Pilot 92 skipping

[Frcp]

I have a Pilot Custom Heritage 92 with a Fine-Medium nib that does not produce a very consistent line — see the attached picture. Is the nib defective in some way and can this be fixed? I have a number of other fountain pens and none behave in this way. Thanks

[Chrissy]

It is fairly straightforward to clean the Pilot CH 92 as it's nib and feed can easily be pulled straight out for cleaning in in cup of warm water.

However, first things first: In case you haven't already flushed out the pen with the nib and feed in there then do that first. A cup of warm water or warm water to which a tiny spot of dishwashing liquid has been added will be all you need to clean it out, then flush to rinse several times with clear warm water afterwards.

If you've already flushed out the pen with warm water then you could next try a commercial fountain pen flush that is available from many pen stores online or from Amazon. Platinum does a soapy fountain pen flush that also works well in Pilot pens. It comes as a pack of sachets that you mix up with water and if you use clean water before using the pen flush then you can keep your pen flush mixture in a lidded jar for quite a while.

If you've already tried this cleaning then after you've warmed the pen section in warm water and dried the nib and feed you should be able to grasp the nib and feed with thumb on top of the nib and forefinger on the feed and pull them straight out together. The you can clean them separately by soaking them in a cup of warm water. Warning: don't do this anywhere near to a sink without a plug in there. Do it over a bowl instead. In fact don't go anywhere near to the sink with a Pilot nib because it's almost impossible to get any spares if you lose it. Be very careful with these items. Once clean they just push back into place.

Once you've cleaned out your pen and allowed out to dry then try a different ink and see if it writes better with that one.

Good luck.

[Frcp]

Thank you — I bought the pen new just recently so I did not think of flushing it. I will try and see if it works.

[Chrissy]

Thank you — I bought the pen new just recently so I did not think of flushing it. I will try and see if it works.

Sometimes new pens can still have traces of oil that were used in parts of their manufacture. Unless it writes perfectly straight out of the box, it's often worth flushing out new pens.
I would add the tiny drop of dish washing liquid to the warm water, but be careful to not add too much as it's a piston filler and you don't want it foaming up inside the pen.

P.S. it's worth you checking out the Asian pen forum for Pilot pens.

[Frcp]

Well, the cure suggested worked like a charm — I flushed the pen very well with warm water with a touch of dish soap and dried it out. I put back the ink this morning and the pen no longer skips at all! The line is nice, even and moderately wet. Amazing! I never thought a brand new pen would need to be flushed but apparently it did. Many thanks for the advice, Chrissy!

[Chrissy]

You're welcome.

[carlos.q]

Oh how we all love happy endings!