Eye Dropper Questions

[Gr8lakeson]

Where or to whom should I address myself with a question about eye dropper flow issues? Is there an ideal fill level? How does the feed, etc? Thanks for any guidance.

[Mannyonpil]

Sadly, I cannot help you other than to bump this question up to the top. I would like to see what people have to say.

[Zookie]

I don't know if it's ideal or not, but I use a syringe and add ca. 3 ml. of ink. That will last me a week or so with the amount of writing I do.

 

Ink formulation might affect the flow as well. Koh-I Noor document ink works well for me. The Private Reserve ink that I use constantly clogs the feed in my favorite ed, but works fine in my converter pens.

So I suppose you'll have to experiment till you find the right combination for your purposes.

 

I've had a couple of "burps" , but they were due to other reasons.

 

I only have a few "eyedroppers", the newest being a Serwex 1362 from FPR that I enjoy using. The others are vintage pens that can be used as eyedroppers.

I hope that helps.

Edited September 8, 2016 by Zookie

[rwilsonedn]

Many of the folks who frequent the India & Subcontinent Regional Focus subforum have extensive experience with eyedroppers and can help. From my more limited experience, I would say that the answers depend on the pen.

Some eyedroppers, including modern European and Japanese pens and Indian pens with German nib units, have sophisticated feeds that will work properly in just about any conditions--just like any other fountain pen. Some other ED pens, including early 20th-century examples and many Indian pens with locally-made nibs and feeds, do not have the capacity to store a lot of ink in the feed. These will be subject to classic eyedropper issues, such as expelling drops of ink as the pen warms in your hand.

You can still use these pens without difficulty by paying attention to the temperature of the pen before you start writing, and warming the pen to body temperature, held nib-up, to let the air in the barrel expand and escape before you turn the pen nib-down and begin to write. (It takes a couple of minutes of holding the pen, which can seem like a very long time when you have already thought of what you want to write.) In some cases even this measure won't work once the pen has gone below about half-full, and you will need to top it up to avoid a few drops of ink escaping. It all depends on how much air is in the barrel, how much that air has to expand as it warms, and what the capacity of the feed is.

There are also cases of eyedropper pens that have cracks, miss-fitting feeds, or air leakage through the threads. These will drip no matter what you do, and have to be repaired or replaced.

But assuming the pen is not damaged, and that you have dealt with the initial air expansion, eyedroppers generally have excellent feed characteristics, with uniform, predictable, and easily adjusted ink flow. That is one reason many people prefer them to CC or piston-fill pens, which can be much crankier.

ron

[Zookie]

Sorry, I made a mistake. The Serwex 1362 is a piston filler. The other Serwex in my collection, a 77TR, gave me fits until I got it right. Now it's much nicer to use

[Namo]

It would help to know what is your pen: modern ED fillers are not suppose to have flow issues (I take for granted that your pen's flow is too much) since the feed is designed for this useful of the pen. I a! thinking about the Dolce Vita OS for example, or Danitrios. Most Indian ED filler might be another matter. They often have ebonite feed, which is good, bit they are less sophisticated than the other feeds I was talking about. The same can be true of c/c pens with generic JoWo/Schmidt/Bock nib units used as ED fillers. The feeds of these units can be and often are adjusted when you buy a custom pen.

 

As for ink level: it depends of what is the cause of your problem. Because the air in the barrel will expend and then push the ink when the barrel warms up, it is generally considered that it is better if the barrel is at least a third full, and the fuller the better.