My mate has an ultrasonic cleaner, should I try using it on a misbehaving pen?
My mate has an ultrasonic cleaner, should I try using it on a misbehaving pen?
Really depends on what is wrong with the pen. If it has dried ink residue in it that you haven't been able to shift with normal soaking, it may be appropriate, depending on the material and age of the pen.
Vintage. Cursive italic. Iron gall.
I'm sure it is generally old ink residue. I've tried soaking in water, I'm now trying vinegar and water. It's a number of pens left to me by my folks.
Probably decades since they've been used. I have 'freed-up' a few, but some are stubborn.
With vintage, I'd be cautious as the agitation may end up damaging the pens, depending on the models/materials of course.
Vintage. Cursive italic. Iron gall.
I have one but I haven't found it to be very useful. There was much talk about ultrasonic cleaners years ago which encouraged me to buy one but given my time over I wouldn't bother. Brushes and cotton buds do a better job.
I'm not a fan of ultrasonic cleaners for things like pens. My concern is that repeated exposure to high frequency vibration could cause excessive wear.
I use one multiple times a day, on most every pen. Every pen mechanic uses one. Note, only the nib unit goes into the pen, not the whole pen. You don't need a powerful one - 50W or so is plenty. You do need a cleaner for it to be effective, but a 3 minute cycle or two is usually sufficient to dislodge the crud. The ammonia/Dawn, or RapidoEze is the cleaner you want to be using.
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Brilliant Bill (September 22nd, 2021), Robert (September 22nd, 2021), Stands on Feet (September 22nd, 2021)
Interesting. I've had the stubborn ones soaking in Water and vinegar, I'll try the ultrasonic cleaner if that doesn't work.
What fluid is best to use in the cleaner? Sorry, can you clarify the "ammonia/dawn" -is that a mixture of ammonia and a detergent? and "Rapidoeze" please? Is Rapidoeze a product designed to clean Rapidographs? I seem to remember something like that from my art school daze (intended!!!)
90 ml water:10 ml ammonia:1 drop dawn
Some say up to 5 drops dawn, but 1 has always worked fine for me. I'm also not big on long soaking. Some materials can suffer from such treatment.
You should meet the omniscient Google. It will steer you in the right direction as far as Rapido-eze is concerned.
If you can't clean a pen with Rapido-eze and an ultrasonic, just send it off to someone that specialized in pen repair or toss it in a drawer for the next victim to discover.
Yep, I'm with Ron Z. I've had one and used it for years -- nibs only, and I think I'd not put any ebonite in there.
Put lukewarm water in to near the fill level. Add a quarter cup or so of ammonia cleaner, and a dash (few drops) of Dawn liquid dishwashing fluid as it seems to have the best surfactant qualities and performance.
After a cycle or two, rinse/flush thoroughly with lukewarm/tepid water.
As above.
In a small jar I have the gold nibs in this solution https://www.cousinsuk.com/product/co...gh-concentrate, feeds are in the tank that has a 1:10 solution of household 2.5% ammonia and water. Feeds are then brushed with a fine wire brush to ensure clean, a small bottle brush dipped in cleaner for the section. These are the parts that are always, on every pen cleaned in this way. A pen may write, but unless you carry these operations out, you never be sure the feed is totally clean.
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Brilliant Bill (October 25th, 2021), Jon Szanto (October 24th, 2021)
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