Cleanliness is next to Rapidographness

• August 9th, 2005 • • cleaning, how-to, pens •

It’s time to clean the ol’ Rapidos again; they’ve been out in the summer heat and have crusted up as they tend to do when it’s hot and dry. So what better way to celebrate the Zen of Cleaning than taking something tiny apart, cleaning it thoroughly then putting it back together only to fill it up with a black staining fluid? Beats me. (Heck, this is the second post on cleaning technical pens.) Paragraphs with a fist (☛) at the end indicate that the picture has a link to a more detailed picture.

For cleaning, I recommend buying a Rapidograph cleaning kit. You know, the one with cleaning solution and the little bulb. Most of ‘em cost about ten bucks. Steep? Not when you consider how much the pen mechanism itself costs. A cleaning kit is well-worth the investment and can put years on the pen. You should also have on hand: paper towels to set the pen parts out on to dry and to clean; an old toothbrush (Run it through the dishwasher if you’ve used it! Blech!); cotton swabs; a pen key (shoulda come with the pen); some sort of old food container or jar (again, clean); and headphones with some nice trance or soothing music for that extra-meditative experience.

This pen is a .60; a little larger than the .00 that most folks get. Still, these pens work exactly the same. It’s well-traveled; I took it to Europe and penned my diary whilst there (sounds so romantic!) and draw with it constantly. As a pen-mistress, I am abusive. Look at the dust! Who knows what managed to get up in the well when it was sitting out. Blech. ☛

First thing to do is take the pen apart. Everything on the Rapidograph unscrews or gently pulls apart; there’s no snapping or difficult pushing. Everyone knows the first twist; you gotta refill the ink well! Twist the black pen top off at the colored band.

Next, gently pull the inkwell off. Mine was filled with gummy/watered down ink, so I just rinsed it off and added a little pen-cleaning solution and set it aside.

Remember that little circular thingy that came with the pen? That’s the pen key. It opens a magical world of…not really. It opens the pen and gets down to the icky bits that really need cleaning. Place the key over the point of the pen and gently twist. Keep twisting and one should have…

…removed the innards from the outer casing. Ewwwww, look at all that crusty build-up! No wonder I haven’t been getting any pen-writin’ action. ☛

First, a cold-water rinse. Running water is a must, especially if the pen is filled with black ink, otherwise your cleaning water will become black and unclean after the first dip!

Scrubby scrub! But be gentle; the brush is just to loosen the dirt. If the pen is very dirty, or even dry then just leave it in the cleaning solution for a bit.

Time for some pumping. The pen top neatly screws into the pump that comes with the cleaning kit.

Pumped and ready to go! Haha! I have had my pens for a while, so I use two different cleaning solutions. One is my “dirty” jar and one is my “clean” jar. I use the dirty jar to get the big chunks and excess ink off. After a time, cleaning solutions can get pretty scummy, but still work. They just leave a little bit more scum on the pen for the likes of me.

Take the pump and immerse the pen tip into the solution and gently squeeze. Then, gently release. Patience time! The bulb will slowly fill with cleaning solution; when it’s full gently squeeze the bulb to push out the cleaning solution. It will bubble and carry one, producing all sorts of dirtiness. Repeat, depending on how dirty the pen is. ☛

That ol’ jar will come in handy. Fill it with clean, cool water and dip the pen tip in and repeat the slow, gentle squeezing.

The water will be quite dirty. Check out the chunks on the bottom!

Time for the clean solution! For this one, I like to keep the clean solution clean. Before dipping it in, first squeeze the bulb, then dip it into the solution, sucking up fresh cleaner.

Repeat the process of blowing out the pen in the tub of water (Make sure you put fresh water in first!). Notice that the water is much cleaner after squeezing the bulb in and out this time.

Most folks could stop there. Rinse off the pen with water and let it dry. But I ain’t most folks! Take it one step further. Unscrew the pen top from the bulb and turn it over. See that little plastic cap? Gently wiggle it off. This will give you access to the pin. ☛

The pin is directly below that plastic cap. When I say gently remove it, I mean it. The pin is the most delicate and important part of the pen. If you bend it, it can ruin the way ink flows. So be nice! To remove, simply pull it straight out. ☛

The whole pen head has been disassembled. Now you can scrub the whole pen from the inside out, using the bulb and cleaning solutions. Everything should be rinsed thoroughly with water then placed onto a paper towel to air dry. It’s not necessary to disassemble the pen to this degree every time one cleans, but I love taking things apart and putting them back together again. For people with a more exciting life, taking the whole durn thing apart is really only handy when a pen has been left dormant for about 6 months. ☛

But what about the ink well? It’s been just sitting there. Ah-ha, that’s what the cotton swabs are for. Simply insert and swish around with the cleaning solution dropped in earlier. Oh, is the pen cap dirty? Just do the same thing to it. (Remember to rinse rinse rinse!)

Ahh, the reassembled pen top, complete with a shiny clean ink well. How does one put the pen back together? Why, simply follow the above steps in reverse. (Well, except for all of the cleaning, because that would negate the whole exercise, now wouldn’t it?) Would you look at the top of that pen? Whotta difference! No more scunge, Now I can fill up the well with some fresh ink and get back to what I really want to do: draw! ☛

7 Responses to ' Cleanliness is next to Rapidographness '

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Anonymous said,

on December 3rd, 2005 at 2:16 am

Gracias por enseñarme a limpiar mis viejos rapidographs que ya daba por perdidos.
Tienes lindos ojos tambien.
José Ricardo said,

on August 28th, 2006 at 1:16 pm

Thank you

I thought my rapidographs were lost…

what a bliss..
Anonymous said,

on October 23rd, 2006 at 9:18 pm

Ooo this worked great! Thanks so much. I forgot all about that lil tool that came with my Rapidograph! And the Q-Tips worked great! You are sooo kind to have done this. You saved my Rapidograph! <3 Thanks
~stef
daily beard said,

on May 9th, 2007 at 6:49 pm

Luckily I had two bottles of cleaning solution..because I completely got my 1st bottle all black. THEN..I found this tutorial. Thanks for being so nice and posting it!

-Daily
pepper said,

on August 30th, 2007 at 10:28 pm

ms snyder,
thank you so much for this lovely tutorial, i have 3 out of 7 pens functioning again & i’ll keep soaking & cleaning in hopes that the others may be brought to life as well!
btw these pens had been left unused for at least 8 years as far as anyone knows.=-O
Dave said,

on July 27th, 2008 at 6:24 pm

thank you so much for this tutorial. I inherited a an old crusty set of Koh-I-Noors and the first one I tried this one worked like a charm.
however, I have a few small questions still (and I apologize if this is something you have covered elsewhere in your blog): first, as to day-to-day rapidograph care, is it better to store them tip-up or tip-down? does it matter? this is assuming I will be using them pretty much daily, but certainly not every waking moment.
also, is there any harm in all the parts not being completely dry before reassembling? I’m not impatient, just curious if water traces will adversely impact the results of the cleaning process.

thanks again,

Dave
Olivia said,

on July 27th, 2008 at 7:25 pm

@Dave:

I had a crazy old typography teacher that claimed the best way to store these types of pens was upside down, in a jar, on top of a slightly damp sponge.

That being said, he was old and crazy, so I pretty much have never done that. Myself, I store mine in a cup, tip up. Sometimes they find themselves tip down, but I’ve never noticed any difference. They only seem to dry faster in the hot Texas summers when I’m not using them so much.

Also, nah, I don’t think water bothers the pens much. I like them dry so I don’t get surprise water droplets squirting out onto my drawings.

Cheers!

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