Woody (May 11th, 2014)
ThriveToScribe (May 15th, 2014)
Pilot 78G with silicon grease on the threads and an o'ring. Works like a charm as my daily workhorse and I've never had any problems. But the 78G seems to be made with the purpose of being ED converted. Same thing goes for a Preppy highlighter with Noodler's Firefly.
How did you do the Safari/Vista conversion? Did you seal the barrel with some kind of resin or did you use the barrel from rollerball versions?
Last edited by Avastgard; May 10th, 2014 at 05:29 PM.
I've got my Pilot Penmanship as an eyedropper at the moment. Just a bit of silicone grease on the thread and away it goes. This pen is completely clear so it's lovely watching as the ink sloshes around.
I converted a Sheaffer No-Nonsense pen to an eyedropper for a friend. However this was no ordinary NNS. He gave me an Omas Paragon nib to find a body for. The NNS was the only donor pen I could find that the curvature of the feed exactly matched the nib, without grinding of heating. Personally I do not like the style of the NNS pen, but the cursive italic Omas nib turns it into an absolute delight to write with.
Brisboy (May 13th, 2014)
Are you sure the ink would leak? Take a look at what this guy did on FPN:
http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/fo...ri-eyedropper/
http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/fo...r-lamy-safari/
I have been contemplating this idea as well, but the NNS cartridge already holds such a large amount of ink... Maybe not worth it, if you think about the catastrophe that could happen.
ThriveToScribe (May 15th, 2014)
I only write with eye droppers now. All Edison's, also converted Sheaffer no nonsense, and a Sheaffer imperial. If it has a water tight plastic barrell it'll become an eye dropper. I'd really like to know how to convert my Safaris.
jde (May 11th, 2014)
An update on my pilot penmanship. Working fine but has a tenancy to burp ink which is very irritating. It's unpredictable too, it did so this evening when it was nearly full. Any ideas? Does the seal of the feed need some silicone too.
I guess I have no luck with eye droppers. I turned one of my Kaweco ice sports into an ED, and it never worked well. The pen kept burping every few lines. It wrote perfectly well, except for the giant ink spots it would excrete after a minute of use. So no eye droppers for me. Maybe I'll clean it out and try again at some point. I know it's possible, just trying to figure out what the problem was.
Has anybody ever tried converting a Monteverde Artista Crystal? I know the section is made of metal, but not being able to convert that beautiful pen is just cruel...
Thanks to all for a very interesting thread.
I have a curious old Dutch pen that might be a candidate; it is/was a button filler and hooray! it has a screw-in section. If anyone has any observations about this I'd be delighted to hear them.
Thanks in advance.
Cob
The Noodler's Ahab and Kaweco Sport. They were both exclusively desk pens, and in the case of the Ahab the pressure filled the fins of the feed faster, enhancing the performance.
Brisboy (July 17th, 2014)
What size nib are you using?
I converted a Kaweco Sport to ED, its a Fine nib, I think it leaked once in its lifetime, never during use. I opened it one day and the ink spilled out of the cap, so it burped or leaked in the cap prior to use.
Was the only time this has happened for me. I filled the pen 3 times (I think) over its life.
3.5 ml's actually Scrawler. I converted a couple of NNS. Shame they have such bad nibs. Can't get a smooth one.
In order to make a good eye dropper the barrell should be plastic, and the threads of the section that screw into the barrell must be fairly fine and must fit well. If you have a threaded nib unit you can add a slight amount of grease there as well. If it's an Indian ebonite type of pen, with a threaded nib unit, you'd be well advised to use some grease. I just converted a Sheaffer imperial with plastic barrell today. Nice tight threads and some grease and its writing like a champ. One caveat. I've never had an Ahab that worked well in a conversion. I could not get a good fit with the nib, feed and section, the tolerances were just a little too loose. Perhaps some grease could have been added, but I'm afraid it would take too much grease and would effect the feed integrity. A few tips. Hope that helps.
How did you close up the 'viewing hole' in the Vista barrel?
Oops, I meant the hole in Safari (I have quite a few of those on hand).
Last edited by mckenzif; November 8th, 2015 at 03:24 PM.
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