Rotring Rapidograph Ink

[RyanM]

Hey guys, I currently own eight Rotring Rapidograph pens, all in different nib sizes.

I bought them, being an Architecture student, and hearing that they were the best pens you could buy, but now I'm getting a bit sick of the maintenance required, and the ultra-expensive cost of maintaining them, so I was wondering if I took out the ink, would I be able to put it in a fountain pen?

I don't want to damage it, but I also love how black the Rotring ink is, and because the Rapidographs are basically Fountain pens for technical drawing it might be alright?

Can someone give me some hints? Thanks.

[Arkanabar]

Pens are designed for purposes. Fountain pens are designed for writing and drawing. Technical pens (and I used to own an 8-pack of Koh-I-Noors that my Dad bought when he was studying architecture) are designed for drafting. In fact, they are the business end of plotters, the printers used for drafting. No fountain pen is going to have the absolute consistency of line width that your technical pens will. If your coursework (or career) is going to include drafting, rather than only CAD, I would absolutely keep those.

 

They are not fountain pens. They deliver ink through a cylindrical tube with a weight at the top, attached to a wire that runs through it, so that when the point touches paper, the wire lifts the weight, allowing the ink to flow through the tube. That's nothing like a fountain pen's feed, with its capillary action and reserve grooves. And technical pens can handle a number of inks (film inks leap to mind) that would surely clog a fountain pen's feed, quite possibly forever. And according to Rotring's website, their Isograph ink is highly pigmented, which makes using it in fountain pens a bad idea.

 

For absolute blackness in fountain pens, I recommend you try samples of Aurora black, Noodler's Borealis Black, and carbon nano black.

Edited November 6, 2014 by Arkanabar

[Ron Z]

Listen to Arkanabar. Technical drawing ink will clog up a fountain pen worse than a bad head cold, and it isn't fun to clean out. Aurora black is a great BLACK ink, and is what I use. I hesitate to use Noodlers in a pen with latex sacs because of what I believe to be Noodlers induced premature sac failure, but it should be OK in either a C/C pen or a pen with a synthetic sac.

 

Pelikan Fount India ink is not the traditional India ink, but one that is dye based, and very black. I've used it in fountain pens, but an ink retailer told me a few years ago that despite the name, Pelikan never intended it to be used in fountain pens. Your call on that one.

[RyanM]

Okay, thanks guys. I'll keep the Rotring ink in my Rapidographs, and have a look at some of the inks mentioned. Thanks!

[Sandy1]

Hi,

 

Depending on your intended use, there is a bewildering array of dip pen nibs that are likely suitable for those inks, and have very little in the way of maintenance overhead. The line-widths of those pens are not as precise as the rapidographs, but as the nibs of fairly soft steel and are not tipped, they can be honed/ground to give a specific width.

 

Bye,

S1

[Teacher Man]

Pens are designed for purposes. Fountain pens are designed for writing and drawing. Technical pens (and I used to own an 8-pack of Koh-I-Noors that my Dad bought when he was studying architecture) are designed for drafting. In fact, they are the business end of plotters, the printers used for drafting. No fountain pen is going to have the absolute consistency of line width that your technical pens will. If your coursework (or career) is going to include drafting, rather than only CAD, I would absolutely keep those.

 

They are not fountain pens. They deliver ink through a cylindrical tube with a weight at the top, attached to a wire that runs through it, so that when the point touches paper, the wire lifts the weight, allowing the ink to flow through the tube. That's nothing like a fountain pen's feed, with its capillary action and reserve grooves. And technical pens can handle a number of inks (film inks leap to mind) that would surely clog a fountain pen's feed, quite possibly forever. And according to Rotring's website, their Isograph ink is highly pigmented, which makes using it in fountain pens a bad idea.

 

For absolute blackness in fountain pens, I recommend you try samples of Aurora black, Noodler's Borealis Black, and carbon nano black.

 

Does that mean that I can use acrylic inks in my Isographs without killing them?