I love pens and ink but I don't like ink all over my fingers and I'm not really comfortable with syringes and needles. I've been playing around with this idea for years and thought I'd share.
Essentially we will make a bulb filler mod for cartridges so you can suck ink through the nib and feed into your reservoir from a bottle, just like a converter. All you need is an old cartridge (I chose international for a Kaweco Sport), some sandpaper, shellac, and a #18 rubber sac.
Cut the cart to about 3/4 inch long from the opening. The sac can be just about any length to fit the pen's body, in this case it's really short for the tiny sport pen.
Use your sandpaper or a file to rough up the surface of the cart so the shellac will hold. You can leave the tiny agitator ball in there if you want, I chucked mine. It helps with the surface tension some inks have. Clean up any loose plastic shards and paint some shellac on the rough surface.
OK, stick them together (dexterity check!) and give a 1/4 turn spin to make sure the shellac is evenly spread, then straighten it out. Let it dry for a while, like half an hour.
You're done, find an ink bottle.
This can be done for just about every modern cartridge pen. Carts were invented for a reason, they are convenient. But sometimes fresh ones are hard to start (flood the feed) and you can't cleanly and easily use your fancy ink colors without refilling through that miserable tiny hole. Voilà!
Essentially we will make a bulb filler mod for cartridges so you can suck ink through the nib and feed into your reservoir from a bottle, just like a converter. All you need is an old cartridge (I chose international for a Kaweco Sport), some sandpaper, shellac, and a #18 rubber sac.
Cut the cart to about 3/4 inch long from the opening. The sac can be just about any length to fit the pen's body, in this case it's really short for the tiny sport pen.
Use your sandpaper or a file to rough up the surface of the cart so the shellac will hold. You can leave the tiny agitator ball in there if you want, I chucked mine. It helps with the surface tension some inks have. Clean up any loose plastic shards and paint some shellac on the rough surface.
OK, stick them together (dexterity check!) and give a 1/4 turn spin to make sure the shellac is evenly spread, then straighten it out. Let it dry for a while, like half an hour.
You're done, find an ink bottle.
This can be done for just about every modern cartridge pen. Carts were invented for a reason, they are convenient. But sometimes fresh ones are hard to start (flood the feed) and you can't cleanly and easily use your fancy ink colors without refilling through that miserable tiny hole. Voilà!
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