Pilot Custom 823 Not Feeding

[FineNibs]

Hi everyone,

 

I have a question that I hope someone here can help with. This year at the Philadelphia Fountain Pen Show I talked my wife into letting me get her a Pilot 823 in amber resin with fine nib. She is used to the Sailor 1911 mid-size that is her normal everyday pen. I thought that she might like the Pilot as it holds more ink. Well, it does hold more ink, but she is having trouble with getting it to feed. I fill the pen for her but after the ink on the nib from filling is used up the pen does not give good/any flow. I have thoroughly cleaned the nib by soaking in water and in Perfect Pen Flush. Ink will come down if I use the piston to push it.

 

Any thoughts? Thanks much.

[flipper_gv]

I needed to flush my 823 around 30 times (20 with soapy water, 10 with just water to rinse off the soap) to get off all the machining oils.

 

Also, you need to understand that you have to unscrew the piston cap (around 3mm) for the pen to write (otherwise you block the access for the ink to the feed).

[OCArt]

+1 on below. The pen has a valve that shuts off the ink supply to the feed. Unscrewing the piston knob opens this valve.

you have to unscrew the piston cap (around 3mm) for the pen to write (otherwise you block the access for the ink to the feed).

[FineNibs]

Thank you much. Will try that. Did not know about the block.

 

Will post results I find. Cheers.

[southpaw]

Thank you much. Will try that. Did not know about the block.

 

Will post results I find. Cheers.

 

It's a filling system that's been around for a long time, but almost exclusively on Japanese pens. It's actually called a Japanese eye dropper pen. If you happen to be traveling on an airplane, hold the pen nib up, open up the stopper a bit, nearly all the ink in the "front end" will drain back into the barrel, close the stopper, and there you go! Ready for travel and no ink burping!

[ehemem]

 

It's a filling system that's been around for a long time, but almost exclusively on Japanese pens. It's actually called a Japanese eye dropper pen. If you happen to be traveling on an airplane, hold the pen nib up, open up the stopper a bit, nearly all the ink in the "front end" will drain back into the barrel, close the stopper, and there you go! Ready for travel and no ink burping!

 

 

The Pilot 823 is not a Japanese eyedropper pen, it is a vacuum filler like a vintage Onoto from the first part of the 20th century. As a matter of fact, the Japanese eyedropper was a copy of the English Onoto, but the Japanese didn't copy the vacuum function, only the form...

[Dillo]

 

 

The Pilot 823 is not a Japanese eyedropper pen, it is a vacuum filler like a vintage Onoto from the first part of the 20th century. As a matter of fact, the Japanese eyedropper was a copy of the English Onoto, but the Japanese didn't copy the vacuum function, only the form...

 

 

While it is not a Japanese eyedropper, it's a very similar system. Pilot took the vacuum filling system and combined it with the shut off valve in their eyedropper pens. They aren't the only ones to do something like this. Visconti's Double-reservoir power filler pens have a similar system, but instead of shutting off the ink supply to the feed, it splits the reservoir in two with most of the ink in the back of the pen and a smaller reservoir in the front that feeds the nib. The Visconti system is a lot like the one in the Pelikan Level, but less complicated.

 

The reason for all of these systems is that in some cases, especially when pens that have large reservoirs are getting close to empty, expansion of the air in the ink reservoir can cause the pen to leak ink. These systems try to prevent this from happening.

 

Dillon

[ehemem]

 

 

While it is not a Japanese eyedropper, it's a very similar system. Pilot took the vacuum filling system and combined it with the shut off valve in their eyedropper pens. They aren't the only ones to do something like this. Visconti's Double-reservoir power filler pens have a similar system, but instead of shutting off the ink supply to the feed, it splits the reservoir in two with most of the ink in the back of the pen and a smaller reservoir in the front that feeds the nib. The Visconti system is a lot like the one in the Pelikan Level, but less complicated.

 

The reason for all of these systems is that in some cases, especially when pens that have large reservoirs are getting close to empty, expansion of the air in the ink reservoir can cause the pen to leak ink. These systems try to prevent this from happening.

 

Dillon

 

 

The vacuum/piston filler with the shut-off plug (i.e., Onoto) came before the Japanese eyedropper. It's a history thing...

 

It would be more accurate to describe the Pilot 823 as a copy of an Onoto...

[southpaw]

 

 

The Pilot 823 is not a Japanese eyedropper pen, it is a vacuum filler like a vintage Onoto from the first part of the 20th century. As a matter of fact, the Japanese eyedropper was a copy of the English Onoto, but the Japanese didn't copy the vacuum function, only the form...

 

Absolutely correct.My apologies -- total brain fog yesterday.

[WaskiSquirrel]

My experience with this pen is that more viscous inks do not feed through it. My personal difficulty was with Noodler's Black. Other inks work just fine with this pen. Unfortunately the OP did not name the ink that is causing the trouble.

[FineNibs]

OP here:

 

We have tried a number of inks. My wife prefers the Pilot Iroshizuku inks. The one currently in the 823 was the Shin-ryoku (green).

 

I am happy to report that the problem is solved. I did not understand the mechanics of the pen. I prefer piston fillers myself. My everyday carry right now is a Sailor Realo but I love most of the Visconti Opera Demonstrators and have a few Pelicans. None of those require backing off on the piston knob prior to use. But apparently the Pilot does and works just great when you do.

 

Wife is now very pleased with me for solving her problem (with gift that I gave her). I want to thank everyone for sharing and helping me out. Cheers!

[southpaw]

Awesome! Im sure she will thoroughly enjoy this pen and its personality. They are amazing writers!

[Heldin]

If she gets fed up with opening the valve, it can be taken out. At your own risk of course.

[Cassotto]

I had two questions about this pen. The first one may be solved, as I was going to say that the pen suddenly dries half sentence (I'm using Diamine Autumn Oak at present), even though I do unscrew the piston cap. I say it may be solved because I was unscrewing it about 2 mm, as suggested in the user guide, and you say something about 3 mm, so it may be that.

 

My second question is probably very silly, but how can I dispose of ink which is inside the barrel but that I don't want to use anymore because it isn't much and I want to change inks? I'm afaid of doing something wrong and making ink jet out of the pen all over the place.

Edited August 1, 2018 by Cassotto

[iruciperi]

If repeated unscrewing shut-off valve everytime you write bothers you, you can simply remove the shutter at the end of the vacuum filling mechanism. You can totally disassemble the filling mechanism using TWSBI wrench, or any other wrench with the same size. If you are willing to do so, check out the video review of Pilot Custom 823 by Dan Smith on Youtube. He described the process very well.

[dapprman]

Sudden thought (well I actually thought about it just after i read this thread first time, then forgot before I could reply ...). When you unscrew the nob, can you see through the body if it's releasing the ink? I find at times the ink can 'stick' above the shut off washer, meaning you're still not getting ink in to the section - guess what happened to me just after reading the above .... - tapping the sides will release the surface tension, and in my case ink started to flow through the nib again.