I completely read this as something else first glance

saying that i misread the title is an understatement

using a exclamation mark with the word pens is a recipe for dyslexic disaster

"Maybe I didn't clean you, Quite as often as I should have. Every time I left, I kept you in the dark, but that was because I kept you in my pocket by my side. Pen I'm sorry you were blind, but you were always by my side."

Ultrasonic is how I clean my technical pens and fountain pen tips. It works amazingly. Works great on dirty glass, too :P You look JUST like a pen scientist in this video.

Such a shame your cleaner didn't come with more thorough instructions! Technical pens are fiddly partly because they're still using gravity/capillary-feed designs from the 50s, partly because they are meant as precision instruments, so the tolerances are very tight, maybe even tighter than with fountain pens. Tech pen inks also tend to have more particulates vs. fountain pen inks, for improved contrast and light-fastness (since they're meant to draw blueprints and such) which will clog up those tight ink passages. Ultrasonics are definitely meant to do the detailed work a brush or just flushing cleaning fluid through the pens can't. You'll get the best result from it by cleaning as much as you can by hand, then running the delicate nibs and feeds through a cycle, rinsing them to knock out what the ultrasonic manages to knock loose, then running cycles again. You switch out the fluid whenever you wanna see if it's doing any more work- if it stays clear, then it's not pulling anything off the pens. The heater is just for parts that are all-metal and really gunked up, like jewelry and mechanical bits from clocks and the like, so steer clear from it. Also keep in mind that the cleaning action will indeed only work when the parts are submerged and in contact with the liquid (so if a big air bubble is trapped in an empty cartridge, the cleaner can't do any work there) Usually technical pens have some basic care tips, mostly just storing them flat and capped. The companies sell special cleaning fluids, but they're often just a mix of water, soap, and a solvent commonly found in a pharmacy or grocery store. Since that's expensive, people often just use Isopropyl Alcohol or even plain water to soak the pens overnight, which softens inks and makes them easier to flush out or clean with the ultrasonic machine. And just for fun, you don't NEED to have the lid on the cleaner, especially when you're using regular fluid and not heating it. I only mention this because I think watching it work is very cool. (and a little bit disgusting if you watch it clean a bunch of coins, a pair of glasses, etc.)

Okay but Peter in a lab coat? I can't be the only one feeling things

Just some advice to rinse the pens with clean water after taking them out of the bath. You dont want any of the detergent residue lingering around mixing with the ink!

Well Peter I used Rotring's in my High School Drafting class and I ALWAYS cleaned the pen I choose before I started inking my drawing. I cleaned at the sink with water and a brush flushing it as best as I could before going to the UltraSonic cleaner. Placing the pens without the body nor ink chambers, Basically the Nib Assembly, into the cleaner filled with new cleaning solution. The teacher had a mixture ready-made for ease of use for the students. Most of the time this worked great! I believe that if you get a routine down and stick to it with your mechanical pens they will preform consistently well. I knew a draftsman, who once he used his Iso-graph pens he emptied them of ink and set them to soak in distilled water overnight, used the UltraSonic cleaner in the morning, dried the pens and set them aside ready for the next time he would fill them with ink and set about using them for his work. I know this is a lot of work just to keep a pen working, but if you want the reliability of the mechanical pens, you need to treat them right. Phew!~ That was a load! I hope you have much success and better results now that you have the cleaner. I look forward to your next drawing video!

The Jug says CLEAN 2020... so you know its gonna do the trick

Use heat next time sir, it makes quite a difference despite taking ages to warm up. Rinse them first too.

Dr. Peter, I just want you to know I found your channel when I got high the first time. Bought a lit shirt you made. Still here. 🤙

My eyes immediately gravitated towards that "The Bends" magnet on your fridge.

5 minutes? I usually run mine in the ultrasonic for about 5 hours! Seriously! 😆 I buy vintage pens on eBay and restore them. I use koh-I-noor cleaning solution and totally disassemble each nib. Ya kinda have to do that. Love the drawings and the point .35 is definitely working for you. 🥰

If you have really blocked up nibs, disassemble them totally and soak them in the cleaning solution mix overnight. I've actually soaked a couple of my pens for 2 days. No adverse effects and then a few cycles in the ultrasonic cleaner. Same for fountain pens but don't soak ebonite feeds for very long. Plastic feeds are fine for long soaks.

Eh, you can do just fine with warm water and a couple >drops< of liquid dish soap. The bottled ultrasonic cleaners are a scam unless you're trying to do real stubborn de-greasing or carbon removal (like for car parts). Good on ye for finally getting an ultrasonic. They're great for cleaning glasses and jewelry and fountain pens (and gun parts).

I quite like the first drawing. It has a lot of directional energy confined within it. I think that the Rotrings are like the thoroughbreds of the drawing world, and need mollycoddling from the moment they leave the art supplies shop. I'm sure the ultrasonic bath will have done a lot of good, though.

I think the mad scientist outfit just need a head lamp or one if those Jeweler magnifier things that flips down over one eye. Thank for the smile as always!❤

Peter. That second drawing with the circle around the guy, is fucking awesome. Something about it hits me just right, it mixes your style of black and white inking, large black areas, doodling, and fantasy and I love it. I wish you would scan this so I can make it my phone background, I like it that much. Thanks for inspiring me so much peter keep up the good work.

Great wafting technique peter, my lab instructor would be proud of you for not just sniffing it

For ink, try a polar solvent like isopropyl alcohol or acetone. Put the tips in a plastic zip bag, fill halfway with solvent, zip it up, float it in the reservoir filled with water, buzz it, and it should work better than the detergent based product you were using.

May I make a suggestion? 400ml water to 40ml of solution. (isn't that 10 to 1?) Clean one pen only. Use heat. Try 1 hour. I think the heat actually makes the solution work better. 1 hour? 2 hours? 3hours? But try only one stuck pen. I used these when I did mechanical drawing and it takes longer than you think for the ultrasonic cleaner to work. But, they do work. Metal will not break down, but the dried ink eventually will break apart inside the needle.

I have a complete set of Rotring and Koh i Noor pens I've had for years. They're in perfect condition. The difference is that I clean each pen every time I use it and store it until the next time, this involves taking the pen apart and rinsing it in Rotring cleaning solution or Rapido-eze, rinsing it out and drying it. I've never stored any of my pens with ink in them for any length of time and would expect this to cause issues, especially with the smaller nib sizes. That said, I've read articles claiming pens that suffered this indignity could be recovered by soaking in alcohol and various other solutions, depending upon the severity of the hardened ink I imagine, ultrasonic cleaners are a relatively new addition. Maybe if the pen is being used every day or two you can get away with storing ink in them, obviously once it's forgotten about disaster occurs.

KZfaq "no knifes in your video or else your channel will be deleted" Peter draws " I use short sword and get this I will grab it by the blade"

Interesting drawings. I hope your summer classes inspire.

I did NOT read that as “pens”

I live in India I haven't really bought expensive pens But i love a specific pen, Trimax It's pretty cheap 45 rupees (roughly 70 rupees=1 us dollar) And the refill is cheaper 15 rupees Idk why but the refill comes with a whole cap And it feels better in hand Seems like a win win Its fun to use see-through use and throw pens

it's probably more important to clean them regularly rather than letting them sit clogged for a long time, but i don't blame you at all - i do the exact same thing even with my expensive fountain pens. i could never fault someone else for something i do myself.

I can't ignore the first drawing, I found it so satisfying to look at!

My architect buddy would never leave ink in his technical pens for longer than one week.

Plunging Peter's Pen Parts

Wishing you luck on your school work! School is kicking me in the butt right now. Maybe in the next few videos you can talk about what you're reading? Loved the art as always!

Thrush is nothing to be ashamed of Peter!

I'm glad you figured it all out Keep up the good work Peter!

Basic chemistry, you have to give the chemicals a little Splish Splash when you pour from their jugs. It helps loosen up any innate aggressions that the molecules might be holding on to.

I love that drawing. School is already being planned out for you. Just put the time and work in and you got it man. You're in your 30's, you know it's ok to ask questions and be openminded too them.

What a fascinating new perspective on your drawing area

Good luck Peter

dude.... i totally use the iris aperture circle thingy to get circles to work on my stuff...very cool. good luck in summer school.

the dramatic lighting is so pleasing to my eyes. i took a few screenshots for future light studies in the least creepiest way possible... adding them to my "maybe one day it will inspire me" folder

Your personality gives me hope and joy in this bleak and dark world we live in. Thank you Peter

I have a rotring "tintenkuli" piston filler from around the 50s. When I got it, it was like your pens. Neglected with dried up ink in it. Rinsed it, brushed it with a toothbrush, put warm (not hot!) Water in a bowl with a few drops of dishcleaner, let it sit overnight, next day I dropped it in my ultrasonic cleaner with just clean water for 10 minutes. Disassembled it (it was stuck before), rinsed and brushed again, USC again and rinsed it one final time. Works like new! The anatomy of these pens is different, thus you have to clean it regularly. I rinse it now every week and it never stops working. Clean your tools, buddy!

I have pens envy!!

Peter.. don't know if youl read this or not but I have huge respect for you ..using fountain pens is an art that could easy go out of fashion and be forgotten about but here you are getting young people into such a great hobby...

peter. i love you brother. u got me doing the crying laughing crying thing, you're great.

Goodluck for classes :)

This drawing reminds me of a nightmare samurai. Love it.

Every time i watch your videos, you make me laugh. This time was "Their signal word is danger. My signal word is.. ... ... Corealis effect"

Great fun. Next time, delve a little deeper and disassemble completely - some of the pens even have a hidden socket to unscrew them with. You can then remove the hair-thin rod inside the nib. You have to be super careful with the really fine ones but you can then clean all the ink out of the tube - which is the bit that will be blocked. Works almost every time and is very satisfying :)

The bends magnet on the fridge!! Great album :)

Dr. Peter just might be my favorite Peter

Yes it will. It's good for air brush needles too.

Honestly, the first drawing surprised me pleasantly

i bought a Isograph .30 around ten months ago and i love it! It didnt take a month before i figured out these are high maintenance. Im using it at least 4~5 days a week(8-10+ hr a day) and it was getting clogged everyday! I thought maybe the ink and paper fibers were working their was up the nib and causing the ink to not flow as well...? But i think its just the ink drying and thickening clogging the tip. So I started FULLY disassembling the nib and cleaning it at least once a month. And before every ink refill i rinse the nib under warm water and drain any water before refilling. Seems to help keeping them working very well. Im pretty sure the direction even say keep it clean but who reads those. Lol And something else Ive notice about this pen and ink. If you shake the pen a lot , the ink gets foamy, which might cause flow issues, so i try not to shake it a lot. I do like these rOtring pens a lot! I just bought two .20 today cant wait to try them with some different colors. Though i might need a magnifier to see my lines. -_-

I’ve never seen an ultrasonic cleaner before. Seems like a really interesting machine!

Ultrasonic cleaner was one of my best investments. I have many vintage and newer fountain pens, and except for the hard rubber ones, ultrasonic cleaners work to get all the old ink out, and even clean up brightwork. I have an older Osmiroid 75 that came to me plugged with the India ink the previous owner used in it. Took multiple runs of the ultrasonic cleaner and dilute Koh I Noor technical pen cleaner, but I finally got it all out. Worked great for an almost 90 year old Esterbrook nib unit, too. Just bubbled out whatever was plugging it.😁 I've even gotten ink out of a poorly designed Wing Sung feed that I thought was permanently stained. (The 3008 with the Lamy style nibs, the feeds are pretty rough.) The key is "first, do no harm." Start on the lowest setting and time, bumping up as needed. (It took about a week for the Osmiroid, running my definitely cheaper cleaner off and on about 5x a day, leaving the pen soaking, and using the longest time setting.) As to discoloration of an ebonite feed: it's got to be quite old, and have been exposed to heat and other things that are pretty rough on older pens. The 90ish year old Esterbrook nib didn't discolour in the least, and it took a while to get it working again, soaking and running the cleaner. It's the outside that tends to get discoloured...

For deeper cleaning I would suggest regular dishwasher soap and water overnight, rinse and then the ultrassonic cleaner, and maybe a few runs for the cartridges. Sometimes you just need time and agitation for the dirt to come off you can also put a cup with a different cleaning solution (like isopropyl alcohol) and the parts inside of that solution, and immerse into the water bath, since the soundwaves are generated at the bottom they will work as well I use ultrassonic cleaner for cleaning laboratory equipment, such as microsyringes and that works really well

i absolutely lost it when you said "Coriolis affect" is your signal hahahahahh

Peter, you have the look of a mad scientist😉

Can we just appreciate that he is wearing the proper PPE for using an unknown substance

Thanks for reminding me why I never really warmed up to technical pens. There are other kinds of pens that won't break your heart, and your budget, like this.

Oh seems others have difficulties with these aswell. I had couple of rOtrings that have seen better days and since then laid in the cabinet. I also bought couple pens of theirs from web which had been used dirt cheap so I thought cleaning them all. What I learned easiest way to clean is to let them sit on bowl of water for a day so that I did but like you I only got two working right away so second day of simmering the troubled ones and little bit of elbow grease (shaking & tapping them on a paper) I’m happy to announce all of them started to work. Man I may have to start saving for that ultrasound. seems it makes stuff way easier...

You make my day brother.

As the years go by, Petey is looking more and more like a mad scientist =)

I tried cleaning my clogged 0.2mm Rotring pen and some fountain pens by putting it in a half a cup of water and microwave it for at least 45 sec. for some reason it worked.

You are definitely rocking the lab coat! :D

Yea... but they kind of give you a bonus perk : +3 in precision lolol. I don't know why but I always enjoyed watching you more drawing with those pens so I think the effort was worth the shot! :) and probably long overdue ;) I figure that the only way to keep them in shape would be to always use them and prevent clean them.... which is kindof a pain in the a** indeed lol

Thats a fortune spent on technical pens. Sick! I like it!

I feel like I had to watch this one when I saw the words power tools in the title. I had to check Peter hadn't hurt himself haha

good luck with your classes peter, I really miss college

We used an industrial sized ultra sonic cleaning machine to clean filters that we used on a Helium-3 dewar. That thing could clean anything bigger than Helium (2 atoms wide!!!!!) off our metal filter. If I still worked at that lab I'd offer to try putting a pen in that industrial sized machine for you. I bet the pens would be good as new!

"plunging pen parts" my new favorite dirty innuendo!

Peter in gloves and a lab coat is doing something to me 😳

"at some point, it can't be my fault anymore, right?" felt

Usually a mixing ratio 4:1, 10:1, etc, the first number denotes the parts of solution or chemical and the second number denotes the parts of whatever you are using to dilute it with. Unless it specifically states it backwards. At least that is how it is with paint mixing ratios.

I have used a ultrasonic cleaner to clean Koh-I-Noor technical pens. However, it required a full disassembly to get them back to life. If the "needle" is stuck barrel. Try one 5 min cycle in the ultrasonic cleaner. Then, fully disassemble. I only use dawn dish soap though.

5:23 that was the perfect time for you to use the phrase "The PeterVerse" !!!

Any tiny needle is going to be hard to clean. I had one that took me a great while to get working again. You take the good with the bad with these pens.

I LOVE these pens too man, I bought the 3 pack drew so long with them, but yeah they all broken now. I've tried alot of things, windex actually was one of the best cleaning methods. I also learned the hard way not to take the nib out, I ruined 1 that way, but the other two just dont work despite cleaning efforts! I want to buy more but man they are annoying lol.

Ultrasonics are great! I keep mine with tap water and a drop of dish soap in it and occasionally drop my glasses in there just to watch the face grease literally fall off the frames! Its crazy looking, it looks like the glasses frames are burning and smoke is rolling off of them underwater, but its really just nasty facial grime falling off! Sounds gross but its awesome

You gotta love Peter man 😂💕

Oh, I paid full attention to the first drawing. I loved it. I imagined it as a derelict office building.

You should try drawing with a drill I think that would work great with your style because of how unpredictable it would be!

I think you can clean your glasses with this too

I like the drawing.

I love peters draw wings.

I have dyslexia and the last word of title of this video 'pens!' looked like something else.

The Coriolis effect is a highly underrated effect.

I bought some Faber castell pens from eBay and cleaned them out with a cheap ultrasonic cleaner and it worked great! I did take the needle but out though

Love the lab coat peter :)

Peter, great idea that sonic cleaner. I liked both drawings, but the first one did feel more tense than the second. But from my prospective, they are both a bit dark. I am also quite fascinated with the rOtring isographic & rapidographic pens. I think that I would prefer the isographic beter, because I can choose whatever color ink that I would like to use. I believe that you've inspired me to buy one! Great video, thank you much. God speed, and success on your collegiate efforts. I sometimes struggle with the idea of going back to school to get my Masters. Are you post or under grad?

These things can be buggers. Taking those all the way apart was a last ditch effort one time. I killed one trying to get that really thin piece of metal back inside, it bent. It was pretty cool to see how the insides look. Too bad their isin’t some sort of Warfarin for the guts of these guys to prevent the gunk. It’s a lot work, probably more than a plant. Depending on the plant. Like orchids-please bloom again. That iris device looks fun and probably looks good on a desk but the price. Too much other stuff to want.

How long ago since you cleaned them prior to this test? When I was in school, artist were pretty fanatical about keeping their tech pens clean. I really like your work and listening to your stories as you draw.

The smaller points are much harder to keep clean and maintain, the inside of the nib tubes, and the needles get build up. Even with proprietary inks.

I have given up on my Rotring Isographs because they let me down constantly. I moved to Faber Castell TG1-s and have had no issues at all. They don't seem to dry out and block up like the Rotrings

Hi Peter, I personally don’t have the patience to deal with tools that take too much maintenance and fiddling to keep them doing their intended tasks. A wee bit of hands on, like filling a fountain pen and the occasional flush is part of the experience, but the Rotring technical pens are too much if you ask me. Kind of like a Porsche Carrara GT, an absolutely stunning super car that is an aesthetic and technical marvel but has a $50,000 clutch that will be quickly useless if you don’t disengage the clutch just so. Ruins the experience.

you said you wish you could oil your pens - noodler's makes lubricated inks for fountain pens, and probably other companies do too, but i know from noodler's anything with the word "eel" in the name is lubricated, and some that don't have eel in the name too

I think Rotring should send Peter some freebies!

In my experience, those ultrasonic cleaners are just slightly better than soaking in regular soapy water. I wonder if you could push some cleaning solution through the Rotring nib like how you push it through a fountain pen with the converter.

i like to use fountainpen ink mixed with a bit of water in the rotrings.