Twsbi Eco Help

[Aditkamath26]

Hello and greeting to all

 

I recently bought a TWSBI Eco fountain pen from The Goulet Pen Company and I absolutely love it. Except for a problem. The piston is quite stiff and sticks to the barrel and sometimes gets stuck. This wasn't into action before cleaning the pen and removing the piston from the body to wipe out the water of the barrel. Can anyone help me out here?

[dk76]

Apply some silicone grease to the piston and then it will move a lot easier.

[Aditkamath26]

Apply some silicone grease to the piston and then it will move a lot easier.

 

I have already tried doing that. I used the TWSBI silicon grease provided. I also greased the barrel by a bit.

[PaganArcher]

I've personally found the provided grease to be a bit insufficient in small quantities. I would personally add a bit more to the piston seal and see if that fixes it.

[JakobS]

Also, there is no need to remove the piston before your first fill. The majority of water from cleaning should be expelled through using the piston, whatever is leftover won't be sufficient to effect the ink you are using. It sounds like you removed the grease that was initially in the pen in doing so. TWSBI makes it easy to take apart their pens, but they don't need to be, unless something is not working as it should be.

[Sasha Royale]

A monthly flushing with clean water is usually sufficient maintenance. Unless it is your intention

to eat with the fountain pen, further maintenance is unnecessary.

Just because the user CAN disassemble a fountain pen, does not mean that the user SHOULD.

[Aditkamath26]

I've personally found the provided grease to be a bit insufficient in small quantities. I would personally add a bit more to the piston seal and see if that fixes it.

 

I am sorry for my lack of knowledge as I am a newbie. But is the piston seal something that looks like two o-rings on the top of the piston part of the piston mechanism?

[Aditkamath26]

A monthly flushing with clean water is usually sufficient maintenance. Unless it is your intention

to eat with the fountain pen, further maintenance is unnecessary.

Just because the user CAN disassemble a fountain pen, does not mean that the user SHOULD.

 

I should have followed this.

[Aditkamath26]

Also, there is no need to remove the piston before your first fill. The majority of water from cleaning should be expelled through using the piston, whatever is leftover won't be sufficient to effect the ink you are using. It sounds like you removed the grease that was initially in the pen in doing so. TWSBI makes it easy to take apart their pens, but they don't need to be, unless something is not working as it should be.

 

Is re-greasing the barrel enough? I have already tried it with a tiny amount.

[LizEF]

I am sorry for my lack of knowledge as I am a newbie. But is the piston seal something that looks like two o-rings on the top of the piston part of the piston mechanism?

 

Yes - the parts which touch the barrel. The included silicone is a thick liquid. The instructions included in the TWSBI show applying the silicone to those seals (not sure if they're o-rings or not) with a Q-Tip. Given that the silicone is not a grease, but a liquid, I think I would be fairly liberal in applying it, but you don't want it dripping or running or anything like that, just coating those seals.

 

Personally, I wouldn't apply any (more) silicone to the barrel itself - the piston will just push it in front of said piston, and it'll never reach the second (back) seal. It's the two seals you want lubricated a bit. Whatever else is true, you don't want the silicone pooling, dripping, or running anywhere in the pen - you just want a coating on the seals.

 

The question is, is the stiffness due to how tightly that piston fits inside the barrel, or is it due to the piston mechanism itself - where the rod goes up into the knob? If it's the mechanism, there's a mechanical problem and TWSBI are the ones who should fix that.

 

If it's the tightness of the piston itself, lubricating the seals will help that to a point (and more silicone is not going to help more - once you have enough, any more is useless and the excess will just get pushed around). Operation of said piston will probably decrease the tightness over (a long) time (the rubber will dry and shrink over time, the materials will wear down). Please note that as long as you can move the piston without breaking anything, tightness is not necessarily a bad thing - you don't want ink getting past the first piston seal, and tightness is what prevents that.

 

I would not disassemble and reassemble more than absolutely necessary (doing so introduces foreign matter into the works and risks increase wear, breaking, or incorrect reassembly). Since you've done it, I personally see no harm in re-doing it to get it right, but once it's done right, there's no reason to do it again for years (I don't think the piston should need re-lubrication in less than years - my estimation - if someone has more credible data to support more frequent lubrication, they may be right, but without more credible evidence, I'm going with years).

[Aditkamath26]

 

Yes - the parts which touch the barrel. The included silicone is a thick liquid. The instructions included in the TWSBI show applying the silicone to those seals (not sure if they're o-rings or not) with a Q-Tip. Given that the silicone is not a grease, but a liquid, I think I would be fairly liberal in applying it, but you don't want it dripping or running or anything like that, just coating those seals.

 

Personally, I wouldn't apply any (more) silicone to the barrel itself - the piston will just push it in front of said piston, and it'll never reach the second (back) seal. It's the two seals you want lubricated a bit. Whatever else is true, you don't want the silicone pooling, dripping, or running anywhere in the pen - you just want a coating on the seals.

 

The question is, is the stiffness due to how tightly that piston fits inside the barrel, or is it due to the piston mechanism itself - where the rod goes up into the knob? If it's the mechanism, there's a mechanical problem and TWSBI are the ones who should fix that.

 

If it's the tightness of the piston itself, lubricating the seals will help that to a point (and more silicone is not going to help more - once you have enough, any more is useless and the excess will just get pushed around). Operation of said piston will probably decrease the tightness over (a long) time (the rubber will dry and shrink over time, the materials will wear down). Please note that as long as you can move the piston without breaking anything, tightness is not necessarily a bad thing - you don't want ink getting past the first piston seal, and tightness is what prevents that.

 

I would not disassemble and reassemble more than absolutely necessary (doing so introduces foreign matter into the works and risks increase wear, breaking, or incorrect reassembly). Since you've done it, I personally see no harm in re-doing it to get it right, but once it's done right, there's no reason to do it again for years (I don't think the piston should need re-lubrication in less than years - my estimation - if someone has more credible data to support more frequent lubrication, they may be right, but without more credible evidence, I'm going with years).

 

I have done it! YAY! I did not read your reply before doing it but I did not re-grease the barrel. I greased the two seals nicely and also greased the screw or the rod. Now it is as good as it can get.

[LizEF]

I have done it! YAY! I did not read your reply before doing it but I did not re-grease the barrel. I greased the two seals nicely and also greased the screw or the rod. Now it is as good as it can get.

 

Congratulations!

[matteob]

Good news!

 

I find it hard to get enough grease out of the little supplied bottle through that tiny hole. I have a little tin of the stuff on my desk and apply with a tooth pick or cotton bud with the bud bit removed!

[Aditkamath26]

 

Congratulations!

 

Thanks.

[Aditkamath26]

Good news!

 

I find it hard to get enough grease out of the little supplied bottle through that tiny hole. I have a little tin of the stuff on my desk and apply with a tooth pick or cotton bud with the bud bit removed!

I managed to get it quite easily..