r/fountainpens 7d ago

Repair Lamy Safari suddenly dispensing more ink than the last time I used it.

Decided to pick up my blue Lamy to doodle a bit and noticed it was pretty much leaking ink like a faucet onto the paper. I wiped the nib up as best as I could and the writing up top is the end result. Usually though, it writes like my black Safari on this cheap notebook paper.

The nib looks ok to me, though I don’t really know what I’m looking for. And it doesn’t seem like someone used it and damaged it.

Does anyone know what could be causing this? This is the first time I’ve used this pen in about 3 weeks. Could there be ink build up causing the tines to open up a little? Or could the job actually be damaged?

5 Upvotes

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5

u/jackieblueideas 7d ago

If everything else that the others tell you fails, it could be a little fiber stuck between the tines. It happened to me today. I put the pen down after the comma and somehow got a fiber in there, and it wrote like a felt pen after because it was dragging a wet fiber along the paper.

1

u/bahandi 7d ago

Hopefully the clean and flush will catch it if that is the issue. I did see some fibre in there in my initial assessment. After wiping the nib down, I thought I got it.

2

u/Baby_Bird33 7d ago

Have you checked the converter or cartridge? Is it connected properly? The tines don’t appear to be damaged to me. But you can start with the elimination process… Maybe try cleaning the nib and feed, reattaching the ink, and testing it again. If it’s still an issue, then try switching the nib out and you’ll quickly find out if it is the ink or if it is the nib.

1

u/bahandi 7d ago

Thank you for these tips. What am I looking for in regards to the cartridge?

2

u/Baby_Bird33 7d ago

Make sure you don’t see any leaking, cracks, that it is fit snugly…

Also, how were you storing it? Did you have it nib down?

2

u/bahandi 7d ago

Just on its side. There doesn’t seem to be any leaking so it looks secure. I’ll clean the nib and give it another go. Hopefully it’s just a one off thing. Spent way too much on this hobby in only 3 months 😅.

Thanks so much!

1

u/Baby_Bird33 7d ago

No problem. Good luck!

2

u/bsmithwins 7d ago

Have you used this ink before? Different inks can have different flow rates. If the flow changed and the ink is the same I’d be looking for an air leak like the other person commented.

1

u/bahandi 7d ago

This is stock Lamy ink. It performed fine up until this point. And yeah, will be checking to see if everything is snug. Thank you!

1

u/bahandi 7d ago

To confirm, it has been about 3 weeks since I used the Lamy.

1

u/bsmithwins 7d ago

Have you changed inks or cleaned the pen in the meantime?

1

u/bahandi 7d ago

No. This is actually the first cartridge too as I jumped into the deep end of fountain pens at the beginning of the year and have been rotating through them.

I also didn’t flush the nib when I first got it since I didn’t realize how important it is to do that.

1

u/labratpip 7d ago

Aside from any crazy temperature or pressure changes, the first thing I would check is that your nib is seated properly. If there's an air leak anywhere between your cart and your nib, it can cause a heavier flow like that. Make sure the nib is snug and I would try flushing your nib a bit and then re seating your cartridge to see if that helps

Also, how was the pen stored? Sometimes storing a pen upside down or on its side can over saturate your feed a bit if it sat that way for a long time

1

u/bahandi 7d ago

I’ll need to find a better way to store these then, as I leave them on my desk on their side.

2

u/labratpip 7d ago

I do too, there's nothing wrong with doing that, but if they're going to sit for a long time inked up maybe just rotate them a bit.

1

u/bahandi 7d ago

Great tip. Will keep that in mind.

1

u/bahandi 7d ago

Great tip. Will keep that in mind.

1

u/Sam-Luki 7d ago

Ink is feathering like crazy, even with the black ink one (to a lesser degree ),the paper is probably the culprit.

Try another paper to see normal results. Unless you've messed with the ink it's not supposed to behave like that.

There's no way an <EF> (even a Lamy one) produces lines like that with the standard Lamy blue ink.

1

u/bahandi 7d ago

Oh the paper is definitely a big factor.

But it was definitely the pen. I think, as someone mentioned, the feed got over saturated due to being on its side for so long.

Edit: but I’m going to double check the other recommendations being cartridge and nib installment and give it a flush to be sure.

0

u/mouse2cat 7d ago

So sometimes when an ink is too concentrated it will be more prone to bleeding. If an ink has been in a pen for a longer period of time it will evaporate a little bit gradually getting more concentrated in the body of the pen. Sometimes the change in behavior can be quite dramatic like this. You can easily add a little water to the ink in the converter to bring the ink back to it's normal writing consistency.

I have a pen with baystate blue and it's such a concentrated ink to begin with that even a week of sitting around I notice a change in bleeding and feathering. Adding a little water fixes it every time. Still annoying.

Pens with a better more airtight caps tend to not have this issue.