Jump to content

Pilot Con-40. Why?


Karmachanic

Recommended Posts

I clean my Con70 in minutes. I have no idea what y'all are doing).

Some of us take 'clean' to be a 100% condition. If after the cleaning procedure of several minutes, the CON-70 is left filled with fresh clean water on the inside and soaking in a warm bath on the outside for a few hours – say, in the tank of my temperature-controlled ultrasonic cleaner – and then vigorous shaking, or a three-minute cycle in the ultrasonic cleaner, brings out any colour at all into the water inside the CON-70, then we don't consider the initial cleaning procedure to have cleaned the converter properly of ink after all.

 

With a 'standard' Sailor or Platinum converter, the metal collar around the rotary piston can be easily unscrewed, and the converter disassembled into the clear cylinder (with a wide opening allowing full access to its inner surface, for scrubbing with something like a q-tip if required or desired), piston, end-plate, rotary 'knob' shaft and the metal collar for thorough cleaning.

I endeavour to be frank and truthful in what I write, show or otherwise present, when I relate my first-hand experiences that are not independently verifiable; and link to third-party content where I can, when I make a claim or refute a statement of fact in a thread. If there is something you can verify for yourself, I entreat you to do so, and judge for yourself what is right, correct, and valid. I may be wrong, and my position or say-so is no more authoritative and carries no more weight than anyone else's here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 50
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • Karmachanic

    8

  • A Smug Dill

    7

  • Mongoosey

    5

  • ink-syringe

    4

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

Some of us take 'clean' to be a 100% condition. If after the cleaning procedure of several minutes, the CON-70 is left filled with fresh clean water on the inside and soaking in a warm bath on the outside for a few hours – say, in the tank of my temperature-controlled ultrasonic cleaner – and then vigorous shaking, or a three-minute cycle in the ultrasonic cleaner, brings out any colour at all into the water inside the CON-70, then we don't consider the initial cleaning procedure to have cleaned the converter properly of ink after all.

 

With a 'standard' Sailor or Platinum converter, the metal collar around the rotary piston can be easily unscrewed, and the converter disassembled into the clear cylinder (with a wide opening allowing full access to its inner surface, for scrubbing with something like a q-tip if required or desired), piston, end-plate, rotary 'knob' shaft and the metal collar for thorough cleaning.

 

 

I guess. I don't know. My milage varied I guess.

 

I take the blunt tip syringe. Fill it with water. Put the blunt tip in the opening of the converter. Blast the water in there. I do this a bunch of times. Then I do it a bunch more while holding down the button and that allows water to get in behind the pump seal. I don't know about perfect but I am pretty darned picky and as far as I can see this gets the thing remarkably clean in no time at all.

 

If you soak the Con70 in hot water and have some grippy pad you can sometimes get them apart. First time is tough but after you have broken the seal it is then easier. I have taken mine apart and don't think it gets all that much cleaner that way then just the blunt tip syringe pressure hose power blast method.

 

Also, i usually fill a pen a few times with the same ink and additional have a spare con70 to rotate in so I don't have to wait till it is dry.

 

I find none of this bothersome or difficult at all. & unlike Sailor converters I have never had a Pilot leak out the back piston or button knob. I love the con70. Great piece of kit.

Looking for a cap for a Sheaffer Touchdown Sentinel Deluxe Fat version

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Did I like the old Con-20 converters? Yes. Do I have a problem with the fact that my new Decimo came with a Con-40 converter? No. The Decimo (with its F nib) is still on the first fill, and I've been using the pen for a couple of weeks now.

As for filling a converter with a syringe.... Why? I tried filling a pen with a syringe through the nib one time and it was a major PITA (and my grandparents' old dresser now is permanently stained with Noodler's Kung Te Cheng). If the ink in a bottle or vial is too low to adequately cover a nib to fill it directly, just pull the converter and fill it from the bottle or vial, then reinsert the converter in the pen.

Yeesh. What is the problem with people? All this handwringing for pretty much no reason. You don't like the capacity of a converter? Go buy a piston filler pen. Or a vintage pen like a Parker Vacumatic or 51 that has a way bigger capacity. This all sounds like a "First World" problem.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

ETA: And if you're worrying about keeping the nib clean? Get a vintage (working) Sheaffer Snorkel. But understand that you're still going to have to flush the entire nib and feed when you change inks, because that's just how feeds work....

Whew...shows how far out of the loop I've been. Didn't even know about the change-up in available Pilot converters.

I have all three converters prior to the CON-40: a CON-20 installed in a Pilot Penmanship (which, ironically, I purchased to use as a quasi-dip-pen); a CON-50 that arrived in a new matte-black Vanishing Point that Pilot sent me last week in lieu of repairing the damaged-by-moi VP I sent them over a month and a half before (gotta love Pilot for that); and a CON-70 that came in a clear-barrel Custom 74 with a B nib that I never really got on with and am looking to sell (inked only once, inquire within). Never had any issues with any of the above converters, and in the case of the 20 and 50, understood their relatively limited capacity...which is why I also have a pair of Custom 823s as my Main Axe writers. :rolleyes:

post-5986-0-43287300-1546048223_thumb.jpg

Edited by amateriat
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Whew...shows how far out of the loop I've been. Didn't even know about the change-up in available Pilot converters.

 

I have all three converters prior to the CON-40: a CON-20 installed in a Pilot Penmanship (which, ironically, I purchased to use as a quasi-dip-pen); a CON-50 that arrived in a new matte-black Vanishing Point that Pilot sent me last week in lieu of repairing the damaged-by-moi VP I sent them over a month and a half before (gotta love Pilot for that); and a CON-70 that came in a clear-barrel Custom 74 with a B nib that I never really got on with and am looking to sell (inked only once, inquire within). Never had any issues with any of the above converters, and in the case of the 20 and 50, understood their relatively limited capacity...which is why I also have a pair of Custom 823s as my Main Axe writers. :rolleyes:

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For the record the con20 holds a pretty good amount of ink. it's only the conjob50 and conjob40 that are small.

 

 

People don't like the conman20 cause it is too old school, has a sac and no ink window but I am a big user of vintage pens so the 20 is no problem for me.

 

squeeze it.

Edited by ink-syringe

Looking for a cap for a Sheaffer Touchdown Sentinel Deluxe Fat version

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For the record the con20 holds a pretty good amount of ink. it's only the conjob50 and conjob40 that are small.

 

People don't like the conman20 cause it is too old school, has a sac and no ink window but I am a big user of vintage pens so the 20 is no problem for me.

 

squeeze it.

:lol:

 

Also, +1

 

Never had a problem with any pilot converter. The con20 (or conman20 :D ) is a great compromise because you can use it to saturate the feed and then top it off with a syringe if you really need the extra quarter ml or whatever :lol:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

word up.

 

he con20 (or conman20 :D ) is a great compromise because you can use it to saturate the feed and then top it off with a syringe if you really need the extra quarter ml or whatever :lol:

Looking for a cap for a Sheaffer Touchdown Sentinel Deluxe Fat version

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I do like the idea of the CON-40 being almost entirely transparent, since neither the -20 or -50 are terribly useful in this regard.

The CON-50 will certainly allow you to see how much ink remains (unless you obscure the clear tube from view, using the long metal collar of a Pilot Capless nib, electricians' duct tape, etc.). Pilot has long marketed Prera demonstrators as being ideal for showing off the colours of Iroshizuku ink, and it used to package CON-50 converters inside Prera demonstrators (but not opaque Prera models), so obviously the manufacturer (and its marketing department) thinks the CON-50 is good for that purpose.

I endeavour to be frank and truthful in what I write, show or otherwise present, when I relate my first-hand experiences that are not independently verifiable; and link to third-party content where I can, when I make a claim or refute a statement of fact in a thread. If there is something you can verify for yourself, I entreat you to do so, and judge for yourself what is right, correct, and valid. I may be wrong, and my position or say-so is no more authoritative and carries no more weight than anyone else's here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The CON-50 will certainly allow you to see how much ink remains (unless you obscure the clear tube from view, using the long metal collar of a Pilot Capless nib, electricians' duct tape, etc.). Pilot has long marketed Prera demonstrators as being ideal for showing off the colours of Iroshizuku ink, and it used to package CON-50 converters inside Prera demonstrators (but not opaque Prera models), so obviously the manufacturer (and its marketing department) thinks the CON-50 is good for that purpose.

 

[Puts down tea, goes upstairs, inspects Vanishing Point] Yep, point taken: any converter put into a VP leaves you essentially in the dark regarding ink level. Kindly ignore my previous musings.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 years later...
On 12/10/2018 at 10:48 PM, penzel_washinkton said:

Honestly, I don't see how CON-40 is better in anyway to the CON-50.

 

Advantages of the CON-50 over the CON-40:

- Smoother screwing piston mechanism

- Can be filled almost to the brim

- Personally like the agitator than the ball type in CON-40

 

Advantages of the CON-40 over the CON-50:

- Jacksh*t, okay if you insist, more see through (hooray?)

 

Really hope Pilot release a new converter in the near future that is a larger capacity version of the CON-50.

Also, I hate cleaning the CON-70 just for your information

Totally agreed , CON40 have design flaw, it suck just 30%-40% to the converter everytime.  I change back to CON50 and could not be happier. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Most Contributions

    1. amberleadavis
      amberleadavis
      43844
    2. PAKMAN
      PAKMAN
      33501
    3. Ghost Plane
      Ghost Plane
      28220
    4. inkstainedruth
      inkstainedruth
      26627
    5. jar
      jar
      26101
  • Upcoming Events

  • Blog Comments

    • Shanghai Knife Dude
      I have the Sailor Naginata and some fancy blade nibs coming after 2022 by a number of new workshop from China.  With all my respect, IMHO, they are all (bleep) in doing chinese characters.  Go use a bush, or at least a bush pen. 
    • A Smug Dill
      It is the reason why I'm so keen on the idea of a personal library — of pens, nibs, inks, paper products, etc. — and spent so much money, as well as time and effort, to “build” it for myself (because I can't simply remember everything, especially as I'm getting older fast) and my wife, so that we can “know”; and, instead of just disposing of what displeased us, or even just not good enough to be “given the time of day” against competition from >500 other pens and >500 other inks for our at
    • adamselene
      Agreed.  And I think it’s good to be aware of this early on and think about at the point of buying rather than rationalizing a purchase..
    • A Smug Dill
      Alas, one cannot know “good” without some idea of “bad” against which to contrast; and, as one of my former bosses (back when I was in my twenties) used to say, “on the scale of good to bad…”, it's a spectrum, not a dichotomy. Whereas subjectively acceptable (or tolerable) and unacceptable may well be a dichotomy to someone, and finding whether the threshold or cusp between them lies takes experiencing many degrees of less-than-ideal, especially if the decision is somehow influenced by factors o
    • adamselene
      I got my first real fountain pen on my 60th birthday and many hundreds of pens later I’ve often thought of what I should’ve known in the beginning. I have many pens, the majority of which have some objectionable feature. If they are too delicate, or can’t be posted, or they are too precious to face losing , still they are users, but only in very limited environments..  I have a big disliking for pens that have the cap jump into the air and fly off. I object to Pens that dry out, or leave blobs o
  • Chatbox

    You don't have permission to chat.
    Load More
  • Files






×
×
  • Create New...