Using Converters And Piston Filler Pens For Dummies

[Nerdyhistorian]

At the moment I am using cartridges, but I am open to the idea of using bottled ink. Especially since I am considering buying the Lamy 2000, and that is a piston filler pen.

Total noob/dummy-questions:

- are there things I need to know about using converters? Do you click a filled converter in the pen like a cartridge? Or how does it work exactly?

- what does it change in regard of pen hygiene?

- what does it change in regard taking precautions carrying filled pens around?

- I know that TWISBI´s piston mechanism doesn´t like being screwed too tightly, I read stories about cracks. What is the danger of that with the Lamy 2000?

Sorry for the stupid questions, but I always like to prepare and inform myself well. I don´t want to screw up converters or pens by doing things wrong.

[Arkanabar]

Your questions are all fine.

Converters attach to the pen in exactly the same way that a cartridge does. They "convert" a cartridge pen into a bottle-fill pen. You then run the piston in the converter down, dunk the nib into the ink, and run it back up again. There will be an air space. Here's how I deal with that.

1. Dunk nib in ink. Draw ink in for about 3-4 twists.
2. Pull pen out. Draw in air for one turn.
3. Turn pen point up. Fill the converter the rest of the way with air. The goal is to minimize the amount of liquid ink in the feed.
4. Holding the pen point up, SLOWLY, CAREFULLY, drive air out of the converter, until you see ink pooling around the nib.
5. Dunk the nib back into the ink, and fill the pen completely.
6. Now, you don't want your feed full of ink, as it's likely to cause issues. So, leaving the pen point down, pull the pen back out of the ink, and squeeze 3-4 drops of ink back into the bottle.
7. Leaving the pen point down, draw air in to replace the ink.
8. Wipe the section and nib. You're now ready to write.

You do have the option of filling the converter from the bottle, wiping off the tip, attaching it to the section, and priming the feed, but I've never bothered with all that. I attach the converter to the section and treat it like a piston-filler.

 

Now, I've never had a Lamy 2000, so I'm not sure you could spot the ink pooling around its semi-hooded nib. For that pen, I'd skip directly to step 5. Furthermore, the L2k has quite a bit more ink capacity than a converter, which often winds up holding less than a cartridge, so I wouldn't worry near as much about the air space.

The answer to your second and third questions is "Nothing." I clean cartridge/ converter pens with a bulb syringe like this one:

and I use that to flush, because it saves a lot of going up and down with the converter piston.

The answer to your last question is, "minimal, in my estimation." The Makrolon that Lamy uses to make the L2k is a lot tougher than whatever TWSBI uses to make their pens. Like you, I've heard of TWSBIs cracking. I've never heard that about a Lamy 2000, even when they suffer moderate abuse.

[akrohn2010]

Good questions, all! I will second everything Arkanabar said. Filling a pen takes more work and more deliberation but (to me) is quite fun learning how to get a maximum ink fill.

 

Big picture, converters are not that different than cartridges in terms of maintenance or how the cartridge "seats" in the pen. Although some brands have "screw-in" converters, most "click" in with pressure just like a cartridge. I don't treat a cartridge-filled or converter-filled pen any differently.

 

As for the Lamy 2000, fantastic, solid pen. I have not babied mine at all and it shows no signs of wear or stress. I wouldn't yank on the piston knob just for fun, but it can handle regular use just fine!

 

Best of luck; lots of new ink options once you go bottled!

[sandy101]

The only difference with a piston filler, is that you've got to be careful about the ink that you put in there.

 

Piston fillers are harder to clean - so if you put a staining ink, or one that has a tendency to dry up and crystalise (green, red and brown inks can very good at that) then it can be a right royal PIA to get in cleaned out.

 

Yes, you can take them apart, but the general idea is to avoid doing so.

 

I've used Diamine's velvet blue in my Lamy 2K and it's been a good partnership.

 

The advantage of many piston fillers is that you get a week or two's worth of ink in the pen, so you can just get on with the job of writing. The disadvantage is that changing ink colours is a bit more laborious, but since you have other pens then you have a means of getting around that issue.

[Restored]

Wear gloves if you don't want inky hands. I just stick the converter into the pen, pushing down until it "clicks" in, stick the pen into the ink and twist the piston up. It usually takes a few times. Then clean the ink off the pen north of the nib. If it is a screw on cap, use the edge of a paper towel to clean the grooves.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Piston pens,...... fill, then let three drops drip back into the ink bottle so there is an air pocket in the top of the ink chamber. Have that info on two '50's how to sheets from the 1950's from MB and Pelikan.

 

Back in the day of One Man, One Pen, the advice was to clean the pen every 3 months, but that was when a man only used one ink.

When done cleaning, shake the pen in a paper towel like an old fashioned thermometer and let sit 6 hours-or over night. No matter how clean it looks there is always a tiny bit of inky water to be drawn out by the paper towel.

 

For Pelikan.....get two of the rubber bulb syringes....... one for regular C/C pens & inside of the Pelikan.

One can clean the piston with the normal long spout rubber syringe, that is faster than cranking the piston up and down 25 times to clean it out.

 

 

of an unscrewed Pelikan nib....suck water in and out of the screw on nib section....that cleans the ink out as fast as you clean the ink out of a C/C front nib section.

....slip over, point down at a 1/3-/1/2 filled bathroom sink.....in one unfortunate fella launched his nib on a three bank tile wall tour by not having a hard grip on the rubber spout. .....that way if you launch, you launch into a deep pool of water.

 

......Be Real, Real Careful, when screwing the nib back on. I've always taken my time........others cross thread because they have something to do....then it's .....and $$$$$.

Never have anything to do, when cleaning pens. ZEN on it.

 

The one rubber syringe to be cut to fit over the nib section...if you have besides a 200/400/600 which will fit in one rubber syringe, if you have thicker 800 or even thicker sectioned 1000 you will need another rubber bulb syringe for them.

Edited March 29, 2019 by Bo Bo Olson

[A Smug Dill]

The only difference with a piston filler, is that you've got to be careful about the ink that you put in there.

 

Piston fillers are harder to clean - so if you put a staining ink, or one that has a tendency to dry up and crystalise (green, red and brown inks can very good at that) then it can be a right royal PIA to get in cleaned out.

 

Yes, you can take them apart, but the general idea is to avoid doing so.

I agree in part with what sandy101 wrote. If you value your piston-fill pen, then you'd be careful about the ink you put in there. If you value your converter-fill pen, especially if it has a maki-e decorated converter in a clear demonstrator body, you'd do the same. Piston-fill as a single characteristic does not make a pen a more valuable pen or classier pen on its own, I have some $3 piston-fill pens (which work perfectly fine) and some $1000 converter-fill pens, and vice versa.

 

My personal advice is, if you favour trying a piston-fill pen because the idea of large ink capacity is attractive, go cheap. Then you have the advantage of large ink capacity without the artificial constraint of being afraid to stain, clog or otherwise damage the pen with your ink of choice. With a converter-fill pen, assuming you're using a standard converter that fits that brand, it doesn't matter whether you're using a US$12 Pilot MR Metropolitan or a US$900 Pilot 'Hannya Shingyo'; the cost of replacing a stained or damaged converter is essentially the same for both of those pens.

[pajaro]

You could also follow the directions accompanying the Lamy 2000.

[Jerome Tarshis]

You could also follow the directions accompanying the Lamy 2000.

 

Are you trying to make fountain pens seem less mysterious and problematic?

[Arkanabar]

That is, in fact, one of our constant goals.

[inkstainedruth]

I love piston fillers -- I like how much ink they hold if I need to do a lot of writing, or am going someplace and don't want to worry about a pen drying up on me. But of course every type of fill system has plusses and minuses. And if you like to change inks a lot, then the capacity is a definite minus....

I'm less keen about converters, but that depends on the type (I'm not at *all* enamored, for instance of the cheap slide fill converters that Parker makes, but I do have an number of pens that take converters). And what A Smug Dill said about brands is important -- some brands, such as Parker, will only take proprietary converters (the same way that they have proprietary cartridges), while others will take International Standard. You have to be especially careful with Cross pens, because some of their models take the push-in type, but some need the threaded converters, and you have to know which your pen takes.

Converters do tend to hold less ink than cartridges. That's the down side. The upside is that bottled ink is more cost-effective in the long run, and you are not as limited as to the colors available. Converters are also way easier to refill than cartridges -- you don't have to worry about using a syringe, you don't have to worry about how to re-seal them, and I can tell you from experience that they are a major PITA to flush out if you want to use a different ink in them; with converters, because you're still filling through the feed, it is priming the feed better. t

There are only two reasons I know to pull them out of a pen: one is for extra cleaning is if you are worried about cross contamination between, say, iron gall inks and regular inks; the other is that it's sometimes easier to fill directly into the converter if a bottle of ink has gotten too low for the ink to completely cover the nib and feed when refilling.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[warblerick]

Also, be aware that some pens/companies use screw-in converters. I have several Conklins that do, as well as two of my three Conway Stewart's.

[senzen]

If a converter starts to feel hard to turn and can be disassembled, a tiny bit of silicone grease will fix it. From what I have, Lamy and Platinum converters can be disassembled.

[sirgilbert357]

If a converter starts to feel hard to turn and can be disassembled, a tiny bit of silicone grease will fix it. From what I have, Lamy and Platinum converters can be disassembled.

 

Would a toothpick with a tiny dab of silicone on the tip fit through the opening of your converters? If so, I would try that first. I haven't had to grease any of my converters, but I'm guessing I will eventually...

[Nerdyhistorian]

Thank you everyone for you helpful responses

Regarding filling from a bottle, how do you prevent contamination of the ink?

My Stabilo fineliners in diverse colours are not looking forward to the fact that fountain pen ink is taking over......

Edited April 2, 2019 by InkedSophie

[Restored]

I always run water through my pens before I fill them. Distilled water is best. You can also transfer some ink into an old prescription bottle and use it to fill. i do this if I don't mind mixing colors(i.e. moving from a black to a blue).

[senzen]

 

Would a toothpick with a tiny dab of silicone on the tip fit through the opening of your converters? If so, I would try that first. I haven't had to grease any of my converters, but I'm guessing I will eventually...

 

Probably, but I wouldn't trust my hand pulse! I know on piston filler pens one puts silicone inside the barrel, I'd rather have silicone on the other side, where the screw mechanism is, with converters.

[senzen]

 

Thank you everyone for you helpful responses

Regarding filling from a bottle, how do you prevent contamination of the ink?

 

 

Clean and dry the pen before trying another colour.

[1nkulus]

I tend to use a syringe to fill cartridges/converters. No ink wastage/spillage but it is an additional step.

Easy to change inks on a whim.

 

Piston fillers are for when I want to write a lot with one ink.

 

As for type of inks, I have left IG ink in both pen types for a few months without issues.

[displacermoose]

Everyone has pretty much covered the basics, but I just wanted to add that while my TWSBI mini cracked while lovingly stored in a pen box, both of my ecos are no trouble and excellent daily carry pens. I also have Lamy 2000 and it is a dream--no babying necessary.

 

I prefer higher capacity filling systems myself, but converters are fine. I'm far more worried about how the pen writes and feels than how I put ink in it.