Fountain Pens. What am I doing wrong ?

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MrWright

Passed Away Oct 12, 2022
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I have made about 20 fountain pens, in many different kits. I really like the looks of them as they show off what I think an ink pen should look like.
I had one Orion that I really liked and used it through one cartridge. I put in another one and started it writting. Closed it up and next day it needed several taps or shakes to start writting again. I have not found any fountain pens that I can get to write consistantly with the cartridges. I have used the ink that comes with the kit, and I have purchased the other cartridges advertised and still get the same results. Seems they dry up or just don't drain into the nib. What am I doing wrong? Is it such a thing that when I plunge the cartridge into the nib that the plastic seal plugs it up? Really new at this fountain pen stuff and hate to try and sell something I can not demo to a customer and it doesn't write. Frank
 
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If the ink change is the only variable involved, the ink itself is of a good deal of importance in some pens and not so much in others.

Changing from one brand of ink to another may result in incompatible inks being mixed in the feed and nib part of the pen and cause it to clog.

Try thoroughly flushing the pens out using a mild lukewarm dishwash solution to see if that helps, my experience is that pens should be flushed out occasionally anyway. If that helps you know that was the problem. If it doesn't you know there is some other variable involved you are not considering.

Have the pens been left sitting unused for an extended -longer than usual- time between uses? That may cause a problem like this in most of them depending on how long they were sitting.
 
:bananen_smilies035: I find that some ink pens that sit for some time without use, need to be cleaned of the dried ink on the nib. Just a wipe with a piece of napkin usualy works. Also as Frank said, some inks are not compatable, and jell or thicken when mixed. I will always wipe the nib before I use a pen. That's the way I was taught way back when we actualy had ink pens and ink wells at our desks. Jim S
 
I am a fountain pen user. As I read the description of the problem, changing the ink doesn't really change the problem. The problem is that the pen tends to dry out. To me, that sounds more like a combination of design, and characteristics of the nib and feed.

Pens with a 'snap on or slip on cap tend to dry out more rapidly that pens that have a screw on cap. I have a number of pens on my desk right now with slip on/snap on caps - if I don't use them for several days, they start to skip, and eventually will dry out. On the other hand, I have a couple of screw-cap pens that will write even if they are left idle for a couple of weeks.

The nib/feed problem is often described as the 'wetness' of the pen. Wetter pens are pens that lay down a heavier line of ink. Wet pens tend to start more easily that dry pens. The negative is that because wet pens put more ink on the paper, they go through ink faster, and because the time required for the ink to dry is a function of how much ink is applied to the paper, wet pens have a reputation for smearing. You can modify the wet/dry characteristics of a pen by 'tuning' the nib and feed. Fair warning: it takes practice to become skilled at tuning fountain pens, so don't try this on a good pen, or on a pen that you ave committed to sell. There are two techniques are used in tuning a nib - one is bending the tines of the nib very slightly. The other involves 'flossing' the nib using a very thin brass shim. There are instructions on the web on how to do these things - I suggest buying some cheap Chinese pens to experiment on.

There are two tricks you can use that will often help restart ink flow in a pen that has been idle for a few days. If you are using a converter, you can carefully twist the converter a few degrees to force ink into the feed. Do this over a piece of paper towel, and watch to see a small drop of ink form on the bottom of the converter. As soon as you see that drop forming, twist in the opposite direction to draw the drop back into the converter. Repeating this process a few times will often 'loosen' up a pen that is starting to dry out. If you are using a cartridge instead of a converter, squeezing the cartridge has a similar effect.

The other trick is to hold the nib/feed under running water for a few seconds. The water will rinse dried ink out of the nib, and also pull fresh ink out of the cartridge or converter.

Ultimately, if the pen is allowed to dry out completely, the only solution is to flush it with warm water until you remove all the dried ink.
 
Thanks guys for the advise. What I do is put the pen together, put in a cartridge, squeeze the tube, write a sentense with it, put the cap back on, put it in the display case, get it out in the next morning, try to write with it and it doesn't. I put it under the warm water and flush it out good, write with it, put it away again, next day it does not write again. I have used so called good new ink cartridge and see that it is full and liquid. I just can't see trying to sell, or even show how a fountain pen writes when the pen acts like that. I have used the washing out method, squirting out method etc. Good quality pens, high end kits as well. I just want a fountain pen to write good in the morning, and again in the afternoon. Thanks anyway for all the suggestions. I will have a garage sale on some nice looking fountain pens one of these days.
 
Do you have a loupe? Are you looking at the tine alignment under magnification? You also need to look through the breather hole in the nib and make sure the ink channel is aligned properly. Also, need to check and make sure the nib and feed are in proper contact with each other.

Even then, I've had a nib that works wonderfully with one ink work terribly when I switch, then works great when I switch back. Try a couple different inks at least if all else seems in order.
 
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