Pilot Con-B Converter?

[hari317]

The bladder can be restored by flushing the converter in plain water and putting it away to dry. It usually comes back to original size.

[Kumachan]

hari317, I successfully flushed and restored the bladder once but, the second flush/rinse, a few months after the first, didnt help. I guess that Ill be picking up a piston converter for my Metro. Next time Im in Japan I will search Itoya and Tokyu Hansu for the bladder converter!

Edited April 22, 2019 by Kumachan

[XYZZY]

hari317, I successfully flushed and restored the bladder once but, the second flush/rinse, a few months after the first, didnt help. I guess that Ill be picking up a piston converter for my Metro. Next time Im in Japan I will search Itoya and Tokyu Hansu for the bladder converter!

 

https://www.gouletpens.com/products/pilot-con-b-squeeze-converter

[Iur]

The CON-40 holds only a very limited amount of ink. As long as you have an F or EF nib, you will probably be alright.

[inkstainedruth]

Well, I've got a CON-40 on the Decimo, which has an F nib. So I do okay with the amount of capacity, because of the Japanese F. But I can see why people don't like the CON-40....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Shaggy]

Well, I've got a CON-40 on the Decimo, which has an F nib. So I do okay with the amount of capacity, because of the Japanese F. But I can see why people don't like the CON-40....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

I can never get a full fill on the CON 40. I end up filling it with a syringe, or filling an empty cartridge with a syringe.

 

Is there a trick to filling the CON 40?

[Karmachanic]

 

Is there a trick to filling the CON 40?

 

My trick is to use a Con-50.

[Shaggy]

 

My trick is to use a Con-50.

If only it fit in every pen..

[BaronWulfraed]

 

I can never get a full fill on the CON 40. I end up filling it with a syringe, or filling an empty cartridge with a syringe.

 

Is there a trick to filling the CON 40?

 

Well, my technique -- with any type of converter (except push-button styles) is...

 

• Withdraw the pen from the bottle while the converter is still part filled (ie, for twist type, when there are a few turns left on the shaft, for lever/squeeze bulbs while the bulb is still slightly compressed).
• Turn the pen to point at the sky, complete the converter fill (turn twist to "filled" position, release sacs); this sucks ink from the section.
• Carefully turn the shaft (or squeeze/lever) until the ink mounds up at the base of the nib; this expels all remaining air from converter AND section.
• Invert pen back into ink bottle, twist shaft (or release sac) back to the filled position.

[Shaggy]

<p>

 

 

Well, my technique -- with any type of converter (except push-button styles) is...

 

• Withdraw the pen from the bottle while the converter is still part filled (ie, for twist type, when there are a few turns left on the shaft, for lever/squeeze bulbs while the bulb is still slightly compressed).
• Turn the pen to point at the sky, complete the converter fill (turn twist to "filled" position, release sacs); this sucks ink from the section.
• Carefully turn the shaft (or squeeze/lever) until the ink mounds up at the base of the nib; this expels all remaining air from converter AND section.
• Invert pen back into ink bottle, twist shaft (or release sac) back to the filled position.

Thanks.

 

That actually doesn't work on the con 40. For some reason I can never get a full fill. I think there must be a bad seal or something. I have tried it with four of them and none of them will fill completely.

[Karmachanic]

Shaggy, you may find some answers here:

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/341886-pilot-con-40-why/

[Shaggy]

Shaggy, you may find some answers here:

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/341886-pilot-con-40-why/

Perusing now. Grazie.

[inkstainedruth]

Thanks.

 

That actually doesn't work on the con 40. For some reason I can never get a full fill. I think there must be a bad seal or something. I have tried it with four of them and none of them will fill completely.

 

I'm starting to discover that with the one on the Decimo. Fortunately, it's a Japanese F, so pretty stingy on ink usage even while having a good flow. Right now I've got Iroshizuku Yama-budo in the pen; I keep thinking I should flush it out and see how it likes Tsuyu-kusa as a changeup (the first Decimo, the one I lost, liked Kon-peki a whole lot as well as Yama-budo), but then go.... "But, but... Yama-budo... !" and it doesn't happen.

Guess I should try the new replacement con-B in the Metropolitan, and put Tsuyu-kusa in that pen in the meantime....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Shaggy]

 

I'm starting to discover that with the one on the Decimo. Fortunately, it's a Japanese F, so pretty stingy on ink usage even while having a good flow. Right now I've got Iroshizuku Yama-budo in the pen; I keep thinking I should flush it out and see how it likes Tsuyu-kusa as a changeup (the first Decimo, the one I lost, liked Kon-peki a whole lot as well as Yama-budo), but then go.... "But, but... Yama-budo... !" and it doesn't happen.

Guess I should try the new replacement con-B in the Metropolitan, and put Tsuyu-kusa in that pen in the meantime....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

Please let me know if that makes a difference.

 

I'm refilling ink cartridges in my Decimo these days.

[bmmcwhirt]

I was having issues with a Pilot VP writing consistently. Someone suggested finding a new old-stock con-20. After looking and seeing that the prices form them now vary in the range of 30-150 USD I pulled a con-b out of a metropolitan I had and wasn't using. The pen writes amazing now but it should be noted that the con-b seems to be about 1-2mm shorter than the con-20 so the nib does not stick out as much. For me that doesn't matter but for some it may. I may get some of the Goulet Con-B to have as spares and for use in Pilot Parallel pens.

 

If you have a VP that writes inconsistently with a con-40 it's worth the money to see if this works for you as it made a huge difference for me. worst case your out $6+S/H as everyone's mileage may vary.

[bmmcwhirt]

 

I can never get a full fill on the CON 40. I end up filling it with a syringe, or filling an empty cartridge with a syringe.

 

Is there a trick to filling the CON 40?

 

The Con-40 is only meant to fill up about 80% of the way from what I can tell. The ONLY method I have found to work is to use an ink syringe to fill the converter but then your feed is empty. Once your feed is saturated you still have about a 90% fill so better than the normal method.

[A Smug Dill]

The Con-40 is only meant to fill up about 80% of the way from what I can tell. The ONLY method I have found to work is to use an ink syringe to fill the converter but then your feed is empty. Once your feed is saturated you still have about a 90% fill so better than the normal method.

 

 

Perhaps the emphasis ought to be on "I have found", instead of just "only". See https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/341886-pilot-con-40-why/?p=4143282 and https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/341886-pilot-con-40-why/?p=4143449. If you're prepared to fill a CON-40 with an ink syringe, then I'll assume you're prepared to suck into through the nib and feed into the converter to make sure the feed is not dry after a fresh fill, and to do what it takes to drive the air out from the lumen of the CON-40 -- which could be by disconnecting the CON-40 from the feed after sucking ink through the latter, then fill the available space with a converter with a syringe, or screwing the piston down to drive out the air and then do a second (partial) draw directly from ink bottle into the converter, and then plugging it back in; or by driving the air back out of the nib and feed without disconnecting the converter, and then having a second go at sucking the ink through the nib and feed.

[XYZZY]

The Con-40 is only meant to fill up about 80% of the way from what I can tell. The ONLY method I have found to work is to use an ink syringe to fill the converter but then your feed is empty. Once your feed is saturated you still have about a 90% fill so better than the normal method.

The Pineider Pen Filler would probably help with that. It encourages filling with nib pointing up, so much easier to get the air out.

 

I know many people are fond of filling converters with a syringe, but it seems to me that if you're going to go that route that you should just refill a cartridge. Converters have to dedicate a lot of volume and expense to the mechanism, and if you're not using it then why not a cartridge?

[Symphing12]

 

I'm starting to discover that with the one on the Decimo. Fortunately, it's a Japanese F, so pretty stingy on ink usage even while having a good flow. Right now I've got Iroshizuku Yama-budo in the pen; I keep thinking I should flush it out and see how it likes Tsuyu-kusa as a changeup (the first Decimo, the one I lost, liked Kon-peki a whole lot as well as Yama-budo), but then go.... "But, but... Yama-budo... !" and it doesn't happen.

Guess I should try the new replacement con-B in the Metropolitan, and put Tsuyu-kusa in that pen in the meantime....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

I will say that you may want to try Yama-Budo in a broader or wetter pen. It has this beautiful gold sheen that you can draw out.

[inkstainedruth]

I suspect that the sheen will also show better on better quality paper. But Yama-budo is a gorgeous color ink, even without the sheen.

Since you've resurrected this thread, checked my journals of what inks do well (or not, as the case may be) in specific pens, and have yet to actually try Tsuyu-Kusa in it. I have tried several other Iroshizuku inks that have done well in the Decimo (Take-sumi, Kon-peki, and Murasaki-Shikibu). And was just thinking a day or two ago that the Decimo needed to go back into rotation (I'd been holding off till I gt a couple of other pens finished up and flushed out -- and then saw another thread (the one about "boring color" inks) where someone had remarked that Tsuyu-kusa didn't seem to get much discussion about it). I love Tsuyu-kusa but it does kinda get overshadowed by it's more flashy siblings, Kon-peki (which I also really like) and Asa-Gao (which I didn't because I found it to be really drippy, and had similar blues that were better behaved).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth