Refilling A Pilot Cartridge - Further Adventures In Newby Nibhood

[DianaMurray]

My Pilot Metropolitan came with a cartridge, now clean, dry and empty – except for one thing: a tiny black plastic something inside it. Perhaps it was a sealer, but I didn't really notice when I first used it. Can I just pry this out with a toothpick, or is it a necessary part of the cartridge that got dislodged. Is my cartridge now useless?

 

Picture attached. Not great quality but gives idea.

 

Thanks for help. This site is invaluable.

[Lam1]

You can just take it out. It's just the plastic seal, so the full cartridge doesn't leak.

I take it out with a paper clic adapted with a hook on the end. Unfortunately, given the minute size of the converters for the vanishing point, I have to refill cartridges to use with a stub nib .

[Ergative]

It's not one of those surface tension gadgets that prevents ink from clinging to the sides and not flowing? Pilot's big on those.

[grainweevil]

No, it's just the seal. Some enterprising folks refill the cartridge and re-use it to reseal them, like this.

[Bluey]

Is there any negatives from keeping it there? Maybe reduction in ink flow or something?

Edited April 29, 2016 by Bluey

[dk76]

I would guess a reduction in capacity. I doubt it would severly affect ink flow since when you first use a cartridge it's there in the first place.

[jar]

  On 4/29/2016 at 12:56 PM, Bluey said:

Is there any negatives from keeping it there? Maybe reduction in ink flow or something?

Did the cartridge work the first time with that in it?

[Bluey]

  On 4/29/2016 at 1:21 PM, jar said:

Did the cartridge work the first time with that in it?

Yup

[Bluey]

  On 4/29/2016 at 1:17 PM, dk76 said:

I would guess a reduction in capacity. I doubt it would severly affect ink flow since when you first use a cartridge it's there in the first place.

I suppose I should have asked if ink flow is increased, even slightly, by removing it. I'll probably remove it at some point shortly.

Edited April 29, 2016 by Bluey

[rafapa]

  On 4/29/2016 at 1:17 PM, dk76 said:

I would guess a reduction in capacity. I doubt it would severly affect ink flow since when you first use a cartridge it's there in the first place.

I estimate that the volume of the seal is around 0.01 mL.

[Arkanabar]

That cartridge is nigh unto identical to the one I use in my 3.8mm Parallel. It did not work well because it really restricted flow (I refilled with Noodler's Heart of Darkness and Borealis Black), until I removed the seal/cap. Mine stayed in the throat of the cartridge, and I pulled it out with needle-nosed pliers.

[DianaMurray]

Thank you all. I fished out the cap with a paper clip, on which I made a little hook on the bottom w/a pliers. It worked a charm. I actually prefer to use this cartridge rather than the converter because I can see exactly how much ink I have left, and it simply works better. That will be the subject of my next post - why the heck am I having lousy luck filling up a simple squeeze converter?

[jar]

  On 4/30/2016 at 8:03 PM, Dianamoon said:

Thank you all. I fished out the cap with a paper clip, on which I made a little hook on the bottom w/a pliers. It worked a charm. I actually prefer to use this cartridge rather than the converter because I can see exactly how much ink I have left, and it simply works better. That will be the subject of my next post - why the heck am I having lousy luck filling up a simple squeeze converter?

Probably by not putting the pen far enough into the ink. It usually requires all of the nib and feed and often also part of the section to be submerged.

[Ink Stained Wretch]

  On 4/29/2016 at 10:16 AM, Dianamoon said:

My Pilot Metropolitan came with a cartridge, now clean, dry and empty – except for one thing: a tiny black plastic something inside it. Perhaps it was a sealer, but I didn't really notice when I first used it. Can I just pry this out with a toothpick, or is it a necessary part of the cartridge that got dislodged. Is my cartridge now useless?

 

Picture attached. Not great quality but gives idea.

 

Thanks for help. This site is invaluable.

 

FPN is indeed a gem.

 

As others have noted, the disk is just there to cap the cartridge. When the cartridge is empty I pull the disk out using either tweezers, or, if the disk is too far down for the tweezers to reach, something with a small hook at the end of it.

 

Sometimes I pop the disk before I put it into a pen and yank the disk out then. No real harm leaving the disk in, I suppose. I just like a clear field when I'm refilling my cartridges. I once bought a bunch of Pilot cartridges on E-Bay and just opened, emptied them of the Pilot Washable Blue ink, and removed the disks. I think I have saved most of the disks, I figured that maybe they'd come in useful some day. I don't remember where I've put them, however .

[DianaMurray]

  On 5/1/2016 at 8:19 AM, Ink Stained Wretch said:

I think I have saved most of the disks, I figured that maybe they'd come in useful some day. I don't remember where I've put them, however .

 

If you find them, perhaps you can figure out a use for them by watching the tiny hamster Youtube videos.

 

A tiny plastic plate, maybe?

 

[majolo]

  On 4/30/2016 at 8:03 PM, Dianamoon said:

Thank you all. I fished out the cap with a paper clip, on which I made a little hook on the bottom w/a pliers. It worked a charm. I actually prefer to use this cartridge rather than the converter because I can see exactly how much ink I have left, and it simply works better. That will be the subject of my next post - why the heck am I having lousy luck filling up a simple squeeze converter?

 

If it's not what jar suggested above, my guess would be that you are pulling the pen out of the ink too fast. Keep the nib in the ink for a slow count of five after releasing the squeezer before you pull it out (And then squeeze, release, and count five again to get it all the way full). At any rate, this was my problem the first time I used a Pilot squeeze converter, until I realized that gurgling sound meant it was sucking air as I pulled it out.

[DianaMurray]

Thanks, I'll try but I'm having so much fun refilling cartridges it will be a while!

[inkstainedruth]

  On 5/3/2016 at 3:57 PM, Dianamoon said:

Thanks, I'll try but I'm having so much fun refilling cartridges it will be a while!

 

That will get old fast -- believe me.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[DianaMurray]

  On 5/3/2016 at 7:32 PM, inkstainedruth said:

 

That will get old fast -- believe me.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

I'm not quite at that stage yet. I'm still a fountain pen larva.

[Ink Stained Wretch]

  On 5/3/2016 at 7:32 PM, inkstainedruth said:

That will get old fast -- believe me.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

I've been regularly refilling cartridges for more than 12 years. Not old yet . Maybe we have different definitions of "fast."