Technically, not a fountain pen, but hopefully close enough. I bought a Rapidograph, probably about 20 years old, and possibly NOS. It fills fine, but no ink flows through the tip (I filled it with Aurora Black). I'm not sure what to do to get it working. I don't see any obvious problems, and as i mentioned, the piston works like new.
KOH-I-NOOR Radpidograph
Started by jonro, May 05 2016 06:44 AM
4 replies to this topic
#2
matt
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Posted 05 May 2016 - 08:20 PM
Can you see the wire at the tip and does it move up and down if you push on it with a fingernail?
You may have to disassemble the tip. Did you get a tip wrench with the pen? Little plastic "gear" with a 2-flat-sided hole. If not, you can probably use needle nose pliers. Unscrew the tip, remove the guard that keeps the piston from falling out, pull out the piston and (hopefully attached) wire, and flush the tip or soak in pen cleaner. Be careful on reassembly, there is a lip that will catch the wire, especially on the finer tips; the wire is pretty easy to straighten if you bend it.
Man, I haven't used a rapidograph in a loooong time!
You may have to disassemble the tip. Did you get a tip wrench with the pen? Little plastic "gear" with a 2-flat-sided hole. If not, you can probably use needle nose pliers. Unscrew the tip, remove the guard that keeps the piston from falling out, pull out the piston and (hopefully attached) wire, and flush the tip or soak in pen cleaner. Be careful on reassembly, there is a lip that will catch the wire, especially on the finer tips; the wire is pretty easy to straighten if you bend it.
Man, I haven't used a rapidograph in a loooong time!
#3
Frank(Federalist Pens)
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Posted 05 May 2016 - 11:52 PM
HI Jon! Good to see you here!
I had a similar situation with one of these myself. I bought one, and could not get the old tip to work as well.
I wound up buying an NOS tip (in blister pack) off ebay, and the pen has been pretty good!
I'm going back several years now, but I'm sure you can still find tips!
Frank 
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#4
RGB
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Posted 14 September 2016 - 09:33 PM
These drafting pens are great writers, but they need careful cleaning. I have only used them used with drafting/indelible inks like Higgins Eternal or Kohinoor Ink. These inks are pretty thick and therefore can easily gum up the nib. Soaking does wonders, ammonias water helps, and an ultrasound is even better. After soaking the nib/section, remove the nib with the little plastic nib wrench. Then disassemble the nib by removing the little holder that retains the wire, and clean it some more. They are much like an inkograph or early stylo.
They were designed for mechanical drawing, so they make lines of very constant width. I have never tried "normal" ink in one.
As a biologist, I used them for many years for field notes because the ink was certainly waterproof. It is almost a different cult of writing, but these are great writers.
Edited by RGB, 14 September 2016 - 09:34 PM.
#5
Norm
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Posted 15 September 2016 - 12:03 PM
Koh-I-Noor makes a pen cleaner called Rapido-eze which is designed to dissolve pigmented inks like Higgins India Ink. It works well on technical pens but they require several hour so soaking.
Edited by Norm, 15 September 2016 - 12:04 PM.
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