Leaky Eyedropper Preppy

[PinkVintage]

Hello! First, I'm a noob, so if this has already been addressed at length, and I missed it in my search, I apologize.

 

Now onto my situation....I was given a bottle of 4.5 oz Noodler's HOD for Christmas, and of course this came with a modified eyedropper Platinum Preppy. I was excited to use the pen and bring it to work because everyone says that they really like the pens and they are cheap, so if one walks away from your desk, no biggie.

 

Yesterday, I am writing away, and it begins to leak heavily. Huge drops came from the bottom of the base of the nib where the feed ends. Ink got everywhere. It was a huge mess. I inspected the pen, and it does not appear to be leaking at all from the closure. I checked the O-ring and ensured that the threads were lubed up with silicon grease. I ran water through the nib and feed, dried it, and inspected the parts and put it back together. It has not leaked again...yet.

 

My questions.... (1) Why did this happen? (2) What can I do to prevent this from happening again in the future? (3) Is this a common problem with modified Preppys? If so, I will need to reconsider buying a bunch of these for my desk at work. I work in oncology clinical research, and it would be a disaster of epic proportions if my pen leaked all over a patient's chart or other source documents. I can see the look on the FDA auditors' faces now....YIKES!

 

Any help or advise is greatly appreciated!

 

 

[Notgatherox]

Not too sure what happened in your case, but I'm guessing there wasn't enough ink.

 

Eyedroppers have to be full (at least two third full). If the ink level falls below half, the heat from your hand will cause the ink inside the barrel to expand and thus cause burping of ink.

 

Just keep them constantly two thirds full at least, and you should be fine, unless of course, the barrel cracks. It happens. Preppies are made of cheap plastic.

 

 

 

~Epic

[Flounder]

I work in oncology clinical research, and it would be a disaster of epic proportions if my pen leaked all over a patient's chart or other source documents. I can see the look on the FDA auditors' faces now....YIKES!

 

Any help or advise is greatly appreciated!

 

 

 

Maybe the nib and feed weren't fully seated in the collector.

 

The thing is, eyedroppers have more potential to leak like that. They've a large internal volume of ink and air inside an uninsulated, single walled tank. Using the Preppy as an eyedropper exarcerbates the issue, because its collector wasn't made to cope with more than a cartridge worth of volume, kept out of direct contact with the heat from your fingers.

 

Maybe keep the converted Preppies at home, and use cartridges at work?

[PinkVintage]

Not too sure what happened in your case, but I'm guessing there wasn't enough ink.

 

Eyedroppers have to be full (at least two third full). If the ink level falls below half, the heat from your hand will cause the ink inside the barrel to expand and thus cause burping of ink.

 

Just keep them constantly two thirds full at least, and you should be fine, unless of course, the barrel cracks. It happens. Preppies are made of cheap plastic.

 

 

 

~Epic

Thanks, Epic. The pen was almost completely full. I filled it just the day before. I'm baffled.

[PinkVintage]

Maybe keep the converted Preppies at home, and use cartridges at work?

Thanks, Flounder. I will consider that.

 

I'm hoping this is not a common problem, and maybe I just overfilled? or maybe just got a bad pen?

[BookCat]

I agree that as eyedroppers have a higher likelihood of leaking, and it's important that you have a reliable pen, use a cartridge convertor pen instead. Leave the Preppy at home.

Edited January 5, 2015 by BookCat