Pilot Custom 823 Flow Issues

[beni_rohit]

My 823 isn't writing as desired

It has several issues:

1) The upstrokes are dry and scratchy. Not the straight upstrokes, but also the slanting upstrokes.

 

2) The pen seems to hard start at times. Its not scratchy, but just goes black when i start the word.

 

3) The ink in the reservoir gets stuck above the piston end causing a break in the ink flow. At first I thought it was the ink, as i was using the Noodler's Bullteproof Black which is quite a dry ink. But when i inked it with the Lamy Turquoise, the problem persists.

 

What could be the problem?

Edited March 30, 2020 by beni_rohit

[Karmachanic]

Is the "piston"handle closed? If so you have stopped the ink flow.

[beni_rohit]

Is the "piston"handle closed? If so you have stopped the ink flow.

Nope, the piston cap is fully unscrewed to the extent that the cap is now spinning freely.

[TheDutchGuy]

Is it new? Or did you already have it and did it write well until now?

[beni_rohit]

Is it new? Or did you already have it and did it write well until now?

Well it is about a year old. But it's always written like this. Just haven't had the time to tune it.

[neverforget]

Are you absolutely certain that you are filling it correctly? It is crucial that you prime the pen after filling and even sometimes during writing as air bubbles can cause poor flow.

[TheDutchGuy]

Well it is about a year old. But it's always written like this. Just haven't had the time to tune it.

 

Some suggestions. If it is a new pen that you’ve had for about a year, then return it if you can. A C823 is an expensive pen, don’t mess with it, return it if you can.

 

Re 1): this might be indicative of a nib in need of smoothing and/or misaligned tines and/or a pen that writes really dry.

 

Re 2): this might be indicative of baby’s bottom and/or a pen that writes really dry and/or overly smooth paper (some pens don’t play nice with Clairefontaine, for example) and/or skin oils on the paper (if it happens mostly in the lower half of the page).

 

Re 3): Seems to be a surface tension issue. You might check this page for some tips. personally I regard Lamy inks as dry. Add a touch of glycerine or try a wet ink. An affordable test ink would be a small 10mL bottle of Herbin Bleu des Profondeurs. Other examples are iroshizuku, Sailor, Robert Oster.

[ethernautrix]

Are you using Noodler's Black ink? [Yes, Noodler's Black. That's what I get for skimming the OP.] I've heard that this particular ink might not flow as consistently in this particular pen -- and I have experienced it, also. But, as this is my ink of choice in my pen of choice, I just live with having to shake the ink down every now and again (not too often, just sometimes).

 

How about the tines of the nib? Are they too close together? Gently spreading them by pressing (gently!) on the "wings" or shoulders of the nib should do the trick. (I've done this with other nibs.)

 

 

Hm... Lamy Turquoise. When I don't know if an ink is too dry and that's the problem, I try a KWZ ink. If I still have a problem, I figure it isn't the ink. It isn't scientific, I know. But then I look at the nib's tines and possibly the feed channel.

 

Edited cos careless reading.

Edited March 30, 2020 by ethernautrix

[SashK]

My suggestion is to use a Pilot standard ink or one of the Iroshizuku line.

 

Mine won't even go a page or two without starting to skip with any other ink.

 

Even Edelstein (or other high-end Japanese) ink skips after some time. But it likes Pilot inks.

[Bilbo_Swaggins]

I would highly suggest adding some pictures, of the tines, nib and maybe some writing.

[chemgeek]

I've found that for many new pens, a quick flush with a very dilute detergent solution helps remove any oils and breaks surface tension that might impede flow. Nibs with marginal flow may perform acceptably with certain inks than others. For nibs that are hard-starting, inconsistent, or scratchy, the first thing to do is to check the tine alignment. Nine times out of 10 aligning tines will solve one or both of those problems. Finally, if the tines look OK and flow is decent, then a little nib tuning is in order. But you really shouldn't attempt fixing the nib unless you know what you are doing. Especially with a nice gold nib like the 823.

 

Of course, sometimes you just get a lemon, and need to get it fixed by the manufacturer. Bad feeds and nibs do exist, and can be replaced. There is no reason to suffer with a crappy nib on what should be a great writing experience.

 

Having said that, my Custom 823 is one of the few pens I own that have never needed even a tweak. It wrote perfectly out of the box. (My 823 medium is sloppy wet and smooth, just like I like it.) Pretty much everything else I've owned had to make some minor adjustments to bring up to snuff.

[bizhe]

My suggestion is to use a Pilot standard ink or one of the Iroshizuku line.

 

Mine won't even go a page or two without starting to skip with any other ink.

 

Even Edelstein (or other high-end Japanese) ink skips after some time. But it likes Pilot inks.

 

+1, pilot nibs and feeds are tuned to pilot ink, which is wetter. Definitely definitely try a pilot ink before modifying anything

[Tseg]

Having said that, my Custom 823 is one of the few pens I own that have never needed even a tweak. It wrote perfectly out of the box. (My 823 medium is sloppy wet and smooth, just like I like it.) Pretty much everything else I've owned had to make some minor adjustments to bring up to snuff.

 

^^^^^ My Fine 823 was very good out of the box, but I took some brass shims to it and it now has exceptional flow but still a very tight line. It is now about my most versatile nib when it comes to inks and papers, seemingly accepting of all.

Edited April 28, 2020 by Tseg

[Parker51]

In addition to unscrewing the blind cap, one must pull on it slightly so that the main reservoir is open. Their is a notch so that it is clear how far the rod is pulled out by feel. If the rod s not pulled out then the pen will likely only be able to write a few pages before the part of the pen below the gasket which has some ink in it empties out. Also, the ink flow will not be particularly good without access to the large reservoir.

I have had a Pilot 823 for several years and use Pilot or Montblanc ink without problems.

[DipIt]

My experience has been the same as Parker51. I had to fully unscrew the cap and then sort of lightly "pinch" the gap between it and the barrel, with index finger and thumb, to lift it slightly. The pen nearly drove me wild until I figured that out.

[Parker51]

What I did was read the instructions for the pen and follow them. I like this feature, though it did take a while to get used to and sometimes I would forget to push the end back in and screw it shut as it is a unique feature.

[ljmudit]

Personally, I only stick with Pilot inks for my 823. They are wet and like someone mentioned the pen is tuned to be written with such wet inks.

 

Once I filled it with Noodler's HOD and I could feel as if someone was strangling my 823. Ink flow was much poorer than Pilot Blue/Black which are my staple inks. I wouldn't feed it Lamy either as it is a very dry ink.

 

Try and experiment with Pilot or Waterman inks before sending it to a nib meister.

[DonM]

I've had a number of Pilots that had this sort of problem. My approach, that has worked on all of them:

 

• Pull the nib and feed (watch YouTube videos if you don't know how to do this).
• Scrub the nib and feed lightly with a soft toothbrush and dish soap
• Rise nib and feed well
• Reinstall the nib and feed

Problem solved.

 

Good luck.

[cgreenberg19]

This also happened to me. Try using some micro mesh, Brian Goulet has a good instructional video. Also, Pelikan Royal blue is a good ink for finicky nibs. Or, you could just take it to a nib miester.

Edited May 12, 2020 by cgreenberg19

[Drone]

1. I presume if you are having flow problems your 823 has a Fine nib(?) From earlier posts it seems like you are already unscrewing the filler knob.

2. Pull the nib and feed out and give all the parts (including the pen) a good cleaning with warm soapy water. Scrub the nib and feed lightly with a clean soft toothbrush, especially on the bottom of the nib and top of the feed where the two meet. Rinse all the parts so there is no soap left. Wash your hands thoroughly before reassembling the pen and try to avoid touching the nib or feed where the two meet.

3. Try a different ink, one that is know to flow well with your pen. I recommend a bottle of Pilot or Namiki Blue ink.

4. Almost all Pilot Custom Heritage series pens use crummy plastic feeds which can restrict flow (skipping, rail-roading, hard starts), especially in pens that use larger nibs like the 823 and 743 which both use Pilot's No. 15 size nibs. You might want to think about replacing the stock plastic feed with an after-market Ebonite (hard rubber) feed which improves ink flow. The Flexible Nib Factory LLC in Texas manufactures and sells Ebonite feeds for the Pilot 743 ($25 USD ea.) which uses the same size nib as the 823. It is a long shot, because the 743 is a cartridge/converter filler while the 823 is a vacuum filler w/lock-down, but maybe you can use the 743 Ebonite feed in your 823. Or maybe the Ebonite 743 feed can be modified to work in the 823. You can contact Joey Grasty at the Flexible Nib Factory here:

Flexible Nib Factory LLC
1448 Halsey Way #114
Carrollton, Texas 75007 USA
+1-214-945-3299
https://flexiblenib.com

Just for fun, here is a post explaining how I put a Flexible Nib Factory Ebonite feed in my Pilot CH 743 with a Pilot FA flex nib:

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/339120-my-pilot-743fa-with-the-flexible-nib-factory-ebonite-feed/

Good Luck, David in Florida

Edited May 21, 2020 by Drone