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Old Rotring Rapidograph Ink Recommendations

Tirvine

Tirvine

ancient grey sweatophile
What black ink do you recommend for old Rotring Rapidograph (#1 and 2) pens? They are primarily for drawing on suitable coated paper. Ages ago, before the www had even been conceived, ignorance of finer points of ink was hard to overcome. So I used whatever was available, both for ink and for my paper, and it fortunately worked adequately. I am returning to drawing and want to load them with more care. This ought to open new vistas. I have been sketching some with my daily driver Pelikan with the gold EF nib and Pelikan blue black, re-acquainting myself with drawing rather than writing.
 
blethenstrom

blethenstrom

Tirvine said:
What black ink do you recommend for old Rotring Rapidograph (#1 and 2) pens? They are primarily for drawing on suitable coated paper. Ages ago, before the www had even been conceived, ignorance of finer points of ink was hard to overcome. So I used whatever was available, both for ink and for my paper, and it fortunately worked adequately. I am returning to drawing and want to load them with more care. This ought to open new vistas. I have been sketching some with my daily driver Pelikan with the gold EF nib and Pelikan blue black, re-acquainting myself with drawing rather than writing.
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JetPens.com - Rotring Rapidograph Refill - Black - 3 Cartridges - https://www.jetpens.com/Rotring-Rapidograph-Refill-Black-3-Cartridges/pd/8025

Is this kind of what you are looking for or? Are you refilling the cartridges? If so, looks like a pigment based ink. Platinum Carbon Black, De Atramentis Document Black comes to mind
 
Tirvine

Tirvine

ancient grey sweatophile
blethenstrom said:
JetPens.com - Rotring Rapidograph Refill - Black - 3 Cartridges - https://www.jetpens.com/Rotring-Rapidograph-Refill-Black-3-Cartridges/pd/8025

Is this kind of what you are looking for or? Are you refilling the cartridges? If so, looks like a pigment based ink. Platinum Carbon Black, De Atramentis Document Black comes to mind
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You are obviously knowledgeable. Thanks so much. I also have an old piston fill Koh-i-noor. Any recommendations for a good black or sepia? Same Ink?

Tim
 
Legion

Legion

Staff member
I have some vintage ones I found in a thrift store.

I have not yet even tried to clean and use them, as after doing research I found that the specific ink that they are designed to work with is akin to India ink, making cleaning them once they are dried and gunked up a major chore. Inks that work in fountain pens will not work in these, apparently.

IMG_7586.jpeg
 
P

psfred

Lots of drawing inks work fine in those pens as long as you clean them out every use. Fountain pen inks work fine as long as the paper is sized properly, drawing inks usually contain shellac or something similar to prevent bleed. Best to flush completely as soon as you are finished with them.

I have bad memories of drawing graphs for publications with Rapidographs, I always seemed to have at least one pen clogged all the time. Still have the set in my desk after 40 years.

For those not familiar with this type of pen, they have a hollow tube for a nib with a valve operated by a pin that fits inside the tube. No ink flow until the tube is in contact with the paper and the pin lifts the valve up, very slick design but a real bear to clean if you let drawing ink set up in them. The normal set was six or eight different width "nibs" as I remember.
 
Tirvine

Tirvine

ancient grey sweatophile
blethenstrom

blethenstrom

Tirvine said:
It is a fountain pen with the typical Rapidograph needle-like point. The piston knob looks like an actual knob rather than the rounded end of the body.

www.ebay.com

Vintage Koh-I-Noor Rapidograph Drafting Art Drawing Pens Lot | eBay

The pen with a grey band has " Rapidograph 3060 No.1 " on it and the brown band one was not legible. The grey pen with a split in the barrel has " U.S.A Koh-I-Noor No 3035HO ".
www.ebay.com
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Yeah not sure what ink they take. If you cannot find out you can always try some fountain pen ink and see what it does. It may be too runny, but you have nothing to loose. Besides if you use a benign fountain pen ink like a Parker Quink, Lamy, Waterman, Pilot, they will be easy to clean out if they do not work.
 
Tirvine

Tirvine

ancient grey sweatophile
Ever used one like this? Easy to clean and no need to change pens to adjust width. Only problem was the invariable mess.

1711025695729.jpeg
 
blethenstrom

blethenstrom

blethenstrom said:
Yeah not sure what ink they take. If you cannot find out you can always try some fountain pen ink and see what it does. It may be too runny, but you have nothing to loose. Besides if you use a benign fountain pen ink like a Parker Quink, Lamy, Waterman, Pilot, they will be easy to clean out if they do not work.
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Now I did find this page on koh-i-noor
PENS | kinusa - https://www.kohinoorusa.com/rapidograph
and it seems to indicate this ink
INKS | kinusa - https://www.kohinoorusa.com/inks
 
Tirvine

Tirvine

ancient grey sweatophile
psfred said:
My brother has my Dad's drafting set of those pens. Used to make final "master" drawings for blue-print production.
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I inherited my father's drafting tools, referred to at USNA as a steam kit. It had compasses, dividers, pens of that sort, and more. I spent countless hours drawing with it. A couple of years ago I passed it on to the next generation of the USN.
 
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