Baystate Blue In Medium Preppy..... Problems!? Help!

[stoof2010]

So i got a bottle of baystate blue.... also got a preppy for obvious reasons...

Went well for about 3 days. Wrote great, flowed great, looked great on paper.

Then last night, all of a sudden the flow just stopped. ..

I noticed the finsin the feed had filled more over the three days, as well as the threads on the barrel even though i iaed silicone grease and an o-ring to convert it to an ED (but not leaking)....

I tried wiping the nib (which was covered in the ink,) wiping it with a wet napkin, flossing the tines (best i could without trying to remove tye nib from the feed.... nothing.

Tried dropping it nib down into a cup of water and niticed some flow coming out of the nib, so i dried it a bit, but still nothing.

Finally, i opened tge barrel and put in 5 or so drops of water. Now after letting it sit, it does write but having bad start issues and will still stop, skip, and all other sorts of annoying things.

My question is, what did i do wrong??

Ive heard of people leaving theirs for weeks and picking them up and writing fine!!!

:-( im sad because i like the cokor but wont put it in another pen.

PLEASE HELP!!!

[mhosea]

Unless you were sloppy with the silicone grease and got some on the feed inside, I'd say bad preppy. I've given up on a couple. Clean it out very thoroughly with some water with a drop of dish soap. Follow with a clear water flush ( use a bulb syringe if you have one). Let it dry overnight nib down in some paper towels to wick out water, and then give it one more try.

[WaskiSquirrel]

I had Baystate Blue in my Preppy for about a year before the pen itself cracked. I never had any issues.

 

I would suggest pulling out the nib and feed together, cleaning, and putting them back in. For me, the Preppy has been amazingly cooperative with even my most difficult inks.

Edited January 16, 2014 by Waski_the_Squirrel

[stoof2010]

  On 1/16/2014 at 11:20 PM, mhosea said:

Unless you were sloppy with the silicone grease and got some on the feed inside, I'd say bad preppy. I've given up on a couple. Clean it out very thoroughly with some water with a drop of dish soap. Follow with a clear water flush ( use a bulb syringe if you have one). Let it dry overnight nib down in some paper towels to wick out water, and then give it one more try.

Ill try that. Does the nib come off the feed tube that goes into the grip section?

First ill try just taking tge nib/feed tube out and cleaning that before going all out...

[stoof2010]

  On 1/16/2014 at 11:27 PM, Waski_the_Squirrel said:

I had Baystate Blue in my Preppy for about a year before the pen itself cracked. I never had any issues.

 

I would suggest pulling out the nib and feed together, cleaning, and putting them back in. For me, the Preppy has been amazingly cooperative with even my most difficult inks.

Awesome thanks. Ill try your idea first before cleaning tge entire pen. If it doesnt work, ill empty, clean thoroughly all parts, and try again...

Dont tgink i got any silicone anywhere but the threads...

Hkw about storing it? Ive been leaving it nib up which could have caused it to dry, maybe?!?

[stoof2010]

I do have other preppys. Figured for so cheaps, some must be bad.

Just dont want to give up until ive at least tried.

[amberleadavis]

Maybe, but the preppy feeds (for me) were prone to clogging. Once I pulled the nib / feed and cleaned with a dental brush, the pen worked great.

 

http://www.plackers.com/Flossers/jpgs/prod-dental-gentle-picks-fullsize.jpg

[stoof2010]

  On 1/17/2014 at 12:53 AM, amberleadavis said:

Maybe, but the preppy feeds (for me) were prone to clogging. Once I pulled the nib / feed and cleaned with a dental brush, the pen worked great.

 

http://www.plackers.com/Flossers/jpgs/prod-dental-gentle-picks-fullsize.jpg

Definitly will try this. The feed really doesnt come out. Just the tube and nib. Been unable to remove the fin part of the feed from the grip section.

[mhosea]

  On 1/17/2014 at 12:47 AM, stoof2010 said:

Ill try that. Does the nib come off the feed tube that goes into the grip section?

First ill try just taking tge nib/feed tube out and cleaning that before going all out...

 

Yup. Just pinch the nib and feed between the thumb and forefinger, pressing the two together, and pull. In case you didn't know, you can buy different inserts besides the fountain pen nib and feed, i.e., felt-tip ("marker" tip) and highlighter tip. They work great. If you have the marker tips, you can pull out the felt-tip rod and put in a Noodler's rollerbal insert, but don't. It doesn't work well enough to merit the trouble.

[mhosea]

  On 1/17/2014 at 1:18 AM, stoof2010 said:

Definitly will try this. The feed really doesnt come out. Just the tube and nib. Been unable to remove the fin part of the feed from the grip section.

 

Probably would call that a "collector" rather than "feed", in homage to Parker's terminology for the 51. It's not a feed, really, just a system of fins for storing ink next to the feed, which is that thing that looks like a "tube". It's not actually a tube, I don't think. I don't have one handy, but it should be a rod with a channel cut into it.

[stoof2010]

So far has worked great.

Yet another reason i love this forum-site.

Wealth of info given for no other reason then to keep the hobby/lifestyle going.

:-)

[dcwaites]

I recently had similar problems with a Preppy filled with Noodler's Black, which hasn't misbehaved in any other pen.

Disassembled the nib, soaked, cleaned, cleaned out the ink slit, etc, still misbehaved.

Discarded pen, bought new one, this one behaves perfectly.

Sometimes you just have an unusable Preppy. However, this particular one had been neglected somewhat before being used for Noodler's black.

 

Don't forget, you will need to use the pen with BSB in it at least once a day to keep the ink flowing through the nib.

[ConnallMac]

  On 1/17/2014 at 11:46 PM, dcwaites said:

Don't forget, you will need to use the pen with BSB in it at least once a day to keep the ink flowing through the nib.

 

I have a Pelikan M205 demonstrator filled with BSB that I had put in a box a few months back when I was doing some housecleaning. I happened to think about it last night and decided to get it back out to take to work tomorrow, but thought I should check it and make sure I didn't need to flush and refill it. It wrote just as well as if I had set it down five minutes ago. I would guess it's the Preppy.

[stoof2010]

  On 1/17/2014 at 11:46 PM, dcwaites said:

I recently had similar problems with a Preppy filled with Noodler's Black, which hasn't misbehaved in any other pen.

Disassembled the nib, soaked, cleaned, cleaned out the ink slit, etc, still misbehaved.

Discarded pen, bought new one, this one behaves perfectly.

Sometimes you just have an unusable Preppy. However, this particular one had been neglected somewhat before being used for Noodler's black.

 

Don't forget, you will need to use the pen with BSB in it at least once a day to keep the ink flowing through the nib.

Awesome thanks. I have been trying to use it. Although, i think ill have to start over with fresh ink. I think i diluted it too much in my previous attempt to get it to flow... wish i would have just used the cartridge at firat to cut down on waste.... live and learn.

[Mags]

  On 1/18/2014 at 11:31 AM, ConnallMac said:

 

I have a Pelikan M205 demonstrator filled with BSB that I had put in a box a few months back when I was doing some housecleaning. I happened to think about it last night and decided to get it back out to take to work tomorrow, but thought I should check it and make sure I didn't need to flush and refill it. It wrote just as well as if I had set it down five minutes ago. I would guess it's the Preppy.

 

 

That is excellent intel you went months plural with a better pen that had a good cap seal.

 

I use my BSB filled pens at least weekly or worry the feeds will get all icky. I use the icky term to describe hard starting and sludgy. I have never witnessed a BSB dried out pen but would imagine it would be all nasty until all soaked in bleach and water for an hour.

 

M

[mhosea]

I would avoid letting BSB dry out in pens. At least one report of feed damage definitely occurred in conjunction with accidentally letting a pen dry out with BSB in it, and I don't think dry-out has been ruled out as a critical part of most of the other anecdotal reports of feed damage (chemical melting) as well. I have not investigated the matter, but one possibility is that as the water evaporates, BSB becomes more and more caustic. This is not necessarily the case. For example, with IG inks designed for FP use (as opposed to earlier IG inks used for centuries before), the acid (possibly HCl) evaporates as well as the water.

[amberleadavis]

Uh, in fairness, letting any ink dry up in the nib causes problems. (sigh) (experience).

[mhosea]

  On 1/21/2014 at 3:29 AM, amberleadavis said:

Uh, in fairness, letting any ink dry up in the nib causes problems. (sigh) (experience).

 

Walking with a glass of ice water over the new carpet is different from carrying an open can of wood stain. Sure, nobody wants to spill even the water, but the stakes are higher with the stain, so extra caution is warranted.

[amberleadavis]

  On 1/21/2014 at 4:54 AM, mhosea said:

 

Walking with a glass of ice water over the new carpet is different from carrying an open can of wood stain. Sure, nobody wants to spill even the water, but the stakes are higher with the stain, so extra caution is warranted.

 

Good analogy. We had an icemaker break in our home while we were on vacation. Yes, the ice water did damage, it caused the wool carpet to shrink, but we were able to pull it back out. If it had been kool aid or even worse, BSB, the carpet would have had to be replaced.