentally stabbed myself once, and luckily the tip was blunt so no accidental tattoo. I never thought accidental stabbing would be so easy, but boy was I then glad that when it happened unexpectedly and stupidly, that the tip was blunt!

 

(Modern) Piston fillers and carts have roughly the same ink capacity, some carts even a higher, so I never got the whining over the "small capacity of c/c pens over pistons/ self-fillers". The only modern pens that top a cart's capacity are plunger/ vacuum fillers (eg Pilot's Custom 823). My fave filling system is c/c anyway, each to their own I guess, but don't knock a c/c's capacity!

 

What I also found is that Pilot and Sailor carts are the best and easiest to refill. The wide opening makes cleaning so easy, that you can just shake out the ink and fill with water straight from the tap (if the disc is removed from Pilot's carts and I've even removed the pierced plastic sealant from Sailor's with sharp tweezers, the slanted ones are too big, but those that have slim "hands" can do the job with ease --- also shake with care, otherwise you end up with ink everywhere). I've also reused their carts so often now and willy nilly stuck any cart in any pen and not noticed weakening or widening of the opening. I think they can last forever.

 

Behind Pilot & Sailor come in imo Aurora's. The opening is fairly wide (not that much though) and the job is easy. In the same league are Parker's and Lamy's, but their "ink reservoir" makes it a pain in the backside and I truly detest the reservoirs for that reason. It's easy and doable though, so no worries. But I have noticed that the opening may have got a bit wider in these, but as my primary pens are Sailor & Pilot I can't say for sure how long these carts can last compared to S&P.

 

The worst are the small international and Platinum's, because of the ball. Very hard to get the last bits of water out of the std int, the Platinum are at least wide enough so you can shove a cotton bud in to do the job, but it's still a hassle.

If Platinum (and the standard ones) changed their carts, so that the format stays the same, but the opening is like Parker/ Lamy/ Sailor and ridge the sides like Parker & Sailor to prevent ink sticking to the top, then they'd be perfect. Still hoping Platinum will eventually do this.

 

Sailor & Pilot are easily cleaned out also with cotton buds, very handy! And when you squeeze and work a bit on the cotton bud, you can also use them in Aurora/ Parker/ Lamy carts, but if you do a thorough jobs shaking the last bits of water out, that's unnecessary (even when refilling immediately after cleaning).

[Bluey]

The worst are the small international and Platinum's, because of the ball. Very hard to get the last bits of water out of the std int, the Platinum are at least wide enough so you can shove a cotton bud in to do the job, but it's still a hassle.

If Platinum (and the standard ones) changed their carts, so that the format stays the same, but the opening is like Parker/ Lamy/ Sailor and ridge the sides like Parker & Sailor to prevent ink sticking to the top, then they'd be perfect. Still hoping Platinum will eventually do this.

 

Sailor & Pilot are easily cleaned out also with cotton buds, very handy! And when you squeeze and work a bit on the cotton bud, you can also use them in Aurora/ Parker/ Lamy carts, but if you do a thorough jobs shaking the last bits of water out, that's unnecessary (even when refilling immediately after cleaning).

Totally agreed about Sailor and Pilot carts. A good way to clean out Platinums cart is to direct a jet of water from the bathroom tap into the cartridge as this cleans it out in seconds. This is what I do with Sailor and Pilot carts too.

 

For the cartridge and piston filler differences, it could be because many people lazily rely on stereotypes to repeat the same nonsense rather than looking into the truth of the matter themselves. As you quite rightly say, they're not much between carts and piston filler, and in many cases carts hold more ink.

For me C/C has a crucial advantage - if the piston messes up, then the pen is either a goner or it's out of action for a long time (it's not fun or cheap sending the pen back across the world and waiting for it's return). With a C/C it's a case of get another cartridge out of the drawer.

Edited February 9, 2018 by Bluey

[Runnin_Ute]

I have two or three of my Parker 45's and my Kaweco ICE Sport that I don't have converters for. For the 45's, I can either refill or swap a converter from a different pen. With the Kaweco, refilling is my only current option.

 

ALWAYS when I clean and fill pens, I do it at the kitchen sink. I put some old newspaper on the counter to prevent staining of the counter top, and I have

paper towels or paper napkins handy. I use the blunt needle to both clean and fill. When cleaning, it provides enough pressure to get all the old ink out. And if necessary,

I can suck out any water still in the cartridge. Once that is done, I will shake any residual water out. Then fill. I would rather if slightly less ink in a cartridge than overfill and make a mess.

 

And people are right about capacity. My Pelikan 120 Merz & Krell from the 70's has a capacity of about .65 ml. That pen gets the least amount of use among my Pelikan's, partly due to that capacity and a very wet medium nib. All my other Pelikans are about double that. I think most long cartridges are at least 1 ml. Not sure about some of my other pens like lever fillers, and Parker aerometric and vacumatic fillers in my 51's.

The piston fillers with the largest capacity (and I haven't checked it empirically) seem to be my TWSBI 580 and Eco. By a pretty large amount.

Edited February 9, 2018 by Runnin_Ute

[bugsydog55]

One thing to remember is that Pilot cartridges have a circular plastic disc that seals the end of the cartridge. Once that pesky seal is out of the way then you can do all the things everyone has mentioned. I had one that got wedged in the cartridge requiring needle nose pliers to pull out. It was a big hassle because it interfered with ink flow and the way the cart sealed on the section.