Introduction: Refill Your Fountain Pen Cartridges and Save
Most newer fountain pens use plastic ink cartridges. You can refill your own and save a lot of money. Refilling also eliminates the problem of finding the cartridge you need in stores.
Bottled ink is easy to find when fountain pens are popular, but harder to find when they are less popular. Their popularity seems to ascend every few years and then fade after a few more years. If you live near a store that specializes in fountain pens, there is no problem. Otherwise, you can order bottled ink from several suppliers on the Internet. Do not use calligraphy ink in a fountain pen.
Fountain pens have come full circle. A very early fountain pen used a glass cartridge fitted onto a rubber cone behind the nib. The user filled the glass cartridge and pushed it onto the rubber cone. Later rubber bladders and piston systems came along. Some of these got to be quite elaborate mechanically, while others were quite simple. Almost fifty years ago the plastic cartridge became popular and pens now use cartridges.
Step 1: Suitable Implements for Refilling
If you know someone who is a nurse, he or she may agree to bring you an unused hypodermic needle. They make a good tool for filling a cartridge, but you need to be very careful about sticking yourself. You could dull the needle and reduce the danger by dragging the tip of the needle on a light abrasive, like the unglazed part on the bottom of a ceramic coffee cup.
You can also get a plastic syringe with no sharp needle at a pharmacy. This have a curved end and are for washing a baby's mouth with a solution when the baby is teething.
You can also use a glass eyedropper. These are also available in a pharmacy.
All but the hypodermic needle require some modification. See the next step.
Step 2: Modify Your Implement
The plastic syringe for flushing a baby's mouth is the easiest implement to modify. You will need some thin brass hobby tubing from a hobby store. Cut it by rolling it under a knife blade as shown. You will need a piece about one inch long.
Drill into the end of the plastic syringe. Put some epoxy glue on the hobby tubing near one end and slide it up into the hole at the end of the syringe. The problem with a plastic syringe is that the rubber piston hardens in time and it becomes harder to squeeze just the right amount of ink into the cartridge.
That is why I prefer an eye dropper. But, modifying it is a little more difficult. Score around the tip of the glass eyedropper far enough from the end that you will be able to insert a piece of brass hobby tubing after the tip has been broken off of the eyedropper. I used a Dremel tool with a "green wheel" grinding stone. Hopefully, not too much glass will break away from the end of the eyedropper. Insert a piece of hobby tubing and glue with epoxy.
After a couple of years, the eyedropper may not suck ink from the bottle like it should. The rubber bulb loses its fit in time. Buy some extra eyedroppers and rob the rubber bulb from a new one.
Step 3: Filling the Cartridge
I use two hands for this task, but I also had to hold the camera for making the photo.
Do this over a sink away from dishcloths and anything that could be stained by the ink. There will likely be some small spatters, even if you are careful. They fly through the air farther than you would imagine, too. If you are married, your wife will not be pleased--not at all.
Draw some ink into your implement from the bottle. Place the thin tube into the cartridge and gently squeeze ink from the implement to the cartridge. You do not need to fill the cartridge quite all of the way to the top.
Squeeze any excess ink from the implement back into the bottle. I like to cup one hand under a running faucet and draw water into the dropper. Flush the implement out well until no signs of ink are apparent.
Step 4: Storing an Eyedropper
If you choose to use an eyedropper, you will need protected storage for it. I drilled a hole in a block of wood and insert the eyedropper. I drilled a larger hole for a short distance so part of the squeeze bulb can fit down into the block.
Step 5: A Strange Phenomenon
I got some ink cartridges at a yard sale. This Schaeffer cartridge has never been opened, yet more than half of the ink is gone. Plastic cartridges are actually porous. In time water evaporates through their walls. When you place one of these into your pen and puncture the end, remove it and fill it with water.
Some cartridge companies place a small plastic ball inside the cartridge. This can roll around and break the surface tension to keep the ink from hanging at the far end of the cartridge. They can also help to mix ink and water when the cartridge partially dried out over many years. If you want to add something to a cartridge to do this job, just cut about 1/8 inch from the end of your hobby tubing. Drop it into the end of your cartridge.
An ink cartridge will not last forever, but you can use one for a year or two before you need to replace it. You will also save a lot of money on refills for your pen or pens.
37 Comments
4 years ago on Introduction
is it hard
Reply 4 years ago
The hard part is continual vigilance against spatters. I usually squeeze ink from the syringe or eye dropper until a bubble of ink appears over the cartridge opening. Then I retract air until the bubble disappears. I inject more ink into the cartridge until another bubble forms. The cartridge does fill with ink. Hold a tissue loosely around the cartridge to catch spatter droplets, too. Do your cartridge filling in or over a laundry sink. Do not wear your best clothing whioe filing cartridges.
4 years ago on Step 4
I haven't tried the following, but I will: my old cat was diabetic and I was able to get empty syringe is from the pharmacy. The hall was pretty tiny and the needle very fine… I suspect they have other gauges but I don't know.
I will echo what others have said about plastic syringes.
For glass dropper storage, you can buy a small eyedropper in an empty vial from the pharmacy (maybe a craft stores, too).
Lastly you can get extremely tiny funnels… I got mine initially from a craft store for perfume making, but probably a place that sells supplies for perfume, oils, or maybe even candles would carry this. I recently saw them dirt cheap at the dollar store.
I think that last one would be my option-of-choice… The tip of the funnel would easily fit in the hole of the cartridge, and I would use a dropper to put the ink in the vial. .
8 years ago on Step 4
Easy. I used a USED hypo from my dog's Adequan shots and I had India ink which may or may not be ideal. I think it might be a bit viscous so I thinned it a bit. And BTW I *am* the wife. There is kind of an unstated implication here that only the husband in a typical gender partnership would ever do this DIY. And yes, the first time it sprayed ink everywhere. And like a typical guy I left that for the wife to clean up. Except I am the wife. So I had to clean it up.
Reply 7 years ago
Most women I know do DIY projects.
Even thinned, India Ink is a bad idea. Once the water evaporates, the ink becomes a thick sludge inside the feed. As it's hard and flaky in drawing, it is in the feed as it dries.
Reply 8 years ago on Introduction
I am glad you tried this, and had an available syringe. As for using India ink, I have used that with a set of drafting instruments, which very few do currently. It dries in flakes on drafting pens. I would not want to risk a good fountain pen on it. Makers of fine pens make their own inks formulated expressly for their own pens. I have switched back and forth between Schaeffer and Parker inks on my pens with no problems, but mixing them has its own very real problems to be avoided. You may need to order bottled in on-line. Assuming you are in the USA, go to Colorado Pen or Fountain Pen Hospital or Levenger for bottled ink.
I tried to write this Instructable as if the reader may be male or female. Yes, there is one reference to staining a wife's dish towels. That is based on my personal experiences. She cringes when I reload an ink cartridge any where near the kitchen sink. If I happen to get a spatter on a dishrag or towel, I really hear about it.
7 years ago
The eye dropper is a good idea, but plastic eyedroppers are cheap, plentiful, safer to modify, and they won't chip or crack.
Hypodermic syringes with blunted metal needles are available from Goulet Pens.
9 years ago on Step 2
Great instructable.
They make plastic eye droppers too, and in my case this worked out very well.
For the tubing, all I had lying around was an extra air inflation needle. So I cut off a long section of it and stuck it in the plastic eye dropper, and it was ready to go. It was a snug fit so no epoxy or other adhesive was necessary.
Reply 9 years ago on Step 2
Good idea! I like the use of the air inflation needle. A lot depends on what a person has available. Bottled ink is much less expensive than ink cartridges.
10 years ago on Introduction
Hello, I collect lots of fountain and I love using them. today, I found Parker Quink Mini cartridges in the store today and bought as they were on sale. when I got home, I discovered that the tip of the cartridges do not have the same form and size as the regular cartridges and it's so hard to put them in the fountain pens. Can anyone please help me?
Reply 10 years ago on Introduction
I am not familiar with Parker mini-refills. I doubt you can make them fit on a regular Parker pen.
12 years ago on Step 2
Actually, you could do the same with the syringe- just replace the plunger with a new one periodically. It would be easier than modifying the eye dropper. :D
Reply 10 years ago on Introduction
I apologize that I missed your comment until now. Yes, replacing the plunger in a syringe with a new one would be very useful. My mother was a registered nurse and we kids in the family could get new or used disposable syringes very easily through her. But, syringes eventually became dangerous, highly guarded, and difficult to obtain lest someone use them as a weapon or for ingesting illicit narcotics. If you are in the medical field or know someone who is, getting a syringe is easier.
13 years ago on Introduction
just make your own http://www.ehow.com/how_6518357_make-quill-pen-ink.html
Reply 13 years ago on Introduction
That ink may be fine for a dipping pen or a quill pen. Fountain pens are usually more fussy than a quill pen. In fact, each pen manufacturer usually makes its own ink specifically tailored to the design and materials used in their pens. This ink may work in some pens, perhaps all pens, but it also could cause clogs if everything is not compatible.
13 years ago on Introduction
fountain pens are a blast! i like messing up peoples work by splattering ink all over it. recently it was raining heavily and a huge river-like stream was made, so i decided i could splat ink on that too. nut not with my pen, with about 15 cartriges (spelling#) i turned the whole thing BLUE! thats right i just opened them up and threw 'em in. the swirls were awesome!
14 years ago on Introduction
Lots of good information here; thank you.
I've refilled cartridges and also used converters. In spite of their limited capacities, they do give you more frequent opportunity to change inks and ink colors.
If you want maximum ink capacity, you need either a piston-filled pen such as the Pakistani "Dollar" brand pens sold for abotu $10 by Swisher: http://store.nexternal.com/shared/StoreFront/default.asp?CS=swisher&StoreType=BtoC&Count1=720974147&Count2=638114571
Or an eyedropper-filled pen; those will hold the most ink.
Reply 14 years ago on Introduction
Thank you. I almost never change colors. I have a very fine point inexpensive cartridge pen I now use exclusively with red ink for underlining and making notes in books with very thin paper, like a Bible. I carry it in my shirt pocket with the pen I use for general writing. I do have a good pen with a large barrel of brass. I found I could make it leak proof with a little paraffin and a hair dryer. I was excited about filling the barrel with ink, but it did not work. The pen was leakproof, but the ink warmed too much from my body heat and the pen did not write properly. An ink cartridge or bladder needs a little air space around it to insulate the ink from body heat. I learned that the hard way and later read about it in an article on fountain pens. You might be interested in an Instructable I did on replacing a universal or Mont Blanc cartridge with a cut down Waterman cartridge. That allows quite a bit more ink in the pen, if your pen uses those cartridges.
Reply 14 years ago on Introduction
The current "standard" method of sealing pens, or at least their threads, is pure silicone grease. Paraffin is petroleum-based, and can damage parts of older pens especially. I had considered beeswax as an alternative. I should have remembered the body heat issue with eyedropper pens; metal-bodied pens are particularly susceptible to this, while plastic-bodied pens are somewhat less so. The Platinum Preppy pen is a popular one for this conversion; some on-line dealers offer a converted Preppy with certain bottles of Noodler's ink. Keeping the barrel nearly full of ink apparently helps as it's the air inside that reacts to temperature changes rather than the ink. Bladder type pens generally have non-airtight barrels which allow the air to expand and contract freely without pressing on the bladder, and cartridges are stiff enough to resist it. I did see your article on modified long international cartridges, and may give that a try. One of my favorite pens is so short, though, that I wouldn't gain much at all from the method; there's only 11mm depth to the barrel past the end of the short cartridge. Isn't this fun?
Reply 14 years ago on Introduction
I have read that paraffin is oily and keeps ink from flowing properly, especially if it gets into the nib or the feeder. The paraffin I used was to seal a tiny leak between the barrel and the decorative plug on the end of the barrel. This pen has a rubber "O" ring on the section threads. I have been pleased lately to find some younger people who also like fountain pens. People have given me pens (old and new) over the years. I know I will never use all of them up. I have given a few away to people I thought would appreciate them.