Flow Is Ok But Ink Is Not Being Delivered By Feed: M1000

[sketchstack]

This is kind of first for me. I have a Pelikan M1000 that performs as tends to be expected from the brand: nice and wet.

 

However, as I write rapidly on Rhodia, I'll get about 1.5 pages in and then the feed dries up. I can see the very narrow space between the feed and nib is void of ink. Usually I shouldn't see any space because it's occupied with ink. So I shake it or tap the nib on the page and the ink flows back in. Then I can write for another half page before it dries up again.

 

Typically I can get nibs as wet or dry as I need by simply adjusting the tines. As described, the nibs is nice and wet as it is. So I don't think it's the tine spacing causing this issue. My guess is it's a nuanced capillary issue where the feed and nib aren't working in tandem to pull ink from the reservoir.

 

Nothing more frustrating than a pen that writes as I want but simply can't keep ink delivered to the feed.

 

Does anyone have any tips? Beyond solving with different inks or spreading the tines.

 

Thanks in advance ...

[jekostas]

Sounds like a classic ink starvation issue. Basically your pen is putting out too much ink too quickly and the feed can't get air back in to the reservoir fast enough. This causes a slight vacuum to occur and ink stops flowing until it's resolved.

 

 

You need to make the pen drier, not wetter. Try pinching the tines together slightly.

[OCArt]

I have a couple of M1000s and have never had that problem. What ink are you using?

 

I'd recommend filling and flushing the pen several times with water and a drop of dishwashing soap followed by several water only flushes. If that doesn't work you could also carefully remove the nib unit and soak it overnight.

[sketchstack]

Thanks for the replies. I've tried variations of the provided advice. Tightening the tines seems to be step one upon receiving almost any Pelikan pen, from what I read on these forums. And in that process I also utilized a brass sheet to clean things out while also cleaning out several times.

 

One thing that didn't occur to me until I researched the topic deeply is to heat set the plastic feed. There are a few threads, some referring to Pelikan specifically, where this method is employed. Prior to this I thought heat setting was exclusively for ebonite feeds.

 

So I tried heat setting using very hot water and while the adjustment doesn't appear radical upon visual inspection, in a couple of post-heat set tests the pen seemed to keep up quite well. (On a related note, I've become an expert at writing half-pages of US dime sized circles, rapidly.)

 

Tomorrow I intend to give the pen some real-world tests to see if the "fix" holds up.

 

OCArt: To answer your question, the issue existed with inks from Robert Oster, Iroshizuku and Pelikan 4001. Because that's a fairly wide range of ink consistencies (at least in my arsenal) I pretty much ruled out ink as the sole culprit.

[sketchstack]

Well, I spoke too soon. I think my initial successful tests were inaccurate because they were just after drawing up ink from the inkwell. So the feed was extra saturated, creating the illusion of continuous non-stop flow. But eventually it dried up again.

 

Should the fins appear to have ink in them all the time? My fins don't really appear to have any ink in them when I look at the silhouette ....

[Witsius]

The fins don't have to have ink in them for ink to flow proplerly. You said, "the narrow space between the nib and the feed is void of ink." Hmmm, the nib should lie snugly against the feed. If you have a gap, that could be the problem. Too much gap will keep capillary action from alloing ink to flow to the end of the nib. If the pen came to you this way, I'd say you have a defective nib unit, and I would enquire with Pelikan about a replacement.

[Erik Dalton]

The fins don't have to have ink in them for ink to flow proplerly. You said, "the narrow space between the nib and the feed is void of ink." Hmmm, the nib should lie snugly against the feed. If you have a gap, that could be the problem. Too much gap will keep capillary action from alloing ink to flow to the end of the nib. If the pen came to you this way, I'd say you have a defective nib unit, and I would enquire with Pelikan about a replacement.

+1 vote for nib exchange.

[sketchstack]

Thanks for the recommendation(s) --sadly it would seem that I'd be disqualified from Chartpaks US warranty as I bought this as an import. And it was purchased a while ago so the original retailer is right in rejecting any claims. I gambled by purchasing overseas and so it goes. So I think it might be time for a nibmeister to take a look.

 

On some pens I think I could rectify this myself but the nib is hard to remove and I don't feel like messing it up further. (And from what people have written it seems it's hard to get the nib back into the unit as well ...)

 

It's almost more infuriating that it kind of works. I can tip the pen pointing downward and actually see the ink flow into the nib tip. Then it writes fine, and if I'm careful it'll write fine for a while. But as soon as I move the pen in a way that interrupts the pleasant effects of gravity, then the ink pretty much peters out.

[Driften]

 

It's almost more infuriating that it kind of works. I can tip the pen pointing downward and actually see the ink flow into the nib tip. Then it writes fine, and if I'm careful it'll write fine for a while. But as soon as I move the pen in a way that interrupts the pleasant effects of gravity, then the ink pretty much peters out.

 

 

The pen should fill the nib even pointing up. I think getting a nibmeister to adjust the pen is a smart move. I know some of them only charge $25 for that sort of service. You should also be able to tell them what your favorite inks and papers are and they can adjust for that.

[Erik Dalton]

Before you send it out, you might try soaking the nib unit in pen flush for two days. Use a bulb syringe to pass the fluid through the nib and feed periodically. If you have an ultrasonic bath, all the better. At the end of the two days, rinse well with water.

Put a mesh strainer in your sink drain. Run the tap water holding the nib unit under the flow. Let the water strike the slit, then turn the nib over and get under the shoulders. Repeat. The idea is to clear the space between the underside of the the nib and the feed, as well as the little ink passages in the feed.

Reassemble, then draw the water up into the pen and flush the nib that way.

This is a long process, but on the outside chance you have had an ink interaction issue, this could clear it.

There is nothing wrong with Asian, European, or Australian Inks. Going between them can sometimes create ink flow issues.

 

Good luck.

[scratchofapen]

It is even easier, you can pull the collar that holds nib and feed together to the back. Then you can clean nib and feed separately. Note the position of the little knob at the feeds underside when you reassemble the nib unit, there is a slit inside the collar where it goes in.

 

Putting the disassembled nibunit into a ultrasonic cleaner worked wonders for me on a stubborn nib. I assume there where some kind of remains from manufacture, because a cloud of something rose from the parts. However, i understand that disassembling a 200 dollar nibunit might be not comfortable for everyone, even if it is done only once...

Edited October 12, 2017 by scratchofapen

[Bo Bo Olson]

Send it then to Pelikan in Hanover....will be fixed for free...as far as I know....Like Lamy.

 

Not like pay for it MB.....though the price of that is less than I expected. I investigated getting a neighbor's 144 fixed.

[sketchstack]

Thanks for the continued responses. I believe the issue was a nib and feed that simply had too much space between them. There wasn't enough contact for the capillary action to pull ink through the tines.

 

To solve this I placed the nib and feed (while still attached to the pen) upside down and pressed very hard against some balled up paper towels. This pressed the nib and feed together after a few attempts. The reason I used the paper towels was so I wasn't pressing against something rigid which would risk damage to the tine or tip. I made sure the most pressure was being applied toward the rear of the nib and feed.

 

After a few writing sessions and a couple of different types of inks I believe this situation is resolved. It took me a while to get used to the drier line as before it was a very wet, juicy line. But it does seem to write continually without starvation which is the whole point.