Careful when cleaning your Platinum 3776...

[nive]

I thought it would be useful to share the problem I encountered so here it goes.

I cleaned my 3776 Century Shape of a Heart Ivoire with an ultrasonic cleaner. I immediately noticed water vapor inside the transparent dome after I took it out. The water will evaporate over time but the dust that must be been carried inside by the water won't leave. The result is in the pictures.

 

The warranty that came with it allowed me to have the cap replaced for £40. I would like the repair service to be free since it is within the warranty period. Plus, I wouldn't expect any reasonable person to say that cleaning your pen with an ultrasonic cleaner is mistreating your fountain pen. But apparently, it will cause cosmetic damage, if you do, since the dome is not watertight. I wish they mentioned that in the user manual or an equivalent. Maybe it's just mine that's not watertight but I would not risk it again, and maybe you should think twice too if you have one.

[A Smug Dill]

Thank you very much for sharing! I have a Platinum #3776 Century ‘Shape of a Heart’ (in black), but I haven't inked it up yet. I'm not generally inclined to clean pen caps in ultrasonic cleaner just to (or especially to) remove dried or beads of ink clinging to the inner cap, instead of flushing with a pressurised jet (from a bulb syringe or some such) while the cap's opening is facing downwards, because from my (learnt-the-hard-way) experience I'd use an ultrasonic cleaner to get water into everywhere I didn't believe with otherwise possible to soak and agitate. Your warning is timely, as I do intend to ink up my ‘Shape of a Heart’ after Christmas, when I'm less busy.

[Misfit]

My 3776 is the Chartres Blue. Thank you for the warning. Sorry about your experience. That’s a hard lesson to learn. 
 

I’ve had the opposite experience of needing to put a True Writer cap in the sonic cleaner because I bought it with ink stains in the cap. The cap liner seems to have an o-ring so it’s difficult to get all the ink out if it’s trapped in the cap liner. 

[Mr.Rene]

The caps look "Cool", diamonds inside!! 😁

Regards.

[gone]

Cleaning a pen with an ultrasonic cleaner is certainly going outside the boundaries of what could be considered normal use and I would not expect damage caused in that way to be covered under warranty. 

[Karmachanic]

14 hours ago, nive said:

I cleaned my 3776 Century Shape of a Heart Ivoire with an ultrasonic cleaner.

 

Why?

[AceNinja]

On 12/24/2023 at 9:07 AM, nive said:

Plus, I wouldn't expect any reasonable person to say that cleaning your pen with an ultrasonic cleaner is mistreating your fountain pen. 

My understanding is that ultrasonic cleaning is a achieved through a phenomena called cavitation, which is essentially created an ultra low pressure micro zone in the water, so low pressure that the water boils into gas, and immediately collapse back to water.  In ultrasonic cleaner case, its like millions of micro explosion happening on the object being cleaned.  To me it's quite a destructive/aggressive cleaning process.  Try look for images of cavitation damages on ship propellers or pumps.

 

I wouldn't use it everyday for no reason.  I would use it as a last resort thing, and going in understanding the risk.

[nive]

19 hours ago, AceNinja said:

I wouldn't use it everyday for no reason.  I would use it as a last resort thing, and going in understanding the risk.

 

Thanks for explaining the underlying mechanism. However, I'm not sure how much of it is intrinsic because of cavitation and how much of it depends on the power, frequency, and cleaning solution choice(water, cleaning fluid, or others). For example, the result can be massively different, for manual brushing or wiping, depending on the pressure applied and brush hardness/softness.

Of course, the difference is not everyone is equipped to determine what setting is suitable for what application. While manual cleaning could be more controllable with common sense. Although I would say common sense is not so common nowadays.

I suppose I have used a domestic-style ultrasonic cleaner to clean many fountain pens for years, without seeing any chips or cracks, and I haven't heard of any horror stories of ultrasonic cleaning gone wrong, that I have come to see it as normal. So I do understand your reasoning. I'll certainly be more careful with using it on plastic parts and transparent parts in particular.  

[nive]

 

On 12/24/2023 at 3:10 PM, Karmachanic said:

 

Why?

 Interesting question

[A Smug Dill]

1 hour ago, nive said:

I suppose I have used a domestic-style ultrasonic cleaner to clean many fountain pens for years, without seeing any chips or cracks, and I haven't heard of any horror stories of ultrasonic cleaning gone wrong,

 

Any imperfection, such as a hairline crack in the plastic, a tiny gap in the join between pen components (especially if they're made of different materials), or a speck of grit or a small pocket of air between a layer of plating and the underlying metal, would be susceptible — or subject — to being exacerbated by ultrasonic cleaning. After all, that's what it's intended to do, getting liquid from the bath into those cracks and gaps, nooks and crannies, that one cannot otherwise get to in order to clean thorough; the physical process is not targeted, and does not make any distinction or exceptions for what is undesirable “invasion” or ”intrusion”, in contrast to where the user (only) wants the liquid to go.

[kestrel]

1 hour ago, nive said:

I suppose I have used a domestic-style ultrasonic cleaner to clean many fountain pens for years, without seeing any chips or cracks, and I haven't heard of any horror stories of ultrasonic cleaning gone wrong, that I have come to see it as normal. So I do understand your reasoning. I'll certainly be more careful with using it on plastic parts and transparent parts in particular.  

I figure I have restored several hundred third tier (and below) vintage pens and the only time I use the ultrasonic is to remove stubborn, dried, gummy residual ink that doesn't respond to simple soaking.  Think Wearever Pennant that someone filled with India ink and then left horizontal in a drawer for decades.  Even Rapido-Eze fails on some of that gunk.  I don't use the ultrasonic on barrels or caps because of the difficulty of removing all of the corrosion-inducing moisture from those pieces prior to reassembly.  Also, as @A Smug Dill mentions, the least little bit of exfoliation or pitting in the plating (little more than a wash on third tier pens) can cause said plating to flake off.  Even without corrosion the ultrasonic can remove the very thin layer of gold off nibs, clips, and decorative bands.