Cleaning Out A Parker Reflex

[Dip n Scratch]

The pen has been allowed to dry out twice & I wondered if it is possible to extract the nib & feed to give the assembly a good scrub.

If that is not possible. How strong a cleaning agent can I use apart from dish soap?

It has not been left with something nasty inside it, like Diamine Registrars Ink, just bog-standard dye-based ink.

I did the trick with very dilute Ammonia solution to clean a '51's innards.

However... The Reflex is not made of quite such good materials.

The pen has some minor sentimental value, but it was only £12.50 back in December 2004.

BTW it was made in Newhaven. I really liked it for the grip.

 

[Mr.Rene]

Ammonia could damage rubber in the grip section...best regards...

[Dip n Scratch]

So... It's just dish washing liquid in solution to clean the pen. Can it be dismantled?

Or maybe the pen was regarded as disposable & you can't dismantle it.

I said the pen had some mild sentimental value... It is just that after a protracted period of unemployment I found work in November 2004. After getting my first pay cheque a month later I bought the Reflex. It made me feel good, buying it with money I just made........

 

The thing has flow issues. I want to eliminate the possibility of gunk in the feed before I molest it with the brass shim or give it any attention with the 'mesh. Things have progressed since 2004 & you can have a Jinhao X450 for half the price that writes better and also takes international cartridges as well as being supplied with a converter as standard. You can still buy BNIB Reflex's off ebay. I looked last night.

It had better start behaving itself, because there is grandfather looking on disapprovingly: An Aerometric '51.

If not the Reflex gets tossed. I have a whole bunch of other pens, but those aren't Parkers.

[Ernst Bitterman]

It's certainly possible to haul out point and feed; it's not just made of lower-grade materials, it's got extremely basic anatomy. If the pen has dried out, however, there may be some difficulty in doing so without a bit of a soak in something first. I'd say if it is likely to take harm from a soak, duration is going to be at least as much of a culprit as the mixture... but now that I cast my mind back to messing around with a Reflex, you may want to try slipping the rubbery grip off first.

[Dip n Scratch]

Does your Reflex always hard-start & cease writing at random intervals & then you have to shake it to make it re-start?

The ink is in a converter. I first I thought it was just because I had put on a cartridge, so I filled the pen from a bottle instead.

[Ernst Bitterman]

I don't have a lot of love for the Reflex, to be honest. I have two, one of which someone gave me to practice flow adjustments on because it never wrote properly (and more than a decade later STILL doesn't; similar symptoms to what you describe), the other of which I set aside when the cap cracked in five places as it sat in a drawer. There's inexpensive pens that are more durable and less frustrating.