Yes, this is one of the best uses of refilling a cartridge. Some converters can actually cost up to $15, so refilling a cartridge can help to save some real bucks if it's on a pen with a proprietary cartridge.
This is a useful way to get the last few mL out of a nearly empty ink bottle that you can't QUITE reach with the converter's self-filling mechanism too.
Thanks for the video. Since I refill my printers ink cartridges, I think I'll try refilling my fountain pen cartridges too, and now I can try different inks. Thanks Brian.
Very great tutorial ! I was about to buy converters for my Waterman Graduate pens but it might be very expensive at the end... so instead I will use empty cartridges that I already have ! It will be much more less expensive and it will also have a better ink capacity than an usual piston conveter (about double ink capacity with long blue Waterman cartridges) ! The only thing to "worry about" is to make sure to renew cartridges as soon as possible each time we refill them because they get lesser lifetime.
This is something I haven't tried yet myself, but I'm told that with a bit of practice, hot glue can work okay to seal cartridges. I don't know about traveling with them though, I'd be worried about leaking if I was making my own homemade cartridges. You're probably best off using new ones if you're traveling, and refilling ones if you plan to keep them at home or at the office.
Hot glue works, keep the tip dry from inks and fill the tip a bit with a drop of hot glue, and pull the gun a bit so a strand of hot glue are left. That little end helps you to pull out the glue plug. I've tried bringing refilled carts on trips, but yeah, its a hassle. I haven't got any that spilled out though. Most of the times, a filled cartridge in a pen plus a tube of spare cart is all I need for a trip,
Recently i got an ink pen. Now the ink is empty, but i don't know how i fill the ink. None of my friends, cousins aren't familiar with this. Now this video helps me a lot. Thanks buddy😊
If you are traveling or go through a lot of ink and don’t want to carry your bottle you can use a little hot glue to seal the top and toss the refilled cartridges in your bag so they are ready when you need them, just pop the “seal” off and you are ready to go
@@ciannacoleman5125 Thanks for the info. I have no idea the temp of mine. I know it hurts (blisters) when I get it on my skin. I’ll have to investigate.
Nice! There are cheap cartridges around, we just have to look for them (as you did here!). I haven't seen any pen/ink companies that sell empty cartridges though. I doubt we ever will.
Lamy T10 make cartridges in all colours of the rainbow and many more, if you're not using a Lamy pen you can use the method here on this video to refill your cartridges.
Will this create a loose connection over time and cause leaks, since the hole in the cartridge will lose its ability to create a tight seal with the feed?
Hey Brian! First of all, I really enjoy your videos! I tried this out with Namiki Cartridges and the small blue thing(that gets punctured when you put it inside the pen) is not allowing me to get a proper ink flow. Do you know any way of removing it? Thanks!
+Kaushal Kanikaram I was going to ask the exact same. I believe you can squeeze the cartridges near the tip and rattle the blue bit out of there with help from a needle or toothpick. I guess that would work without damaging the cartridge although I haven't tested the theory yet.
Kaushal Kanikaram I just gave my Pilot converter to a friend and decided to just refill cartridges hereon, and I can attest it does work fine, we just need to be a little patient with it. Good luck!
Great vid! I use regular 5 ml syringes (because of my profession they are always around) but I do not recommend them at all. You WILL get poked sooner or later (no matter how careful you are), so a blunt tip needle is the best way to go. Another alternative is a bent needle (you can check out Sbrebrown's vid on that) but I'm too lazy to go and search for one :) Cartridge refilling is particularly useful for pens that use only their own cartridges and
Nice!! Thank you so much, Mr Goulet. I came searching for answers re: where to obtain the syringes. They are plentiful from online sources. I was wondering if a random comment might answer my question, i.e., does anyone sell them locally? art supply stores, Michaels crafts, walmart, or CVS? lol I want one today!
For at-home desk purposes, I keep a shot glass handy for placing my half-filled cartridges upright. I insert a pointy wooden toothpick into the hole, not the flat toothpicks but the fancier ones w/ point, as they taper down to a point. Use the natural blonde wood toothpicks, not the multi-colored dyed ones, for obvious reasons.
+John E Not necessarily. But it's good to keep a regular cleaning routine to keep the nib and feed working well. :) If you're using the same color you could probably just refill again and be fine! -Margaret
Wow, such a simple solution, thanks! I will definitely try this. :) I do have a question to which I hope you have (or anyone has) the answer to. I noticed there are 3.2mm and 2.6mm cartridges available. I get it's about the opening, but is it the inside or outside I should measure? I have a parker fountain pen and I want some new (non brand) ink cartridges for when I'm not home - but am a bit puzzled about the sizing. Help! ;)
Oh. I figured this out myself about a few weeks ago. I bought tons of dirt cheap standard schneider cartridges, all for a price of ONE converter here in India. The ink was to me really unpalatable, so I flushed half of them and filled em up with Quink/Lamy on two colors. Sad thing I couldn't find any of noodler's inks online. Instead of tapping the cartridge to take out the residual water, some heavy shakes like we do with those old thermometers do great.
This technique would also work for my rollerballs which take international cartridges, of course. I am guessing it works with any kind of cartridge that empties without complications. (I do remember Parker cartridges with the "locked reserve" - not sure if that would be a problem)
It's a little more work to clean them out, but not bad. The water goes into the reserve tank without any problem, and getting it out again works just like getting the reserved ink out: turn it upside down and tap the side of the tank.
Should we put a touch of silicone grease around the tip to prevent potential leaking? Or would that potentially muck up the pen's internals? I know my TWSBI diamond uses silicone grease to prevent leaking in the piston, so I thought the same could be done here.
Sorry about the unfinished message. My iPad's fault! So, the pens that ONLY use their own cartridges can be refilled whit whatever ink you like using this method. I use it on my Lamy vista, but I also refill cartridges for my more expensive pens, like when I'm on a trip which is very useful. Thanks for the vid!
thank you so much u js saved me some money. I was gonna buy a converter but i realise i hav some empty cartridges. Now i can use them instead of the converter
in my experience, it depends on how stretched out the hole gets. We must always be aware of the size of hole needed for the nib to insert. As cartridges are a soft plastic, the hole may widen after ten or so uses. OTOH, if using a narrow gauge, blunt needle and carefully inserting, you may get double that being mindful of not stretching out the opening hole. I'm thinking soaking the empty cartridges in hot (boiled) water may allow the hole to close up a little but I will have to experiment to see if theory works. I think it'll depend on the properties of the plastic. And if water is too hot, the entire cartridge might become misshapen.
I just received my first pen for Christmas, a pilot metropolitan fine nib. Is this a good technique to use to try some ink samples? I received some cartridges as well and wells be able to keep them.
now if you don't have those types of syringe needles or don't have syringes at all, you can use the metal parts of most mechanical pencils instead just connect the base of the metal thing with the syringe and press relatively hard on the syringe for it to work kinda messy if you don't press hard
Ty man i got pilot namki cartage blue they are soo light blue don't get satisfaction going to fill it with Parker quink blue ink which is darker in shade
Is it important or necessary to use distilled water, or is tap water fine? (in my case, I'm working on a platinum Preppy...so it probably hardly matters at all XD)
Sir, I am Kabindra Nath Bhaduri. I have a question. Sir you told how to refill a cartridge but this process is safe, by this my fountain pen can be damage ? I have a Camlin Kokuyo Trinity Fountain Pen with 3-in-1 Mechanism (Color may vary).
Noodler's is the only one I know that makes a permanent refillable cartridge (www.gouletpens.com/products/noodlers-308-refillable-cartridges?variant=11884735463467 ) but they are designed to fit Noodler's pens exclusively. - Colin
If the cartridge in the pen sat around for awhile and the ink evaporated a lot can you just take a syringe and refill the cartridge. And why does ink evaporate over time in the cartridge in the pen. Is it due to not having a tight connection or Is this just to be expected. Thanks
To be expected as ink does evaporate even though the nib is capped. Platinum fountain pen range does have great cap technology that keeps ink really well, so you may wish to look that up.
Hey there, what I did was just rub the needle against an unpolished ceramic piece till it becomes blunt. I used an unpolished end of an old coffee mug. You can also try rubbing the needle carefully against a sand paper or abrasive paper. Be gentle and patient as the needle has every tendency to bend. It took me close to 20 minutes to make a blunt needle. I guess I am little late to reply. But better late than never!! Happy writing!!
@@AkhileshSingh-or7nh I don't own a Metropolitan, but it should work. A syringe needle is very thin, it can be easily used to refill any cartridge. As cartridge opening is relatively bigger than a needle.
Hi, i have a question, I bought a fountain pen, since I bought it I have not been able to use it, I do not know what happens when the ink does not come out, incredible but true, it is the first fountain pen I use and I do not know how to achieve it. I already have 3 cartridges of ink that I put, and I washed the pen, but only when I wash and dry and I use the excess water that is mixed with the ink if it works, once the water is finished the ink does not come out. (Of course this with your cartridge installed) are the cartridges that are dry? Is a Cross Bailey Blue Lacquer, and the cartridges are also Cross. Thankyou so much for your help.
I can't really speak on that pen/cartridges in particular as I'm not familiar with Cross, but some pens do need a bit of a jumpstart to get writing. We do have a video on a few ways to try out (th-cam.com/video/x1tU5-Skk7E/w-d-xo.html), so that might help. Definitely make sure the cartridges are punctured completely. For some pens, it takes quite a bit of force to achieve that. - Colin
After finishing the cartridge that came with my Metropolitan , I cleaned it and found a black disc like shaped piece of plastic inside. What is that should I keep it or do I throw it ?
It's most likely just a piece of the plastic that got pushed in when you punctured the cartridge to use. I think you're safe to throw it away as cartridges are meant to be disposable. - Colin
Is there a way to empty out a full carriage? I'm about to order a few platinum preppys from you and there is no way I'm gonna spend $21on converters for $10 worth of pens. I want to know if I can take the full cartridges that come with the pen, empty them out, and fill them up with some ink samples.
Yes you can When you get the cartridge, insert it like you would but keep the nib up to avoid the ink from filling up the pen Take the cartridge out and if you don't have a syringe you can just keep tapping the cartridge in the sink until the ink is out and then rinse it out. It might be impossible to rinse out the cartridge without a syringe though Anyway when those are clean then you can fill them with the samples
How come there are no double sized cartridges aimed at manual refilling? i.e. what you are doing in this video, but with a longer cartridge to hold around 1ml ? I now there are double sized pre-filled cartridges out there, but I can't find any empty ones purpose made for this.
It's not something a lot of companies have thought about, but Noodler's does have something that's similar to what you're describing (www.gouletpens.com/noodlers-308-refillable-cartridges/p/N18070). Holds a lot of ink and works with the Ahab. - Colin
I came across the on ebay. Right now I just buy some of the extra long iso cartridges, flush them out and use those for my pens. It just seemed like I could not be the only one doing this :)
Pens generally come with cartridges but a lot of the time, you have to buy them. In the case of Lamy, you save like $5+shipping cost to just fill it again
Ink capacity. In my parker for example, the converter only holds a third of what the cartridge hold. I find that my converter barely lasts a day while the refilled cartridge can breeze through a day or two with some left for the third day. i am a student so i write a lot of notes. So ink capacity is important. piston fillers are out of my price range buy the parker cartridges have nearly as much ink capacity. :)
I'm guessing you're filling the long size cartridges then, am I correct? I also have a Parker converter but haven't used it yet as I'm still sticking with the cartridges that I have left, which are the short sized ones, doesn't the converter have the same ink capacity as the short cartridges?
***** I haven't seen a short cartridge in person as the local stationery store only carry the long ones. But I'm guessing they are more or less the same. If ink capacity is important to you definitely get the long ones. I have no exact measurements but in my Parker IM, the long cartridge is almost the same size as the barrel. So the ink capacity is definitely closer to eyedropper.... or at least a piston. :)
***** On second thought I did a bit of digging and found these www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/256177-pelikan-piston-filler-ink-capacities/ www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/232705-how-many-ml-of-ink-in-a-cartridge/ Discussions within did prove that piston and the parker cartridge have roughly the same ink capacity. :)
+Ashily Lara We do sell them on our site (www.gouletpens.com/goulet-5ml-ink-syringe-set/p/GPC-InkSyringe) in a package of two. In my opinion, a must-have for fountain pen enthusiasts. - Colin
well if you have patience and time on your side I would suggest you to buy a regular needle and carefully rub it against an unpolished ceramic piece or a sand paper till it becomes blunt. This worked for me but took 20 minutes to reach the blunt state. Hope it helps. Happy writing!
Can you recommend a way to pre fill cartridges and bring them with you? Because the ball isn't there, as you say, the ink will drip out of you turn it upside down. Having to refill it this way on the go might not be the easiest way.
That's a Monteverde Invincia (www.gouletpens.com/monteverde-invincia/c/206), unfortunately they no longer offer this one with the rose gold trim. - Colin
It's a Monteverde Invincia Deluxe with the rose gold trim (www.gouletpens.com/monteverde-invincia-deluxe-fountain-pen-rose-gold-medium/p/MV41293-M). Beautiful pen. - Colin
This may sound simplistic, but couldn't this be done with the converter? I have several pens that came with converters and find you don't get a lot of ink drawn into the tube. I'm talking about the screw converter here. Also, the nib gets heavily inked if you dip it into the ink bottle. I'm a newbie so it's just my observation.
I've heard of people using hot glue guns to reseal a cartridge, but never done it myself. Not sure I would trust that, but Noodler's does have refillable cartridges for their Ahab fountain pen: www.gouletpens.com/products/noodlers-308-refillable-cartridges?variant=11884735463467 - Colin
Yeah, they're pretty cavernous cartridges. I think the ink syringe works well with cleaning them out too, shoots the water in all those areas that are tough. Also, soaking them in water over night helps loosen things up a bit. - Colin
Hey there! Did you try with filling the cartridges with lukewarm water and soaking overnight again in lukewarm water? I don't own a Lamy though, one of my old pen had some tough dried ink, but lukewarm water did the trick. Hope it helps!
When I tried this with Lamy cartridge (because the friend who gave it to me had been doing such), the ink tended more to come out then go in. Worse, once filled, the ink just ran out of the pen. A reply be greatly appreciated.
Yes, this is one of the best uses of refilling a cartridge. Some converters can actually cost up to $15, so refilling a cartridge can help to save some real bucks if it's on a pen with a proprietary cartridge.
The Goulet Pen Company and this has a tiny but sincere gesture of producing less garbage. Thanks for the video!
I would suggest using a spring-type clothes pin to hold the cartridge. You fingers will be cleaner.
Been doing this from day one, and very grateful to the Goulets for giving me the idea!
This is a useful way to get the last few mL out of a nearly empty ink bottle that you can't QUITE reach with the converter's self-filling mechanism too.
My mom gave me a shocked face seeing the syringe on my table 🤣
I'm happy to hear it! This is a Monteverde Invincia Deluxe with rose gold trim.
Thanks for the video. Since I refill my printers ink cartridges, I think I'll try refilling my fountain pen cartridges too, and now I can try different inks. Thanks Brian.
Very great tutorial ! I was about to buy converters for my Waterman Graduate pens but it might be very expensive at the end... so instead I will use empty cartridges that I already have ! It will be much more less expensive and it will also have a better ink capacity than an usual piston conveter (about double ink capacity with long blue Waterman cartridges) ! The only thing to "worry about" is to make sure to renew cartridges as soon as possible each time we refill them because they get lesser lifetime.
This is something I haven't tried yet myself, but I'm told that with a bit of practice, hot glue can work okay to seal cartridges. I don't know about traveling with them though, I'd be worried about leaking if I was making my own homemade cartridges. You're probably best off using new ones if you're traveling, and refilling ones if you plan to keep them at home or at the office.
Hot glue works, keep the tip dry from inks and fill the tip a bit with a drop of hot glue, and pull the gun a bit so a strand of hot glue are left. That little end helps you to pull out the glue plug. I've tried bringing refilled carts on trips, but yeah, its a hassle. I haven't got any that spilled out though. Most of the times, a filled cartridge in a pen plus a tube of spare cart is all I need for a trip,
You're very welcome :) I've been really happy with Monteverde, they're still kind of an undiscovered brand of pen!
This was a very helpful video. Thanks Brian.
YESSSS thank you so much! Always wanted to do this instead of purchasing multiple converters
Hey @BrianGoulet:
Very good education on refilling cartridges.
Hi Brian, thanks for your video, very helpful for washing and refilling cartridge.
Recently i got an ink pen. Now the ink is empty, but i don't know how i fill the ink. None of my friends, cousins aren't familiar with this.
Now this video helps me a lot.
Thanks buddy😊
Hi Brian, thanks for this video. Just bought some ink syringes - 1 inch and 2 inch blunt needles.
So..glad to kw that there are thousands like me who do not ve the stone heart to throw away the empty Catrideges of our lovely pens.😍
If you are traveling or go through a lot of ink and don’t want to carry your bottle you can use a little hot glue to seal the top and toss the refilled cartridges in your bag so they are ready when you need them, just pop the “seal” off and you are ready to go
Would the heat from the hot glue distort (melt) the cartridge opening?
@@MarcellHobbs probably depends on how hot your glue gun is. I’ve always used “cooler” ones that haven’t distorted anything.
@@ciannacoleman5125 Thanks for the info. I have no idea the temp of mine. I know it hurts (blisters) when I get it on my skin. I’ll have to investigate.
great tutorial!! Thank you very much!!
SG 2011 You're welcome! -Brian Goulet
Nice! There are cheap cartridges around, we just have to look for them (as you did here!). I haven't seen any pen/ink companies that sell empty cartridges though. I doubt we ever will.
The Goulet Pen Company we can take pen
Lamy T10 make cartridges in all colours of the rainbow and many more, if you're not using a Lamy pen you can use the method here on this video to refill your cartridges.
Thank you! Very helpful ✍️ 🖊️
Thank you for helping I was also going to do this love from India
That works too! As long as the water comes out :)
I never thought of this.
+MyFloridaLife Oh yeah! It's pretty easy and helpful to do :) -Margaret
I'm loving this series of videos. What brand is the pen you used for this video
Hi! What's the size of the syringe needle you're using?
Will this create a loose connection over time and cause leaks, since the hole in the cartridge will lose its ability to create a tight seal with the feed?
You make me wish I didn’t just throw away my empty cartridge!
Well, luckily a pack of cartridges are pretty affordable if you want to go with this route. - Colin
leela ink cartridges is very cheap in india so we throw it or keep it no problem
How much do cartridges cost in the US? In Poland it's about $1 for 25 of the generic ones
Bartosz Olszewski $60
In india it costs around 10 rs(. 7$) for 3 cartridges...
Just what I needed! Hank you.
Indeed it was helpful, I got solution for my sheaffer vfm , thank you 😇❤️
Hey Brian! First of all, I really enjoy your videos! I tried this out with Namiki Cartridges and the small blue thing(that gets punctured when you put it inside the pen) is not allowing me to get a proper ink flow. Do you know any way of removing it? Thanks!
+Kaushal Kanikaram
I was going to ask the exact same. I believe you can squeeze the cartridges near the tip and rattle the blue bit out of there with help from a needle or toothpick. I guess that would work without damaging the cartridge although I haven't tested the theory yet.
+FungusMossGnosis I tried once, it didn't work. :/
Kaushal Kanikaram
I just gave my Pilot converter to a friend and decided to just refill cartridges hereon, and I can attest it does work fine, we just need to be a little patient with it. Good luck!
+FungusMossGnosis thanks! I actually decided to scrap the cartridges and starting filling converters. It works better for me!
I just pulled it out with a pair of fine tweezers.
Useful Info thanks
Great vid! I use regular 5 ml syringes (because of my profession they are always around) but I do not recommend them at all. You WILL get poked sooner or later (no matter how careful you are), so a blunt tip needle is the best way to go. Another alternative is a bent needle (you can check out Sbrebrown's vid on that) but I'm too lazy to go and search for one :) Cartridge refilling is particularly useful for pens that use only their own cartridges and
Super sharp needles are like super sharp fish hooks - you may not even feel them penetrating. Bravo - great warning.
And then you end up with a prisoner’s tattoo 😮
How many refills can a pilot cartridge survive before it has to be thrown away?
hi, thank you , you have answered a lot of my question, I dont know how to a blunt end needle hope you can help
Nice!! Thank you so much, Mr Goulet.
I came searching for answers re: where to obtain the syringes.
They are plentiful from online sources. I was wondering if a random comment might answer my question, i.e., does anyone sell them locally? art supply stores, Michaels crafts, walmart, or CVS? lol I want one today!
Do you have any suggestions on how to store partially used cartridges for situations where one might have a need to change ink color mid cartridge?
We have heard of people having success using some candle wax or a hot glue gun to reseal the end of the cartridge. :) -Lydia
@@Gouletpens Thank you very much.
For at-home desk purposes, I keep a shot glass handy for placing my half-filled cartridges upright.
I insert a pointy wooden toothpick into the hole, not the flat toothpicks but the fancier ones w/ point, as they taper down to a point. Use the natural blonde wood toothpicks, not the multi-colored dyed ones, for obvious reasons.
Do I need to flush the cartridge every time I refill even if I'm using the same color?
+John E Not necessarily. But it's good to keep a regular cleaning routine to keep the nib and feed working well. :) If you're using the same color you could probably just refill again and be fine! -Margaret
Cool Thanks!
Thanks so much
Wow, such a simple solution, thanks! I will definitely try this. :)
I do have a question to which I hope you have (or anyone has) the answer to. I noticed there are 3.2mm and 2.6mm cartridges available. I get it's about the opening, but is it the inside or outside I should measure? I have a parker fountain pen and I want some new (non brand) ink cartridges for when I'm not home - but am a bit puzzled about the sizing. Help! ;)
Oh. I figured this out myself about a few weeks ago. I bought tons of dirt cheap standard schneider cartridges, all for a price of ONE converter here in India.
The ink was to me really unpalatable, so I flushed half of them and filled em up with Quink/Lamy on two colors. Sad thing I couldn't find any of noodler's inks online.
Instead of tapping the cartridge to take out the residual water, some heavy shakes like we do with those old thermometers do great.
This technique would also work for my rollerballs which take international cartridges, of course. I am guessing it works with any kind of cartridge that empties without complications. (I do remember Parker cartridges with the "locked reserve" - not sure if that would be a problem)
It's a little more work to clean them out, but not bad. The water goes into the reserve tank without any problem, and getting it out again works just like getting the reserved ink out: turn it upside down and tap the side of the tank.
thank you!
Great video!!
it sure can, any cartridge can!
Glad to see that i am not the only one who does that 😅
Should we put a touch of silicone grease around the tip to prevent potential leaking? Or would that potentially muck up the pen's internals? I know my TWSBI diamond uses silicone grease to prevent leaking in the piston, so I thought the same could be done here.
Sorry about the unfinished message. My iPad's fault! So, the pens that ONLY use their own cartridges can be refilled whit whatever ink you like using this method. I use it on my Lamy vista, but I also refill cartridges for my more expensive pens, like when I'm on a trip which is very useful. Thanks for the vid!
thank you so much u js saved me some money. I was gonna buy a converter but i realise i hav some empty cartridges. Now i can use them instead of the converter
Thank you
Can i ask how many times i can refill a cartridge? I have a Kaweco Sport Brass pen and Kaweco does not make many ink colors. Thank you.
in my experience, it depends on how stretched out the hole gets. We must always be aware of the size of hole needed for the nib to insert.
As cartridges are a soft plastic, the hole may widen after ten or so uses. OTOH, if using a narrow gauge, blunt needle and carefully inserting, you may get double that being mindful of not stretching out the opening hole.
I'm thinking soaking the empty cartridges in hot (boiled) water may allow the hole to close up a little but I will have to experiment to see if theory works.
I think it'll depend on the properties of the plastic. And if water is too hot, the entire cartridge might become misshapen.
That's funny! Hey, whatever works, as long as ink's in the pen and you can write with it ;)
I just received my first pen for Christmas, a pilot metropolitan fine nib. Is this a good technique to use to try some ink samples? I received some cartridges as well and wells be able to keep them.
Yeah, this would work great with the samples. Those ink syringes are really useful for that purpose. - Colin
now if you don't have those types of syringe needles or don't have syringes at all, you can use the metal parts of most mechanical pencils instead
just connect the base of the metal thing with the syringe and press relatively hard on the syringe for it to work
kinda messy if you don't press hard
Is there a chance that once you remove the cartridge from your pen that the seal will not be as secure as when popping in from new.
Wonderful!!! I'm sooo going to buy it. Thanks
what pen is that you've demonstrated with? I love the rose gold and blac
Vault Bro That's a Monteverde Invincia Deluxe Rose Gold: www.gouletpens.com/mv41293/p/MV41293 -Brian Goulet
Ty man i got pilot namki cartage blue they are soo light blue don't get satisfaction going to fill it with Parker quink blue ink which is darker in shade
If I used a needle bottle with ink to refill my cartridges, would I need yo clean the needle after every use?
+AngieGandalf6 We'd recommend cleaning the ink syringe any time you're going to change the ink color you're using! -Margaret
Should I flush it every time I refill it or just if I want to change colors?
+MsRaydale It's not a bad idea, but definitely when you change colors!
Is it important or necessary to use distilled water, or is tap water fine? (in my case, I'm working on a platinum Preppy...so it probably hardly matters at all XD)
Sir, I am Kabindra Nath Bhaduri. I have a question.
Sir you told how to refill a cartridge but this process is safe, by this my fountain pen can be damage ?
I have a Camlin Kokuyo Trinity Fountain Pen with 3-in-1 Mechanism (Color may vary).
In Platinum cartridge, there is a ball or such in it. Is it safe to insert the syringe into it?
Yeah, those are just agitators to help the ink flow smoothly, feel free to use an ink syringe still. - Colin
Are there any cartridges made of a more durable material that's easily cleaned? Like a specialized refill cartridge?
Noodler's is the only one I know that makes a permanent refillable cartridge (www.gouletpens.com/products/noodlers-308-refillable-cartridges?variant=11884735463467 ) but they are designed to fit Noodler's pens exclusively. - Colin
If the cartridge in the pen sat around for awhile and the ink evaporated a lot can you just take a syringe and refill the cartridge. And why does ink evaporate over time in the cartridge in the pen. Is it due to not having a tight connection or Is this just to be expected. Thanks
To be expected as ink does evaporate even though the nib is capped. Platinum fountain pen range does have great cap technology that keeps ink really well, so you may wish to look that up.
Hey bro! Greetings from México and thanks for the video... I have a question, can I refill the cartridge of the Parker Vector pen?
Help please!
Hi, Tadeo. Yes, you can refill the cartridge in the same way that is shown in this video. -Lydia
Where do you recommend finding blunt-tip 18-gauge needles? Would a pharmacy have them?
+Carrie Behlke take a normal needle and chop the end off , i'm a medical student and used to normal "sharp" needle doesn't make much difference
Hey there, what I did was just rub the needle against an unpolished ceramic piece till it becomes blunt. I used an unpolished end of an old coffee mug. You can also try rubbing the needle carefully against a sand paper or abrasive paper. Be gentle and patient as the needle has every tendency to bend. It took me close to 20 minutes to make a blunt needle. I guess I am little late to reply. But better late than never!! Happy writing!!
@@vidur.vachan do it work with pilot pen cartidge specifically for metropolitan
@@AkhileshSingh-or7nh I don't own a Metropolitan, but it should work. A syringe needle is very thin, it can be easily used to refill any cartridge. As cartridge opening is relatively bigger than a needle.
Amazon
I am literally new to fountain pens and I literally don't know how to assemble it.
lol I was doing that before I knew converters existed :)
How would one refill and reseal them?
can you put a flex nib on a Jinhao or Lamy???
+moevervaet616 It might fit on the Jinhao, but We don't recommend it, the feed doesn't keep up with the ink flow needed. -Margaret
thanks Margaret
Can I do this with caran d'ache cartridges?
You can do this with any cartridge as long as it's cleaned out. - Colin
Where can I purchase those two syringes? Are they on your site?
+rockero Yup! You can find them here: www.gouletpens.com/goulet-5ml-ink-syringe-set/p/GPC-InkSyringe -Margaret
What kind of syringe do you use?
Brian uses the GPC ink syringes that are pretty basic offerings (www.gouletpens.com/goulet-5ml-ink-syringe-set/p/GPC-InkSyringe). - Colin
Hi, i have a question, I bought a fountain pen, since I bought it I have not been able to use it, I do not know what happens when the ink does not come out, incredible but true, it is the first fountain pen I use and I do not know how to achieve it. I already have 3 cartridges of ink that I put, and I washed the pen, but only when I wash and dry and I use the excess water that is mixed with the ink if it works, once the water is finished the ink does not come out. (Of course this with your cartridge installed) are the cartridges that are dry? Is a Cross Bailey Blue Lacquer, and the cartridges are also Cross.
Thankyou so much for your help.
I can't really speak on that pen/cartridges in particular as I'm not familiar with Cross, but some pens do need a bit of a jumpstart to get writing. We do have a video on a few ways to try out (th-cam.com/video/x1tU5-Skk7E/w-d-xo.html), so that might help. Definitely make sure the cartridges are punctured completely. For some pens, it takes quite a bit of force to achieve that. - Colin
thank you!! =)
Can you use any ink with any fp?
As long as it's labelled for fountain pen us. India ink or Calligraphy ink will ruin the pen. - Colin
After finishing the cartridge that came with my Metropolitan , I cleaned it and found a black disc like shaped piece of plastic inside. What is that should I keep it or do I throw it ?
It's most likely just a piece of the plastic that got pushed in when you punctured the cartridge to use. I think you're safe to throw it away as cartridges are meant to be disposable. - Colin
Is there a way to empty out a full carriage? I'm about to order a few platinum preppys from you and there is no way I'm gonna spend $21on converters for $10 worth of pens. I want to know if I can take the full cartridges that come with the pen, empty them out, and fill them up with some ink samples.
Yes you can
When you get the cartridge, insert it like you would but keep the nib up to avoid the ink from filling up the pen
Take the cartridge out and if you don't have a syringe you can just keep tapping the cartridge in the sink until the ink is out and then rinse it out. It might be impossible to rinse out the cartridge without a syringe though
Anyway when those are clean then you can fill them with the samples
+Nick H thank you!
Ryan Metevier no problem! Let me know how it turns out :)
+Ryan Metevier Yeah, ink syringes are a necessity when it comes to using cartridges. It's pretty much the only way to fill one back up! - Colin
can you reseal it after you refill it? rubber cement ?? glue? what works?
Scott Harris i advise against this unless you can seal it exactly the way it was before, else you may end up messing up your fp.
Scott Harris I heard of someone carrying ink in a needle tip bottle that they carry in a pencil case or some hard case.
How come there are no double sized cartridges aimed at manual refilling? i.e. what you are doing in this video, but with a longer cartridge to hold around 1ml ? I now there are double sized pre-filled cartridges out there, but I can't find any empty ones purpose made for this.
It's not something a lot of companies have thought about, but Noodler's does have something that's similar to what you're describing (www.gouletpens.com/noodlers-308-refillable-cartridges/p/N18070). Holds a lot of ink and works with the Ahab. - Colin
I came across the on ebay. Right now I just buy some of the extra long iso cartridges, flush them out and use those for my pens. It just seemed like I could not be the only one doing this :)
what are the advantages of filling a cartridge as opposed to using a converter?
Pens generally come with cartridges but a lot of the time, you have to buy them. In the case of Lamy, you save like $5+shipping cost to just fill it again
Ink capacity. In my parker for example, the converter only holds a third of what the cartridge hold. I find that my converter barely lasts a day while the refilled cartridge can breeze through a day or two with some left for the third day. i am a student so i write a lot of notes. So ink capacity is important. piston fillers are out of my price range buy the parker cartridges have nearly as much ink capacity. :)
I'm guessing you're filling the long size cartridges then, am I correct? I also have a Parker converter but haven't used it yet as I'm still sticking with the cartridges that I have left, which are the short sized ones, doesn't the converter have the same ink capacity as the short cartridges?
***** I haven't seen a short cartridge in person as the local stationery store only carry the long ones. But I'm guessing they are more or less the same. If ink capacity is important to you definitely get the long ones. I have no exact measurements but in my Parker IM, the long cartridge is almost the same size as the barrel. So the ink capacity is definitely closer to eyedropper.... or at least a piston. :)
***** On second thought I did a bit of digging and found these
www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/256177-pelikan-piston-filler-ink-capacities/
www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/232705-how-many-ml-of-ink-in-a-cartridge/
Discussions within did prove that piston and the parker cartridge have roughly the same ink capacity. :)
Where can you find those types of needles?
+Ashily Lara We do sell them on our site (www.gouletpens.com/goulet-5ml-ink-syringe-set/p/GPC-InkSyringe) in a package of two. In my opinion, a must-have for fountain pen enthusiasts. - Colin
well if you have patience and time on your side I would suggest you to buy a regular needle and carefully rub it against an unpolished ceramic piece or a sand paper till it becomes blunt. This worked for me but took 20 minutes to reach the blunt state. Hope it helps. Happy writing!
Is the ink archival?
Yes, Noodler's Black is archival. - Colin
in my cartridges i have a ball kinda thing what is the use of that ??
It's probably an ink agitator. It's designed to keep the ink moving and flowing better. - Colin
Can you recommend a way to pre fill cartridges and bring them with you? Because the ball isn't there, as you say, the ink will drip out of you turn it upside down. Having to refill it this way on the go might not be the easiest way.
+Magnus Hällegårdh eh...hot glue maybe, but that's not super secure. Basically, there's not a great way to do it. -Brian Goulet
What pen is that?
That's a Monteverde Invincia (www.gouletpens.com/monteverde-invincia/c/206), unfortunately they no longer offer this one with the rose gold trim. - Colin
What kind of pen is that
It's a Monteverde Invincia Deluxe with the rose gold trim (www.gouletpens.com/monteverde-invincia-deluxe-fountain-pen-rose-gold-medium/p/MV41293-M). Beautiful pen. - Colin
do I need to have a long needle sryinge
It helps a lot
can I
use a syringe without a needle and just the plastic part at the top
The needle is the important part. It offers the precision necessary to do this. Without it, the ink can go anywhere. - Colin
thnx
Difficult to understand.
The problem with fountain pen is drying up the ink in summer and refilling which makes the hand dirty.
why not wear thing rubber gloves artists and doctors use?. Get them from surgical or medical supply outlet, Flea Market, amazon.
This may sound simplistic, but couldn't this be done with the converter? I have several pens that came with converters and find you don't get a lot of ink drawn into the tube. I'm talking about the screw converter here. Also, the nib gets heavily inked if you dip it into the ink bottle. I'm a newbie so it's just my observation.
You can totally do this with a converter as well. That ink syringe is super handy, especially if you want a full fill. - Colin
Dip the converter directly
Hey Brian I have a question for you. Can a cartrige be resealed
I've heard of people using hot glue guns to reseal a cartridge, but never done it myself. Not sure I would trust that, but Noodler's does have refillable cartridges for their Ahab fountain pen: www.gouletpens.com/products/noodlers-308-refillable-cartridges?variant=11884735463467 - Colin
Lorna Henrichsen I also heard of someone carrying a needle tip bottle with ink in a a pencil case.
Where is the cartridge ball
Do i need to wash my pen before i refill the cartridge which is different color?
+Lai Jerry Yeah, whenever you switch inks (even if it's the same color), it's recommended to give it a good cleaning. - Colin
+The Goulet Pen Company thank you Colin.
Why are you touching the needle like that
To point out that it's blunt and mostly harmless. He wouldn't be doing that with a needle intended for injections -- they're sharp!
This does NOT work well for Lamy. Their cartridge are hell to clean
Yeah, they're pretty cavernous cartridges. I think the ink syringe works well with cleaning them out too, shoots the water in all those areas that are tough. Also, soaking them in water over night helps loosen things up a bit. - Colin
Hey there! Did you try with filling the cartridges with lukewarm water and soaking overnight again in lukewarm water? I don't own a Lamy though, one of my old pen had some tough dried ink, but lukewarm water did the trick. Hope it helps!
When I tried this with Lamy cartridge (because the friend who gave it to me had been doing such), the ink tended more to come out then go in. Worse, once filled, the ink just ran out of the pen.
A reply be greatly appreciated.
Adriel Rowley Why don’t you get a Lamy converter? They work pretty well and are not that expensive.