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Thread: Snorkel gusher!

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    Senior Member FredRydr's Avatar
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    Default Snorkel gusher!

    I re-sacced and re-sealed my Snorkel months ago, and a couple days ago filled it with Diamine Red Dragon. While writing a letter just now, it didn't just burp; it suddenly disgorged all its contents onto the middle of the page. I'm going to flush it and put it "away" where I won't look upon it for a long while.



    Hmmm.... On second thought, I now recall that before I refilled it, I flushed it quite well, and I suspect I was a bit too aggressive forcing the water out (Snorkels are fun that way). I bet I'll find the sac is dislodged, so I better disassemble, rinse and dry the pen now so the spring doesn't corrode.
    Last edited by FredRydr; January 1st, 2021 at 09:10 AM.

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    Senior Member jar's Avatar
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    Default Re: Snorkel gusher!

    A very possible scenario.

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    Senior Member FredRydr's Avatar
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    Default Re: Snorkel gusher!

    All was dry. But when I immerse the snorkel (removed from the section and barrel) in water, cover the hole in the side of the sac tube with my finger and blow into the top hole, a steady stream of bubbles from the tip of the snorkel results. It doesn't stop when the sac should be fully compressed.
    Last edited by FredRydr; January 1st, 2021 at 09:16 AM.

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    Default Re: Snorkel gusher!

    Quote Originally Posted by FredRydr View Post
    All was dry. But when I immerse the snorkel (removed from the section and barrel) in water, cover the hole in the side of the sac tube with my finger and blow into the top hole, a steady stream of bubbles from the tip of the snorkel results. It doesn't stop when the sac should be fully compressed.
    Rupture. Lets call it a rupture and blame 2020.

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    Senior Member CrayonAngelss's Avatar
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    Default Re: Snorkel gusher!

    How far along were you into the letter? I had to start a letter over the other day after getting Sriracha on it...

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    Senior Member Ron Z's Avatar
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    Default Re: Snorkel gusher!

    Using a fountain pen to write a letter.... I've thought about that, but decided that after putting the effort into writing a letter, I want people to be able to read it. They wouldn't be able to if it was hand written. My wife can't read my handwriting at times. I can't read my handwriting at times.

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    Senior Member christof's Avatar
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    Default Re: Snorkel gusher!

    Quote Originally Posted by Ron Z View Post
    Using a fountain pen to write a letter.... I've thought about that, but decided that after putting the effort into writing a letter, I want people to be able to read it. They wouldn't be able to if it was hand written. My wife can't read my handwriting at times. I can't read my handwriting at times.
    Ron, that is an interesting point of view...
    But when I write a letter by hand, it may not be free of spelling mistakes, but at least, there are no silly typos that make me look like an idiot....
    This is how I see it.
    C.

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    Default Re: Snorkel gusher!

    Ron needs a better pen to fix is penmanship...

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    Senior Member Jon Szanto's Avatar
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    Default Re: Snorkel gusher!

    Quote Originally Posted by christof View Post
    But when I write a letter by hand, it may not be free of spelling mistakes, but at least, there are no silly typos that make me look like an idiot....
    I can understand that, and at first I was pretty worried about the mistakes I make with ink... but I knew my correspondents would understand. I now refer to them, in handwriting, as writos.
    "When Men differ in Opinion, both Sides ought equally to have the Advantage of being heard by the Publick;
    and that when Truth and Error have fair Play, the former is always an overmatch for the latter."

    ~ Benjamin Franklin

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    Senior Member FredRydr's Avatar
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    Default Re: Snorkel gusher!

    Quote Originally Posted by CrayonAngelss View Post
    How far along were you into the letter? I had to start a letter over the other day after getting Sriracha on it...
    I had reached the fifth sheet of A5 where I've left a nice big Red Dragon smear about 2 inches in various directions. This is a letter to another fountain pen user, so after a lot of blotting, I explained the messy diversion and just kept on writing to the end. Of course, I was a bit distracted by it all, so I wound up my thoughts and sealed it up in its envelope before I changed my mind. He'll like the oddity of it.

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    Senior Member CrayonAngelss's Avatar
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    Default Re: Snorkel gusher!

    Quote Originally Posted by FredRydr View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by CrayonAngelss View Post
    How far along were you into the letter? I had to start a letter over the other day after getting Sriracha on it...
    I had reached the fifth sheet of A5 where I've left a nice big Red Dragon smear about 2 inches in various directions. This is a letter to another fountain pen user, so after a lot of blotting, I explained the messy diversion and just kept on writing to the end. Of course, I was a bit distracted by it all, so I wound up my thoughts and sealed it up in its envelope before I changed my mind. He'll like the oddity of it.
    I love the human touch that comes only with snail mail He'll appreciate it as you said.

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    FPG Donor ♕ Chrissy's Avatar
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    Default Re: Snorkel gusher!

    Quote Originally Posted by Ron Z View Post
    Using a fountain pen to write a letter.... I've thought about that, but decided that after putting the effort into writing a letter, I want people to be able to read it. They wouldn't be able to if it was hand written. My wife can't read my handwriting at times. I can't read my handwriting at times.
    On the other hand using a fountain pen to write a letter sometimes means you make more of an effort to write neatly, just for the heck of it, and it may improve your handwriting generally.
    February will be here soon: International Correspondence Writing Month aka InCoWriMo suggests writing a letter every day. I never actually write one letter every day, but merely try to write more than I normally would. Writing and receiving letters can be very therapeutic especially during Covid times when you have to stay home.
    Last edited by Chrissy; January 2nd, 2021 at 05:45 AM.
    Regards, Chrissy | My Review Blog: inkyfountainpens

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    Default Re: Snorkel gusher!

    Quote Originally Posted by Farmboy View Post
    ...blame 2020.
    Words to live by.

    I sometimes turn my personal letter "writos" (consider that stolen, Jon) into little doodles. So it might become a lorry load of crossed out writo, or an animal with a writo-print coat.
    In the words of Paul Simon, you can call me Al.

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    Default Re: Snorkel gusher!

    I write more legibly with a fountain pen, though not with all of them. Stubs, italics and obliques help tame my hand.

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    Senior Member FredRydr's Avatar
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    Default Re: Snorkel gusher!

    And here is the sac pulled from the snorkel mechanism of my red and chrome Snorkel. Notice the gooey mess. This sac is one of four recently purchased from David Nishimura as part of his sac and o-ring kits. (I'm not crazy about these Rube Goldberg pens, to be honest.) I had removed the previous sac and seals because the pen wasn't drawing much ink, even after lubricating the mechanism. Anyway, the new sac was installed the summer of 2020 and had fills of Visconti red and switched to Diamine Red Dragon.

    Do I blame the sac or the ink? <sigh!>

    1609773484761.jpg

    1609782685254.jpg
    Last edited by FredRydr; January 4th, 2021 at 10:54 AM.

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    Senior Member Pterodactylus's Avatar
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    Default Re: Snorkel gusher!

    Quote Originally Posted by FredRydr View Post
    Do I blame the sac or the ink? <sigh!>
    I would blame the sac.

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    Senior Member Ron Z's Avatar
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    Default Re: Snorkel gusher!

    I've found that a latex sac may react with the metal of the sac guard if it isn't well dusted with talc before the sac guard goes on. Ink can do it too. Use a PVC sac. Last time I looked, David Nishimura had some.

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    Senior Member FredRydr's Avatar
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    Default Re: Snorkel gusher!

    Quote Originally Posted by Ron Z View Post
    I've found that a latex sac may react with the metal of the sac guard if it isn't well dusted with talc before the sac guard goes on. Ink can do it too. Use a PVC sac. Last time I looked, David Nishimura had some.
    What were the original sacs?

    Have you noticed this with touchdowns?

    Since it's hardy steel, do you recommend a solvent to remove the last of the dissolved latex?
    Last edited by FredRydr; January 4th, 2021 at 10:58 AM.

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    Senior Member Ron Z's Avatar
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    Default Re: Snorkel gusher!

    Original sacs were latex. Richard and I got a box of 1000 of OEM sacs from Sheaffer. They were necked, and cut to the right length for snorkels. I quit using them though because even though they hadn't failed or leaked, the pens quit filling after a short while. The sacs were old enough that they started to stiffen, and so didn't collapse as much as they did at first. Either that, or they didn't spring back. I just knew that they weren't filling as well as they had when I first put the sac in.

    Problem with sacs failing in TD pens? No good data. Talc vs no talc makes a difference though, so I make sure that I have lots of talc. I've run out of #15 and #17 sacs for TD and PFM pens, but it isn't as big a deal because neither has the stupid carbon steel spring to rust. A rusted screw can be a problem, so I always clean them off well.

    >>Note<< If you have one of the gold filled or Masterpiece TD pens, or a PFM with the gold end, and therefore one held on with a fine thread machine screw instead of a coarse thread screw, you want to put some silicone grease on the threads to keep them from rusting should the thread fail.

    One other note - I did some testing a while back, measuring the amount of ink taken in with a PVC sac vs a latex sac. It was the same, even though the PVC sac is slightly stiffer. The "super flexible" sacs never worked as well as a regular sac because they were too flexible, so weren't strong enough to completely spring back to shape and pull ink in.

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    Senior Member FredRydr's Avatar
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    Default Re: Snorkel gusher!

    I tried the ultrasonic on the latex goo I wasn't able to scrape out of the stainless sac housing, and it seemed to work. A chopstick slid to the end and out revealed no more black stuff.

    PVC sacs ordered from David.
    Last edited by FredRydr; January 4th, 2021 at 11:42 AM.

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