Eye dropper fill

May 22, 2007

I have seen mention a few times eye dropper fill. What is it and how does it work? What pens does it work with?

Thanks,

Tony Espo

May 22, 2007

An eyedropper filler is a type of pen in which the barrel acted as a reservoir for ink. You would simply hold the pen nib up, unscrew the section from the barrel, and using an eyedropper, drip ink into the barrel. Then screw on the section and you're finished.

Evan

May 22, 2007

I just got a Wality 69 eyedropper. Basically it's a section and a barrel. Lube up the threads of each, fill the barrel with ink, screw them together and (from my 24 hrs.' experience) hope for the best.

I'm still learning...and the Wality is forming menacing blobs of ink in/around the feed.

May 22, 2007

What the others said. However, I hasten to add that the leaking Wallity is not typical of eyedropper pens. I have a Danitrio eyedropper fill pen and two Kaweco eyedropper fillers, and none of them has leaked a drop. Ever.

May 22, 2007

Strange you should ask.................

I am doing a water test on a Waterman as we type.

I have removed the CC and if it holds without leaking it will be an ED.

May 22, 2007

Strange you should ask.................
I am doing a water test on a Waterman as we type.
I have removed the CC and if it holds without leaking it will be an ED.

I have been thinking about doing the same thing with my Lamy Vista....

As usual great minds think alike.... on that note, I bet your wife gave you the idea

May 22, 2007

Strange you should ask.................
I am doing a water test on a Waterman as we type.
I have removed the CC and if it holds without leaking it will be an ED.

I have been thinking about doing the same thing with my Lamy Vista....
As usual great minds think alike.... on that note, I bet your wife gave you the idea

Wrong, as usual. http://smileydatabase.com/s/244.gif

Edited May 22, 2007 by jd50ae

May 22, 2007

Hi .... I am a convert to eydroppers. I have tried most filling systems and funnily enough find them one of the simplist to use on a regular basis. I don't mind lever fillers but I find them fiddly to use.

Give me simplicity any day

John

May 22, 2007

Thanks for the answers. It looks like pens can be converted to eye dropper fill. Can this be done to most pens that take a regular cartridge? What is the advantage of an eye dropper filling system?

May 22, 2007

Thanks for the answers. It looks like pens can be converted to eye dropper fill. Can this be done to most pens that take a regular cartridge? What is the advantage of an eye dropper filling system?

Tons more ink............

May 22, 2007

Thanks for the answers. It looks like pens can be converted to eye dropper fill. Can this be done to most pens that take a regular cartridge? What is the advantage of an eye dropper filling system?

Many pens that take a cartridge can be converted to eyedropper filling - but not all. To convert it must have:

1. A water-tight barrel - fill the barrel with water and test to see if any water comes out. Test for a while - leave it on top of a stash of tissues or something and come back later to check for moisture to make sure it does not have some little joint in the barrel (especially the end) that seeps a little ink (that's what JD is doing in the picture above, incidentally - checking for leaks).

2. No exposed brass inside - ink will make the brass corrode and many modern pens use brass barrels or brass fittings inside the barrel. Other than the stainless tube for the feed, you don't want to see any metal inside the barrel.

A little 100% silicon grease (no petroleam derivatives - sold at dive shops and online pen tool vendors) on the threads will insure a leak-proof seal.

Sheaffer No-nonsense and Viewpoint cartridge pens are really great, cheap pens for ED conversion.

The only warning on ED pens is that they tend to flood a bit when they are nearly out of ink. Warmth from your hand heats up the air inside the barrel and causes it to expand, which pushes ink out of the barrel. More air in the barrel means more air to expand and cause blurphing.

What the others said. However, I hasten to add that the leaking Wallity is not typical of eyedropper pens.

Yes, and no. I find that my Wality acts a lot like a typical vintage eyedropper from 1900-1920s. I have quite a few of that era HR eyedroppers and the Wality acts very similar. I would say it has good, even, somewhat wet flow 80-90% of the time, but it still floods now and then, especially when less than 50% full, when tossed around in a shoulder bag, or when there is a big change of atmosphearic pressure.

Wality pens have a very simple feed with about a dozen shallow notches in it, so it's ability to capture and retain excess ink in the feed (so it does not flood or drip, but maintains an even flow) is much less than the deeply finned modern feeds. In that way also, it is a lot like an eyedropper pen from the early 1900s.

More modern pens generally have deeply finned feeds to retain any excess ink flow. That is one of the reasons that BTEs DaniTrio and Kawaco's work so well without leaking or flooding (and the DaniTrio is, from what I understand, one extremely well made pen).

That said, Wality pens seems to have some uneven quality control issues, and there are a lot of complaints about them. Some seem to work great, some to leak. I had just the opposite issues with mine - it was extremely dry and hard to start, but that was a problem with the nib. It works much better now with a vintage 14K Sheaffer nib.

John

Edited May 22, 2007 by Johnny Appleseed