Fountain Pen Deep Clean - Removing crusty ink off my TWSBI 580ALR

[@davidanderson3425]

A very thorough cleaning regime you have there Lucas. This chore is my most hated part of the fountain pen hobby.

[@BlankFirstPage]

If I’m in the mood, it’s a nice relaxing, methodical task that I can enjoy. If I pick the wrong time to do it though it becomes a real annoyance.

[@davegoodridge8352]

Ever time I clean ome of my fountain pens. I appreciate my gel roller balls more.

[@BlankFirstPage]

True that. I have gotten better over the years at minimizing the mess, but it is inevitable that black ink ends up somewhere it’s not meant to.

[@KendallW]

The bulb syringe is great, same with a blunt tip syringe -though mine is cheap plastic from Amazon vs an antique glass one passed down from a grandfather. I had never considered water temperature to be an issue, but if it's too hot it melts away the lubricants from the piston / converter. I also use Q-tips for getting up in the hard to reach places. I also syringe fill my TWSBI 580, for the reasons you mentioned, as well as to keep the ink bottle from getting any contaminants from the pen.

[@BlankFirstPage]

I also have a blunt tip cheapo plastic syringe, and I probably use that more than the glass one, because it’s easier to clean! Q-tips are a good idea, never used them to clean a fountain pen. I would worry that some of the fluff ends up in the pen but maybe that’s overthinking it?

[@dstdrummer]

I’m sure you know, but you can completely disassemble the 580 with the included wrench to make cleaning way easier. 👍🏽

[@BlankFirstPage]

I do, however I have a fear of doing it wrong, over or under greasing the piston and ruining the pen!

[@dstdrummer]

@@BlankFirstPage Gotcha. Yeah, mine was kind of tight right out of the box. I finally gave in and took it apart. The piston was bone dry. It went well. I just put some synthetic grease in between my fingers and rubbed them together some, then rubbed the parts. I didn’t use the stuff they include. It seems a bit thin to me. But it operates way better now. It’s not bad to do. 👍🏽