Filling The Converter With Our Without The Pen?

[Honeybadgers]

Kirby allen's youtube channel recommended it. I don't know if he's since corrected his video.

[PAKMAN]

Early on I filled converters directly but switched to filling through the nib. Don't get as good of a fill but don't have to wait for the feed to get ink this way.

[Karmachanic]

I've always nib filled. Perhaps because I started many decades ago with lever fillers. The only way I would fill the converter directly would be if I had pens with unnecessary metal embellishments on the section, or if the section was white, neither of which is going to happen.

[bass1193]

I've always nib filled. Perhaps because I started many decades ago with lever fillers. The only way I would fill the converter directly would be if I had pens with unnecessary metal embellishments on the section, or if the section was white, neither of which is going to happen.

Same here

[inkstainedruth]

The *only* reason I remove a converter for filling, rather than running the ink through the feed into to the converter, is if the ink in a bottle or vial has gotten so low as to not be able to immerse the nib completely in the ink (the Pilot Decimo in particular is a major PITA because it's such a long skinny nib -- but so far, I've filled it "normally").

And the only reason I might remove a converter for flushing is if I've been using an iron gall ink, which in my experience, can have ink buildup at the end of the converter.

I'm not a big fan of c/c pens just for that reason. The one Waterman I have, I've had trouble getting a converter to fit and stay connected to the back of the feed.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Mad Pen]

I have a Parker 105 LE 'Royal Wedding' 1981 which comes with a thin strip of paper saying

REFILL ONLY WITH PARKER SUPER QUINK CARTRIDGES. That leaves a very limited choice of black, blue or blue-black and the only way to use other colours is to fill separately with the converter detached from the pen as filling through the nib does leave a mark at the end of the pen..

I can see why Parker issued that advice (apart from only selling their own ink....).

[BaronWulfraed]

 

Paper towel is mildly ablative. That's why you should never wipe down plastics with them, like motorcycle visors or television screens.

 

Apologies, but I think you meant "abrasive".

 

"Ablative" is the one-time-use heat shield of the Mercury/Gemini/Apollo capsules -- it creates a gaseous barrier blocking and carrying heat away from penetrating deeper https://www.corraypainting.com/blog/what-are-ablative-coatings (not to be confused with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ablative_case other than the aspect of "carrying away")

[A Smug Dill]

The *only* reason I remove a converter for filling, rather than running the ink through the feed into to the converter,

 

I, for one, am probably never going to fill a Platinum Plaisir or Preppy pen through its nib/feed/section dipped in the ink bottle, because it would end up ink with in the 'collar' of the section around the nib that I cannot easily clean off. There is wasting a few drop(let)s of ink, and then there is having ink stuck in unsightly places.

[vicpen123]

I have always filled through the nib. My first fountains pens were a Platignum Silverline lever filler and my grandfather's "51" aerometric that both filled through the nib.

 

When I got my first 45 it was fitted with a metal squeeze converter and I just continued filling through the nib. In over 40 years of using a c/c FP it never occurred to me to fill the converter separated from the section.

 

Even with many newer pens fitted with more modern slide or twist converters I would not change my filling procedure. I recall reading once that filling through the nib and the feed 'cleaned' the pen and kept it it good condition. On the other hand, those who use cartridges only seemingly don't need the cleaning.

 

Aren't fountain pens amazing? No matter how they are filled, or how often they are cleaned, or what nibs are fitted, or what inks are used, or even how they are carried, they will continue to perform as designed for generations.

[Honeybadgers]

 

Apologies, but I think you meant "abrasive".

 

"Ablative" is the one-time-use heat shield of the Mercury/Gemini/Apollo capsules -- it creates a gaseous barrier blocking and carrying heat away from penetrating deeper https://www.corraypainting.com/blog/what-are-ablative-coatings (not to be confused with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ablative_case other than the aspect of "carrying away")

 

blame my phone's autocorrect. I'm often writing posts from my ambulance.

Edited January 1, 2019 by Honeybadgers

[mitto]

Removing the converter from the section for filling and reinserting it again and again may result in damaging the nipple inside the section as well wearing out the mouth of the converter.

 

So better to fill the pen with the nib section in ink unless necessay otherwise.

[A Smug Dill]

Removing the converter from the section for filling and reinserting it again and again may result in damaging the nipple inside the section as well wearing out the mouth of the converter.

 

 

While the mouth of the converter may not be designed and constructed to withstand hundreds of insertions and removals, I think it would be considered a major design fault of the pen if the top end of the feed – or whichever part inside the section – can be functionally damaged by the (careful) insertion and removal of the converter, considering that it is meant to be able to pierce the plastic end of ink cartridges that will certainly exert more resistance than the mouth of the converter.

[mitto]

I may have two to three dozen Parker C/C pens (mostly 45s and 75s) that arrived with broken nipples/top ends of the feeds in the section.

[A Smug Dill]

@mitto, I have no idea how old those pens or those models are. Are they supposedly vintage fountain pens? While of course I don't think one should be unduly rough on any pen, I also don't believe old/vintage pens warrant special care in their handling on account of the age of their material and so on. The vast majority of my hundred-odd pens (I know that's nothing compared to the size of your pen collection) are c/c-fill, I connect and remove converters in them probably more frequently than the average user would, and I've not had a broken feed on account of that yet.

[mitto]

These are from the 1960s-17970s. So you may call these as vintage.

[A Smug Dill]

@mitto, yes, I suppose I would call those 'vintage'.

 

So better to fill the pen with the nib section in ink unless necessay otherwise.

I stand by my earlier statement that the respective manufacturer's refilling instructions would be a good starting point for a given pen. The owners/users have already been 'told' (even in the case where they bought the pens secondhand, and did not receive the manufacturer's instructions or user guide with the product), and that ought to take priority over personal preferences (such as my own, for not sucking ink up through the nib and feed because it makes more of a mess that requires cleaning up with a paper towel) with regard to what is the 'proper' or 'right' way.

[mitto]

@mitto, yes, I suppose I would call those 'vintage'.I stand by my earlier statement that the respective manufacturer's refilling instructions would be a good starting point for a given pen. The owners/users have already been 'told' (even in the case where they bought the pens secondhand, and did not receive the manufacturer's instructions or user guide with the product), and that ought to take priority over personal preferences (such as my own, for not sucking ink up through the nib and feed because it makes more of a mess that requires cleaning up with a paper towel) with regard to what is the 'proper' or 'right' way.

 

I don't claim to be a 'spokesperson' for any of the pen compannies . Yet, here is what Parker said in the leaflet that came with their C/C pens. On the side you can see that the instructions are for P75, P65, P61 and P45 (almost all their C/C pens in the 1960s/1970s).

 

 

 

 

 

PS.

 

Parker called their C/C pens as Convertible Pens.

Edited January 4, 2019 by mitto

[vicpen123]

Parker +1

[mitto]

Parker +1

I think almost all companies instructed the same for filling their C/C pens. Not only Parker. The problem with most of us is that we do NOT read (read Research) before formig an opinion.

[A Smug Dill]

I think almost all companies instructed the same for filling their C/C pens. Not only Parker. The problem with most of us is that we do NOT read (read Research) before formig an opinion.

Or 'we' glance at the instructions, but 'we' automatically refuse to do as 'we' are told, and automatically leap to the position of, "I'm the customer! I know how I want to do things. Now tell me what I want to hear, and how you will accommodate my preferences, instead of expecting me to follow instructions and learn the proper or recommended way of doing things, until I understand enough to form an informed opinion of which rules and guidelines are safe from which to deviate."