Pelikan Nib Feed Flooding

[Calabria]

Hi -

 

I have this oldish (ca. 2002) Pelikan M600 with M nib, where the feed fins tend to flood. I've thought about hairline cracks on the barrel or a faulty piston seal, but here's the catch: the nib unit floods in the same way when I put it on another barrel. Also, when I fit a different nib unit on the M600, it also floods the feed fins. I thought it was a problem with either the nib or the barrel (or section collar), but so far I haven't been able to pinpoint the issue.

 

Have you come across this, or do you have any idea what could be the problem?

 

Here's a picture of what I'm talking about:

 

 

Thanks!

Derek

[tinta]

Could be the ink. Try a dry Pelikan ink perhaps even hard to get blue/ black (Vanness). Or try dry iron gall inks in the pen . A 2002 is still a modern Pelikan that is set to write wet.

[PAKMAN]

Maybe a tiny bit of silicon grease on the nib unit's threads. If air is leaking by the threads and into the barrell that could cause the flooding.

[Mr.Rene]

Or piston gasket is failing...

[Calabria]

Thanks! I tried these options. I'm starting to think that the nib needs to be fitted to a new feed. I have quite a few Pelikans and have never seen this problem - it's mystifying - and was wondering if anyone has had a similar issue

[captain1796]

Take the nib out, the cap apart and clean it all within an inch of its life with some good pen cleaner. That fixed my issue.

[Calabria]

Take the cap apart?

[Tweel]

Maybe a tiny bit of silicon grease on the nib unit's threads. If air is leaking by the threads and into the barrell that could cause the flooding.

 

I fixed a flooding nib unit with beeswax on its threads.

[Ron Z]

You can test the piston seal. Screw the piston down, and then wet the end of a finger and press it down on the end of the section while screwing the piston back. You should feel quite a pull develop. Once all the way back, it should hold firmly onto your finger. If there is a leak at the seal, or maybe a crack at the section/barrel joint, you will feel the vacuum leak down, and the pen will eventually fall off.

 

A slight crack can cause the pen to leak too. A crack or break where the section joins the barrel, while not common, is not unheard of, especially in the 800 pens. If the pen has been dropped at some point, this is where it is most vulnerable.

[Calabria]

Thank you all. The problem is definitely with the nib unit. This is a picture of the same nib unit in a different pen (newish) after writing one page:

 

 

Ron - my first thought was a problem with the piston seal or barrel; I've had that occur in vintage MBs. But this is definitely related to the feed/nib assembly.

 

The nib is quite nice - a two chick M, hand shaped, no blob - so I'm eager to keep it. Does anybody know of someone who could reset the nib on a new feed? (Duh. There's a link at the bottom of Ron's post.)

[Ron Z]

You may very well be right, but many times I've had people send in a pen with their very firm diagnosis, that was totally off, even to the point where they asked if I had fixed the right pen. (I had)

Question. What have you got to lose by trying the piston seal test?

[Calabria]

Took me a while to get back to you all. I did try Ron's experiment, and the barrel holds tight to my finger like a little mollusk - strange feeling! But it's definitely down to the nib assembly now. I will say I'm mystified because I see nothing wrong with it.

[Ron Z]

Then see if you can slip a piece of paper between the nib and feed.

[Calabria]

Thanks for trying to talk me through this, Ron. I can't fit a piece of paper between nib and feed. Also, the feed and the collar seem to be a tight fit, when I look at it through 12x

 

It seems to me that when the unit is screwed in, it doesn't create a seal. But I can't really see why that should be so

 

Derek

[Calabria]

Wait. I think I can fit a strip of paper between nib and feed just above the collar, in the middle of the nib, almost all the way through (not quite). That's also where the fins flood (on picture above).

[Azz]

As nobody answered this problem i found the solution myself :3 

I use modern m600, decided to change ink so washed it thoroughly with warm water and some detergent (shampoo works well as it removes all the fats). On that occasion i applied some silicone grease into the piston (pure silicone grease, nothing fancy, this one worked perfectly well: https://en.cx80.pl/en/products/greases-cx80/cx80-smar-silikonowy-detail.html )

After reassembling i noticed the feed is being flooded, so
- i visually checked if nothing is cracked,
- if the piston is not leaking any air (good method described above),
- if the grease didnt get into the feed
All was okay so
- i put some silicone grease on the threads of the nib unit.
Didnt help.

Then suddenly i realised, maybe feed got distorted somehow by warm water during cleaning (!!).

So i boiled a cup of water, mixed it with cool until it became cool enough to hold a finger in for two or three seconds without pain.
Then i dipped unscrewed nib unit into the water for a few seconds until it got hot (nothing bent, nothing got distorted). I held it by a threads and dipped it up to the metal collar.
After few seconds, i took it out and firmly squeezed* the feed to the nib with my fingers. Held it that way to become cool. And repeated this procedure few times.

 

And voila! No more feed flood. Hope this works for You too.

* try rather to put a pressure on the feed and support the nib still with other finger - not squeeze both feed and nib. Feed becomes slightly pliable with the heat but the nib dont. If You put a pressure on both the feed after cooling stay on place and nib will spring back making space between feed and nib thus flooding the feed again.

 

Edited October 12, 2023 by Azz

[Karmachanic]

@Azz  https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/251999-can-plastic-feeds-be-heat-set/#elControls_2824528_menu

 

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