Your Favourite Eye Dropper?

[MuddyWaters]

Hi all!

 

Just wondering what your favourite eye dropper for work or a lot of writing, with a finer nib. I would exclude from contention those ebonite Indian pens because I find the nibs bleh and the pens expensive. The kaweco sport was a decent option for a while but the Boddy isnt that comfortable. The M2 has no clip and there is a section drop off.

 

Is the preppy converted the only other option? Nice wider sections preferred.

[Karmachanic]

Opus 88 Koloro.

Many Indian pens now take standard #6 nibs. I have a Bock Ti on mine

Edited January 26, 2019 by Karmachanic

[Driften]

I would also think going with a Opus 88 if you want an eyedropper pen is best. It is what it was designed for.

[MuddyWaters]

Any cheaper ones?

[Bo Bo Olson]

'30's Fendomatic Safety Pen...a German pen made in Milan. Is my only eyedropper, and I have no plans to get another. Conklin solved the Eye Dropper problems. Sheaffer's lever of 1912 improved Conklin, Waterman perfected the lever box.

A second pen gives added volume and if it's pretty enough you can get admiration for two pens.

 

Had there been a real advantage to the Eyedropper it would have stayed around in the west. A mess to mess to load.

India's climate and or the 'high cost' of rubber sac's, kept India as the only place in the world where eye droppers were regularly in use for many, many decades.

 

And they 'burp' which is why Waterman improved the first fountain pens so they'd not burp.

[Karmachanic]

Opus 88 Koloro does not burb. It also has a shut-off valve.

[Inksomnia]

My favorite, and only one, has been Moonman M2. I haven't had single burp nor leak. It has been traveling everyday with me to work and back. At work I carry it in my pocket. I have EF nib which is really fine and nice writer. I have been eying out opus 88 Koloro Demonstrator and probably will buy it this year.

[Mew]

Namiki emperor.

[RudraDev]

I have this super old red colored plastic body pilot pen that is an eyedropper. The nib is sort of like the pilot custom series nibs, but smaller.

And it writes like a charm. I don't know how to post a picture here(mobile platform) so I don't have an image to show you, but the pen looks very cheap and bad. The whole body is quite thin, is made of red cheap plastic and the cap is golden in color and made of thin metal. As for the capacity, that's huge, as expected from an eyedropper. I currently have it inked up with waterman's mysterious blue.

 

I've grown accustomed to the looks of the pen and if you can look past that, it works fairly new to the well!

Edited January 27, 2019 by RudraDev

[sansenri]

Hi all!

 

Just wondering what your favourite eye dropper for work or a lot of writing, with a finer nib. I would exclude from contention those ebonite Indian pens because I find the nibs bleh and the pens expensive. The kaweco sport was a decent option for a while but the Boddy isnt that comfortable. The M2 has no clip and there is a section drop off.

 

Is the preppy converted the only other option? Nice wider sections preferred.

 

Think again about the Indian ebonite pens

The Deccan Majaz is not cheap, agreed, but it's custom threaded to hold Pelikan nibs

It's my favourite eyedropper, although I do have many Ranga pens in ED which I really like

 

 

ask Hari17 here on FPN to possibly assist you to get one, Deccan is not easy to reach...

[GastroNerd]

I have a moonman M2 which is a great pen if you enjoy fine nibs. The only downside is there is no clip (or upside if you prefer the sleeker looks). I also use a platinum preppy as an eyedropper and I have not had a leak, I just silicon grease the threads. A good affordable option if you need the massive ink capacity.

 

I have previously used a kaweco student demonstrator as an eyedropper, I never had any issues even with the metal. People advise against it due to corrosion but it wasn't an issue for me. It looks beautiful, too.

Edited January 27, 2019 by GastroNerd

[MuddyWaters]

Thanks to all for suggestions. A few things I will try/re-try:

 

-My moonman M2 with the jinhao 992 nib (my M2 nib was garbage with no tipping

-kaweco sport with jinhao 992 nib

-pilot 78g but not sure the threads are secure enough

Edited January 27, 2019 by MuddyWaters

[ajcoleman]

I have a Bexley Admiral that really works well as an eyedropper. They don't offer that particular model any longer, but I suspect several of their current offerings would work as well. The modern plastic feeds with lots of fins seem to hold enough ink to accommodate changes in pressure and temperature well. In normal use I haven't had any burping issues.

 

I also have been really happy with my Triveni Jr. from Fountain Pen Revolution. It is an Indian ebonite pen with a very similar modern German #6 nib. The body is made for use as an eyedropper, with extra long threading between the section and the body.

[A Smug Dill]

Is the preppy converted the only other option? Nice wider sections preferred.

Any cheaper ones?

How many cheap pens come with a plastic body and section that is of wider girth than that on the Platinum Preppy? I have many cheap Japanese and Chinese (demonstrator and opaque) pens here, and I wouldn't say many models has a noticeably thicker section at all.

 

I have three Preppy pens here that are used as ED pens, even though the idea of an ED pen does not turn me on at all, but I didn't particularly want Rubinato inks in boring colours (black, blue-black, and blue) going into my better pens when, to my knowledge, Rubinato never labelled those 'writing inks' as 'safe to use with fountain pens' anywhere, not that I've seen any reports of problems with it.

 

The PenBBS 308 comes with an O-ring on the threaded part of the section where it screws onto the pen barrel, and can obviously be used as an ED. Whether its nib writes fine enough or is cheap enough for you, is not for me to say or be concerned about. For myself, the Preppy is the best ED solution given how expendable I would want my ED pens to be, and they're perfectly comfortable to hold and write with; so much the better that they look and feel cheap to me.

Edited January 28, 2019 by A Smug Dill

[SoulSamurai]

I just received a free eyedropper in an order from FPR today, I believe it's called the "muft". I haven't tried it and I don't really plan to though; while I like the idea of an eyedropper, I haven't actually found them to be particularly practical for my own personal requirements. I prefer demonstrator pens with a full-length filling system like a vac filler or a bulkfiller, as they also have the large clear body to fill with ink but are usually more convenient to use.

[Ted A]

I have one of the FPR muft pens. It will burp when the ink gets down to less than 20% filled. It works quite well.

[WirsPlm]

Another option is to get an old Sheaffer or Wearever school pen from eBay(one of the ones with a solid plastic body and unscrews from the section), those are quite cheap and I've found them to be excellent when converted to eyedroppers (my Wearever eyedropper is one of my favorite pens, the clear feed makes it easy to clean). It does burp when it doesn't have much ink but that's something that eyedroppers are prone to so I don't count it against the pen.

[eharriett]

Noodler's Boston Safety.

 

Don't laugh. I have four of them and there's always one with some kind of ink in them. I have 3 other safeties (I really want to get one of the Moore's that is based off of, one day), but I have no fear knocking that one around.

 

And someone sees you pulling it off to write with and you have an instant conversation starter.

[zap210]

Another tough question since I like ED pens and I hate refilling converters every day.

 

Vintage Aurora DuoCart. Once I sealed the back end and worked on the feed, it works very well.

Diplomat Aero. Added an o-ring. No issues at all.

Namiki Yukari (original model). Pretty wet, but holds a lot of ink.

Faggionatto laquered hard rubber. Once I replaced the Bock 250 nib unit, it worked fine. Will miss you Fred.

Eboya. Same as Fred's pen.

Platinum 3776 gathered. No problems of any kind. A great EDC.

Sailor KOP. Also No problems.

Italix Parson's Essential. I am surprised, but no problems over the last year.

Noodler's Boston Safety Pen. I like this pen! Doesn't hold much ink though.

 

Note: For the inks I use I have not seen any corrosion problems with the pens listed over many years of use ED'ing them, BUT, I do not recommend ED'ing pens where metal parts are wetted in general. Other than my Namiki, to me they are just pens. Some others have corroded on me. I clean them up and go back to the sac or cartridge or converter.

[mitto]

Waterman 12 with a flexy #2 Newyork nib.