Just finished my first cartridge, now need to fill from a bottle.

[gazza]

I have a syringe, an empty cartridge and a sports converter.

I assume that if I'm going to reuse the cartridge I will need to flush it out. Warm water for this?

Is there any advantage over refilling the converter with a syringe as advised on another thread, over sticking with the refilled cartridge?

The pen is now entirely dry, will I need to flush it out with water? how would I go about this please?

Also, the last few strokes as the pen ran out things got a bit scratchy, will carrying on to the bitter end cause problems with paper clogging the nib? is it better to stop writing when one realizes the pen is near dry and flush out the tiny bit of remaining ink with water?

LOL, so many questions.

 

[ChillBill]

I'm very new to FPs Gazza, having just bought my first couple a few months ago. In my limited experience I found that flushing the pen or converter with cold water is ok.

I've tried to put what I've been doing to flush my pen in the bullet points below. I hope you might find something below helpful.


1) insert the pen -with the converter minus the top (I forget the technical term!) - into a glass of water
2) fill the converter with water through the nib
3) take the pen out of the water and depending on the converter, squeeze/push it until all of the water is deposited
4) repeat the above steps until the water runs clear with no ink showing at all. The best way to see if there's any ink still coming through the nib is by wrapping it in kitchen paper, any moisture will be absorbed quickly and you will see by looking at the paper whether it's still inky.

I'm not sure about refilling the cartridge mate. Chris Bell was very helpful when I was looking into FPs. He's probably our resident expert on FPs, I would drop him a wee pm to see if he could help with that.

Cheers

B

Ps I have only used a Lamy Safari and Kaweco Sport thus far

 

[gazza]

Thanks for the reply CB.

I managed to work most of my questions out the other night
but flushing the pen is good advice, because I couldn't work out
how much ink was left in the nib bit when I changed colours last night.
I also didn't want to keep writing with a very near to dry nib in case
it damaged it.

Filling the cartridge with a blunt syringe seems to work well,
but I don't know what the life of a reused cartridge is.
The body would last ok I suppose but it cant be good
for them taking them on and off.

Anyhoo, I was after a small box of cartridges to use up and then reuse,
but because of postage and curiosity I now have 40 in loads of colours

 

[Neilo]

Thanks for the reply CB.

I managed to work most of my questions out the other night
but flushing the pen is good advice, because I couldn't work out
how much ink was left in the nib bit when I changed colours last night.
I also didn't want to keep writing with a very near to dry nib in case
it damaged it.

Filling the cartridge with a blunt syringe seems to work well,
but I don't know what the life of a reused cartridge is.
The body would last ok I suppose but it cant be good
for them taking them on and off.

Anyhoo, I was after a small box of cartridges to use up and then reuse,
but because of postage and curiosity I now have 40 in loads of colours

As previous reply, the best way to clean the pen is to flush the nib unit with cold running water, without the cartridge or converter attached until the water runs clear. The converter can be removed and filled and flushed out with cold water from a cup until it too runs clear. Both the nib unit and converter can be left on kitchen roll to absorb surplus water until dry. Best to ditch cartridges and use a converter if possible as the action of pulling ink into the converter as well as it flowing out of the pen offers a measure of self cleaning in itself. A good fountain pen ink with a myriad of colours to choose from is Diamine, available from Cult pens online as well as from many other suppliers, hope this helps ,

 

[chrisbell]

I'm no expert - until around 18 months ago, my experience was limited to years of using cheap Parker FPs with cartridges which I'd sling when empty. What I've learned has been through lurking on FP forums, watching videos and trial and error.

As regards the OPs questions - I'm wondering why you're assuming you need a syringe to refill a converter? As you've found, in order to refill cartridges you definitely need one (not that I've ever bothered refilling cartridges), but the whole point of a converter is that you insert it into the section (which is what the part you hold is called), and fill through the nib and feed by operating the converter. You mention a "sport" converter - I presume you're referring to the Kaweco Sport squeeze type? If so, you may find the following useful:

http://wonderpens.wordpress.com/2013/10/10/how-to-use-your-kaweco-squeeze-converter/

 

[gazza]

Tanks for the advice and links, I'l have a better read this evening.

I had spotted someone mention that the Kaweco Sport was a pita to refill and that they used a blunt syringe.

As I have blunt syringes for mixing nicotine liquid, it seemed the easiest option.

 

[chris.hale]

That was me, I have the Kaweco squeeze converter and found it a major pain, however the approach in the article linked might be worth a shot.

My favourite pens are piston fill, I've gotten used to not having to muck about having three attempts to get ink in. Next best thing is a piston converter, but some pens are too small for one, eg the Kaweco Sport and the Cult Pens Mini.