Ink concentrate cartridges

[FredRydr]

When will I ever learn? I knew the water component in the ink had dissipated through the plastic cartridges, but I was in a hurry and I snapped one into place in my Edison Beaumont Premiere, and off I went. Later, the ink resisted moving down the nib and feed. Luckily, I had a converter handy, loaded it up with bottled ink and kept on going. I could rehydrate those cartridges with a hypodermic, but I'm more inclined to toss the lot! They're years old.

Has anyone determined if certain brands of ink cartridges are more susceptible to this issue?

Fred

[Paddler]

HDPE resists evaporation better than LDPE.

Put the cartridges in a tub of distilled water for a few years; they will rehydrate themselves.

[mhosea]

Old Sheaffer cartridges are often found in various stages of evaporation. Never thought about storing them in distilled water to slowly rehydrate them. That's a great idea. I've got a bunch of Sheaffer Peacock blue cartridges that could use it. If it works, it'll be better than the multi-step process of having to pierce them, then add water, then put them back.

[Jon Szanto]

HDPE resists evaporation better than LDPE.

Put the cartridges in a tub of distilled water for a few years; they will rehydrate themselves.

I have to say, that is frugality taken to the extreme.

[mhosea]

HDPE resists evaporation better than LDPE.

Put the cartridges in a tub of distilled water for a few years; they will rehydrate themselves.

I have to say, that is frugality taken to the extreme.

I've done stranger things. Plus, can't replace the US-made cartridges with un-evaporated ones if I wanted to--lots of Peacock Blue cartridges that were mostly evaporated. No idea how many dollars worth of cartridges are in there, and they were probably just going to sit in the drawer, anyway. Might as well sit in the drawer in water.

27354

[carlc]

That photograph is oddly hypnotic.

[Paddler]

HDPE resists evaporation better than LDPE.

Put the cartridges in a tub of distilled water for a few years; they will rehydrate themselves.

I have to say, that is frugality taken to the extreme.

Very well, but you can add oak leaf clusters to your tightwad medal.

[FredRydr]

I suspect simply placing cartridges in liquid water will not result in rehydration of cartridge contents. How about a pressure cooker? Mr. Wizard would know.

Fred

[mhosea]

I suspect simply placing cartridges in liquid water will not result in rehydration of cartridge contents. How about a pressure cooker? Mr. Wizard would know.


You might be right. At worst it prevents additional evaporation, so I don't mind the effort, personally.

Need to avoid overheating the cartridges so as not to damage either cartridge or the ink inside.

[Paddler]

I suspect simply placing cartridges in liquid water will not result in rehydration of cartridge contents. How about a pressure cooker? Mr. Wizard would know.

Fred

The cartridges do rehydrate when placed in liquid water. I have done it.
Try it with a cartridge that is completely dry inside, like an old, clear Sheaffer cartridge. In a few weeks there will be small droplets of rehydrated ink inside. The process slows down as the contents become more diluted and the osmotic pressure lowers.

You're welcome.

[FredRydr]

Seriously, what if the vessel containing cartridges and distilled water was placed under pressure (without heat)? Might it hasten rehydration?

Fred

[jar]

Seriously, what if the vessel containing cartridges and distilled water was placed under pressure (without heat)? Might it hasten rehydration?

Fred

Well the water won't compress so my guess is you would get a whole bottle of exploded cartridges.

[mhosea]

Just spitballing here, but you might be able to speed things up by "pumping" the water vapor in. Expose the cartridge to a high humidity environment at, say, 80-90ish degrees F, long enough for the humidity in the air inside the cartridge to rise, and then condense the now moisture-laden air inside the cartridge with a quick ice water bath. Repeat. I expect you would be finished in weeks rather than years, but perhaps it's not such a great investment of time and energy versus just manually adding distilled water before using.

[Paddler]

Seriously, what if the vessel containing cartridges and distilled water was placed under pressure (without heat)? Might it hasten rehydration?

Fred

The air inside the cartridge has to get out as water on the outside has to get in. I don't think pressurizing the whole system would accelerate the process, but then this added complexity has overloaded my knowledge of physics. At a guess, boiling the air out of the distilled water and then cooling it before adding the cartridge should make the transfer go more quickly.

These ideas make for interesting thought experiments, but I just turned 70 this month. I still buy green bananas, but no longer plant walnut trees for timber harvest. Younger pen geeks will have to settle the question. I probably don't have time to make a valid contribution. I have my hand(s) full writing the stories of my life and now have to buy my ink ready made.

[jacksterp]

What a thread...