Lamy 1.5 nib running dry

[Laurie]

My only Lamy is an Alstar which has a 1.5 Italic which I just adore. I was writing with it for pages and pages of some notes for a course I am doing. No problems just kept on writing beautiful broad juicy italic cursive writing. I emptied it and flushed the pen and cleaned it very thoroughly as I like to rotate my opens. Put ti aside for a few weeks. Later I re inked the Lamy with with Diamine ink and wrote a few pages and suddenly it started to skip and even ran dry. It had plenty of ink in the converter but despite my continued writing it was just starving of ink flow. I was using the Lamy converter. It was about half full so I depressed the plunger a bit and again become quite juicy and gourgeous. Why did it run dry? Has anyone else had this problem. Is it an airlock problem with the converter?

[ac12]

If you are using the Z24 converter (the one with the RED knob and the 2 small pins on the side that fit into the Safari/Al Star), then you likely have a case of surface tension getting the ink stuck in the back of the converter, with an air bubble between the ink and the front of the converter. This is known by various names including "air lock."
There are 4 solutions that I know of:
1 - If you store the pen nib up #1. When you pick up the pen, tap the side of the pen where the converter is, to break the surface tension and get the ink to fall to the front of the converter.
2 - If you store the pen nib up #2. Open the converter and put in a small stainless steel ball. When you invert the pen, the SS ball will fall to the front of the converter, and break the surface tension holding the ink to the back of the converter.
3 - If you store the pen nib up #3. Switch to the Z26 converter (the one with the BLACK knob and no pins to fit the Safari/Al Star). In my use, so far, the Z26 converter has not suffered from ink getting stuck in the back of the converter.
4 - Store the pen horizontal, so the ink does not fall to the back of the converter. This is what I did with my Lamy joy, prior to switching to the Z26 converter.

[Laurie]

I am still having problems with this 1.5 Italic. From being the perfect nib it is now reacting very dry and scratchy. I flushed pen and removed converter and inserted cartridge. Still scratchy and dry and skipping. I then inserted another medium nib and it works perfectly. So I made sure nothing caught in the 1.5 nib nothing seems to be caught in tines. Even put some shim through to make sure. It worked for a while and went back to the dry skipping situation again. Not sure what is happening. Logic says the nib is not right. What should I do. The nib is not that old and up to now has been perfect.

[Laurie]

I am confused. Whilst posting this reply I laid the pen down and now picked it up and tried and again and it is now performing OK. Does that suggest a feed issue. Cant be converter as it is not fitted with a cartridge.
Very confusing

[Laura N]

It's hard to really diagnose this over the internet. If I understand correctly, it initially worked perfectly, but after you cleaned it and changed the ink (I think -- actually that wasn't very clear), it now skips, runs dry and feels scratchy. The 1.5 nib doesn't like Lamy Blue ink from a cartridge. But the Lamy Blue cartridge works well with a medium nib.

It sounds to me like your 1.5 nib may need a very wet ink, because it needs more flow. That is to be expected with such a wide nib. You can experience skipping and even a scratchy feeling with an ink that isn't wet enough or lubricated enough for a given pen. So experiment with your inks, starting with the first ink, because that did work. Maybe first flush the whole thing with water with a drop of dishwashing liquid, then with plain water. Dry it in a paper towel.

I sometimes have to prime a Safari feed after it's been left sitting or when there isn't much ink left in the converter. That seems to be because, as ac12 explained, the plastic used in the Safari converter seems to grip onto certain inks. The same thing can also happen with other brands of converter, like the one Edison uses. Flushing the converter before first use with water with that drop of dishwashing soap does help.

Another possibility is that something you did to it when you "cleaned it very thoroughly" created an issue. First I'd look to the simplest solution, which is the ink.

[VertOlive]

My Lamy 1.5 nibs in either Safari or Al-Star all write very well. I use convertors. If you haven't tried that, it might help. When I need a perfectly flowing ink for a finickey pen, Sailor Jentle Blue is the best I've found.

[Laurie]

Thanks all for the input. My pen is actually an Al Star but I imagine that it has the same feed as the Al star so that has no bearing at all. I flushed the converter a few times. I use an ear syringe and forced some pen flush through. Then soaked the whole nib unit in pen flush overnight. This morning a re flushed the nib and feed with some demineralised water and refitted the nib section. I then inked up with J.Herbin Bleu Pervenche. It is writing beautifully again. I will see how long that goes for and report back

[velo]

Not all inks play well with every pen and nib combo. The more pens and inks you use I'll wager you'll come across the same thing.