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Rollo the Cat
April 26th, 2013, 12:19 PM
What to do? The ink flow just stops, seemingly after all the ink in the feed is used up. The problem seeems to be getting the ink to flow from the convertor.

Any ideas?

tytoalba
April 26th, 2013, 12:52 PM
sure the converter is seated in correctly?

drgoretex
April 26th, 2013, 12:56 PM
That sucks.

What kind of pen? Some pens have poor converters in which ink can stay stuck at the top and not run down.

Have you tried giving the converter, nib and feed a gentle soapy flush?

Ken

Rollo the Cat
April 26th, 2013, 01:15 PM
The convertor....I noticed a little bit of ink on the inside of the section, where the convertor fits. Could be normal.

The convertor seems to fit tight.

The pen is a cheap Art Alternatives Pen and Ink Sketch pen. I love this pen so much when it works..I have had three or four of them. The qualirty control isn't great though.

One thing I noticed...when I flush water through the nib unit, the water hardly goes through at all. Maybe something is blocking it? On the other hand, it sucks up ink through the same path fine and I can prime the feed by twisting the convertor knob a bit and the ink goes through.

It is a cheap pen I want it to work.

tytoalba
April 26th, 2013, 01:39 PM
did you use ink made specifically for calligraphy in the pen? It might be clogged.

Rollo the Cat
April 27th, 2013, 10:20 AM
did you use ink made specifically for calligraphy in the pen? It might be clogged.

No, I use Aurora Black.

I switched convertors and the problem is the same. I suspect somehow, something is blocking the ink in the nib section.

Cheap pens! They do sell replacement nib sections for about $8.

KrazyIvan
April 27th, 2013, 10:31 AM
Pull the converter a put a little water in the section with nib down in a sink. Watch it. It should drip through the nib rather quickly. If not, it is possibly blocked. Soak the section in water and see what comes out.

Rollo the Cat
April 27th, 2013, 12:27 PM
Pull the converter a put a little water in the section with nib down in a sink. Watch it. It should drip through the nib rather quickly. If not, it is possibly blocked. Soak the section in water and see what comes out.

Ivan,

Almost nothing comes out. In fact...NOTHING. Unless I shake it hard. This is tough because the little hole in the top of the nib section leading to the feed and nib is hard to see and impossible to see into to. The only thing that might fit in there is a pin.

Annie
April 27th, 2013, 04:18 PM
If you have a syringe and a blunt needle, you could try flushing it. If not, soak it and when you think you have soaked it enough, change the water and soak it again.

Maja
April 27th, 2013, 04:51 PM
You wrote "On the other hand, it sucks up ink through the same path fine and I can prime the feed by twisting the convertor knob a bit and the ink goes through. "
so....just possibly the nib & feed are too close together OR that the channels in the feed are not deep enough.
These situations are a bit trickier to fix, though.

KrazyIvan
April 27th, 2013, 09:00 PM
I just cleaned a Platinum Glamour. It flowed nicely but had hard starting partially due to a dirty feed. I did that test I described earlier and it did not drip. Soaked the section in just plain water and it threw out tons of black ink. Cleaned the water and repeated four times. The water came out clear. Did the test again and there it was, drip, drip, drip. Dried everything and it starts right up with cartridge ink. I do want to pull the feed and give it a good cleaning with a tooth brush but that's for another day. Cant wait to get an ultra sonic cleaner.

cedargirl
April 28th, 2013, 01:30 AM
I don't know that pen, but Ive experienced a similar problem in a few inexpensive Chinese pens I've bought. To fix it, I've had to increase the size of the ink supply channel in the feed.
It's easier than it sounds. I just run a craft knife down the channel and make sure it is open right to the end. You might just try scraping it out first, before using a blade. Be careful it's easy to leave it looking inelegant (but flowing) and you won't see it under the nib, anyway.

whych
April 28th, 2013, 02:31 AM
Some soapy water (couple of drops of dishwashing liquid) could help clean anything greasy out the pen.
Rinse with clear water and then use a mothful of clean water and blow it though the pen from both the nib side and the other.
Once cleaned, try leaving the pen with ink sitting nib down for a day or so and see if it starts to feed properly.

alc3261
April 28th, 2013, 03:04 AM
Where do I find this Moth to do this for me?
(Only kidding!)

whych
April 28th, 2013, 07:27 AM
I can only apologise to U for the typo ;)

Since U started it:
What do you have if you have a mothball in each hand?


A giant moth, of course!

Rollo the Cat
May 18th, 2013, 10:09 AM
Well, i just noticed that there was leak in the convertor, at the top near the piston. I went to twist the knob and got a bucket full of Aurora Black on my fingers. This may have been the problem all along and the reason why the ink wasn't feeding.

Sailor Kenshin
May 18th, 2013, 01:37 PM
Now I'm intrigued. Keep us posted, and good luck.

Rollo the Cat
May 19th, 2013, 12:32 PM
I found the Waterman convertor fits fine. It is a much higher quality convertor. I'll see what happens.

Rollo the Cat
June 8th, 2013, 10:31 AM
Nope. It isn't the convertor. I threw the nib section out. Something is wrong and all the flushing and soaking in the world isn't going to help. The replacement nibs cost about $5.00 though.