With the Lamy pen brand being one of the most popular options for ballpoint, rollerball, and fountain pen models in the world, it is not surprising that we have noticed more and more people reaching out and asking questions based around how to clean a Lamy fountain pen. Due to this, we have decided to publish this article going over a few different things that you are able to do when you are looking to clean your Lamy pen to help any of our readers who find themselves in this position.
Please note that the majority of the Lamy range of pens do used ink cartridges or a cartridge convertor system but the Lamy 2000 does use a piston filler system. Although in the grand scheme of things, there is a large amount of cross over between all three pen types when it comes to cleaning them, there are some slight differences so you have to keep this in mind as you clean your pen.
Although it is not essential by any means, we would also highly recommend that you pick up a cheap fountain pen flush kit too as it not only helps to improve the quality of the clean but also can make the process much easier. If you are having issues with inconsistent ink flow with your Lamy pen due to dried up ink or gunk then the flush kit is a god send.
How To Clean A Lamy Fountain Pen That Is Brand New
We often see people reaching out about a brand new, fresh out the box Lamy pen having ink on its nib and curious as to why they have to clean it or if the pen is pre-owned. The vast majority of the time this is due to the high standards of the Lamy production process as all of their intermediate and premium price point pens are tested prior to shipping.
This ensures that the user is getting a fully functioning pen upon purchase but the pen may have a little ink on its nib. Lamy tend to do all of their ink path tests with blue ink so this can also help you narrow it down to a quality check after production or if someone is trying to sell you a pre-owned pen or not.
Cleaning is brand new Lamy pen is much easier than cleaning a pen that is broken in as there has been less wear and tear on the pen and its nib should not be having any issues with dried up ink or gunk build up. If you are planning to use the standard Lamy ink cartridge with your pen then many people will opt to just pop the cartridge onto their pen and usually not have any issues with the process.
That said, we do recommend that you clean your pen if there is some dried in in the nib path, section, or feed of the pen after your initial purchase. The majority of Lamy pens have a fully detachable front end so you can remove everything forward of the section of the pen as shown in the video above.
Once you have the front end of the pen detatched from the barrel apply the relevant convertor for your pen model. Different Lamy pens do use different convertors due to them having slightly different designed but your user manual for the pen will inform you if it is the Lamy z24, Lamy z26 of the Lamy z28 that you need.
Once the convertor is mounted, dip the nib of your pen into some water or flush solution and then draw it into the convertor as shown in the video at the start of this section. The color of the water/solution in the convertor after having ben drawn through the ink path of the pen will give you a good indication of how dirty the pen is. The majority of the time, you should see a similar amount of ink as in the video above for a brand new pen due to it only having been used minimally.
Although some people do like to shake the front end of their pen with the cartridge convertor attached at this stage of the cleaning process, there is usually no need as the water is in the convertor that is clean now, not in the ink path. The easiest thing to do at this stage is to just expel the water or cleaning solution from the converter by twisting the piston to push it back through the ink path into the water.
Repeat this process a number of times to flush the nib and feed of the pen until you are confident that it is clean. Although five to ten repetitions of this process is usually enough, some people do like to replace the water in their cup completely so it is clean and then do one last flush. This gives you peace of mind that the pen is totally clean as the clean water will not be contaminated by the ink but this last step is usually not needed for a brand new fountain pen.
How To Clean A Lamy Fountain Pen That Is Broken In
If you have had your Lamy pen for some time and either need to clean it as part of regular maintenance or due to wanting to switch your ink color then the process is very similar to cleaning the pen as if it is brand new. It is largely based around drawing water or cleaning solution through the ink path of the pen to clean it out and flush and dried ink or gunk out so the ink has a nice, smooth, clean path to flow through.
That said though, older pens may have damage to the nib, feed or section that you may have to factor in. On top of this, if you have had issues with misaligned tines the there may be an ink blockage in the nibs ink path that can prevent the water or cleaning solution from getting into the covertor.
Due to this, you may need to use a paper towel to remove any blockages due to misaligned tines or depending on the extent of the issue, re-align them prior to actually cleaning your Lamy pen. The video below shows you the quickest and easiest way to re-align the tines on your nib if you are having issues with misaligned tines causing problems when cleaning your pen.
When cleaning a fountain pen that has already been broken in and used, potentially for months, the ink build up in the ink path of the pen can be considerably more than a brand new pen. Due to this, you may have to flush the ink path many more times than a brand new pen, especially if you are only flushing your pen with regular water.
This is where a cheap fountain pen flush kit comes in or even just some fountain pen flush solution as it is able to quickly and easily break down any old ink blockages with ease. This means that you can get the cleaning done quicker and go about your business as required for the rest of the day when compared to just using water.
Once you are confident that the ink path in your pen is clean though you are able to refill the convertor or mount the cartridge as required, mount the barrel of the pen back onto the forward section and then use the pen as normal again. If this is your very first time cleaning a pen then the process may take you a while but after you have gone through it a few times, it should take you no more than one to five minutes depending on on ink build up.
Conclusion
That brings our article on how to clean a Lamy pen to a close. We hope that you have found it helpful and that we have been able to help you get your pen as clean as possible as fast as possible without wasting time. We know that different pens and even different nib sizes will come into play as they can take different amounts of time but the general process of cleaning your Lamy pen will almost always follow the method explained in our article above and deliver the best possible results.
