Parker 51 -Cleaning a stained clear plastic ink collection

[RayCornett]

Anyone have some basic tips on getting old ink stain out my Parker 51 clear plastic ink collector? I just received the pen and have everything perfectly spotless now except for the ink collector. I would like to be able to get the stain completely out before reassembly.

[Chrissy]

I'm assuming you have tried ammonia and water and/or pen flush as well as an ultrasonic bath. If none of these has worked I'm not sure there is anything else you can do to remove a permanent ink colour stain. It's still 'clean' of old ink though, and no-one can see it.

[RayCornett]

It has been in the pen flush I make myself for hours. I don't have access to an USC at the moment. I have seen some things online but none have worked. Hydrogen Peroxide, Vinegar, spray carpet cleaner. I wish I had my pure ammonia here.

[Neo]

I'm not sure that pure ammonia wouldn't damage the pen.....

[RayCornett]

It shouldnt. Pen flush has Ammonia in it but diluted. It's not the pen, though. The ink collector inside the pen.

[Chrissy]

I have pure ammonia, and I'm not sure even that would work. I regularly clean ceramics before I restore them and the best use for ammonia is adding a couple of drops to a peroxide solution.

I would try a fairly strong solution of a wash powder such as Ariel Biological, but you would have to ensure the water wasn't too hot, and that the powder had properly dissolved. I'm not convinced it will work though. Some people also use teeth cleaning preparations that you can buy for soaking false teeth

[mhosea]

I believe the collector is made of acrylic, so you can get away with a lot of stuff. Assuming it looks like the ones I've handled that I couldn't make clean enough to appear unused, the OCD meter is in the yellow range, since the collector cannot be seen when the pen is assembled, and the collector will do its job as long as there is no crusty build-up. Having said that, if there is some cleaner that just does the trick, I'd be glad to hear of it myself. Perhaps Rapido-eze?

[Jon Szanto]

Sometimes a stain is a stain. Be grateful it is an area that most people will never see.

[dr.grace]

Rapido-Eze has worked well enough for me, but I can't recall whether it eliminated all traces of ink color. I'm not that OCD about things that will eventually be full of ink and out of sight anyway.

[RayCornett]

Then perhaps I shall let it go and use it as is. It seems to only be stain under the loupe, not chunks or residue. I just didn't want it to effect future colors.

[RayCornett]

Done. Back together. Everything is aligned beautifully. Now to ink her up!