Cross Century Flow Issue

May 11, 2013

Hi guys, first post here, so I hope I'm not doing something horribly wrong.

I recently came to own a late-80s era Cross Century. I've spent a bit of time already; flushing the old ink, getting a convertor, making the convertor work, etc.. My issue now is that, while everything is visibly OK, the pen will only write after the (14k) nib is dipped in hot water, but only for ~30 letters before it seizes up again. Inks used so far are Noodler's Squeteague and Heart of Darkness, both of which work admirably in my Lamy and Platinum pens. I've attached a photo (at ridiculous resolution) in case the defect is immediately visible.http://i.imgur.com/XAYyjWG.jpg

May 11, 2013

Those symptoms sound to me like a flow issue between the ink supply and the feed/nib. There has to be a clear flow of ink and air betwixt the two or you get these flow interruptions. If it were just nib and feed issues, I don't think you'd get 30 characters before it flowed out.

But being that it's That pen complicates the issue. That is a nice pen but unfortunately it's parts are irreplaceable. At least in the U.S. Cross has no more parts for it and if sent in for Warranty work they will replace it with the most similar Century II model.

That's also just the start of the complications. Do some searching here and try using the pinned Google FPN (only) search in the Cross forum and you'll see the CC I had a congenital fatal design issue with the way the nib and feed are held in the collar. I don't know quite what that issue is but that's not really important as there is No fix to it when it starts leaking other than a new nib section (or section for the nib and as mentioned, there are none of those). For that reason, I'd be Very Wary of removing the nib and feed myself.

You mention "having to make the converter work". There shouldn't have been much work involved. Are you using a non screw it Cross converter? Do you have any Cross cartridges you could refill and try instead of the converter? A not very good seal/mating between the section and converter could definitely cause your issue.

About all I could suggest other than being sure you had the correct converter, that it's installed correctly and maybe swap out a cartridge for it would be to get use of a ultrasonic cleaner and sonicate the nib section in some proper pen cleaner into the next galaxy. That is about as aggressive as I would get with this particular nib section.

PS Another way to test the ink supply/feed/nib flow is to lightly wrap the nib and feed with a good paper towel and with the nib down, allow the towel to draw the ink into it. You want in a few minutes to see a air bubble go up inside the converter, that means it's flowing good. No bubble after a couple minutes, no correct flow.

Sorry I don't have all the answers but at least there was some 411.

PS and