Parker 45 flow problems?

[IanP2303]

I have gotten my hands on a nice pristine Parker 45, everything is fine except for the flow. It is an Extra Fine but it isn’t much finer than a Parker Fine to my dismay, but isn’t much of a nuisance to me. The pen didn’t write finer than the Parker Fine, but the flow was blatantly drier. The colour of the ink is much lighter than it is supposed to be, and I have already washed the pen thoroughly and flushed it too. I have also tried multiple inks. Yet no matter which ink I use it in, it is still much much lighter! 

 

Any ideas on how to solve this? 

 

Cheers,

Ian 

[OCArt]

Old, dried ink can be really difficult to clean from the ink collector.  You may need to soak it for several days in a dilute solution of dish washing upon soap and ammonia followed by plenty of water forced through the section.

[IanP2303]

25 minutes ago, OCArt said:

Old, dried ink can be really difficult to clean from the ink collector.  You may need to soak it for several days in a dilute solution of dish washing upon soap and ammonia followed by plenty of water forced through the section.

I’m not sure whether it’s old dried ink. There are no traces of it, but I’ll try it! 

 

Cheers,

Ian

[Mercian]

21 hours ago, IanP2303 said:

I have gotten my hands on a nice pristine Parker 45, everything is fine except for the flow

I have the same problem with one of my 45s.

I have two of them, one late-1970s one with a steel ‘M’ nib, and one early-1970s one with a flexy 14k gold ‘M’ nib.

The steel nib works perfectly.

The pen with the 14k nib came to me in pristine condition. Its nib is physically broader than the steel nib, but its flow is extremely miserly. If I apply a lot of pressure, I can make its tines spread and the pen write ‘M’, but its normal line is narrower - and drier - than that of a Lamy ‘EF’ nib.

 

I even swapped the nibs between the different feed-spikes and grip-sections, but the gold nib still refuses to work - I surmise that it hates me.

 

I think that the tines of my gold nib are pressed together too-tightly.

I am trying to work up the courage to try to widen the tine-gap, using one (or more) of the methods mentioned on the ‘Of Nibs & Tines’ board.

Sadly, a lifetime of bitter experience has proved to me that I am a cack-handed and impatient scapegrace klutz, so I expect that I’ll probably only ‘manage’ to destroy the nib beyond all possibility of repair ☹️

[IanP2303]

1 hour ago, Mercian said:

I have the same problem with one of my 45s.

I have two of them, one late-1970s one with a steel ‘M’ nib, and one early-1970s one with a flexy 14k gold ‘M’ nib.

The steel nib works perfectly.

The pen with the 14k nib came to me in pristine condition. Its nib is physically broader than the steel nib, but its flow is extremely miserly. If I apply a lot of pressure, I can make its tines spread and the pen write ‘M’, but its normal line is narrower - and drier - than that of a Lamy ‘EF’ nib.

 

I even swapped the nibs between the different feed-spikes and grip-sections, but the gold nib still refuses to work - I surmise that it hates me.

 

I think that the tines of my gold nib are pressed together too-tightly.

I am trying to work up the courage to try to widen the tine-gap, using one (or more) of the methods mentioned on the ‘Of Nibs & Tines’ board.

Sadly, a lifetime of bitter experience has proved to me that I am a cack-handed and impatient scapegrace klutz, so I expect that I’ll probably only ‘manage’ to destroy the nib beyond all possibility of repair ☹️

I think I should get some of the thin brass sheets to widen the nib gap. I would do anything to save this pen. I just love it too much. Beautiful stainless steel body, elegant semi-hooded nib, smooth writing experience. I’ll ask the others for advice for widening the nib gap. Thank you for your input!

 

Cheers,

Ian 

[Mangrove Jack]

Strip it down by pulling out the converter, then unscrew the nib by firmly holding the collar (see pic from OCArt at top of this thread) and unscrewing it from the Shell Section and carefully remove the nib. Hold the section under a running tap and then let it soak for an hour or 2. 

 

Run a thin brass shim through the tines of the nib. Be careful, the nib is very small and can fall through your sinks drain hole.  

[seattlec257]

I've just discovered the 45s and ran into the same problem with one of them. Under a loupe, I could see the tiny channels in the feed were scratched and blocked with, well, gunk. I did the pen flush soak followed by carefully running a brass sheet in the channels as much as I could. I also cleared anything between the tines with a brass sheet but the nib was actually fine, it was the feed that was the problem. Even after the soaking and brass sheeting, this feed's channels were a mess so I found a NOS feed and swapped it into the pen. Success! Consistent and excellent flow now after replacing the feed.