A Tale Of Two Preppies

[DianaMurray]

I filled the barrels of two Pilot Preppies identically - made sure to seal with silicone and o-rings, tightly sealed.

 

The other day, I opened my fine point (the black one in the pix) and a big blob of ink plopped onto the paper. I inspected the pen and saw that the feed was flooded with ink. But not the feed of the other one.

 

Does anyone have an explanation for this? Apart from the blob mishap nothing is amiss and even with the flooded feed the pen writes fine. I'm just curious.

 

I've learned from this why some people don't like filling the barrel directly. From now on, I'm refilling cartridges. They are just Preppies but I don't like this.

Edited May 26, 2016 by Dianamoon

[AD64]

I only have one Preppie ED and it is behaving quite nicely for me. I did notice though that when I did the eyedropper conversion on my three Pilot Petit1 pens, that one worked well and two didn't, flooding just as you describe here. They don't take o-rings though, only the silicone grease. I carefully took the two of them apart, wiped off the excess ink and applied additional silicone grease on the threads. Now they are working quite well. So, I suggest, adding additional silicone grease to the threads of the inky Preppie.

 

Also, I do wonder if the amount of ink in the barrel makes a difference. Were they both filled to the same level, approximately?

 

Keep us posted, please. I'm curious about how this works for you.

 

Best,

 

AD

Edited May 27, 2016 by AD64

[Cyber6]

Just a wild guess... You filled them with different ink?

 

If that is the case, just remember that some inks have more surfactant, and some inks are drier.. etc.

 

 

 

C.

[DianaMurray]

Just a wild guess... You filled them with different ink?

 

If that is the case, just remember that some inks have more surfactant, and some inks are drier.. etc.

 

 

 

C.

 

Yes - different ink. I honestly don't remember which is in what. They were both samples from Goulet Pens. One is Diamine Majestic Blue but the other is....? I don't know. That certainly could be it.

 

"lso, I do wonder if the amount of ink in the barrel makes a difference. Were they both filled to the same level, approximately?"

 

Yes, the same. As I said, both were samples.

[DianaMurray]

"Keep us posted, please. I'm curious about how this works for you."

 

Oh, thank you for the concern, but I'm going to use up the inky pen, clean it, and use a re-filled cartridge. This was just one of those experiments to see if I could do it. Now what am I going to do with that little tube of silicone and the O-rings?

[AD64]

"Keep us posted, please. I'm curious about how this works for you."

 

Oh, thank you for the concern, but I'm going to use up the inky pen, clean it, and use a re-filled cartridge. This was just one of those experiments to see if I could do it. Now what am I going to do with that little tube of silicone and the O-rings?

 

Don't give up too soon though! Eyedropper conversions usually need a little tinkering with to get them right. There are so many variables at play. I hadn't even thought of the qualities of the different inks and I'm happy you shared that potential, Cyber6.

 

Best,

 

AD

[DianaMurray]

I just opened up the flooded preppy and two Blobs of ink flew out. This is not good. I'm going to clean it out soon.

Edited May 27, 2016 by Dianamoon

[DianaMurray]

PS --😭😭😭😞😞😞Aaaarrrrggggh, I was writing with it and a Giant Blob flew out. I am storing it nib up and I will clean it tomorrow. I'm not quite ready to empty it because I really like that ink.

[mhguda]

Pour it back into the sample vial. I think that ink must be very wet, so Cyber6's suggestion probably explains your problem. One solution may be to add some water to the ink in the barrel: that will reduce the concentration of surfactant, making your ink a little dryer. Also, increase the silicone grease? and maybe even add a litte plumber's tape. You need a better air seal to prevent your ink from flowing out.

[DianaMurray]

Pour it back into the sample vial. I think that ink must be very wet, so Cyber6's suggestion probably explains your problem. One solution may be to add some water to the ink in the barrel: that will reduce the concentration of surfactant, making your ink a little dryer. Also, increase the silicone grease? and maybe even add a litte plumber's tape. You need a better air seal to prevent your ink from flowing out.

 

Maybe I didn't explain this correctly. The ink isn't coming out of the area around the O-ring. It's sweating from the nib. More silicone grease won't change this. The ink was flooding the entire area around the nib - refer to the photos.

 

I don't know what to call this part of the pen. It's not the actual nib, but the part that surrounds it. I'm too lazy to get up and see if it's different on my Metropolitan.

 

Anyway, I disconnected it, cleaned it in water, and saw that this piece has a teeny tube which connects to the cartridge or the converter. When you do the ink dropper method, the ink just flows out of the barrel into the tube - and the area around the tube. This is the flooding I am referring to.

 

I think the answer is to store the pen nib up. And now I know why people won't fill the barrel of an expensive pen. Why do that when there are cartridges and converters?

[the_gasman]

I tried and gave up on Preppy ED for exactly this reason. I have since used the pen with a platinum converter (which cost more than the pen!) and it behaves perfectly. I had read that the Preppy isn't compatible with the converter but, being a contrarian, I was determined to try it and I have been perfectly happy with the combo.

 

Cheers,

David.

Edited May 27, 2016 by the_gasman

[mhguda]

 

Maybe I didn't explain this correctly. The ink isn't coming out of the area around the O-ring. It's sweating from the nib. More silicone grease won't change this. The ink was flooding the entire area around the nib - refer to the photos.

 

I don't know what to call this part of the pen. It's not the actual nib, but the part that surrounds it. I'm too lazy to get up and see if it's different on my Metropolitan.

 

Anyway, I disconnected it, cleaned it in water, and saw that this piece has a teeny tube which connects to the cartridge or the converter. When you do the ink dropper method, the ink just flows out of the barrel into the tube - and the area around the tube. This is the flooding I am referring to.

 

I think the answer is to store the pen nib up. And now I know why people won't fill the barrel of an expensive pen. Why do that when there are cartridges and converters?

You have an air leak. Air is coming in and pushing the ink out the easy way - through the ink channel that is also used when writing. Just more ink than you want.

If you improve the seal, the ink will come out much slower and you have controlled ink flow. Also, the ink is probably too wet - the surfactant helps it find those tiny channels that a dry ink won't flow out of. Try making the ink dryer. By adding water. If you did both conversions identically, and the only difference between the two pens is the ink, that seems like a logical conclusion, no?

[AD64]

You have an air leak. Air is coming in and pushing the ink out the easy way - through the ink channel that is also used when writing. Just more ink than you want.

If you improve the seal, the ink will come out much slower and you have controlled ink flow. Also, the ink is probably too wet - the surfactant helps it find those tiny channels that a dry ink won't flow out of. Try making the ink dryer. By adding water. If you did both conversions identically, and the only difference between the two pens is the ink, that seems like a logical conclusion, no?

 

I am in agreement. My ED conversions were flooding just as yours is until I added more silicone grease to the threads. It tightened the seal, I think, and the ink comes out more slowly.

 

Good luck.

[scrivelry]

Lately, for some reason, almost every pen I have is spitting up ink - Parker 45's, two admittedly low end Watermans, I forget what all else. I am wondering if it is the heat, or the inks, or something else. I's quite a conundrum - never had this before.

[DianaMurray]

Thanks to all who helped - it never ceases to amaze me how many people care about literally every aspect of fountain pen use. FPN people are awesome!!

 

I have a converter and I will be using that from now on, plus refilling cartridges. I don't think this is worth it. (Update: except on a new preppy, using a sample, for one time, if you have the equipment already, which I have. I would never ever do this on a pricey pen. When I first posted about this elsewhere owners of pricey pens said that & I didn't understand what they were talking about. Now I do.)

 

I did try the silicone grease, since I have lots of it, why not? And I'm not sorry I bought the O-rings. Even if one uses the converter or the cartridge, it can't hurt to tighten the seal further. In fact, I suppose the same is true of the silicone grease....

 

But I really don't get why this matters to the subject. Like I said, the ink from a converter/cartridge flows directly into the teeny tube-let. The ink from the barrel flows freely into the whole "thingy" - and floods the threads eventually, no matter how much grease you put on them....doesn't it? Isn't the free flow of ink the problem?

 

As to whether it's caused by the difference of inks, to a degree, yes. But the non-flooded (the fine point) was showing signs of flooding. The ink wasn't plopping out but the threads were showing signs of being flooded.

 

Question: does adding water degrade/dilute the color of the ink?

Edited May 28, 2016 by Dianamoon

[mhguda]

The ink may get a little lighter so go easy on the water. But often the color stays attractive even if plenty of water is added. And some, highly saturated inks, do not change color very much if you dilute them slightly. There are threads on here (somewhere) that discuss and show this.

[Strombomboli]

PS --Aaaarrrrggggh, I was writing with it and a Giant Blob flew out. I am storing it nib up and I will clean it tomorrow. I'm not quite ready to empty it because I really like that ink.

 

Maybe, there is too little ink in the barrel. Eyedroppers start spitting, once there's more air than ink in them; I have experienced this phenomenon, because I use all of my Preppy pens as eyedroppers.

 

Some recommend to fill the pen anew when two thirds of the ink are used up. I can't give a rule, but just advice to watch out once the ink is starting to run low.