Issues With The Ink Drying Out In Parker Im

[spideyx]

Currently sitting at 43% indoors.

[purplefinch]

My brand new Parker IM (with a fine nib) writes well after I fill it (Parker Quink black, using a Parker piston converter). Althought the nib is small and stiff, the posted balance is very good, and it looks good considering the modest price. I used Parker fountain pens as a student in the 1970s, and have good memories.

 

However, if I do not use the IM even for a few hours (less than a day), then the nib becomes dry and there is no way to start it without either refilling with an ink bottle or using the piston delicately to push a drop of ink onto the nib. Sentiment aside, this is dysfunctional, and this IM is perhaps my last Parker fountain pen unless I can find a solution.

 

Does anyone have a Parker IM that continues to write the next day without being primed, or is this a design defect?

[Mike 59]

Hi purplefinch, If you go back to #16 in this subject you could read what I found, as I don't want to repeat it here.

You could try a piece of tape under the clip to cover that breather hole and see what you find happens with your pen.

I don't think there's much more to it than that, and I've always found that some pens do dry out more quickly than others.

Edited January 23, 2017 by Mike 59

[purplefinch]

I had the same issue with my IM. After some tests, mainly with the cap, I found if I filled the cap with water, it poured out of an air vent which is totally hidden behind the clip.

So a simple 'fix' was to put a strip of clear tape round the cap covering the vent over. This has cured the drying out for me.

(The vent is under the 'feather' on the clip, and is about 8mm long, very hard to see, and as far as I know impossible to take the cap apart.)

Good catch! Of course the ink evaporates if there is a big hole in the cap. What could the Parker designers possibly have been thinking?

[parthachattrg]

Hi!

My name is Partha (pronunciation: PARTHO) Chatterjee and am from Kolkata, India, a 38 yrs old man.

 

Am using fountain pens from my child hood. I have used so many pens of different brands in my life.

Recently I have noticed, my pen is getting dry very soon when I keep it in my shirt pocket but if I keep it on my desk it never dries.

Writing is very smooth and wet, there is no skipping problem at all. Am using Parker quink black in my pen.

Again, I have noticed, it is happening with several pens but not all the pens. Then I have changed the Ink from Parker to Camlin. The dry issue got solved in some pens but not all pens. Whatever, am very confused and can't solve the problem. Need your help..

[Bluey]

Good catch! Of course the ink evaporates if there is a big hole in the cap. What could the Parker designers possibly have been thinking?

I would bet that that's the issue. Due to a silly EU directive

Edited August 7, 2017 by Bluey

[mitto]

To me the IM is a PARKER marked Chinese pen that may or may not write as a Chines pen would.

[Brutusbiker]

I've had the same issue. Blowing into the cap showed me that all the air got easily out. I then filled the cap with water and even without blowing into thr cap the water wiil immediately start quickly to flow out. This enormous vent (or rather leak) was around the junction between the finial, the clip and the main part of the cap. I tried to remove the finial, only to notice that it is not screwed in, but rather pressed in. It would turn but not let itself be removed by pulling it out, even with the aid of adhesive tape around it. So I did something else: I filled the inside of the cap with silicone grease, with the help of a Q-Tip. Then I removed the excess silicone grease from the sides in the interior of the cap (up to nearly the bottom where the leak was) with a soft rod made from a twisted piece of tissue paper. This solved the problem, but there should be a better way to cover the leak around the finial and the clip ring. I'd welcome a better, more definitive solution. This is a big issue that renders the Parker IM almost useless.

Edited August 24, 2019 by Brutusbiker

[Ayami_109]

My Parker IM has the same problem. Mine is a new old stock pen recently purchased. The ink evaporated rather quickly.

 

I decided to rinse out the cap when cleaning the pen and was quite horrified to see a waterfall gush out of sone hidden gaps. Mystery solved, it's definitely the cap. I'm thinking if i could make an inner cap of sorts and push it in.

[Mercian]

I think that those of you who have experienced this problem with your IMs ought to email Parker to let them know that it is a problem.

 

The only way that they will ever fix the design/construction flaw is if they are made aware of its existence, and the fact that it makes consumers less-likely to trust (i.e. buy) other Parker products.
Lots of people on here have reported the same drying-out problem with their Parker Sonnets.

 

I presume that whatever is causing it must have originated as a ‘fix’ for some other problem in earlier Parker pens. If so, they have overdone that ‘fix’. And e.g. I have never experienced the same problem with my two (first-shape) Parker Urbans, or my Parker Frontiers, or my Parker Vectors.

 

So I am curious to know what Parker have to say about the cause of the problem, because it isn’t even present on all of their own models of pen.

[speedography]

Hello,

In 2020 I've gifted a Parker IM Premium Vacumatic Emerald Pearl CT | 1906731 (small nib, date might be a Q4 2014, so a NOS) pen to my father. Last week I've noticed that he was using my high school Vector I gave him years ago, and he explained that "the new Parker is unusable, it dries out in a few hours, even after a water flush". Same Parker Quink ink that works well in his Vectors.

 

Did a quick flush and tested it; the pen wrote scratchy, dry and then dried out completely after half an hour.

 

Next I've:

-took the nib apart, let all parts soak for a few hours and cleaned with a soft toothbrush and water + shower gel

-adjusted the nib for wider central channel (sorry- don't know the English term) and the tip for alignment

-put tape over the breather hole underneath the clip, making it completely air tight

 

Now the pen:

-writes decently, still not 100% perfect but similar to a "good batch" vector. It's no longer scratchy and has good ink flow.

-still dries out. There is a substantial improvement (now 1 day from half an hour) but it is still unacceptable.

 

I've already ordered him a Waterman Carene which will hopefully function perfectly, but please let me know if you got any other ideas for fixing this factory broken IM.

 

 

 

[speedography]

UPDATE:

I've fixed this pen by widening the nib slit to the point where the pen is now a very wet medium, and reset the alignment. I am aware that many people here prefer F and EF nibs, but regardless of preference, a functional pen is always better than a junk unusable pen.

Now the pen writes pleasantly smooth and no longer dries out fast.

 

So the tl;dr for fixing the Parker IM drying out issue: block the breather hole to make the cap airtight AND adjust the nib slit width to make it as wet as possible. Also clean the nib and feed.

Edited May 25 by speedography