Leaking Parker ball pen

[john hamilton]

I thought Parker ball pens were not supposed to leak, mine has even though it's not been stored upside down.

It's very sticky inside. Is there any good way to clean it out? Thanks for advice.

[professorpaul]

If there aren't any plastic parts, then lacquer thinner and pipe cleaners. Otherwise use rubbing alcohol, which won't harm the plastic, but doesn't dissolve the ink as well.

[Phil L]

nail polish remover and pipe cleaners / q-tips / cotton wool

[michael adams]

Isopropyl alcohol, obtainable from a store chemist but quite expensive.

At current prices vodka from the local Tesco should work out cheaper it should be equally effective and can be put to other uses.

Methylated spirit would do equally well is it wasn't for the smell which again is why vodka is so popular.

michael adams

...

[AZ Nomad]

soak it in gasoline light it

[Ed Pawlowski]

Used to be that they would repair them. Try contacting Parker.

Never had one leak in the 45+ years I've used them, but it can happen, I guess. If it was not upside down, I can't imagine what would cause it to happen. I'd look for a crack in the refill.

Service Department

2333 N. Sumac Drive Janesville WI 53545

email them at: [e-mail]

This warranty is granted by PARKER and applies in the US and Canada. Your PARKER® writing instrument is guaranteed for two years from the date of original purchase against defects in materials or workmanship. If found to be defective within the warranty period, your PARKER® product will be repaired or replaced free of charge. This warranty may be extended by registering your PARKER® writing instrument at

[geoff]

In message , michael adams writes

About £5/litre

[Sjouke Burry]

Alcohol(dont drink it).

[Stormin Mormon]

I've found alcohol "dry gas" works nicely on ball pen ink. You can either try to swab it out with Q-tips, or soak the pen barrel in alcohol.

[michael adams]

The last time I bought any it cost £6.99 for 500ml, well over twice that. The label is still on the bottle. With store chemists who actually stock it being thin on the ground, you have to take what you can find.

While it may be cheaper in bulk, isopropyl alcohol is highly inflammable. And so buying a litre or more for occasional use in cleaning tape heads and the like, is not only hazardous but probably a false economy as well. Unless that is, additional uses can be found for it.

michael adams

...

[geoff]

In message , michael adams writes

It is the only other alcohol, other than ethyl, that is not poisonous to drink

12 litres last me about 3 months

Ah £5.61/l for 12 litres

[The Natural Philosopher]

Its the main constituent in windscreen antifreeze IIRC. Its not that inflammable, and there are dozens of DIY uses for it.

Cleaning computer keyboards is one. :-)

>

[The Natural Philosopher]

So, have you been to AA yet?

:-)

[Ericp]

buy from ebay. The postage is more than the cost of 5L of IPA. 99% stuff.

We use it for cleaning and it is good for killing flies at the moment.

[mm]

That's amazing. The last time I bought some it was 70% isopropyl alcohol and it was about 2 dollars for a pint, 473 ml.

That was about 2 months ago. I thought I would need to get the oil soot out of my computer, but the stuff turned out to not be sticky, and will blow right off what ever it is sitting on, or be sucked off with a vacuum cleaner.

Don't they make little stoves or lamps that run on this stuff?

[michael adams]

Handy Hint no 387:

"Isopropyl alcohol is oxidized by the liver into acetone by alcohol dehydrogenase."

So if you're clean out of acetone but have plenty of IPA handy you can always make your own. Just make sure you wear gloves when handling the stuff, and don't spill any on anything plastic

- such as vinyl floor tiles and toilet seats.

Ah, but us ordinary punters can't reclaim the VAT and would only be buying one at a time so that makes it £7.23/ per litre plus a £5.95 handling charge which comes out at £14.18 per litre. Which in total works out at exactly 20p more than...guess what ?

michael adams

...

[michael adams]

Er no. That comes to £13.18 per litre

Something costing £12.98 per litre ?

michael adams

...

[DA]

Could have been a bad OEM cartridge i.e. Parker-compatible instead of Parker. That or you can no longer trust anyone's quality [sigh] Toyota's recent debacle comes to mind.

Pen itself should clean nicely with alcohol, as others suggested. But if you are trying to clean a fabric it stained rather than the pen itself - alcohol will make even a bigger mess than it already is. The alcohol will make the stain just larger albeit less dense in color. Might as well just throw the item out.

------------------------------------- /\_/\ ((@v@)) NIGHT ():::() OWL VV-VV

[Spamlet]

Whilst not wishing to spoil the enthusiastic discussion of the properties and prices of IPA - which is less flammable than meths, and to me used to be cheaper than chips as I used to pump it into 25L drums, as a general cleaner in the print trade - I should point out that, as ballpoint ink is *oil based*, readers probably already have a cheaper cleaner in their cupboard already: white spirit. I think the preference for IPA in 'the trade' is as much for its quick evaporation as anything. It does dissolve both polar and non polar substances, but I doubt if it is as effective, for an oil based (non-polar) ink, as a non polar solvent (white spirit, paraffin, petrol etc) would be. As I've noted before, every DIYer should keep a selection of the various types of solvent to hand, so you can always find the right 'tool' for the job.

S

[Frank Erskine]

I believe Parker 'ink' pens are now made in France 8-(((

I don't know about their cartridges since I use a refillable (from an ink bottle!) insert-thing, but Quink is also French, according a quick glance under the bottle.