Ink flow is fine and then just stops

[Ink Stained Wretch]

I'm having an odd problem. Maybe others have seen this same problem and can give me some advice on solving it.

 

I have a pen that I've been using for a year and a half in my rotation. It has always written well and has had a good ink flow, until recently. I am suddenly finding that the flow of ink to the tip is stopping. So what happens is that I'm writing along and suddenly the ink gets thin and then stops flowing entirely.

 

I've flushed the pen with water, a lot of water, and I've soaked it and I've even flushed it with ammonia but it's still doing this. It didn't used to do this.

 

When writing I can get the ink flowing again by jerking the pen forward. I also did an experiment earlier: when the pen stopped writing instead of jerking it to get the flow back I just left it alone for an hour and a half. I then picked it up and it wrote just fine again.

 

It's a cartridge pen, a Pelikano Jr. I refill cartridges and put them in the pen. I've used different cartridges to eliminate the possibility that one bad cartridge might be doing it. I've also changed the ink mixtures I put into this pen. No matter what ink mixture I use I get the restricted flow problem.

 

I know it's a cheap fountain pen but I like it and I want to keep on using it, so if anyone could make a suggestion as to why after all this time it's suddenly having an ink flow problem I'd appreciate it.

[garythepenman]

Hmmmm interesting problem.

 

What you might like to consider is that air must replace the ink and if the air does not get back in to the cartridge then the ink will stop flowing. I know nothing about Pelikanos but I guess the nib feed will have a breather channel ?.

Air uses this channel, ink uses the gap between nib and feed by capilliary actionin order to flow.

Sorry, that's all I can think of.

 

Oh, one more thing, just because water and or ink can be forced out it doesn't neccessarilly mean the feed breather slot is clear.

 

Gary

[JimStrutton]

Something is restricting the flow, so can you reverse flush it in any way, in case it is a plastic shard from a cartridge?

 

Either that or gently floss the nib with a piece of 35mm film, not so much to open the gap, but to move anything stuck in there.

 

Hope that helps

 

Jim

[saturation]

I recently had a similar problem with a Parker 75 taken out of storage. Maybe a small but critical amount of dried ink or gunk is in the ink path?

 

Common treatments are to floss the tines with a strip of floss or sheet of acetate.

 

I found blowing on the tines with a bottle of compressed air, as in Dust Off, fixed the problem quickly and painlessly. Make sure you have that straw nozzle to focus the blast.

 

http://www.buyonlinenow.com/images/fullsize/EJ021517.jpg

Edited February 9, 2006 by saturation

[southpaw]

I'm having an odd problem. Maybe others have seen this same problem and can give me some advice on solving it.

 

I have a pen that I've been using for a year and a half in my rotation. It has always written well and has had a good ink flow, until recently. I am suddenly finding that the flow of ink to the tip is stopping. So what happens is that I'm writing along and suddenly the ink gets thin and then stops flowing entirely.

 

I've flushed the pen with water, a lot of water, and I've soaked it and I've even flushed it with ammonia but it's still doing this. It didn't used to do this.

 

When writing I can get the ink flowing again by jerking the pen forward. I also did an experiment earlier: when the pen stopped writing instead of jerking it to get the flow back I just left it alone for an hour and a half. I then picked it up and it wrote just fine again.

 

It's a cartridge pen, a Pelikano Jr. I refill cartridges and put them in the pen. I've used different cartridges to eliminate the possibility that one bad cartridge might be doing it. I've also changed the ink mixtures I put into this pen. No matter what ink mixture I use I get the restricted flow problem.

 

I know it's a cheap fountain pen but I like it and I want to keep on using it, so if anyone could make a suggestion as to why after all this time it's suddenly having an ink flow problem I'd appreciate it.

You may want to try flossing the nib with a piece of 0.002" brass. The brass is soft enough not to harm the nib, yet firm enough to clean the gunk out.

 

It certainly sounds like you have some sort of particulate blocking the channel - either the air return or the feed channel. If flossing and the thorough cleaning doesn't work, you may have to take the nib and feed out to do a more thorough cleaning.

 

Sorry, I don't have a Pelikano and don't know how to do this. Keep us posted.

[tryphon]

I'm having an odd problem. Maybe others have seen this same problem and can give me some advice on solving it.

 

I have a pen that I've been using for a year and a half in my rotation. It has always written well and has had a good ink flow, until recently. I am suddenly finding that the flow of ink to the tip is stopping. So what happens is that I'm writing along and suddenly the ink gets thin and then stops flowing entirely.

 

I've flushed the pen with water, a lot of water, and I've soaked it and I've even flushed it with ammonia but it's still doing this. It didn't used to do this.

 

When writing I can get the ink flowing again by jerking the pen forward. I also did an experiment earlier: when the pen stopped writing instead of jerking it to get the flow back I just left it alone for an hour and a half. I then picked it up and it wrote just fine again.

 

It's a cartridge pen, a Pelikano Jr. I refill cartridges and put them in the pen. I've used different cartridges to eliminate the possibility that one bad cartridge might be doing it. I've also changed the ink mixtures I put into this pen. No matter what ink mixture I use I get the restricted flow problem.

 

I know it's a cheap fountain pen but I like it and I want to keep on using it, so if anyone could make a suggestion as to why after all this time it's suddenly having an ink flow problem I'd appreciate it.

My guess is that at some stage you used a purple or red ink.

Red inks leave a gummy residue that can seriously affect good ink flow. In a pen with a large collector, like the Pelikano, it may be very difficult to totally remove the gunk.

The best thing you can do is to soak the pen in water and, if still necessary, use a rubber blow bulb to flush repeatedly the feed-collectore. A huge percentage of problem pens that I see for repair are filled with red or purple inks or have developed problems when they were filled with such inks.

Try filling with Parker Quink Black, one of the best flowing inks anywhere and see if the cleaning action of Quink can help remove the thin layer of gunk that is affecting your pen. Incidentally, I have a few Pelikanos and they are great everyday pens!

Good luck and if you decide to floss the nib, be very careful with brass floss: I prefer to use clear acetate!

[Ink Stained Wretch]

What you might like to consider is that air must replace the ink and if the air does not get back in to the cartridge then the ink will stop flowing. I know nothing about Pelikanos but I guess the nib feed will have a breather channel ?.

Air uses this channel, ink uses the gap between nib and feed by capilliary actionin order to flow.

Sorry, that's all I can think of.

Hmmm, well maybe I should ask if anyone knows how to get at the air channel in a Pelikano Jr. Maybe that could be the source of the problem. And how would I clear it out ?

[Ink Stained Wretch]

Something is restricting the flow, so can you reverse flush it in any way, in case it is a plastic shard from a cartridge?

Wow, a piece of a cartridge? It'd have to be just the right size. What I really wish I could do is just remove the nib and feed so I could be certain that nothing's in the ink channel itself. I don't know if that's possible with a pen like the Pelikano Jr. though.

 

Either that or gently floss the nib with a piece of 35mm film, not so much to open the gap, but to move anything stuck in there.

I've flossed pens before with actual dental floss. Only part of the floss gets between the tines, but that should be good enough to clear unwanted particles. I will keep this in mind if the compressed gas tactic doesn't work.

[Ink Stained Wretch]

I found blowing on the tines with a bottle of compressed air, as in Dust Off, fixed the problem quickly and painlessly.  Make sure you have that straw nozzle to focus the blast.

Okay, I've tried that. We'll see how it works. I'm glad that I made sure that the bathroom sink was in the background. I'm not sure the wife is going to appreciate the blue dots on the soap, and here and there on other parts that won't wash off so easily.

 

I did this without waiting for another clog though. Maybe I should have waited. It's writing all right, but it was in a writing all right phase before I blasted it. I guess time, and use, will tell.

[Ink Stained Wretch]

My guess is that at some stage you used a purple or red ink.

I did use some purple ink in a mixture in this pen, but I think that the intermittent stoppage of ink flow started before that. And I used Noodler's Purple ink, so I don't think it's automatically going to clog. It was mixed with another Noodler's ink and Nathan Tardif says that his inks won't react badly with each other and so are safe to mix.

 

The best thing you can do is to soak the pen in water and, if still necessary, use a rubber blow bulb to flush repeatedly the feed-collectore.

This fountain pen has been so flushed with water that anything that could be dissolved must have been dissolved by now. I also flushed it with ammonia to make sure.

 

I've flushed a pen that had had a bad reaction between two inks in the past. And in that case I found little, dark bits of particulate matter coming out when I forced the ammonia through the ink channels. I didn't get any such particles at all this time.

 

A huge percentage of problem pens that I see for repair are filled with red or purple inks or have developed problems when they were filled with such inks.

Try filling with Parker Quink Black, one of the best flowing inks anywhere and see if the cleaning action of Quink can help remove the thin layer of gunk that is affecting your pen. Incidentally, I have a few Pelikanos and they are great everyday pens!

Good luck and if you decide to floss the nib, be very careful with brass floss: I prefer to use clear acetate!

Well, if the ammonia flush, soaking for days and water flush didn't get it out I don't think that Quink will remove it. I should probably start looking around for advice on removing the nib and feed so I can just clean the whole thing out manually rather than relying on someting to dissolve whatever might be in there. And I really don't know that there's something in there yet. It just seems like something might be.

 

I have seen advice against ever using alcohol to clean out a fountain pen but since this is a cartridge pen and the only materials in the ink channel will be plastic and stainless steel I'm wondering if some 91% USP isopropyl alcohol might be the thing to try if nothing else works, that is before I try to just take the pen apart. I suspect that vintage pens are the ones that can be harmed by alcohol but this Pelikano Jr. shouldn't be vulnerable to it.