Need advice re refilling a cartridge...

[Skip]

Ok, I got my Pilot Prera Iro-Ai apart and have thoroughly cleaned out it's nib section and it's supplied cartridge, which are now drying. ~But a question here: Is there a device, or what do folks use, to hold the empty cartridge upright and steady while refilling it using a syringe loaded with bottled ink? My hands are not steady (or big?) enough to complete this process unaided...
All info and suggestions here greatly appreciated,
Thanks,
Skip

[Skip]

Ok, I got my Pilot Prera Iro-Ai apart and have thoroughly cleaned out it's nib section and it's supplied cartridge, which are now drying. ~But a question here: Is there a device, or what do folks use, to hold the empty cartridge upright and steady while refilling it using a syringe loaded with bottled ink? My hands are not steady (or big?) enough to complete this process unaided...
All info and suggestions here greatly appreciated,
Thanks,
Skip

Well, I found my own answer... Yas! ~A perfect little square crystal glass single pen holder... Might need to pad it's insides a little to snug up a cartridge, but then it sh be just what I'm looking for. ~About $15 at Amazon. A smaller ink syringe might've helped also, but I like this idea better.

[welch]

Maybe use a converter. Jet Pens sells a Pilot Con-40 as an addition to the Prera. It is about $7.50. If the Con-40 fits, a converter beats refilling a cartridge.

[Brilliant Bill]

Maybe use a converter. Jet Pens sells a Pilot Con-40 as an addition to the Prera. It is about $7.50. If the Con-40 fits, a converter beats refilling a cartridge.

CON-40 works as well as a CON-40 can work. I use them in all three of my Preras.

[Jon Szanto]

If the Con-40 fits, a converter beats refilling a cartridge.

That's a subjective statement. To begin with, no converter holds as much ink as a cartridge, unless it is a badly designed cartridge. While I may use converters in the majority of my pens, I almost always used refilled carts in my vintage Sheaffer pens, and I've manufactured ink tanks - essentially, even larger cartridges - for pens that have the capacity in he barrel and I want a larger fill of ink. Using a syringe and bottled ink, I can have more ink in a pen than a with a converter, and with less messiness. To each their own.

[Brilliant Bill]

I can dip a nib and suck up an ink refill into a converter before you can even get your syringe and cartridge out. And while you're busy cleaning your syringe my nib is putting ink on paper. That, for me, outweighs any small deficiency in fill quantity.

[Jon Szanto]

I can dip a nib and suck up an ink refill into a converter before you can even get your syringe and cartridge out. And while you're busy cleaning your syringe my nib is putting ink on paper. That, for me, outweighs any small deficiency in fill quantity.

And you ignored wiping off the section and nib of that excess ink, the repeated times you have to do this because of a minimal amount of ink, and you don't realize how little time the other takes when all of the tools are right at hand. The amount of time difference is inconsequential to me when I have zero mess, a non-flooded feed, and a 100% full pen. Another YMMV moment, so you do you, and I'll do me.

[dneal]

Probably just as easy to pop in a fresh cartridge. Saves the most time because you don't have to move any goal posts.

[Jon Szanto]

Probably just as easy to pop in a fresh cartridge. Saves the most time because you don't have to move any goal posts.

... if you are satisfied with the much more limited array of inks that are available in cartridge. Many people aren't. OTOH, refilling empty carts and sealing with a drop from a hot glue gun gives the best of both worlds.

[alexwi]

In a pinch, you could fill a shot glass with rice and stick the cartridge in at whatever angle you're comfortable with.

Alex

[Skip]

I can dip a nib and suck up an ink refill into a converter before you can even get your syringe and cartridge out. And while you're busy cleaning your syringe my nib is putting ink on paper. That, for me, outweighs any small deficiency in fill quantity.

Life in the fast lane? Nah! ~Not me! Like some of us I enjoy fussin' with my FP gear... Taking my time, putting more ink in my cleaned out recycled cartridge than any convertors could possibly hold, and using inks called Vermillion or Brown Sugar just for the pleasures of the color and their names! ":>}) ~My FP usage is a slow moving, contemplating, meditative hobby that I find relaxing and pleasurable... To add the pressures of a time clock to it would be counter to why I do it, to say the least! -Hey, if you need speedy writing, why not just use a roller ball pen then?
Also one doesn't have to seal a recycled cartridge if you're gonna put it right back inna pen right away. ~And cleaning out an ink syringe isn't difficult at all... -All you need do is suck some water in and squirt some water out a few times, and the deed is done... ~It would probably take longer to clean a convertor if you wanted to use different ink colors, yes?

[Sailor Kenshin]

In a pinch, you could fill a shot glass with rice and stick the cartridge in at whatever angle you're comfortable with.

Alex

That's close to my method, but I don't add rice, 'cause I'm a ledge-walker.

[Skip]

Maybe use a converter. Jet Pens sells a Pilot Con-40 as an addition to the Prera. It is about $7.50. If the Con-40 fits, a converter beats refilling a cartridge.

No. ~For me it doesn't... And I have more than enough Con-40 convertors rolling around in my desk drawer as Pilot usually includes a Con-40 and a cartridge with every new Pilot pen. I really like Pilot's pens, but just don't like their convertor's small capacity, the difficulty of filling one up completely, and the messiness of doing it while they're still in the pen. ~True, one does have to clean out a cartridge before recycling it (and a syringe is also good for doing this), but then after that I find that using bottled ink and a filling syringe is quick enough, and easy, and a much less messy procedure... (And besides, recycling is also a good thing too, right? ":>}) ~Plus, maybe I'm strange, but for me acquiring and trying different kinds of bottled inks and their colors is an enjoyable part of my FP hobby...

[alexwi]

In a pinch, you could fill a shot glass with rice and stick the cartridge in at whatever angle you're comfortable with.

Alex

That's close to my method, but I don't add rice, 'cause I'm a ledge-walker.

Ah, one who enjoys risk-taking!

Competitive cartridge filling ought to be a pen show event. Especially to get kids excited about what my daughter would likely call a parade of nerds. I'm sure parents would love that ;-)

Alex

[Brilliant Bill]

Different strokes...


There is beauty in inconvenience. Inconvenience is not all bad. It’s a spiritual thing that leads to richness beyond.
-Ando Tadao
Architect

[Jon Szanto]

Different strokes...

There is beauty in inconvenience. Inconvenience is not all bad. It's a spiritual thing that leads to richness beyond.
-Ando Tadao
Architect

It's funny that you didn't embrace this aesthetic/philosophy before making your previous comment. In the best of outcomes, we all make our own experiences and choices - you supported expediency while I enjoyed the extra moments. Ultimately, our pens are filled to some necessary degree, and we enjoy writing with them. Not much else matters.