Eyedropper Converstion: Any Way To Counter Heat Expansion?

[KingRoach]

Your last idea gives me the concept of a piston type thing, but instead of pulling ink, it only moves very slightly to create more room for the air. Not a brilliant concept for production, I will admit, and achieving it is more hassle than is humanly necessary.

 

 

 

Now I have tried the last idea I said I like, which is to add an object to the barrel that prevents filling the whole thing. I have therefore created the "REDUCED eyedropper pen". When the forum allows me to upload photos, i will share it.

 

Basically, the eyedroppered pen now has a chamber about half the barrel, almost about 2ml of ink. It looks nicer too. I tried it in two scenarios: filled with ink, of course there is no burp. and near empty (a couple drops of ink, lots of air).

 

In the last scenario, it first performed very well. The next try, it burped four times in a paragraph, but that was a whole lot of air I must give it that. There is also a chance that this particular nib/feed have a problem overfilling with ink, leaving no room for any escape routes.

 

now where is my upload function?

[johnsi02]

It seems like I read on this forum somewhere that adding a breather tube to the feed helps with the burping. The theory being that it provides an alternative path for the building air pressure to escape through. I am curious if anyone has experimented with a pen setup in this fashion?

I ask because I happen to have an Eversharp Skyline demi that has no cap. Rather than haunting eBay for a few months to find a cap, I have considered fitting the nib and feed into an eyedropper pen. Before I do such a thing, it would be nice to know that the pen maybe won't burp.

JS

[Arkanabar]

To address the OP's question, most pens with modern feeds will not have a burping problem unless they are nearly empty and you subject them to significant heating. A modern feed with ink-collecting channels is capable of absorbing the extra ink flow caused by the expanding air. If this is not the case (for instance if your feed is very simple, or if you are taking the pen from a below-freezing car into a warm office) then the simple precaution of holding the pen nib-up while the barrel warms usually prevents problems. It's when you want to whip out a cold pen and start writing with it immediately that there are issues.

For these situations, there are still solutions. One is to keep the pen over half-full. For most pens this solves the problem, and still gives you all the ED's advantages, but with a little less capacity. Another is to put some sort of object in the barrel to reduce the volume, so there is never more air in the barrel than the feed can compensate for. Another is to replace the feed with a modern one. For instance, the feeds from Sheaffer NoNonsense pens exactly fit many Indian EDs. Once again, this solves the problem completely for most pens.

ED pens have many virtues, but perhaps less BP-like convenience than a cartridge pen. There are good reasons why they remain in production.

ron

The best way to prevent ED burping is to keep the pen warm. I keep mine in a breast pocket. If you can't keep it warm, at least warm it up while it's point-up.

 

That's a good idea I had not considered, Bo Bo! If you unscrew the nib you can fill an Estie like an eyedropper and there's **NO** burping at all. Completely forgot about that idea. Can't see in them, but a good idea nonetheless. Thanks.

 

Can you recommend some good modern eyedropper filler pens that are being made new? I know there's some, like Edison, that you can turn into eyedroppers, but I'd like to know some that are sold specifically as eyedroppers today. Thanks.

Most of the current ED pens are made in India. Some are so cheap that Nathan Tardif can afford to drop a couple into the boxes with his 4.5oz bottles of ink (Noodler's Charlie and Nikita). Others are pretty expensive; see the Ranga group buy threads on the Pay It Forward forum for examples, or visit Peyton Street Pens. Gama and ASA are also selling hand-turned eyedroppers.

[Noihvo]

 

 

 

[JakobS]

Heat expansion is not limited to eyedropper pens alone, especially when looking at early vintage pens. A number of my lever fill pens can have this occur too, and is dependent upon feed complexity. A pen with a a few fins or finless feed no matter the filling system cannot retain ink that is pushed out of the barrel by hot air expansion. It can also be affected by air pressure. The problem is thus not the filling method or system as much as the complexity of the feed. More highly finned feeds were created to limit ink burping from occurring in any filling system, not just eyedroppers.

 

Its easy to blame a single part of a pen, but if you think about it, all filling systems create the same result, they fill a chamber in the barrel with ink. How that ink flows out of the pen is dependent upon the feed, and nib.

[Wolverine1]

The Japanese manufacture modern eyedropper pens. Pens by Eboya and Dani-Trio are two manufacturers that come to mind. Also on EBay, you can find vintage Japanese made eyedropper pens with a ink shut-off valve. These pens with the shut-off valve system dont have the problem of burping ink when the pen is less than full.

[Arkanabar]

Larger, higher-capacity feeds, as on the ASA Athlete and old Sheaffer No-Nonsense pens, are supposed to ameliorate burping, as are long sections. They don't stop the expansion, they just hold the ink without it dripping.

[eharriett]

Quick update on my switch to the Sheaffer School pen from the Charlie pen: almost through the first fill of KTC in the Sheaffer. It's a match made in heaven. No burping whatsoever. Only thing I really ought to do is find an F nib for it. The M is a little too broad for what I use it for. But aside from that, my burping problem is completely solved.

[mhguda]

good to hear, thanks for the update.