Tips On Flushing Vacumatic Pens?

[casualmerlinconstant]

so it's been half an hour, I've cycled the plunger on my parker 51 vacumatic innumerable times, shaken it till my arms are sore, wicked and wicked and wicked with a tissues...AND ITS STILL SPEWING GREEN INK T_T. anyone got any tricks to flush these pens? haha

[BT-7274]

Slowly press the plunger down; if you press the plunger fast and hard, all that gets expelled is air. If you go slow(3 seconds to push all the way down), only the ink is pushed out. It works best if you do this with the nib in contact with something like the inside of a paper cup, that way, capillary action can draw just a bit more ink out with more slow presses.

That said, generally, 51 vacs are made to be inked up and then only refilled once in a while. They hold their ink like a camel holds its water - too well.

[casualmerlinconstant]

hi! I will try pressing on the plunger with the nib in contact with paper. the thing that really annoys me is that the ink had already been written out, I was just trying to flush it clean so I can use a different colour, only who knew it'd take so long to flush out what must be a miniscule amount of ink =.=

[BT-7274]

Don't fret too much, everyone learns at some point...Vacs are not to be messed flushed with...Easily, at least.

I'd suggest also filling it up with clean water and then emptying it a few times over a sink if you want to clean it out really well. Otherwise, most inks are fine with a slightly dirty flush, a trace of the old ink doesn't usually cause problems, unless it's BSB or some other exotic ink.

[kronion]

A bit of soaking might also help: First some time in a glass with water with the nib down (maybe even in a sonicator, to loosen ink from the feed's dark corners), then filled with water an the nib up (to get rid of what might stick to the top of the sac). But I agree with White Expressions, if you don't want to switch to bright yellow ink, don't bother too much.

[desdedez]

You may want to check Ron Zorn's Salad Spinner:

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/12704-drum-roll-the-salad-spinner-centrifuge/

 

and this thread as well:

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/256778-parker-vacumatic-wont-empty/

[ac12]

I soak the pen.

• Fill the pen with water.
• Place tip down in a tall narrow shot glass.
• Fill water up to just below the top of the section.
• Over several hours, the ink will slowly disolve and drift out of the pen.
• After several hours, empty the pen, and blot it on a tissue.
• If ink comes out, repeat the process.

I spent approximately 2 weeks doing this to clean out a Parker 51, so your half an hours is nothing.

 

BTW is the prior ink your ink, or are you cleaning out an old pen?

If it is an old pen, expect it to take longer, as the ink may have dried in the pen and you need to liquify that dried ink before it can be flushed out.

[casualmerlinconstant]

LOL genius. although I dont think I'll try the cross bow method rofl

[casualmerlinconstant]

I soak the pen.

• Fill the pen with water.
• Place tip down in a tall narrow shot glass.
• Fill water up to just below the top of the section.
• Over several hours, the ink will slowly disolve and drift out of the pen.
• After several hours, empty the pen, and blot it on a tissue.
• If ink comes out, repeat the process.

I spent approximately 2 weeks doing this to clean out a Parker 51, so your half an hours is nothing.

 

BTW is the prior ink your ink, or are you cleaning out an old pen?

If it is an old pen, expect it to take longer, as the ink may have dried in the pen and you need to liquify that dried ink before it can be flushed out.

2weeks? ..I am never changing inks again Hahaha. yes it is my ink so shouldn't be upward of a month before its clean

[ac12]

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2weeks? ..I am never changing inks again Hahaha. yes it is my ink so shouldn't be upward of a month before its clean

 

That 2 weeks clean was an eBay pen.

So part of that time was disolving old ink, so I could rinse it out.

 

Changing inks in a P51 or similar difficult to clean pen is not something that I would take lightly.

 

My difficult to clean pens (P51s) get inked, and that is the ink they will use for a LONG time.

I only changed inks when the ink I used did not work properly with that pen. The pen was a dry writer and the dry Cross ink was causing ink flow problems, so I had to switch to Waterman ink.

[Terry Brack]

Try this. Fill the pen with water. hold it firmly while standing over sink or bathtub, shake the ink out into the sink with sharp rapid strokes as if shaking down an old fashioned fever thermometer. Repeat until what comes out is clear.