Waterman W5 ejects horizontally through breather hole when emptying

[Voiren]

I have a blue stripe Waterman W5 which otherwise works fine - fills, writes. But it will shoot ejected ink or water horizontally out of the breather hole in the nib instead of downward. As you can imagine, this has caused a couple of surprise ink incidents when refilling it...

I'm assuming this means it has something stuck in the feed just below the breather hole, for that to be the path of least resistance out of the pen.

Any tips on what to look for or do?

The section will come out of the barrel easily. I've removed the sac (not sure it was shellacked at all) and pushed water through the section-with-nib using a squeezy bulb - so far this has made no difference and even at the higher pressure water will still come out the breather hole.

I haven't been able to remove the nib and feed from the section - haven't tried for very long yet as I don't want to damage it.

I don't actually *need* to do anything to it, as it does fill and write, so I could just leave it be.

[Chrissy]

I had exactly the same thing happen with an Omas. I tried everything to make it not shoot ejected ink or water at a right angle out of the breather hole. Nothing worked. I was terrified at the thought of it, but in the end I bit the bullet, unscrewed the section from the barrel and knocked out the nib and feed. Cleaned it all out and put it back in. All was fixed.

[Voiren]

Thanks Chrissy! That is both reassuring and also the thing I didn't want to do! I do have a dowel of the correct size. I'll have a look tomorrow into setting up something to grip the section safely.

ETA: or maybe drill some holes in some wood.

[Chrissy]

Thanks Chrissy! That is both reassuring and also the thing I didn't want to do! I do have a dowel of the correct size. I'll have a look tomorrow into setting up something to grip the section safely.

ETA: or maybe drill some holes in some wood.
My OH drilled some holes in a block of wood. Some time after that I bought a nib knock-out block. Getting the nib and feed out was no problem at all. (I also had a USC and a hairdryer) Getting it back in was more difficult, but achievable. Before you knock it out, make sure you know the position of the nib relative to the section, as it needs to go back into the same position it came from. :)

[cegadede]

I have a Montblanc 149 that behaved like that when I bought it. I fixed it by flushing the pen with a mild vinegar solution (1:10 vinegar to water ratio). Turns out it had A LOT of iron gall ink residue in it.

Enviado de meu Moto Z3 Play usando o Tapatalk

[Voiren]

I ended up buying a knockout block from The Pendragons - my attempts at making one were foiled by having large drill bits but no drill collet that would hold them. A halfarsed solution was going nowhere, using the proper block was easy. I marked where the centre back of the feed was on the section with a sliver of tape before knocking it out. There was definitely a fair bit of gunk in there! Now cleaning.

[Chrissy]

Good to hear. :) Doh! I had forgotten that we had discussed this Waterman on here already, when you mentioned it in your letter. :(

[Voiren]

Good to hear. :) Doh! I had forgotten that we had discussed this Waterman on here already, when you mentioned it in your letter. :(

Hee, it wasn't evident! :D