Dumb question

[Sailor Kenshin]

I don't have many Pelikans, just a 120 and a Pelikano, a Future and some Juniors.

Why don't converters fit the Pelikanos, Futures and Juniors? You'd think if they use standard international carts, they could use some of the million and a half converters lying around my Fountain Pen Hutch.

[Jeph]

Because they hate us.

[KrazyIvan]

Really? (I meant that in a I did not know that kind of way not the current condescending tone that seems to be popular these days.)

[Laura N]

One of my kids has a Pelikano somewhere, and this converter does fit. Unlike a Safari, the Pelikano has no tabs to securely hold onto the converter, so the attachment feels a little wobbly, but it does work. I have no idea about the other models, I'm afraid.

[whych]

Sometimes you are lucky and can get one of the cheap Chines converters to work, but they really want a Pelikan converter.

[Sailor Kenshin]

Thanks for that clip, KI!

Butbutbutbutbut (said in confused, stammering manner, not current condescending etc)....if virtually any standard international cart will fit the Pelikanos and Juniors, I don't get why standard international cons do not.

I have about a dozen cons floating around. Last night I put them in a couple of shot glasses and tried them all in a Peli Jr.

One sort of, kind of, fit. The rest would not even seat, never mind the ratcheting down explained by Mr. G.

I am baffled.

Love the way they write, and they are comfy for my hand. I just want to be able to use a converter for a partial fill, instant feed saturation, and instant ink testing.

[Jeph]

Don't feel bad Sailor, that has been my experience also.

[Sailor Kenshin]

Don't feel bad Sailor, that has been my experience also.

Aww, thanks. I appreciate it!

[KrazyIvan]

How much space do you have between the barrel and section after you ratchet it down?

[Sailor Kenshin]

How much space do you have between the barrel and section after you ratchet it down?

If you're asking me, none, because so far none of the cons even seat.

[KrazyIvan]

I have some converters that I think may fit but I don't have a Pelikano to test. They are odd because they only ever worked in my Waterman pens but I recently found that they also work in my Levenger Sunset. My local pen shop has Pelikano's, I'll take one with me to test and let you know sometime this following week. I need to make a trip over there and get a pen out of layaway.

[Sailor Kenshin]

Well. Update.

I got out a Pel Future with a fat nib that I want to use for ink testing, and literally, a dozen cons, some name brand, some not.

I found three that sort of, kind of fit on insertion. Will see if any of these are actually useable, lol.

[whych]

If you buy 5 or 6 of the cheap Chinese ones off ebay, you may find one that fits. Cheaper to just get a Pelikan converter.
The Chinese ones fit a Rotring and other pens, but not the Pelikans.
With the Pelikano, you may finde you need to file the plastic screw part a bit to get it to fir in the pen - it is just slightly too long in my Type 2 Pelikano.

[Sailor Kenshin]

Sigh....ended up using a cart. None of the three candidates really fit.

[Jeph]

Maybe this will help. I don't have any of the listed Pelikans, but...

I acquired an NOS Pelikan 570 recently and when I went to grab a converter for it today I remembered this thread. It just so happens that between then and now I also stumbled into a selection of different German converters. I have more than are represented in the picture but other than the two Pelikan converters shown all of the rest represent something visually distinct from the others. The Scmidt K5 is also unmarked, but I purchased that one from a well-respected vendor in the US identified as such. All of the converters fit solidly enough to carry the pen around negligently by the converter except for two of them. The Faber-Castell, although I could detect no dimension variation from the other converters, was not a solid fit. You could hold the pen by the converter but normal walking dislodged it. By feel there was very little force required to unseat the converter. I attribute this to the converter just being cheap. It feels cheap, and it is the only one that does not at least similar to the others. The other one that did not fit was the Schmidt K5. Strangely enough, other than the “Pelikan” imprint on the branded Pelikan converters you could swear that they were identical. The converter would hold the weight of the pen, but you could not move around carrying the converter. It came loose with almost no effort. Closer inspection of the business end revealed a significant difference. All of the other converters including the F-C used a concentric cylinder arrangement. The outer lip of the converter makes one cylinder, then there is a gap and another cylinder sits in the middle slightly offset (shorter) than the outer cylinder. On the Schmidt K5 converter, inside the outer lip is a shelf and a large (or shallow depending on your perspective) angle taper to the center bore. To the accuracy of my measurement capability, both bores were the same diameter. The difference is that the K5 converter sat a fill 1/16” shallower in the barrel than the other converters when installed. I measured that by forcing the converter as deep as possible and then adjusting the piston to match the edge of the nose section barrel. I then put all of them flat on a table and compared the piston positions. I retried the results 5 times for verification.

So I claim that if you have an undamaged concentric cylinder configuration converter it should work fine and if you have the tapered cone configuration like the K5 you are asking for trouble.

P570 Converters.jpgPelikan vs Schmidt K5.jpg

[Sailor Kenshin]

Thanks! Where's my magnifying glass?