Molotow pens

[StevenGuthmiller]

3 minutes ago, peteski said:

Maybe it just needs thinning a bit?  Isopropryl alcohol (91% or stronger) might do the trick.

 

But first (if you haven't done it yet), clean the tip (nib). Pull the fiber tip out of your pen and place it in a small container filled with lacquer thinner.  I have small glass cups dentists used to use for mixing filling  material. It is perfect for this task.  The lacquer thinner will soak into the tip and dissolve the clear binder and silver flakes.  Swish the tip for a while so the thinner gets all the way through the tip. 
Pull the tip out of the thinner and wrap it into a sliver of a paper towel to soak the thinner from the tip into the paper towel.   Then empty the cup of contaminated thinner, and fill it again with fresh thinner anr repeat the process.
Repeat this rinsing process until the lacquer thinner has very little silver flakes in it.  Then if you have an airbrush or source of compressed air (even one of those "dust-off" aerosol cans), blow the tip dry while holding it in a paper towel.
Then also drop some thinner into the tip opening and drain it. Do this few times again, to dissolve any of the remaining paint in there.
Finally, reinsert the tip, shake the pen well, then prime the tip by pressing it down for few pumps, until it gets wet with paint.

At this point it should work well. If not, then thinning the chrome paint might be needed.  IN that case I would try the following:
Remove the tip and using a pipette, fill the tip opening with 91% or stronger isopropyl alcohol. 99% would be even better. Since the bottom of the hole is sealed with spring-loaded valve, the alcohol will not enter the paint chamber.  So take a piece of brass rod (or similar item) with a blunt tip, put it in the tip hole and press down on the valve.  You might have to do this few times for the alcohol to drain into the paint chamber.  One load of alcohol will probably be enough to thin the contents.  Shake vigorously. Then clean the tip again and see if the pen works any better.

I have not thinned Molotow pen contents yet, but I have done this successfully on similarly constructed paint pens. 

Did all of that.

Still no better.

I don't use the tips so I didn't bother cleaning them. (I use a brush)

But I did try thinning.

 

Not worth the hassle in my opinion.

 

 

 

Steve

[Michael jones]

The refill doesnt seem to have this problem. Always like new. 

[peteski]

32 minutes ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

Did all of that.

Still no better.

I don't use the tips so I didn't bother cleaning them. (I use a brush)

But I did try thinning.

Not worth the hassle in my opinion.

Steve

Oh well . . .

So how do you "decant" it from the pen?  Or do you take the paint from the refill bottle?  What did you thin it with?

[StevenGuthmiller]

1 hour ago, peteski said:

Oh well . . .

So how do you "decant" it from the pen?  Or do you take the paint from the refill bottle?  What did you thin it with?

Usually, I just "pump" the pen until the ink pools around the tip and then just dip a brush in the ink.

I tried thinning with 91% isopropyl alcohol.

Still looks like silver paint no matter how thick you apply it.

 

 

Steve

[peteski]

Ok, thanks for the explanation. I guess I'm out of ideas.

I have seldom used chrome pen (about 2 or 3 years old) and the chrome paint is still as "chromy"   as expected. At least it was couple of months ago.  At this point the tip is clean and I don't want to try it until I need it again. Yes, because I seldom use it, and clean the tip after I'm done with the project.