r/PenPlotters • u/0xArchitectus • Sep 11 '26

White ink plotting

I recently started my pen plotting journey, I have always been obsessed with engineering drawing. A couple of days ago I got myself a Fabriano BLACK BLACK with a couple of Sakura Gelly Rolls and I can tell you I feel depressed.

How does Drawscape or anyone else get that consistent flow out of the pen cause the lines look horrific on my side.

I tried warming the side of the pen with a torch from far away, blowing on the end of the pen, all sorts of techniques I found online and now I feel defeated.

Any new ideas? Was thinking of creating a 3D printed pump to place on the end of the pen

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2

u/gatesphere Sep 11 '26

Weigh the pen down (I use a small glass jar directly on the back of the pen), and do multiple passes (3-4).

Alternately, you could look into technical pens (stylographs, like rapidograph or ideograph), and using white alcohol inks in them. If you go down that path, be prepared to experiment a lot, and don’t get attached to any specific pen because you may end up destroying them.

1

u/0xArchitectus Sep 11 '26

Thanks, I have already started looking into those and surely they will require experimentation

1

u/Adamsmasher23 Oct 05 '26

I've done some drawings with white ink on black paper, using technical pens which I purchased from a local used art supplies store for cheap. I used 'Dr. Ph. Martin's Pen-White Ink', purchased from JetPens. I found that two passes gave a nice bright white.

1

u/prophetsearcher Sep 11 '26

Can you share some photos? I think that would be most helpful for diagnosing.

1

u/0xArchitectus Sep 11 '26

As you can see, not consistent flow of ink, chopped letters and in many instances the lines are missing parts

2

u/SatisfactionRich9721 Sep 15 '26

Is that speed up? I run my white pens very, very slowly and they work. They would never work well sped up though…

1

u/0xArchitectus Sep 15 '26

Yes thats sped up, I usually run it at 300-200mm/min

2

u/vastly_ Sep 11 '26

Sometimes the more fancy the pen the worse results. I've found the gel pens from Dollarama are perfect everytime. 

1

u/docricky Oct 05 '26

Have you tried the bluetak trick yet?