Vac700R Skipping

April 5, 2023

Hello all! I'm having an issue with my Vac700R and would like your thoughts and advice. One of the biggest draws for me to this pen was the ink capacity and reputation for sealing well and therefore figured I wouldn't have to clean it often and could use it until it ran out of a full fill. However, it's skipping on the first letter pretty much every time I uncap it and start writing. It's not a huge deal as after that it writes just fine without skipping again. It's an EF nib and inked up with Noodler's Liberty's Elysium. I'd appreciate your thoughts on the following:

1. I've heard that TWSBI's can be finicky with inks. Think that's the issue? If so, I'd appreciate suggestions for other eternal/archival/water-resistant inks that DO play well with TWSBI's, please.

2. Perhaps I shouldn't leave it inked up for more than a month or so and expect it to stay wet and write without skipping? If that's the case, how often would you suggest emptying and cleaning it? (This would stink for me as my main draw was the reputation for being ready to write even after disuse for extended periods of time and the large ink capacity, but if that's just a hard pill I need to swallow, so be it.)

3. Any other thoughts/suggestions as to what may be causing this issue and how to resolve it or deal with it.

TIA!

April 6, 2023

Have you tried loosening up the filler knob just a little bit ? It helps.

April 7, 2023

It may also be the pen and ink pairing? I have Liberty Elysium, though I haven't used it in quite a while, but my recollection is that (because it's bulletproof?) it didn't flow as freely as some other inks.

April 28, 2023

On 4/6/2023 at 3:50 PM, MSA said:

Have you tried loosening up the filler knob just a little bit ? It helps.

Yes, I have. Perhaps I should wait a few seconds before writing, though, so I'll give that a shot and see how it goes.

April 28, 2023

On 4/7/2023 at 2:04 AM, Jamerelbe said:

It may also be the pen and ink pairing? I have Liberty Elysium, though I haven't used it in quite a while, but my recollection is that (because it's bulletproof?) it didn't flow as freely as some other inks.

That's my best guess. TBF it's not bad, it's just annoying lol

June 9, 2023

Update: This issue completely ceased and I haven't had any skipping or hard starting issues with it in over a month now. No particular reason I can identify either, just stopped doing it and it's been smooth sailing since. 🙂

July 22, 2023

Glad it's working for you. When I got my Vac-700R it skipped and hard started for me all the time until I figured out how OPEN the filler knob had to be. Once I got the feel for that, it was smooth sailing like you. Love that pen. Happy writing!