Air Bubble in an Ink Refill

No review today, but you do have a chance to win something if you can help me solve the problem pictured above.  I think the picture pretty much gives it away, but let me give you some background first.

So the ink cartridge in question is from my Pilot Hi Tech C Coleto Multi Pen, which I’ve enjoyed using until recently.  When I first got this pen, I didn’t notice any issues, and I certainly didn’t see the air bubble when I opened the refill and loaded it into the pen.  After carrying this pen back and forth to work in my laptop bag and in a pen case, one day I started to notice that the green ink in the pen skipped intermittently so I just used another pen.  After a few days I went back to the pen and it wrote fine at first, but after a minute went back to skipping, and finally sTopped writing.

I decided to open up the pen and take out the refill to see if there was a problem, and that is when I noticed the big air bubble towards the tip of the refill.  Once I saw this, I immediately figured that was the reason for my writing problems.  This leads me to two questions that I’m curios to see if anyone has answers to:

1. How does this happen?  Was it a manufacturing defect, or was it something I did to the pen unknowingly?

2. Does anyone know any tips or tricks to get the ink pushed down past the bubble so the ink can flow normally again?

I’d love to hear from anyone who can answer those two questions, and the best answer in the comments will win something.  Honestly, I’m not sure what you will win yet, but I’ve got a few things in mind so lets hear your best answer, hopefully one that actually prevents and solves the problem.

©2017, Brian Greene. All rights reserved.