Nail Polish ... Dangerous?!?!

[OMASmaniac]

Hi!

 

I'm thinking of transforming my Sailor Sapporo into an eyedropper. I've read some similar experiments on the FPN and this seems to be possible. Apparently, a good way to "eyedropperize" a pen has been found by a guy who did it to a Nakaya and used nail polish to prevent the metal parts from touching the ink.

BUT ... elsewhere I read that nail polish can be destructive (almost like BSB .. just kidding)

Some people argue that with nail polish you risk:

- destroying the pen

- melting the plastic

- having explosive chemical reactions with ink ...

- [...]

however, nobody seems to be able to provide explanations about why nail polish is so supposedly dangerous.

Any clue?

Somebody who has a clear idea about this?

thanks!

Fabio

[mholve]

I don't know about the nail polish itself, but removing it with nail polish remover (acetone) will most certainly be destructive to many plastic parts.

[OMASmaniac]

I don't know about the nail polish itself, but removing it with nail polish remover (acetone) will most certainly be destructive to many plastic parts.

 

so basically the problem is related to the acetone, not directly to the nail polish per se ...

interesting. So I have to be very careful and make NO mistakes.!

[knitknitfrog]

Nail polish contains solvents which will dissolve or soften some plastics. You can only be certain it is safe if you know the chemistry of the pen or ink components, or sacrifice a pen as a trial.

[OMASmaniac]

Nail polish contains solvents which will dissolve or soften some plastics. You can only be certain it is safe if you know the chemistry of the pen or ink components, or sacrifice a pen as a trial.

 

ouch ...

that's a serious problem!!

what about natural wax? would it be better? no mess, just natural ingredients

[FlexiCat]

Nail polish contains solvents which will dissolve or soften some plastics. You can only be certain it is safe if you know the chemistry of the pen or ink components, or sacrifice a pen as a trial.

 

Frank DuBiell, in his famous book on pen repair, "Da Book", states that clear nail polish can be used to adhere ink sacs to sections. I've done this with every pen I've resacked and have not had any problems. I haven't resacked any very new pens, though.

[Aysedasi]

Just out of interest, have you ever later taken a sac off that you've affixed with nail polish?

[OldGriz]

Nail polish contains solvents which will dissolve or soften some plastics. You can only be certain it is safe if you know the chemistry of the pen or ink components, or sacrifice a pen as a trial.

 

Frank DuBiell, in his famous book on pen repair, "Da Book", states that clear nail polish can be used to adhere ink sacs to sections. I've done this with every pen I've resacked and have not had any problems. I haven't resacked any very new pens, though.

 

Frank says a lot of things in Da Book that we have found to be detrimental to good pen repair....

There have been many changes and improvements in the way that pens repaired today...

[OMASmaniac]

anyway, I've used natural wax ... I'll let you know if it remains sealed and if there are problems

[stevlight]

The problem I was told was that the nail polish will eventually flake off and you do not want small particles of clogging nail polish in your ink supply clogging your feed. It is the reason that makes sense to me and stopped me from making an Aurora Talentum into an eyedropper.

 

Let me know if the natural wax works.

[Garageboy]

Yeah, sacs held on by nail polish means the next guy gets a mess to work with

The solvents in nail polish do soften some plastics

Edited December 27, 2010 by Garageboy

[ru32day]

As someone who has used clear nail polish for many things over the years (but not in FPs) I would counsel against using it for any application requiring long term stability as IME it becomes brittle and flakes with age.

[Jimmy James]

I would tend to agree that the three main problems with nail polish in this application would be:

 

1) It may damage some materials, likely because it is meant for fingernails

2) It may flake, likely because it is meant as a very impermanent solution

3) The best method for removing all of it if necessary is also prone to damaging many materials

 

I do wonder what would be a better choice. An enamel of some sort perhaps?

[Ron Z]

I do wonder what would be a better choice.

 

Shellac

[Jimmy James]

Shellac for coating the metal interior of a pen to make it an eyedropper? A thicker preparation than is used for sac work, perhaps?

[kuno]

I was in the nail polish camp until I things started going bad (try un-nailpolishing a set of glued threads -- phooey!). But in case of coating the insides of a pen, I have no idea what would be suitable. But definitely NOT nail polish. As other fpn members well stated above (and many girlfriends would substantiate) it flakes off...often unevenly. I am not very familiar with the Sapporo but how much metal is there inside the barrel that needs masking?

[D Armstrong]

Shellac for coating the metal interior of a pen to make it an eyedropper? A thicker preparation than is used for sac work, perhaps?

 

Multiple coats works better than a thicker solution. Less solvent just makes for a faster drying time, verging on instant if it's too thick.

[Ron Z]

Shellac for coating the metal interior of a pen to make it an eyedropper? A thicker preparation than is used for sac work, perhaps?

 

Sorry, I missed something there.

 

Really, I wouldn't try converting a metal pen into an eyedropper. I doubt that you would be able to get an even enough coat of any material to be reliable. All that you would need would be one small area where the ink could penetrate to start corrosion, and then it could spread under your coating without you knowing what's going on until it's too late.

 

But, if you insisted on doing this, I would suggest a two part epoxy paint. But even then it would be tough to insure an even coating of material when working down inside a barrel.

[kirchh]

Why do you want to use the pen as an eyedropper-filler?

 

--Daniel

[Jimmy James]

Search me. The only pens I turn into eyedroppers are Platinum Preppys. I do think the question of what material would make for the best way to turn a metal pen into an eyedropper is a very interesting one, though. I would think the biggest area of concern would be right around the threads because it would be difficult to coat the threads themselves with anything while staying in the tolerances established for the materials. Of course, some pens that are metal have plastic threads.