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Thread: How often do you clean your fountain pens?

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    Default Re: How often do you clean your fountain pens?

    Quote Originally Posted by FredRydr View Post
    Whenever there's room in the dishwasher.
    Just a guess; Scotch cycle on the KitchenAid?

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    Default Re: How often do you clean your fountain pens?

    OK. I fill a pen then write it dry. I dismantle it, flush it, soak it. Then I run it through the ultrasonic cleaner (on a pad so it doesn't touch the basket), remove it, and buff it as it dries.

    All the years in a lab may have warped me...
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    Default Re: How often do you clean your fountain pens?

    Quote Originally Posted by VertOlive View Post
    OK. I fill a pen then write it dry. I dismantle it, flush it, soak it. Then I run it through the ultrasonic cleaner (on a pad so it doesn't touch the basket), remove it, and buff it as it dries.

    All the years in a lab may have warped me...
    I've wanted an ultrasonic cleaner since my silversmithing days. Hmmm. Just checked online, they seem to have come down in price, at least the low end ones. Some of them under $50 have good reviews on Amazon. Hmmm.
    How and why do you buff your pens? That's the part that puzzles me. Oh, wait, you're pulling my leg, right?
    Last edited by calamum; April 23rd, 2018 at 11:52 AM.
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    Default Re: How often do you clean your fountain pens?

    Quote Originally Posted by FredRydr View Post
    Whenever there's room in the dishwasher.
    Ha!! ("a laugh in the morning...")

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    Default Re: How often do you clean your fountain pens?

    Primarily when changing color or taking out of rotation. I have two awaiting flushing right now. My 51 Demi Vacumatic has never been flushed since I got it in January. Always Diamine Blue Black. My Pelikan 140 only a couple of times. It has been filled with Pelikan 4001 Blue Black almost exclusively since I got it in August. I have tried one or two other inks in it for a full or two each. Most others get regular ink changes.

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    Default Re: How often do you clean your fountain pens?

    Quote Originally Posted by calamum View Post
    How and why do you buff your pens? That's the part that puzzles me. Oh, wait, you're pulling my leg, right?
    Not kidding. I buff them dry with a lint free cloth to prevent spots, just like you would your car.

    A good ultrasonic should produce a wave on the surface of the water in the cleaning compartment. Mine is laboratory grade and does a very good job for about $150.00, just FYI.
    Last edited by VertOlive; April 23rd, 2018 at 08:40 PM.
    "Nolo esse salus sine vobis ...” —St. Augustine

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    Default Re: How often do you clean your fountain pens?

    Quote Originally Posted by VertOlive View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by calamum View Post
    How and why do you buff your pens? That's the part that puzzles me. Oh, wait, you're pulling my leg, right?
    Not kidding. I buff them dry with a lint free cloth to prevent spots, just like you would your car.

    A good ultrasonic should produce a wave on the surface of the water in the cleaning compartment. Mine is laboratory grade and does a very good job for about $150.00, just FYI.
    I think mine cost a little more than a tenth of that! For that money I would expect an ultrasonic to do the dishes and mop the floor.
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    Default Re: How often do you clean your fountain pens?

    Quote Originally Posted by VertOlive View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by calamum View Post
    How and why do you buff your pens? That's the part that puzzles me. Oh, wait, you're pulling my leg, right?
    Not kidding. I buff them dry with a lint free cloth to prevent spots, just like you would your car.

    A good ultrasonic should produce a wave on the surface of the water in the cleaning compartment. Mine is laboratory grade and does a very good job for about $150.00, just FYI.
    Thanks! What kind do you have, and where can I get one if I win the lottery?
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    Default Re: How often do you clean your fountain pens?

    Quote Originally Posted by VertOlive View Post
    A good ultrasonic should produce a wave on the surface of the water in the cleaning compartment....
    Uh oh.

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    Default Re: How often do you clean your fountain pens?

    I clean mine when I change ink (often), when I take them out of rotation, and when I first buy them.

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    Default Re: How often do you clean your fountain pens?

    FWIW, I don't think you actually need a "good" ultrasonic to facilitate the removal of ink from a pen. I've got a reasonably powerful ultrasonic and a relatively weak one. The weak one is the only one I ever use on fountain pens. I'm not saying that a "good" one doesn't have its uses in the FP world, but principally in restoration (where ink is desiccated, caked on, and clogging crevices and fins). You just don't need much power in normal cleaning. All you need is a liquid with low surface tension and slight agitation from a mediocre or weak ultrasonic to coax it into places that it wouldn't otherwise get into. For me, that liquid is water and a few drops of Kodak Photo-Flo. As soon as the liquid reaches the places where the ink is hiding, receded from the main paths of flow, they dilute and disappear PDQ, in just a few minutes. What I would avoid are models that will physically break down in a short period of time. E.g., don't buy one with the controls in/on the lid. Having wires threaded up into the lid from the body of the cleaner is just a bad idea.
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    Default Re: How often do you clean your fountain pens?

    Wait, what? You are supposed to clean them?

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    Default Re: How often do you clean your fountain pens?

    Quote Originally Posted by mhosea View Post
    FWIW, I don't think you actually need a "good" ultrasonic to facilitate the removal of ink from a pen.
    I agree completely. Mine is a cheap Chinese eBay special that is loud and annoying, but has done a good job cleaning circuit boards I have made, watches I have serviced, and now a few seriously gunked up pens.

    My old 51 had clearly sat for ages as had the Sheaffer and my Aldo Domani. All had dried crusty ink all over the nib. Maybe the ultrasonic wasn't necessary but it made light work of all three.

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    Default Re: How often do you clean your fountain pens?

    I've not got an ultrasonic cleaner. I reckon that if our forefathers went without, I don't need one either.

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    Default Re: How often do you clean your fountain pens?

    I also would be careful using especially more powerful ultrasonic cleaners.
    You might damage your pen with it (e.g. platings which might come of, damaged sealings, removed lubricants (especially in the piston mechanism), weakened or destroyed glue connections (if there are any), .....)

    I would not use one if not really necessary.

    Excessive and often cleaning might imho harm your pen more than not cleaning it.
    For sure every cleaning with solvents and for sure every disassemble will stress the material and shorten the lifespan.
    Last edited by Pterodactylus; May 4th, 2018 at 10:00 AM.

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    Default Re: How often do you clean your fountain pens?

    I've mentioned it before, I have managed to strip plating/coatings of some nibs. I managed to totally remove the blue color coating on one of my Platinum Preppy pens with a 15-minute bath in the ultrasonic but it already had a small scratch in the coloring. Im not sure if it is just paint or a plating. More expensive pens just get 30 second dips in the cleaner or do not go through it at all.
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    Default Re: How often do you clean your fountain pens?

    Quote Originally Posted by azkid View Post
    Maybe the ultrasonic wasn't necessary but it made light work of all three.
    There are definitely things to consider. I'm pretty sure I've articulated them all at some point, though not all of them here. Bottom line for me is that people arguing they don't need one are correct, but there are pros and cons of every possibility. There are lots of things that nobody "needs" but which nevertheless make life better. For somebody who changes inks or likes to rotate pens in and out of use and store them in a clean state, life is better with the ultrasonic.
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    Default Re: How often do you clean your fountain pens?

    I’ve been wanting an ultrasonic for a long time now, but this thread has me really wanting to try one out. I just don’t know what price range to look at considering the different opinions stated here! 😂

    Oh, and I usually clean my pens every time I change inks, take a pen out of rotation, and every other fill for pens that I keep dedicated to a certain ink (my Lamy Safaris). For the most part I change inks with every fill, so I usually clean every time that I ink a pen. I use a lot of saturated and higher maintenance inks so it just makes sense to clean my pens religiously. I don’t usually disassemble a pen often, just flush with water or ammonia and water depending on the saturation and properties of the ink.
    Last edited by Gobblecup; May 4th, 2018 at 06:56 PM.

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    Default Re: How often do you clean your fountain pens?

    Quote Originally Posted by Gobblecup View Post
    I’ve been wanting an ultrasonic for a long time now, but this thread has me really wanting to try one out. I just don’t know what price range to look at considering the different opinions stated here! 😂
    FWIW, I bought this one in 2013, and it is still doing just fine. It's not very powerful, but I find that it works just fine for what I need it to do, which is to make short work of my pen cleaning tasks. Note, I do not disassemble my pens. I fill them with water (+Photo Flo, but that's optional), poke a hole in a piece of cardboard of the right size to hold the pen, and adjust things so that the water level is high enough to reach the section and the nib is not touching anything. Then I run it for the default 180 seconds.
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    Default Re: How often do you clean your fountain pens?

    Quote Originally Posted by mhosea View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Gobblecup View Post
    I’ve been wanting an ultrasonic for a long time now, but this thread has me really wanting to try one out. I just don’t know what price range to look at considering the different opinions stated here! 😂
    FWIW, I bought this one in 2013, and it is still doing just fine. It's not very powerful, but I find that it works just fine for what I need it to do, which is to make short work of my pen cleaning tasks. Note, I do not disassemble my pens. I fill them with water (+Photo Flo, but that's optional), poke a hole in a piece of cardboard of the right size to hold the pen, and adjust things so that the water level is high enough to reach the section and the nib is not touching anything. Then I run it for the default 180 seconds.
    Thanks for the breakdown of your process. I’m curious if you think it would damage a pen in any way to submerge the entire section or barrel of a piston filler in the ultrasonic? Would the materials of the pen make a difference here? I’ve never tried this before so I have a lot of questions! Also, the price sounds right on the cleaner you linked!

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