Randomly hard starts in Sheaffer Targa

[aremesal]

I have a small issue with my new-for-me Targa: hard starts... but only randomly.

When I bought it I flushed, let it dry, and inked. During the first morning it showed hard starts. Then, suddenly, problem disappeared.

Fast forward two weeks with daily use, one flush in between for change color, and absolutely no more hard starts. Then, one day, again hard starts... that were gone the next day.

And then it worked fine, zero hard starts for days, until today. Today I refill ink (same ink, no flushing) and worked fine, but after a couple of hours, again the hard starts.

It happened with two different inks: Diamine Twilight and Sailor Jentle Yama-dori. It happened both with the original sac converter and with a new piston converter.

It only happens when the pen stays in the desktop for minutes, capped. While writing, even if I stop to think about and don't cap it, it always starts in the instant the nib touches the paper. Issues are only when stays capped. Once begin to write, writes for pages without problem.

It's not "baby's bottom". Nib is a 14K F.

I use it daily, maybe 4-5 pages every day. While not in use it stays in my desktop, horizontally.

What could be the problem?

When I bought it I flushed it but was a fast flush... Could it be some old deposits in the feeder that move so some days it works flawlessly and some days has the issue? If so, how to clean, as this pen is not intended to be disassembled? Rinse in water for some hours?

Thanks!

[azkid]

I'm no expert. But yeah maybe there's something clogging up the feed a little. Maybe try dissolving it.

Assuming it isn't the ink. Diamine twilight seems like a really dry writing ink to me. I haven't used the other one. It might be worth testing with something that rarely or never has flow issues in any pen. Like: Waterman Black, Serenity Blue or Mysterious Blue, Quink Black, Iroshizuku Take-sumi or Tsuki-yo.

If not the ink, and If this were my pen, knowing is has modern materials, no ebonite or casein or other delicate stuff, I would flush it like normal with water, then fill with pen flush and place it tip down in a small jar of water covering nib and feed and a tiny bit of section.

I'd rinse it after about 6 hours then repeat using water and a tiny amount of dawn dishwashing detergent as a surfactant.

Then every few hours, rinse and repeat the process until no dye/pigment is visible when flushing. Then I'd empty it and air dry.

If it's still hard starting I would repeat the whole thing again.

If you have an ultrasonic cleaner fill it and hold the nib submerged with the cleaner running a minute or two and see if anything comes out.

That's what I'd do but I'll defer to the experts.

[FredRydr]

Get one of these ear syringes. Cut to fit the back end of nib/feed/section unit. Draw your flushing solution back and forth through the unit, followed by clean water. Put in the front-loading dryer for 15 minutes to dry.

Just kidding about the dryer.

[Chrissy]

I use one of those ear bulbs inside the section on the cartridge piercer and flush water back and forth. For a Sheaffer Targa that someone else had used I would leave it to soak in Platinum pen flush overnight.

if you have a USC I think it's also a good idea to give it a spin in there.

Another thing I would try is to ensure I got the whole section fairly warm by soaking in some warm water or the USC, then press where the nib sits on the top of the section and the feed close together in your finger and thumb for a while. There could be a gap between them that might be a little too big if the nib has been pressed hard onto the paper while being written with by someone else.

[aremesal]

Thank you everyone.

Of course, today it's working perfect

Yesterday almost everytime I get it, it was a hard start. Today, by the moment, everytime I get it, it started in the very moment I touch the paper.

As said before... it's something totally random.

I'm no expert. But yeah maybe there's something clogging up the feed a little. Maybe try dissolving it.

Assuming it isn't the ink. Diamine twilight seems like a really dry writing ink to me. I haven't used the other one. It might be worth testing with something that rarely or never has flow issues in any pen. Like: Waterman Black, Serenity Blue or Mysterious Blue, Quink Black, Iroshizuku Take-sumi or Tsuki-yo.

If not the ink, and If this were my pen, knowing is has modern materials, no ebonite or casein or other delicate stuff, I would flush it like normal with water, then fill with pen flush and place it tip down in a small jar of water covering nib and feed and a tiny bit of section.

I'd rinse it after about 6 hours then repeat using water and a tiny amount of dawn dishwashing detergent as a surfactant.

Then every few hours, rinse and repeat the process until no dye/pigment is visible when flushing. Then I'd empty it and air dry.

If it's still hard starting I would repeat the whole thing again.

If you have an ultrasonic cleaner fill it and hold the nib submerged with the cleaner running a minute or two and see if anything comes out.

That's what I'd do but I'll defer to the experts.

Thanks. As the issue appears randomly, but when it appears it shows the hard starting for some hours - then issue dissapear and works perfect - I'm thinking it could be some dirt/dry ink in the feeder or inside the section. I'll take your advice for a deep cleaning.

Get one of these ear syringes. Cut to fit the back end of nib/feed/section unit. Draw your flushing solution back and forth through the unit, followed by clean water. Put in the front-loading dryer for 15 minutes to dry.

Just kidding about the dryer.

I use already one of this, but didn't cut it... diferent pens has different diameters, and some time ago I cut one and it lost all the "pressure".

But, I just realized that maybe I was doing it wrong. You said "draw back and forth", but I always just flush water - one direction.

In addition, when you say "flushing solution", do you mean a commercial solution, or a homemade one? Because to flush like this with a commercial solution could be expensive...

I use one of those ear bulbs inside the section on the cartridge piercer and flush water back and forth. For a Sheaffer Targa that someone else had used I would leave it to soak in Platinum pen flush overnight.

if you have a USC I think it's also a good idea to give it a spin in there.

Another thing I would try is to ensure I got the whole section fairly warm by soaking in some warm water or the USC, then press where the nib sits on the top of the section and the feed close together in your finger and thumb for a while. There could be a gap between them that might be a little too big if the nib has been pressed hard onto the paper while being written with by someone else.

I don't have nor cannot get Plantinum flush - it's out of stock in my usual shops. But I can get R&K - Reiniger - Cleaning Solution for Fountain Pen, I assume it's similar.

As said to FredRydr, I think I was doing the pear-flushing wrong: I just push water into, but not back and forth.

I almost discarded a problem with the nib: it writes really well, no other problems. And then, when it shows the hard starts, it's not all the time, but randomly: if it begins to has hard starts, it's hard starting for hours, but then if I leave sit for the night, next day the issue is gone for days... then one day it comes back again. Because of this behaviour I was thinking in maybe a bit of dirt or dried ink in the section/feeder, that "moves" so sometimes it's obstructing and sometimes not.

Anyway, I'll try too the tip about nib, but very carefully as this inlaid nibs are not easy to repair if I overdo it

[FredRydr]

The syringes are very inexpensive, and like sacs, they don't last forever. Cut them to fit pens as you need them, and always err in favor of cutting away too little rather than too much. You can't glue a slice back on!

I mix my own flush solution in a 500ml bottle: 450ml distilled water:50ml ammonia:1 drop Dawn.

Generally I use the syringe to flush first with water, second with solution, then final rinse with water.

[Ron Z]

A better choice would be a desoldering bulb. Radio Shack sells them (If you can find a store), and you can buy them on Ebay, or from PartsExpress, which also sells them on Ebay. There is a white teflon tip that you pull out. The bulb will fit over most but the largest sections. They last for years, and there's less chance of your section blowing out of the bulb as you flush the pen. Trust me, the excitement of the nib unit forcefully splashing into an ultrasonic full of inky water is more excitement than you want.... especially if around your wife's curtains or towels.

...and adding - I'm glad that the soak and flush got the Targa nib working. There are indeed very fine ink channels in a Targa nib. Sometimes these get horribly clogged, and the only way to clean them is to take the nib unit apart, cleaning the feed, and then reassembling with a new 0-ring as part of the process.

It is recommended that you avoid soaking in solutions that have ammonia over night. Apparently this leaches out some of the other metals in the alloy, and can make the gold brittle. (David Nishimura) I have no problem though with shorter term exposure to ammonia.

[FredRydr]

A better choice would be a desoldering bulb....

I soldered newer-style MagSafe cords on four Apple 60w MacBook chargers, and I couldn't get my solder sucker to suck anything...except air! I'll sacrifice it to pen duty.

[azkid]

Yeah solder suckers suck at sucking solder. I only ever use braided solder wicks anymore. And I do quite a lot of electronics work.

[Ron Z]

For electronics work, a solder sucker, AKA a desoldering pump works better. (says the former radio engineer)(which I miss quite a bit!) A solder wick works well too except on surface mount devices, which are in a totally different class....

[azkid]

For electronics work, a solder sucker, AKA a desoldering pump works better. (says the former radio engineer)(which I miss quite a bit!) A solder wick works well too except on surface mount devices, which are in a totally different class....

I'll have to try a desoldering pump. Good tip, thanks. I use a hot air rework station for smd stuff.