light ink flow

Hi,

I'm having what might be an ink flow problem with my Diesel cartridge
fountain pen (made by Stypen). Instead of nice, dark lines like I
initially got with this pen, it almost looks like my writing has been
faded in the sun. Usually, if I haven't used it in a few hours, it'll
write OK for the first few words, and then everything looks light and
almost watery.

I've had the pen for a month now. The first cartridge, probably a Stypen,
worked fine. I rinsed the nib/section with cool tap water and let it dry
before inserting a Waterman cartridge, and that's about when I started
having issues. I tried a Stypen cartridge a few days later with the same
results. So then I rinsed the nib/section and let it soak in filtered
water overnight and part of the day. I let it dry until the next morning
(today) and put in a new Stypen cartridge. I had to squeeze the cartridge
a little before it got started, and it's still giving me a really faded
color.

Any advice? It also sometimes has trouble getting started, but this never
happened when it was new. Was there maybe water left over from the
rinsing, or is it more likely that something is misaligned? I really liked
taking notes with this pen while the ink was dark.

Thanks a lot,
prashant.

On Mon, 26 Jan 2004 13:09:59 -0600, "Prashant Singh"
wrote:

Hi,
snip

Any advice? It also sometimes has trouble getting started, but this never
happened when it was new. Was there maybe water left over from the
rinsing, or is it more likely that something is misaligned? I really liked
taking notes with this pen while the ink was dark.

Thanks a lot,
prashant.


Sounds like the feed chanels might be partially blocked.

If you have an empty cartridge you might try filling a cup with a
solution of water and a cleaner such as 409. Put the empty cartridge
on the section and dunk the entire nib into the cup. Squeeze the
cartridge to force the air out and release to draw the cleaner into
the pen through the nib. Squeeze the cartridge again to expel the
cleaner. Keep repeating as you want to flush the chanels in the nib
out. see if that helps.

I just wanted to add that it is possible to have the pen *too* clean.
It's really not required to rinse the pen in between fillings unless the
new ink is known to be incompatible with the one that was in the pen
last time. And of course you would rinse a pen before putting it up for
storage, of course, although I know that's not what you're doing here.

When you rinsed the pen it became flooded with water. It can take days
or weeks for all the water to get out of a pen, depending on its design
and how you dry it. If you really want to dry a pen out, wrap the nib
and feed in a folded paper towel and let all the water in the collector
wick its way into the towel, and only *then* put it up to dry.

Assuming the pen's flow is okay and that the ink just looks diluted,
then you're just writing with diluted ink. No big deal. Keep using the
pen and it will get darker as the water gradually bleeds out of the
collector. May take a few days.

I don't think anything's misaligned, unless you are getting bad flow
rather than good but diluted flow, or unless the nib feels scratchy or
draggy.

If you want a shortcut to getting rid of the water in your pen and don't
mind wasting half a cartridge, touch the nib (don't move it... just
touch it) to a paper towel and bleed the ink and water through the pen.
You should be able to see the ink darken after a few dime-sized spots.
You don't want to move the nib on the paper towel or else you'll load
up the nib slit with paper fibers.

"Prashant Singh" wrote in message
news the day. I let it dry until the next morning
(today) and put in a new Stypen cartridge. I had to squeeze the cartridge
a little before it got started, and it's still giving me a really faded
color. Thanks a lot,
prashant.

Try squeezing the cartridge more than a little. Push some drops
of ink onto a page, then write for a bit.

Good luck.

M.

I tried making a few dime-sized spots by touching the nib to a paper
towel, and I also just tried sqeezing out two drops of ink. The color
seems better but still not as dark as when the pen was new.

I've had occasional flow problems. A couple of times it didn't start
right away, and once I had to sqeeze the cartridge a little to get it
started again (not on a new cartridge). But I think I'll see how things
go for the rest of this cartridge before I consider clogged feed
channels.

Thanks a lot,
prashant.

On Tue, 27 Jan 2004 23:41:02 -0600, Michael wrote:


Try squeezing the cartridge more than a little. Push some drops of ink
onto a page, then write for a bit.

Good luck.

M.