Hero 100 Hard Start

[apastuszak]

In my quest for a Parker "51," I decided to go the budget route and originally bought a Hero 616 and later a Hero 100.

 

Both pens gave me issues with hard starts.

 

I took the Hero 616 cap and filled it with water and immediately saw water dripping out of the cap around the top of the clip. I unscrewed the end and covered the whole area in silicone grease and screwed the finial back on.

 

This made the hard starts on the Hero 616 completely go away.

 

The Hero 100 cap also leaks when I fill it with water, right where the clip enters the cap. The clip on the Hero 100 is hinged, so I didn't think I'd be able to use this same method to get an airtight seal with the cap.

 

Is there a known issue with the Hero 100 having hard starts? Is there another way I can use to get the cap air tight?

 

And the last question...

 

Is the Hero 616 and 100 nib interchangeable? I prefer the nib on the 100, but the hard starts make the pen hard to use. If I could put the 100 nib on the 616, I'd have a more pleasant writing experience with an airtight cap.

Edited June 1, 2017 by apastuszak

[sciumbasci]

You could try to seal the cap with a paste of sorts?

[ksm]

My wife used my Hero 100 for a few months. It suffered from hard starts. She used Sailor Tokiwa Matsu and seldom wrote with that pen (once a week).

 

I took over that pen, and used it with Waterman Inspired Blue (turquoise). I wrote at least a few lines a day, usually more than a page. There were no problems.

 

What ink do you use? How often do you write.

[apastuszak]

I used Noodler's Liberty Elysium or Namiki Blue. I used the pen daily when it was inked.

[Proto]

I haven't had much luck with any of the 616s I've purchased recently, leading me to think they're all counterfeit. I have purchased a few Jinhao 911s lately and I can say that each of them work beautifully. The 911 is currently my daily-carry and an all-around fantastic writer.

[Seele]

apastuszak,

 

The 100 nibs are very different from that in the 616 and others so they are not cross-compatible. Whatever you do, do not attempt to disassemble the 100 as it's construction is unique, different from other Hero pens and Parkers; you would need a special tool to do that, but there is a good chance for you to upset the finely tuned ink supply system therein.

[Mech-for-i]

Hmm... I've not yet have such problem with my Hero 100s though I must admit I tend to only ink the pen that I use. So the pens almost never stay inked but idle. These push on caps are never meant to be air tight ( for the cap ), as it rely on the pressure bar to press the section onto the inner cap . the inner cap / section seal is what's suppose to be air tight ; you may want to check if this area need attention or simply the leaf spring and inner cap need adjustment

Edited June 1, 2017 by Mech-for-i

[apastuszak]

Hmm... I've not yet have such problem with my Hero 100s though I must admit I tend to only ink the pen that I use. So the pens almost never stay inked but idle. These push on caps are never meant to be air tight ( for the cap ), as it rely on the pressure bar to press the section onto the inner cap . the inner cap / section seal is what's suppose to be air tight ; you may want to check if this area need attention or simply the leaf spring and inner cap need adjustment

 

My Platinum Preppies will write without a hard start if I leave them sitting around for a month or more without touching them. My Metropolitans can go a week or two before a hard star. Same with my Faber Castell Loom. My Hero 100 won't even last overnight.

[apastuszak]

apastuszak,

 

The 100 nibs are very different from that in the 616 and others so they are not cross-compatible. Whatever you do, do not attempt to disassemble the 100 as it's construction is unique, different from other Hero pens and Parkers; you would need a special tool to do that, but there is a good chance for you to upset the finely tuned ink supply system therein.

 

I'm debating just selling the 100. The hard starts prevent me from using it. And it's a big PITA to clean out, since the ink collector seems to hold a good deal of ink. I don't see myself inking it up any time soon.

[apastuszak]

I haven't had much luck with any of the 616s I've purchased recently, leading me to think they're all counterfeit. I have purchased a few Jinhao 911s lately and I can say that each of them work beautifully. The 911 is currently my daily-carry and an all-around fantastic writer.

 

I have heard that there are counterfit 616s out there. I ended up buying the pen from hisnibs, since I assummed that those pens would be genuine.

 

The downside to this is that I paid $15 for the pen instead of the usual $2.00 people typically pay on eBay. Very tough to tell who has a genuine Hero 616 on eBay and who has a fake one. My 616 isn't the smoothest writer in the world. But once the cap finial was sealed with silicone grease and the hard starts went away, it became a very acceptable writer.

 

The capping action isn't the smoothest thing in the world.

 

I'm debating buying some cheap 100s in a pack of 3 and using them for micromesh practice. Never used micromesh on a nib before.