Conid Minimalistica - drips from nib

[FredRydr]

When I lift the rod to allow ink to flow from the main reservoir into the small reservoir, bubbles rise from the feed, up through the reservoirs and at the same time, a generous flow of drips fall from the nib.  If I lift the rod again, the same happens and the ink drops out of the pen. I can actually empty the barrel within two minutes by sliding the rod up and down and the ink drips from the nib.  I've disassembled the pen, cleaned it, lubed it, checked the o-rings and reassembled.  I watched Conid videos, looking for mistakes on reassembly, but recognize none.  Alas, the Conid mothership is still not actively providing support.  Here what their website says:

 

Why is my nib leaking?

If you notice that your nib is leaking, this may be due to the following issues: first of all, the O-ring behind the nib housing might be missing. Secondly, this can be due to the housing that is not screwed in completely or the nib unit itself is not incorrectly (sic) pushed into the housing.

 

The o-ring behind the nib housing is in place, and the nib housing is screwed all the way in against that o-ring.  The feed is seated all the way into the housing, and the nib is set so that the feed is not quite showing from the top of the nib.  For good measure, I replaced the o-rings for each end of the nib housing.  (The spare o-rings came from Conid a couple years ago.)  I tried again with the replacement o-rings, filling the pen with water.  The bubbles still appear when lifting the rod and water drips generously from the nib.

 

Clearly, I'm missing something.  Has anyone else resolved this issue?  

 

As a side note, since Conid isn't functioning, have the o-rings been identified for general availability elsewhere?

[hari317]

Problem is most likely not at the nib end. But appears to be at the shaft seal end. There is a seal around the shaft in the detachable syringe head. Look at that o ring and possibly replace or lubricate it. In the interim a dab of silicone grease on the shaft worked a few times might also help. HTH. 

[silverlifter]

5 hours ago, FredRydr said:

As a side note, since Conid isn't functioning, have the o-rings been identified for general availability elsewhere?

 

Kirk sells them at Pen Realm

[jean]

If it helps.
On a Slimline model I noticed that after filling the pen, and pushing the piston rod to close the ink reservoir, ink was dripping from the nib.  After lubricating the mechanism and the piston rod this problem disappeared.

[FredRydr]

6 hours ago, hari317 said:

Problem is most likely not at the nib end. But appears to be at the shaft seal end. There is a seal around the shaft in the detachable syringe head. Look at that o ring and possibly replace or lubricate it. HTH. 

 

My Minimalistica hasn't an o-ring or groove for an o-ring in that part.  Perhaps it was a later addition.  The rod is a loose fit in the "syringe head" of my pen.  In any event, neither liquid nor air should pass by the o-ring on the piston, and as the piston is drawn up and down the barrel, there needs to be a means for ingress and egress of air above the piston.

 

6 hours ago, silverlifter said:

Kirk sells them at Pen Realm

 

Thank you!  I'll try to measure the o-rings to determine which they are, but I don't trust my very inexpensive digital caliper.  If anyone has learned the Conid o-ring specs, please share.

 

3 hours ago, jean said:

If it helps.
On a Slimline model I noticed that after filling the pen, and pushing the piston rod to close the ink reservoir, ink was dripping from the nib.  After lubricating the mechanism and the piston rod this problem disappeared.

 

I had lubricated the rod with a thin smear of silicon grease before this problem.  I could add more grease, but it seems a poor design if I have to load up the rod above the piston with a blob of grease to fill the space between the rod and the "syringe head."  If Hari's suggestion indicates Conid added an o-ring in later production, I will inquire about an upgraded part when Conid is back online, but see my comment, above.

 

I'll add that I think the issue is the piston.  The seal between the barrel and the piston appears tight, and is lightly lubricated with silicon grease.  What I cannot see is where the rod passes through the piston, which should be tight against liquid and air.  Is there an o-ring there?  The rod is lubricated with only enough grease that creates a tiny ring of accumulated grease at the bottom and top of travel along the rod, and feels tight when removed from the barrel, for there is no looseness felt between piston and rod other than smooth travel of the rod through the piston.

[hari317]

Hello Fred, the seal has to be there in the detachable syringe “head”. This head is the one  which gets locked at the knob end using francis S bayonet. Of course there is no seal between the shaft and rear of the syringe head as it needs venting when the syringe head is pulled back fir filling. 
 

without the shaft seal in the syringe head, after you lock the head in the bayonet and push the shaft in, what’s there to prevent air to leak around the shaft through the syringe head centre.  

[hari317]

20 hours ago, FredRydr said:

 

 What I cannot see is where the rod passes through the piston, which should be tight against liquid and air.  Is there an o-ring there?  

Yes that’s the seal that I am talking about. I hope this helps. 

[fountainbel]

Hi Fred,

Sorry reading of your problems 

I could be wrong, but I expect however there is nothing wrong with your Minimalistica

When. un-screwing the piston rod and pushing the rod in  after anchoring the piston, there will always be ink expelled . This is completely logical given the volume displacement of the piston  rod;

For the same reason it's logical that when pushing & pulling the rod several times  each cycle ink will be expelled.

As recommended one should push the piston rod in when the pen is still over the ink well

Hope this helps ,

best regards,

Francis

[FredRydr]

On 5/29/2021 at 3:46 PM, fountainbel said:

Hi Fred,

Sorry reading of your problems 

I could be wrong, but I expect however there is nothing wrong with your Minimalistica

When. un-screwing the piston rod and pushing the rod in  after anchoring the piston, there will always be ink expelled . This is completely logical given the volume displacement of the piston  rod;

For the same reason it's logical that when pushing & pulling the rod several times  each cycle ink will be expelled.

As recommended one should push the piston rod in when the pen is still over the ink well

Hope this helps ,

best regards,

Francis

Hello Francis.

 

The drips happen when the rod is lifted and the piston is not locked to the rod, i.e., when I need to allow ink to flow from the main reservoir to the small chamber.  This is required several times while writing an average letter.  

 

Should I be expected to retrieve an inkwell to catch drips each time I enable ink to flow from the main ink reservoir to the small chamber?

 

Thank you for your help.

 

Fred

 

 

[peroride]

On 5/27/2021 at 6:25 PM, FredRydr said:

Clearly, I'm missing something.  Has anyone else resolved this issue?  

I suspect the ink dripping is independent of the pen. I do not have a Minimalistica but a Kingsize and both have the ability to swap nibs. I have had this ink dripping from feed issue on 2 non-Conid pens (1 eyedropper, other piston) and both from a screw in nib swap experience. The ways I have been able to resolve the problem was

• return to converter 
• swap to a new nib unit (screw-in Bock #6)
• using drier ink

Since the Minimalistica does not support converters, the latter 2 options may be worth a try: spare Jowo#6 nib unit and/or dry ink like Pelikan or Graf Faber-Castell

[silverlifter]

33 minutes ago, FredRydr said:

Should I be expected to retrieve an inkwell to catch drips each time I enable ink to flow from the main ink reservoir to the small chamber?

 

No, that would be a serious design flaw.

 

The one tangentially related issue I experienced with my Mini was that with a FNF housing and Sailor nib, drawing ink in would also pull a significant amount of air, as if the nib/feed seal was not airtight (the area around the housing bubbled and foamed when filling). The pen wrote fine, and didn't leak, but I switched back to the Conid nib/feed for other reasons, and have not been troubled since.

[Karmachanic]

@FredRydr Having filled the Minimalistica, disengage the plunger/piston head and leave the knob open 2mm. Only time I use the shut-off valve is during air travel. Always ready to write, and no faffing around opening and closing. No problem in three years of constant use. Might work for you too.

 

 

[Harold]

The one crucial question that has been hinted at several times, but not asked directly is the following: when you say "lift the rod", do you simply unscrew the knob a couple of turns and leave it at that or do you unscrew the knob completely off of its screw thread and then pull on the rod to slide it back a little bit?

[fountainbel]

2 hours ago, Karmachanic said:

@FredRydr Having filled the Minimalistica, disengage the plunger/piston head and leave the knob open 2mm. Only time I use the shut-off valve is during air travel. Always ready to write, and no faffing around opening and closing. No problem in three years of constant use. Might work for you too.

 

 

Good alternative approach, several owners as such !

Francis

[FredRydr]

14 hours ago, peroride said:

I suspect the ink dripping is independent of the pen. I do not have a Minimalistica but a Kingsize and both have the ability to swap nibs. I have had this ink dripping from feed issue on 2 non-Conid pens (1 eyedropper, other piston) and both from a screw in nib swap experience. The ways I have been able to resolve the problem was

• return to converter 
• swap to a new nib unit (screw-in Bock #6)
• using drier ink

Since the Minimalistica does not support converters, the latter 2 options may be worth a try: spare Jowo#6 nib unit and/or dry ink like Pelikan or Graf Faber-Castell

 

14 hours ago, silverlifter said:

 

No, that would be a serious design flaw.

 

The one tangentially related issue I experienced with my Mini was that with a FNF housing and Sailor nib, drawing ink in would also pull a significant amount of air, as if the nib/feed seal was not airtight (the area around the housing bubbled and foamed when filling). The pen wrote fine, and didn't leak, but I switched back to the Conid nib/feed for other reasons, and have not been troubled since.

 

I only use a Conid-branded nib in the pen, and this Minimalistica has been refilled for years with the same ink without issue.  These drips are a new phenomenon, so the question remains: what physical property has changed with the pen?  If I learn that and correct it, I'll stick with the same ink.

 

3 hours ago, Karmachanic said:

@FredRydr Having filled the Minimalistica, disengage the plunger and leave the knob open 2mm. Only time I use the shut-off valve is during air travel. Always ready to write, and no faffing around opening and closing. No problem in the three years of constant use. Might work for you too.

 

 

 

Interesting work-around.  Thank you.

 

2 hours ago, Harold said:

The one crucial question that has been hinted at several times, but not asked directly is the following: when you say "lift the rod", do you simply unscrew the knob a couple of turns and leave it at that or do you unscrew the knob completely off of its screw thread and then pull on the rod to slide it back a little bit?

 

I routinely unscrew the knob until the ink flows from the reservoir into the small chamber, and then screw the knob back down, at which time drips occur.  I've unscrewed the knob and pulled the rod up for observation trying to discover why air enters through the feed so readily, and drips occur then, too.

 

 

41 minutes ago, fountainbel said:

Good alternative approach, several owners as such !

Francis

 

Yes, that may be a workaround of the symptom, but I prefer to find the problem and make the repair.  It would be similar to leaving a lever halfway out on a lever-filler, or a plunger not screwed down on a Vac-Fill.

[Karmachanic]

43 minutes ago, FredRydr said:

I routinely unscrew the knob until the ink flows from the reservoir into the small chamber, and then screw the knob back down, at which time drips occur

 

Yup. Physics.  The rod has a seal just above the tip. This tip is being forced, with pressure, onto a full (mini)reservoir and then sealed. Drip.  Stop doing this and it won't drip. 🤪

 

Instead of trying to fix what isn't broken, you could just send me the pen.  I'll use it in a way that it doesn't drip.    I'll be happy and you won't have a pen that drips. 😁😁😁

[FredRydr]

3 minutes ago, Karmachanic said:

 

Stop doing this and it won't drip. 🤪

 

How do you enable ink to flow from the main reservoir into the small chamber?

[fountainbel]

4 hours ago, Karmachanic said:

 

Yup. Physics.  The rod has a seal just above the tip. This tip is being forced with pressure onto a full reservoir and then sealed. Drip.  Stop doing this and it won't drip. 🤪

 

Instead of trying to fix what isn't broken, you could just send me the pen.  I'll use it in a way that it doesn't drip.    I'll be happy and you won't have a pen that drips. 😁😁😁

Exactly , volume displacement aways results in  ink flow!!

 

Only unscrew the filling knob 2-2.5mm and leave the filling knob in this position.

When ending your writing session you can screw the filling knob down while holding the pen nib-up.

When ink transfer does not occur fluently with the filling knob 2-2.5mm open, you

can try to hold the pen horizontally an slightly pivot it to obtain ink transfer .

Alternatively you can increase the filling knob opening to 4mm- leaving the thread fit - which will surely fill the front ink chamber.

However for screwing the filling knob on again - re-obtaining  the normal  gap of 2 mm between filling knob & barrel - you should hold the pen nib-up.

The above mentioned guidelines not only count for the Minimalistica, but for all Bulkfiller versions

 

Note the new design will include a  teflon coated surface tension breaker needle which sits on top of the rod and goes inside the front chamber, ensuring a  fluent back & forth ink transfer at a filling knob opening of 2mm.

 

Edited June 1, 2021 by fountainbel
edit for corrections, sorry

[hari317]

5 minutes ago, fountainbel said:

Exactly !!

Only unscrew the filling knob 2-2.5mm and leave the filling knob in this position.

When ending your writing session you can screw the filling knob down while holding the pen nib-up

 

Francis is there one or a set of shaft sealing Orings in the centre of the piston? Thank you. 

[fountainbel]

13 minutes ago, hari317 said:

Francis is there one or a set of shaft sealing Orings in the centre of the piston? Thank you. 

Sure , inside the piston is an O ring sealing on the rod.

But I don't expect this O ring is causing any problem here!