Flushing Lamy Pens (Or Any Cartridge Pen)

[Amory]

Not having anything better I use a syringe and old cartridge to flush my pens.

Cutting the very end off of an empty Lamy cartridge provides an opening perfect size to take a syringe enabling high pressure flushing.

Apologies for the poor quality camera phone shot.

[mbankirer]

An ear-bulb, like those sold in drug stores for babies, works great, too!

[the_gasman]

No need for apology – all I see is a splendid photo that perfectly illustrates your post.

 

I use a similar arrangement for all my cartridge/converter pens:

 

 

I have chopped the ends off empty Waterman, Lamy, Sheaffer, Parker, and Platinum cartridges, but I couldn't get a good seal with the international-sized cartridges so I sacrificed a converter (which does the job admirably). The syringe is a bladder syringe (unused!) with a bit of silicone tubing to interface with the modified cartridge/converter.

 

Cheers,

David.

 

[Sasha Royale]

An ear-bulb, like those sold in drug stores for babies, works great, too!

 

And it can be used for "back-flushing".

 

BTW: Hang onto the pen section. Under pressure, the section could make a high-speed flight

to a nearby hard surface, NIB FIRST !

[awa54]

I've been doing this with 30-80cc vererinary syringes for a long time, I find that pulling the plunger back in order to use suction and draw clean water from a filled sink, is the fastest (and safest) way of utilizing this setup.

[lucraak]

I have always wondered what the added benefit is of this syringe cleaning. Especially Lamy pens are quite easy to disassemble. I always pull the feed and nib out of the section, rinse quickly and all the ink is gone. With the syringe (i tried) it always took me longer than just disassembling the section since there was always som ink residu left (in the feed or below the nib) when I leave the parts in place, resulting in multiple flushes and never satisfied with the result when I start writing.

 

No offence to any of these solutions but I am seriously wondering what the benefits of the syringe are compared to a quick disassembly.

[Inkysloth]

I have always wondered what the added benefit is of this syringe cleaning. Especially Lamy pens are quite easy to disassemble. I always pull the feed and nib out of the section, rinse quickly and all the ink is gone. With the syringe (i tried) it always took me longer than just disassembling the section since there was always som ink residu left (in the feed or below the nib) when I leave the parts in place, resulting in multiple flushes and never satisfied with the result when I start writing.

 

No offence to any of these solutions but I am seriously wondering what the benefits of the syringe are compared to a quick disassembly.

Each time a feed is removed and replaced, itll be slightly worn. They arent made for frequent disassembly, so theyre not made to tolerate that wear and are more likely to break.

 

I dont usually flush my pens until they run completely clear, either. I can see the need if youre uncertain how an ink might react with a past ink, but if Im going between inks that are fine, the tiny amount left after a good rinse isnt going to cause an issue when diluted into a converter-full of pure ink.

[lucraak]

Ohw hmm .. makes sense, although my oldest most used Lamy is 22 years old and on average I think Ive cleaned the pen about once every two weeks. It is still going strong. Or Lamy is making badass pens, or Im really lucky

[Astronymus]

Funny. I did exactly the same.