clogged parker 51

[drøn]

i'm sorry if this has been covered before, but i couldn't find anything.

i have an old parker 51 aeromatic that seems to be good and well clogged up.
i have tried to let it sit in a cup of water, but it didn't help it at all. is there anything else i can do? is there a certain substance that will dissolve the ink?
please help and bear with me. i'm totally new to this subject.

thank you

 

[superbleu]

You can try to soak it a 1:10 dilution of household ammonia (non sudsy)
if that doesn't work you can try Rapido-Eze Cleaner, but not sure if it will damage the plastic barrel or not.

is there any chance someone has used something other than fountain pen ink IE india/drawing ink?
Or are you sure the sac isn't broken?

 

[drøn]

there is residues of something black around the nib that actually very well could be india ink.
and the sac might be broken. how do i test this? submerge it in water and look for bubbles?

 

[superbleu]

there is residues of something black around the nib that actually very well could be india ink.
and the sac might be broken. how do i test this? submerge it in water and look for bubbles?

That is correct for the sac test. Although the sacs on the aero fillers are pretty durable and rarely need replacing.

Try the ammonia, or if you don't have that, try a 1:1 dilution of regular windex soak it overnight and if still not coming free you might need to send it out for repairs.

 

[drøn]

thank you for the tips. i will try that and report back tomorrow or thereabouts.

 

[GarageBoy]

Avoid Windex, it usually has stuff in there that may mess up the pen. Straight up ammonia is better
Don't even think about alcohol or bleach

 

[Uncle Erik]

Yes, you should soak it in an ammonia/water mix. That will usually loosen things up.

If not, don't despair. There are many techs out there who can disassemble your pen and clean it.