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Problem with Pilot Petit1 Mini

My Pilot Petit1 Mini ran dry. I watched a video on Jet Pens on how to refill with the eyedropper method with this pen. Not difficult. I removed the cartridge. I cleaned out the pen. I put the silicone grease on the threads and filled the pen. Screwed it together, and...the ink never went through the feed system to the nib. It never entered the feed system. I let it set for days. Tried moving it around. Nothing. OK Fine. I cleaned the pen again, refilled the cartridge, replaced it, and screwed the pen back together. Nothing. Again. The ink has moved partway into the feed system, but not to the nib. Any ideas? Chuck it out and go back to the Bic?

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nemo

Lunatic Fringe
Staff member
Thorough cleaning with a good long soak to get any dried ink loosened up from the feed ought to help.

After, when you put the cart in, squeeze it to force ink to the nib. Once started you could probably go back to the eyedropper.

Those little pens are cute but always seemed to run a little too dry and scratchy for my liking.

Good luck!
 
Thorough cleaning with a good long soak to get any dried ink loosened up from the feed ought to help.

After, when you put the cart in, squeeze it to force ink to the nib. Once started you could probably go back to the eyedropper.

Those little pens are cute but always seemed to run a little too dry and scratchy for my liking.

Good luck!
I wouldn't think there would be dried ink. It didn't set too long after I ran it out. When I cleaned it, it soaked in a glass of distilled water for a little while, and I used the bulb to squirt water through it.
 

Doc4

Stumpy in cold weather
Staff member
I have one eyedroppered with Noodler's 5 O'clock Shadow ... no flow problems.

What ink are you using? Maybe try a different ink? Obviously the pen worked for you with the cart, so the ink was getting through ... so I wonder if the eyedropper ink choice was the problem?

Sometimes eyedroppered pens can take a bit of time to start writing, since the ink comes from the reservoir rather than being drawn in through the nib by a converter. (But it works that way for carts too ... so ... who knows.)
 
I have one eyedroppered with Noodler's 5 O'clock Shadow ... no flow problems.

What ink are you using? Maybe try a different ink? Obviously the pen worked for you with the cart, so the ink was getting through ... so I wonder if the eyedropper ink choice was the problem?

Sometimes eyedroppered pens can take a bit of time to start writing, since the ink comes from the reservoir rather than being drawn in through the nib by a converter. (But it works that way for carts too ... so ... who knows.)
I put Diamine Matador red ink in it.
 
OK, so I cleaned out the pen best I can. I used the bulb to try to squirt water through. Unlike the Metropolitan, through which water squirts easily, only a little drop would fall every 4 or 5 seconds. Then I let it soak in water for 3 hours. I get the feeling it still won’t work. I’ll try another time. It’s late.

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AimlessWanderer

Remember to forget me!
I’ll check tomorrow. If I can, what should I do if I can pull it out?

I would clean the individual components with soap and water, then rinse well. Possibly run the tip of a pin/needle down the feed channels too, to help shift any blockages.
 
It's been a while since I fiddled with my Petit. Never had a problem with it. Having dismantled one, and remembering, I think, what the feed looked like, it resembled a bundle of fibers. So the issue may be that it's full...of water, hence the ink won't flow. Let it dry out. I'm pretty sure you can pull the nib out completely. That should hasten drying. Then, with no water to impede it, the ink should soak the feed and flow to the nib.
 
It's been a while since I fiddled with my Petit. Never had a problem with it. Having dismantled one, and remembering, I think, what the feed looked like, it resembled a bundle of fibers. So the issue may be that it's full...of water, hence the ink won't flow. Let it dry out. I'm pretty sure you can pull the nib out completely. That should hasten drying. Then, with no water to impede it, the ink should soak the feed and flow to the nib.
The Jet Pens site says the tip cannot be replaced. I gave a tug on the nib, and it doesn't budge. Since you mentioned full of water, I used the bulb and blew air through it and ended by shaking it in the sink with a plate of water in it, until I could see that there was no more water coming out of it (no water droplets disturbing the water in the plate). It's clearer now than in the above picture. Now I will just let it set to dry out. Not sure how long that should take given the tiny size of the capillary system.
 
The Jet Pens site says the tip cannot be replaced.
Maybe not replaced, but the nib/feed section comes out:
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The feed, which looks like a fibrous wick, can’t work it’s capillary action on the ink if wet.

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So pull it out and let it dry.
 
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Doc4

Stumpy in cold weather
Staff member
The feed, which looks like a fibrous wick, can’t work it’s capillary action on the ink if wet.
Well, it can ... if there is a "pull" from the nib end. That's the same process that allows an ink-saturated feed to draw in more ink from the reservoir when ink is used at the nib end for writing.

So even using a kleenex draw water out through the nib ... and thus ink "in" at the other end ... may work.
 
Well, it can ... if there is a "pull" from the nib end. That's the same process that allows an ink-saturated feed to draw in more ink from the reservoir when ink is used at the nib end for writing.

So even using a kleenex draw water out through the nib ... and thus ink "in" at the other end ... may work.
I tried “writing” the water out on a paper towel thinking that if there’s water there, it would be pulled out the same way ink is when you touch the nub to a paper towel. Nothing came out.
 
OK, so I cleaned out the pen best I can. I used the bulb to try to squirt water through. Unlike the Metropolitan, through which water squirts easily, only a little drop would fall every 4 or 5 seconds. Then I let it soak in water for 3 hours. I get the feeling it still won’t work. I’ll try another time. It’s late.

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Did you try pulling that sealing disk out of the cartridge with tweezers? I've found that sometimes, when refilling Pilot cartridges (usually the long kind, but the shape is the same) that the disk can end up getting into a position where it will block ink flow once you put it back in the pen. Works okay the first time with the original ink, but after that you might have problems.
 
I was able to pull the section out using small pliers. I rinsed it with distilled water and let it sit for several days to dry out. I put it all back together, and the ink (refilled cartridge) still did not flow into the capillary system. It went straight down to the nib, but after I wrote a few letters (a, b, c, not correspondence), the nib would be cleared of ink, and would have to wait for ink to fill the nib again.

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