Turning A Sheaffer No Nonsense Into A Eye Dropper?

[Cerbervs]

I got a no nonsense and thought i would make a good eye dropper all expect the tiny metal part the hold s the cartridge. Does anyone have any experiences can i just pry of the metal bit?

[Roger W.]

Why?

 

They work fine with a cartridge. I know there are a lot of people turning pens into eyedroppers but, I ask a rhetorical - Why? - rhetorical as in a response will not sway me so don't try. If you want an eyedropper use one made for the purpose people. I have lots of eyedroppers. They were made by Boston Fountain Pen Company, Colonial Pen Company, A.A. Waterman, Wahl Tempoints but, they weren't made by Sheaffer. Know why? Because Sheaffer never made eyedroppers!

 

It's a pet peeve, don't mind me.

 

Roger W.

[barleycorn]

There have been other feeds on this topic if you search the archive.

I must agree with Roger, The cartridges are fine and a squeeze convertor will work.. so why? Buy a Noodler's Ahab if you want a cheap ED just do not expect much flex from the nib. The whole idea just seems messy....IMO

[mhguda]

If you leave the nipple alone the change is reversible, in case you change your mind. I don't think the corrosion - if any - would go so fast it would influence ink flow in your pen. The nipple is designed to be in contact with ink. But you have to make sure you have a good seal, or it will, indeed, be a messy experience. And, will the barrel hold liquid? as in, are there any holes? One pen I tried this with (not a Sheaffer) turned out to have a small hole in the barrel - I had to plug it.

[Cerbervs]

Yes there are no holes and the pen has nice tight threads threads. I am not particularly taken with the pen i got it for free with another (I do not like the basketball print on it) and wanted to mess around with eyedroppers, because I have no experience with them. I was particularly worried about the metal and the corrosion other then that it seemed a excellent pen for conversion.

Edited September 24, 2013 by Cerbervs

[jthole]

Seal the threads with a small dab of silicon grease. The only warning is that the ink flow becomes uneven (to the point of burping) when the pen is almost empty. However, an ED NoNonsense holds a ton of ink!

[Ernst Bitterman]

Yes there are no holes and the pen has nice tight threads threads. I am not particularly taken with the pen i got it for free with another (I do not like the basketball print on it) and wanted to mess around with eyedroppers, because I have no experience with them. I was particularly worried about the metal and the corrosion other then that it seemed a excellent pen for conversion.

 

The matter of corrosion in ED conversion orbits the question; does ink USUALLY touch the metal? If the answer is "yes", as in the case of the Sheaffer cartridge-stabbers, then there's nothing to fear-- that little bugger lives in ink as a rule anyway.

 

Edit to add-- it's a non-trivial question, to be sure. One would hate to dissolve the threads off a Targa for lack of careful thought.

Edited September 24, 2013 by Ernst Bitterman

[Sasha Royale]

If you cannot, or will not, install an ink reservoir system, then, you have an eyedropper fountain pen.

I disagree with the rationalizations for converting perfectly good pen into an incomplete pen.

I think that an eyedropper pen contains too much ink. When half of the ink has been used, then

the pen contains too much air. A mess can happen.

 

Why do you want to convert your Nononsense pen ? What benefit do you hope to derive ? Of what

negatives are you aware ?

 

Nobody knows what an ED fountain pen is. However, there are plenty of people, who will unscrew the

barrel to find out. What do you suppose a quarter ounce of ink, on the table top, looks like.

 

Enjoy your adventure. We'll be here, when you get back.

[Ernst Bitterman]

Good heavens, such venom against the ED. I'm not a fan of the mode of filling myself (I view the whole filling process as an invitation to Fate to play Les Buggers Risible with the pen owner), but it's a valid way of holding ink in a pen, and if someone wants to give it a go, they're mainly endangering their own shirt and probably with a fair notion of the risks. I've done the same with a Sheaffer cartridge pen for a giggle, and no one got hurt-- most importantly, not the pen.

[Ron Z]

Don't hack away at the piercing tube. It's stainless steel and is intended to hold up under exposure to ink. If you do hack it off or punch it out without pulling the nib and feed first, you'll break the tail off of the feed and that would be a problem. But then you might break the feed pulling them out - it's an awfully tight fit sometimes. The only thing you lose if you leave it there is the last 1/4" or so of ink.

 

addendum - silicone grease is not a sealant. It is a lubricant. You are better off using something like bees wax or the wax from a toilet bowl flange sealing ring. You'll get enough nice, tacky, sealing wax for a gazillion pens for under $5. It does a much better job than silicone grease.

[kpyeoman]

Ron, when the bees wax dries, how do you recommend breaking the seal to refill the pen without doing damage? A hair dryer on a low setting, rotating the pen with the heat?

[Ernst Bitterman]

My experience of beeswax as a sealant is that it doesn't have any real grab; there's no need to break the seal beyond unscrewing the section in the usual manner.

 

But if Ron says otherwise, listen to him.

[kpyeoman]

Super, thanks. I didn't know if it hardened or remained in a semi-paste-like state.