* Serious* Pen Cleaner * Other Than* Rapido-Eze

[OcalaFlGuy]

Well, the time has come for me to have to deal with some prior India ink usage.

In a P-51 too. Waaaaangh. :mad:

 

I haven't seen Rapido-Eze in town but I DO think there's Doc Martin's Bombay pen cleaner, Higgin's pen cleaner and maybe some Speedball pen cleaner available.

 

I have the MSDS for Rapido-Eze, Higgins and Bombay but none of them say much. (And the Bombay one is basically useless ingredient wise)

 

Has anyone had experience with the other 3 and India ink.

 

Thank you in advance,

 

PS; I purposely did not include JB's pen cleaner as 1) it's not locally available 2) I'm pretty sure it's not for India ink. (But I could certainly be mistaken there)

 

Bruce in Ocala, FL

[OldGriz]

Higgins is basically the same as Rapidoeze but in the stores around here much more expensive

I buy my Rapidoeze in 1pt bottles online from MrArt.com.... in the long run a better deal than buying smaller bottles

[Ron Z]

Patience Weed Hopper. You really do want to order the Rapido Eze. It works where no other will.

 

Several years ago I had a Parker VP come through that was clogged with India ink. You don't dare try to take a VP filler apart, but the neck of the filler was clogged as was the breather tube. It took 3, count them THREE weeks of soaking, poking with a guitar string and flushing, but the Rapido Eze eventually dissolved all of the India ink, cleared the feed, and the pen wrote. Richard ended up buying it from the owner.

 

It may take a few days to soak and soften all of the ink, but eventually you'll clear it out. Plan on running shim stock down the slit between the fins of the collector too.

[OcalaFlGuy]

Thank you all.

 

I ordered an 8 oz bottle of Rapido-Eze from Mister Art, thanks Tom (and Ron). In the Parker forum ANM mentions having extensive Rapido-Eze experience and he thinks the Bombay works just as well. While I'm waiting on the mail order to arrive I think I'll use the perpetual 40% off 1 item for Hobby Lobby and score a cheap bottle of Bombay to try in the meantime.

 

Bruce in Ocala, FL

[Garageboy]

Jeez, trying to remove an India ink clogged Parker VP section from its filler is like playing "monkey in the middle" with a Faberge egg

[Ron Z]

Jeez, trying to remove an India ink clogged Parker VP section from its filler is like playing "monkey in the middle" with a Faberge egg

 

It was "entertaining," but I did it.

[OcalaFlGuy]

Well, I CAN report this.

 

The innards were soaking in Bombay for about 4 days and though they'd gotten some cleaner, there was still some ink on the nib not coming off. That doesn't sound so good to me.

 

The Rapido-Eze also came in.

 

The Bombay does in fact smell and look like Windex. There is no provision for diluting it noted. The Rapido-Eze is noticeably thickererer. They note diluting it for normal cleaning Vs full strength for problem pens.

 

After 4 days there was no noticable ink still coming out of the parts. Within 30 minute of putting them to soak in the pure Rapido-Eze there was a noticeable amount of ink coming out of the parts. Interesting.

 

If I knew before what I know now, I would have not bothered with anything other than the Rapido-Eze.

 

Bruce in Ocala, FL

[OldGriz]

Just proves your never too old to learn something :roflmho:

[FarmBoy]

Within 30 minute of putting them to soak in the pure Rapido-Eze there was a noticeable amount of ink coming out of the parts. Interesting.

 

If I knew before what I know now, I would have not bothered with anything other than the Rapido-Eze.

 

Bruce in Ocala, FL

Chelating amine. Is is the chelating amine.

[Dr.Grace]

I'm just wondering whether Rapido-Eze can also cause problems in some vintage pens. There are several of my vintage Parker Vacumatics that I rinsed out with this stuff, and shortly thereafter they stopped filling. I wonder whether the diaphragm cement that was used to restore these pens was dissolved by Rapido-Eze? It's going to be quite expensive now for me to send all these pens out for restoration, unless I learn how to do it myself.

[OldGriz]

I'm just wondering whether Rapido-Eze can also cause problems in some vintage pens. There are several of my vintage Parker Vacumatics that I rinsed out with this stuff, and shortly thereafter they stopped filling. I wonder whether the diaphragm cement that was used to restore these pens was dissolved by Rapido-Eze? It's going to be quite expensive now for me to send all these pens out for restoration, unless I learn how to do it myself.

 

Diaphragms are generally cemented to the filler unit with shellac and that is dissolved with denatured alcohol....

Rapidoeze does not contain alcohol and would not be the culprit for that.

Also the diaphragm of a Vacumatic DOES NOT need to be shellaced as the tolerance of the cone of the filler and body are what holds it in place in the pen....

 

You do not need to clean a well restored and properly filling Vacumatic with anything other than cool water..... unless you somehow managed to get india ink in the pen... and then the pen should be disassembled and fully cleaned....

[Ron Z]

Diaphragms are generally cemented to the filler unit with shellac....

 

They shouldn't be. No cement is necessary.

[OldGriz]

Diaphragms are generally cemented to the filler unit with shellac....

 

They shouldn't be. No cement is necessary.

 

I said that in my third sentence...

[Dr.Grace]

OK, thanks, good to know.