What's Your "Cleaner" Ink?

[DvdRiet]

7 hours ago, kestrel said:

Sharpie graffitti in my classroom could be removed with either ethanol or isopropyl (Rubbing) alcohol and a bit of elbow grease.  I'm not sure how alcohol will affect pen parts.  Xylene (aka Zippo lighter fluid) worked as well and I have used it on some celluloid and ebonite pens to remove sticker residue.  The fumes are nasty so adequate ventilation is mandatory.  Acetone (nail polish remover) removed the graffitti but the fumes were really nasty and I wouldn't let that stuff anywhere near a pen.

 

One of our custodians used MEK, the best graffitti remover I have ever seen, until I showed her the MSDS (possible permanent brain impairment).  Besides, it dissolves lots of different plastics and celluloids.

 

Oxychloride X will remove any stain from any surface but there are certain, uh, side effects.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kv4qUFgQ_7s

 

Thanks for the tips! I know all about damage from acetone / nail polish remover from ruining the once-clear cover of my portable cassette player with it as a teenager!  And I was thinking of rubbing alcohol but hadn't yet dared to try it. By the way, I used a drop of olive oil to release the nib and feed from the gunked up section after I had cleaned out as much as I could, but the nib still wouldn't budge. (Not sure why, just an odd brainwave.) The olive oil dissolved just enough of the gooey ink for it to finally unscrew easily so that I could get inside the barrel to clean the rest of it out.

 

As an update on my Doyou results: I just finished the second fill, which I left in there for a long time, and flushed it to find that the Doyou has actually dulled the purple somewhat. So, at least it's not the same nearly neon purple as the marker ink that was in there and it doesn't look nearly as odd as it did before. It's a long way from being clear, to be sure, but it's an improvement that now makes the pen look a lot more normal, only without an obviously useful clear ink window. (Luckily, it's a slatted/striated window instead of solid, so there's not a huge section of purple visible, just some dark/greyish purple stripes in between the black lines.) Who knows, maybe another 5 to 10 fills of Doyou will eventually get rid of all of it? Thank goodness I have a whole bottle!