Best Way To Clean A Rotring Feed?

[cooltouch]

I just picked up a decent little Rotring calligraphy set for pretty cheap, I suppose -- $25 for a set of three "Rotring Art Pens" in nib sizes of 1.9, 2.3, and 2.7. They take what I always think of as a Mont Blanc cartridge, but I suppose it's somewhat universal. So the set arrived yesterday and I tried dipping with it, with mixed results. So today I bought some cartridges for them, and only one of the three pens will write relialbly.

 

I dropped all three nib+sections into a glass of clean water and let them soak for about an hour. They all seemed a bit stuffy before getting dunked. The 1.9 responded the best, whereas the other two, not at all.

 

So, I pulled the nib and feed from both of these pens, and discovered a lot of dried build-up under the nibs. The nibs appear to be stainless steel and clean very easily. The sections have a rather narrow hole but it was open far enough for ink to flow. But the feeds are a big question mark. Each feed has a very fine groove running down the top, all the way out to its tip. Toward the back of the feed, there's a tubular section where this groove runs internally. Then at the back of the feed is where this very fine slot ends.

 

Even after letting the feed and section soak for about another hour, the unit still seems clogged. I blow on the section from both directions. No air is passing through.

 

So I think this very fine "channel" is probably clogged with old ink. Question is, how to remove it? I've put the sections and feeds back into water to let it soak. Probably, I'll let it sit overnight. Maybe add some dish detergent to the water?

 

Attached is a pic of the set. You'll note two nibs in a right "pocket." These are the two nibs whose feeds won't cooperate. They cleaned up great, so I didn't see any point in dunking them again.

 

Edited May 29, 2019 by cooltouch

[mana]

Two options come to mind, an ultrasonic bath (those pens are pretty much indestructible and can take even a longer treatment easy) or a longer bath in a dedicated pen cleaning fluid. Adding dish washing fluid or ammonia to the water might help also.

You can also open the feed channel using a disposable razor blade (or a scalpel/craft knife/whatever blade thin enough). Beware though when choosing this option, it might widen the channel too much and lead to a wetter pen than intended.

 

Those are great pens btw. One of my favorite pocket pens is a rOtring Art Pen that I trimmed the tail off. Using an international converter (which is the type and proper nomenclature for the suitable cartridges or converters) it has a decent ink capacity, and the 1.1mm nib is just awesome.

[cooltouch]

Hey mana, thanks for the reply. Is a "dedicated pen cleaning fluid" a commercially available product, or is it something a guy like me can cook up?

 

I bought a couple of 12-packs of black ink cartridges for these pens, but I have probably another two or three fountain pens, including a Mont Blanc, that take this size cartridge, so I'm thinking I should go ahead and get some converters. I was figuring that "international converter" would probably get me into the ballpark, so thanks for that confirmation.

 

One thing I've noticed about all three of these nibs is how smooth they are, so I think maybe I'll take heed of your recommendation, and pick up a 1.1mm nib, should I come across one. That seems like a useful size for somebody like me, who likes broad stub nibs. My everyday writer is a 1938 Canadian Vacumatic with broad stub nib. I really like that little thing, but it's getting old now and a little tired.

[cooltouch]

I just discovered that these rOtring's feeds actually separate into two sections. So I've dunked the individual pieces in some water that I've added a few drops of dish detergent to. Gonna wait again and hope for the best.

[cooltouch]

I dunked the separated feeds into some very hot water to which I'd added a few drops of dish detergent, and then let them soak overnight. It took a while, but I finally managed to get the ink to flow reliably with all three. Nice.

 

These are very pleasant writers. Broad enough where I can easily use them for musical notation, for example. Although the 2.7 is a bit large for this style of writing with normally spaced staves. Good for headlines, names on certificates and such, though.