Pilot Kakuno (F) and (M) after refilled cartridge

[Dee R]

I am a very new FP user. I hope this isn't too long, but I figured I would give lots of detail. I have two Kakuno's (M) and (F) - I seem to be having the same issue with both of them. 

 

I started the M with the included Pilot black cartridge. A couple of days ago, I flushed the pen (including removing the nib) and I flushed out the cartridge. I put the nib and feed back into the pen, and used a blunt syringe to fill the cartridge with Robert Oster Smokescreen. I tried everything to get the feed to flow freely, but it felt dry and like I was writing on wax paper most of the time.

 

So after a couple of days struggling, I flushed the pen/cartridge again (NOT removing the nib/feed) and filled the cartridge with Montverde Blueberry Muffin ink. Not as bad as Smokescreen but still not optimal. dry dry dry. 

I filled my ECO (M) with the smokescreen ink and that worked beautifully. 

 

In the meantime, the Kakuno (F) was working just great using its black Pilot ink cartridge. So I decided to swap out the two cartridges to see what would happen. No cleaning out the pens, just literal swap of cartridges. Both pens seemed to work pretty well; each pen had a little bit of black and the muffin inks. They seemed to write normally, scratchy feedback little bit (?)

 

Next experiment, (F) pen hadn't worked through the original black ink, so I cleaned out the pen nib and ended up removing the nib to get out some stuck black ink inside.  I reinserted the cartridge with blueberry muffin and it was terrible, just like the (M) previously with smokescreen.

 

Am I just choosing the wrong inks? I read the smokescreen can be a bit dry, but it didn't seem like the Monteverde was normally well-behaved.

Or is it a problem with refilling the cartridge? Is there air or something preventing the ink from flowing into the pen? Like getting stuck? 

 

Thank you for listening. I hope I wasn't too long-winded, but I hope someone can help me figure this out!

 

 

[Olya]

Pilots seem to like freer flowing ink and theirs is formulated to be a bit more "gushy", hence it flows better in their pens than some drier inks.

 

On the other end of the scale Pelikans are incredibly wet writers and write better with their own dry ink (or any dry ink) than with wet free flowing ink. They can handle wet ink obvs, but it can be too much for the paper.

 

The Pilots just don't like the particular ink you used, so don't write well as opposed to when using their own ink.

[mhguda]

Hi Dee, welcome to FPN.

I have two Kakuno's myself, both F, but I've never used anything than their own cartridges in them, once one is empty the next one goes in. Your trouble does sound unfamiliar to me for this pen, but (of course!) not for many other pens... usually after doing something unusual to them. In this case, I'd suspect the nib removal. Are you sure it was seated back exactly as it was before you cleaned it?

If yes, maybe it needs to be heat set. I read about heat setting plastic feeds (like Pilot uses) with hot water, here on FPN, and I have experience with the hot water method for ebonite feeds. You take a cup of just-boiled water and stick the nib and feed (mounted in the pen) in up to the collar where the section begins. the experts say 30 seconds, I've had good results with 10 seconds at a time, and repeat for another 10 seconds if the flow did not get better with the first one. Once it's been in there, pinch the nib and feed together with protected fingers (don't burn yourself!) so that the feed can be slightly reshaped to run parallel to the feed. I usually do this with ink in the pen, so that I can immediately see what the effect is... and decide to repeat if necessary.

Mind you, you do this when you are certain you have the nib and feed in the correct position...

 

I hope this works for you... let us know.

[Dee R]

Thank you for your replies. 

@OlyaI'm learning that some inks do not work well in some pens.

 

@mhguda, it does seem strange (coincidence) that both pens had issues after I took them apart....but the M seems to be writing very smoothly now with the pilot cartridge, but it could just be happy with that ink...

 

the (F) is still super scratchy so I am going to take out the nib again on the F and check to make sure it is seated properly. And then if needed, I'll try the tip with boiling water.

 

thank you again!!!

 

[Dee R]

Update, I decided to try one more ink that seemed on the wetter side. Diamine Monboddo's Hat. I didn't clean out the pen or cartridge. Just poured out the old ink, syringed the new ink, and let the pen rest.

And I'm so happy! it's still got some "feedback" I guess you can call it, but it's definitely smoother and I am not struggling to write with it!

 

I'm so glad I posted to the forum, because I have learned a lot today!!!

thank you for the welcome!!!!

[mhguda]

You're very welcome. Thanks for posting your solution.

It suggests the Pilot ink in the cartridges flows better than average... so, at some point I think I'm going to repeat part of your experiment... except for removing the nib and/or the feed.