Jump to content

Pilot Custom 823 - Persistent Stain inside barrel?

InVinoVeritas

By InVinoVeritas
in Fountain & Dip Pens - First Stop

 Share

Recommended Posts

InVinoVeritas New

InVinoVeritas

Posted
Posted

Hello, All.

I've had my Pilot Custom 823 for about a month now, and I love it. It writes beautifully and I've only ever inked it with one type of ink: Pilot Irushizuko take-sumi (black). Earlier today though, I inked it up again for a long writing stint..and it started to feel clogged and not so smooth. It would lay down light ink at first then get dark, then light again. Also, the feedback started to feel more "scratchier" on a Leuchtturm notebook where just last night it was smooth as butter. So I thought I would flush it out.

I have a GouletPens flushing solution and so I went about flushing it out with water first, then used the solution...but as I did, I noticed a weird stain on the inside of the barrel that no matter how hard I tried to flush it out, would not come off. I'm very hesitant about disassembling my PC823 for fear of voiding the warranty, but wondering if there's anything non-intrusive I could do to try and remove this weird stain. It probably isn't hurting why ink per se, but it's just me knowing it's there that's probably the main issue. Still I don't like that a really expensive pen (at least for me) has a stain on the inside of the barrel.

IMG_6429.jpeg

IMG_6430.jpeg

IMG_6431.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Replies 8
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • InVinoVeritas

    4

  • DvdRiet

    2

  • A Smug Dill

    1

  • SpecTP

    1

Popular Days

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

Posted Images

DvdRiet Vintage

DvdRiet

Posted
Posted

In these photos, this really looks to me like piston (silicone) grease or something similar. Is that possible?

 

I'm curious to know also because I just recently got this - quite expensive for me as well - pen and I was just about to put it back into rotation. I would like to be prepared if it happens with mine! I didn't see anything like this when I flushed it recently, but I know it took absolutely forever for all the water to evaporate out of the barrel.

Co-founded the Netherlands Pen Club. DM me if you would like to know about our meetups and join our Discord!

 

Currently attempting to collect the history of Diplomat pens.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
InVinoVeritas New

InVinoVeritas

Posted
  • Author
Posted
19 minutes ago, DvdRiet said:

In these photos, this really looks to me like piston (silicone) grease or something similar. Is that possible?

 

I'm curious to know also because I just recently got this - quite expensive for me as well - pen and I was just about to put it back into rotation. I would like to be prepared if it happens with mine! I didn't see anything like this when I flushed it recently, but I know it took absolutely forever for all the water to evaporate out of the barrel.

It's possibly a grease stain, but I'm not sure. This is my first vacuum filler, but I have heard on other forums that Pilot overly greases some pens, this may be one of them. I'm honestly just not that experienced enough with fountain pens in general to know what a silicone grease stain looks like.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
DvdRiet Vintage

DvdRiet

Posted
Posted

I've also never had a vacuum filler before this, but I have been cleaning the old ink and accumulated gunk out of a lot of old German pistons (mostly simple ones) from the 50s lately. Some of them have been in the hands of pen people (less gunk but sometimes excess grease) and some of them haven't (gunk, gunk, and more gunk), and I've also been greasing the pistons myself before putting the pens back together. Grease was the first thing I thought of when I saw your photos. Also makes sense if you've heard that they sometimes over-grease them. So, hopefully that's what it is, because that's not any big deal really, except that it can cause a bit of blockage in the the feed if there's too much of it. 

 

How to get it out from where it is currently located, on the other hand, or if it will dissolve and go away by itself eventually, I can't say. It may just be a case of leaving the cleaning fluid in for a little longer to let it dissolve the grease before you flush it out again. Or a special dilution. Hopefully someone here with actual expertise with these pens can help out!

Co-founded the Netherlands Pen Club. DM me if you would like to know about our meetups and join our Discord!

 

Currently attempting to collect the history of Diplomat pens.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
InVinoVeritas New

InVinoVeritas

Posted
  • Author
Posted
9 minutes ago, DvdRiet said:

How to get it out from where it is currently located, on the other hand, or if it will dissolve and go away by itself eventually, I can't say. It may just be a case of leaving the cleaning fluid in for a little longer to let it dissolve the grease before you flush it out again. Or a special dilution. Hopefully someone here with actual expertise with these pens can help out!

Thanks. I was actually considering doing exactly that, leaving the flushing solution in for a bit longer, just to see if maybe it'll go away. Still researching other means, but I may give this a try tonight.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
A Smug Dill Museum Piece

A Smug Dill

Posted
Posted

If it's just gunk sticking to the surface of the barrel's interior wall, then a soak and cycle in an ultrasonic cleaning tank should help knock it loose, without disassembling the pen.

 

Do keep in mind that, if it is indeed a glob of silicone grease that sticks together and is insoluble in water, you may not actually want it coming off and end up clogging the end of the feed or clinging to its ink channel.

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
InVinoVeritas New

InVinoVeritas

Posted
  • Author
Posted
1 hour ago, A Smug Dill said:

Do keep in mind that, if it is indeed a glob of silicone grease that sticks together and is insoluble in water, you may not actually want it coming off and end up clogging the end of the feed or clinging to its ink channel.

Yikes. Good point. DIdn't even think about that. Ugh.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
sirgilbert357 Antique

sirgilbert357

Posted
Posted

I know what I would do...Just fill it and write on! Inks have chemicals in them to make them flow better. I'm no chemist, but I'm guessing those same properties will eventually dissolve the silicone grease over time.

 

Also, some inks have a reputation for removing ink stains inside pens. Sailor Doyou is one such ink. You can do some searches on that topic. Just food for thought if you do eventually develop an actual ink stain at some point.

 

I love my Pilot 823 too. For the inks that might stain it, I use the Wing Sung 699.

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
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Most Contributions

    1. amberleadavis
      amberleadavis
      43844
    2. PAKMAN
      PAKMAN
      33577
    3. Ghost Plane
      Ghost Plane
      28220
    4. inkstainedruth
      inkstainedruth
      26766
    5. jar
      jar
      26105

  • Upcoming Events

  • Blog Comments

    • Shanghai Knife Dude
      Links to web pages or articles about Chinese typesetting, signwriting, etc.

      By Shanghai Knife Dude · Posted

      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
      Skeleton of a primer for a budding hobbyist

      By A Smug Dill · Posted

      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
      Skeleton of a primer for a budding hobbyist

      By adamselene · Posted

      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
      Skeleton of a primer for a budding hobbyist

      By A Smug Dill · Posted

      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
      Skeleton of a primer for a budding hobbyist

      By adamselene · Posted

      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...