How to refurbish plotter pens?

[Jon Elson]

On 01/28/2017 08:51 AM, Mattis Lind wrote:
> I am about to get our IBM1627 (rebranded Calcomp 565) going but the pens in
> the case is quite dry. What is the best method to refurbish those? What is
> the best solvent to get the old ink out? What ink to refill with?
>
> https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-rp4vyPPYu1ZjVRbnlyczV4czQ
>
Well, if you can get them apart, then it is pretty easy.  
generally, rubbing alcohol works pretty well.
If you can't get them apart, then you can dunk them in a 
little vial, like a pill bottle from the pharmacy, with 
alcohol in it. Then, if you have one available, set that in 
an ultrasonic cleaner with water in the tank.  This will 
help work the solvent into the capillary channel in the 
tip.  It may take a long soak and repeated runs of the 
ultrasonic cleaner to free it up enough to get the plunger 
out of the tip.

If these are all metal pens, you can be a bit more 
aggressive with solvents.

Jon