Qus. What does 0.5 or 0.6 mean?

Ans. Each Gel pen tip has a ball, and its diameter is expressed in millimeter. So 0.5 and 0.6 mean 0.5 mm and 0.6 mm diameter of the ball. The smaller the diameter, the finer the pen writes and the bigger the diameter the thicker the pen writes.

Qus. Why sometimes ink backflow occurs and soils hands and clothes ?

Ans. It is a very common and important question to all. In fact, back flow may occur in case of a flawless pen if it is mishandled by the user in the following ways:

• a. If the user writes against gravity for a few seconds, air enters through the tip. It weakens the holding power of ink against the gravity. So later on, when the pen is kept in the pocket keeping the tip upside, the ink may flow back and soil the pocket.
• b. As Oil gel ink has thixotropic (shear viscosity decreasing) properties, its viscosity drops with the shocks caused by external impacts. At ideal environmental conditions, ink can absorb that shock, but during summer in our country, sometimes the weather is very hot and that time if the user applies shock impact unconsciously, the ink may not absorb that shock and may tend to flow back.
• c. The cap of our pen has a ventilation hole. When the cap is replaced to the pen after completion of writing, air inside the cap can escape through the hole. But if the user blocks the hole with his finger unconsciously during replacement, the air is entrapped and applies pressure on the ink to flow back.

Qus. Why ink flow increases during very hot weather?

Ans. The ink flow is effected by the viscosity of ink and viscosity is changed with the change in temperature. We select ink viscosity for a temperature range of 25 to 35 degree C, but during summer, when the temperature rises upper the than 40 degree C, then viscosity changes significantly, that ultimately increases ink flow that may cause some gooping.

Qus. How about the life of a pen?

Ans. All Matador Gel pens are made of NS Tip and high-flow ink having 2 years shelf life. But the shelf life of a pen depends upon environment temperature and humidity. For an ideal temperature of 25 degree C and an ideal humidity of 50%, the life can be exactly 2 years. But in our country, as the ideal environmental conditions are not always met, the life drops to 1.5 years.

Qus. Why sometimes scratchy feelings are there during writing?

Ans. Writing smoothness depends upon both the quality of a pen and that of the paper. A pen that writes very nice at home on a good quality paper, may write scratchy in the exam hall where rough papers are delivered. So sometimes when the paper surface is not smooth, then scratchy feelings may be there during writing.

Qus. During winter may the ink of your pen clot and broken writing occur?

Ans. No, in all of our pens we use anti-freeze ink which is not frozen even in -15 deg C temperature. You can check it by keeping our pens in the refrigerator for a day and try again in the next day. It should write without any problem.