Repair Tools & Supplies

[aircraft_electrician]

Hi all,

 

After a few years of collecting vintage pens, I've decided I'd like to try my hand at some basic repairs, such as sacs and Touchdown and Snorkel o-rings, and the like.

 

I've got my eye on an auction for the "Da Book" but I know I'm going to need some basic tools. What should I buy and where is the best place to get it? Is there any place that offers a tool kit that comes with all the basic stuff?

 

Is there any specific tools that work better than others? Any brands of tools to avoid?

 

Are there any other books that I should read along with Dubiel's?

 

I would appreciate any advice you guys (and gals) can offer.

 

Thanks,

Tom

Edited April 2, 2009 by aircraft_electrician

[gregamckinney]

I've acquired repair tools and supplies from Pendemonium, Woodbin and Tryphon. I've also ordered sacs and diaphragms from the Pen Sac Co.

Everything I've received is top quality.

https://www.pendemonium.com/

http://www.woodbin.ca/

http://www.tryphon.it/catalogo.htm

http://www.pensacs.com/

 

Regarding Da Book, this is a great reference, but many of the pro restorers consider some of the techniques to be less than ideal. The new Oldfield book is considered by many to be far superior to Da Book.

The Oldfield book is more expensive than Dubiel's, but worth it.

http://www.penpractice.com/page23.html

 

 

Regards, greg

[Ron Z]

I post this frequently, but will post again. Before you go buying tools, take a look at my articles on Cheap Tools. It'll save you some money, and I bet you have what you need to make some of the tools on hand already. Take a look at the links to the FPN threads too. You may find them to be entertaining as well as useful

 

The truth is that I've made a fair number of my tools myself, just because nobody makes quite what I need.

Edited April 3, 2009 by Ron Z

[AndyH]

Ron, those are great articles! Thanks for sharing.

 

Will you be coming to the Boston show in May? (your website has it as TBA)

 

Best,

Andy

Edited April 2, 2009 by AndyH

[Ron Z]

Will you be coming to the Boston show in May? (your website has it as TBA)

 

I don't know. It's a week and a half before we have to leave for Raleigh, which is cutting it close.

[AndyH]

Well, if you do I'll be sure to look you up - I have a couple of vintage pens that need surgery and/or parts, and I'd love to hear more about turning my own Esterbrook jewels on a drill press.

[sputnik1]

Regarding Da Book, this is a great reference, but many of the pro restorers consider some of the techniques to be less than ideal. The new Oldfield book is considered by many to be far superior to Da Book.

The Oldfield book is more expensive than Dubiel's, but worth it.

http://www.penpractice.com/page23.html

 

 

Regards, greg

I agree that the new Oldfield book is much better. I would recommend it as the first pen repair book to buy. However, Da Book is still very helpful to me. There have been a few times when I've had to refer to both books to figure out how a pen works. For some models of pens, especially those with several versions, the two books truly complement each other.

 

Foster

 

 

 

 

 

[aircraft_electrician]

Ron, and others, thanks for the help and guidance. I'll be looking around for some everyday household items that I can turn into tools now, and I've got an idea of what to buy to get started.

 

Now I need to buy some "not-so-nice" pens to learn on before moving onto my nice pens.

 

Thanks again,

Tom

[algabatz]

Well, going down the lane of Ron Z, I have made most of my tools myself, or use readily available ones.

I would like to see Your tools, so I'm hi-jacking this thread. These are mine, now show me Yours!

 

My pride and joy. A 1930's Vacumatic fitting block that I was only recently able to buy. Works like a charm and is a truly beautiful tool. It is a multi tool that lets me unscrew the vacumatic fillers of both standard and oversize pens, the brass pipe works with the knock out block to remove the feed/nib, even on older style Vacuum fillers where the section/body is in one piece. On the back it has a rubber "button" for unscrewing clip screws, it has three slots for setting the nibs just right and a small slot used to remove Duofold buttons.

 

1) An aluminium pellet pusher, front is used to get the vacpellet in place, the back is used for rolling the diaphragm up on the filler. Bought this at www.woodbin.ca.

 

2) A home made drill (i use chop sticks) to remove broken ink tubes from feeds

 

3) A home made sac threader. Made from a metal spring imitating a Parker standard tool.

 

4) An old letraset tool that i use when I need to glue in very small areas. I also use it to clean dirt from thredings.

 

5) An home made mini saw. I used the metallic sheeting from an old computer diskette and cut minute tines. Works surprisingly well.

 

6) Brush, again from Woodbin.

 

7) Dental tool scraper, from Woodbin

 

8) Dental tool that i ground very dull.

 

9) Watchmakers forceps, bought from ebay.

 

10) A curved scalpell, used to remove bandages. It goes through the whole wood and the back end is perfect to un-screw the brass clip jewel holders.

 

11) An home made needle/wire used to clean breather tubes and ink feeds, made from a safety pin.

 

12) An home made ink channel cleaner, same diskette metal as above.

 

13) An home made pellet remover. I used a safety pin and bent the very end into a hook.

 

14) A watchmakers screwdriver kit, contains several different mini screwdrivers, from eBay.

 

 

1-2) Files

 

3) Swab used to clean inside of barrels.

 

4) Pressure pin with a soft end (old screwdriver) that i use to force the vacumatic filler out from the barrel if it's stuck.

 

5) An old vacumatic tool (for sale! ;-)

 

6) A heavy piece of metal that i use as a hammer.

 

7) a collection of small pliers

 

8) Parallell pliers to extract and insert nibs (used with rubber buffing).

 

9) A pair of pliers ground to fine points, used for setting nibs.

 

10) Pliers used for gripping sections (I'm going to buy and try the bionic grip from tryphon later on)

 

 

Clothes peg for gluing

 

Watchmaker's loupe

 

Watchmaker's loupe with a light

 

White water based correction fluid to enhance body imprints.

 

Home made Vacumatic lubricant

 

Shellac

 

Talcum powder

 

Wax, produced by British Museum to preserve artifacts.

 

That's all folks!

 

/T

Edited April 5, 2009 by algabatz

[eckiethump]

That's what repair should be about, being inventive in the tool manufacture, for the particular job, at a particular time, very impressed with the kit supplied, and am sure there are many more, one off, items in your tool box, my comments are in bold below, deleting where I have the duplicate tools

 

2) A home made drill (i use chop sticks) to remove broken ink tubes from feeds, I have a hand held chuck also an archimedian drill holder for very small drills

 

3) A home made sac threader. Made from a metal spring imitating a Parker standard tool.Never found the need for one

 

4) An old letraset tool that i use when I need to glue in very small areas. I also use it to clean dirt from thredings.Mines is from an old UNO drawing pen set

 

5) An home made mini saw. I used the metallic sheeting from an old computer diskette and cut minute tines. Works surprisingly well. Great idea, I have a razor saw, which is a lot bigger, and probably not as fine cutting as this.

10) A curved scalpell, used to remove bandages. It goes through the whole wood and the back end is perfect to un-screw the brass clip jewel holders.Nice variation on a theme, I have varieties of silver steel I shape then harden and use for this sort of thing

 

13) An home made pellet remover. I used a safety pin and bent the very end into a hook. Sorry don't fancy this one much, Dremel does me fine

 

 

6) A heavy piece of metal that i use as a hammer. I use the type of metal hammer used by ceramic tilers, with leather applied to the face

 

 

10) Pliers used for gripping sections (I'm going to buy and try the bionic grip from tryphon later on) I use mole grips with brake hose, I feel it allows me control on applied pressure by setting them gradually to grip

 

White water based correction fluid to enhance body imprints. I use china marking crayon, easy to remove if not wanted by pen owner, it also is used to highlight scratches on pens when buffing

Home made Vacumatic lubricant What is the composition of this ? saliva has done me well so far.

 

That's all folks!

 

/T

 

Couple of other things:-

I have various wooden knock out blocks one clad in thick soft leather on top and one side, to protect vulnerable items.

 

I use home made section sealant made from a rosin and castor oil mix, like very heavy treacle when at room tempeture, requires warming for use.

 

Tools are made as they are required, tools for particular pens are kept with these, in that particualr parts drawer, which is a very handy document filing cabinet.

 

Good to share these ideas, so thank you algabatz

 

Eric

 

 

Edited April 6, 2009 by eckiethump

[Buzz J]

Here's an old Father Terry idea that I discovered over the weekend.

 

For nib work, put some shrink wrap tubing over the pliers' jaws to prevent marring the nib.

 

 

[eckiethump]

Here's an old Father Terry idea that I discovered over the weekend.

 

For nib work, put some shrink wrap tubing over the pliers' jaws to prevent marring the nib.

 

I've always felt this section of the board, could do with a "tips and tricks" sticky, there will be loads of things we all do differently, that suit us and perhaps others. We haven't had one of Ron's, "what is this and what do I use it for" threads in a while, and that would be a good place to start.

Francis' (fountainbel) recent thread on a swaging tool, is another one that shouldn't be lost in the mist.

Eric

[Ron Z]

We haven't had one of Ron's, "what is this and what do I use it for" threads in a while...

 

True. I have a couple up my sleeve, but haven't had a chance to put them up. I'll see if I can't do one this week.

Edited April 6, 2009 by Ron Z

[eckiethump]

True. I have a couple up my sleeve, but haven't had a chance to put them up. I'll see if I can't do one this week.

 

Well the salad spinner still gets used, for those who don't know what I'm talking about, type in the search facility "salad spinner"

Eric

[AndyH]

I'm finding this thread fascinating; makes me think more about tackling some restorations myself. Thanks all!

[Ron Z]

True. I have a couple up my sleeve, but haven't had a chance to put them up. I'll see if I can't do one this week.

 

Well the salad spinner still gets used, for those who don't know what I'm talking about, type in the search facility "salad spinner"

Eric

 

Or just go to my web site. You'll find links to all of the "what is this...." threads under articles and essays. I did that for folks who (like me) are too lazy to do a search every time.

 

The salad spinner thread is one of my favorites. I still laugh when I read it.

[pen2paper]

'Ron Z'

Or just go to my web site. You'll find links to all of the "what is this...." threads under articles...

...The salad spinner thread is one of my favorites. I still laugh when I read it.

p2p-liked the discussion on the paintball tube..explains after flushing flushing flushing, even with baby enema bulb-then once the water ran clear, installing what appeared to be a black Lamy cartridge, I was still seeing bright Lamy blue..thought that sure Looks like a black cart.. then this am the the blue darkened, and finally its all black..

as I cleaned all of my pens, was impressed with the density of many of the inks.

my salad spinner is pristine white..not quite commited to the notion of it becoming a 'tool'.. but sure took Alot of time to clean my teensy collection Saturday.

[Shamouti]

Ron,

 

You have to admit, this guy Algabatz from Sweden is pretty cool.

 

When you are smart enough to know how to fix pens, you certainly are smart enough to innovate as well. I think more guys should be that motivated.

 

Shamouti

[Chazzozz]

Hmmm...I'm a tad late jumping into this thread, but I just wanted to add that an excellent place to go looking for tools, and things that are begging to be turned into tools, is your local wholesale medical supplier. Tweezers, clamps, dental picks and scrapers, syringes, ear cleaning bulbs, plastic tubing....the list goes on. What's even better is I find a lot of this stuff is quite inexpensive.

 

One of the very best things I picked up was a small penlight with a variety of attachments to assist with looking into very small cavities, like the inner ear or sinuses. Perfect for inspecting the inside of a pen barrel!

 

[someonesdad]

I'll toss some more material in even though I don't repair pens (I don't have the interest in restoring old pens nor fixing them). But, in general, I love fixing things and making new parts and designing them better than the original. I've been an amateur machinist most of my life and look at many of the tools that folks display -- many of them would be easy for a metalworker to make. I'd suggest to the folks who don't have the tools or the skills to make them to get chummy with a local metalworker and see what could be traded for some work.

 

For example, once I looked at this tool, I immediately knew what it is, as it's similar to a blind bearing puller. If I needed such a tool, I personally wouldn't pay $120 for one because I'd just make what was needed (it's straightforward lathe work; the slots can be cut with a slitting saw). Now, don't get me wrong -- Tryphon undoubtedly makes a nice tool here and it's worth the $120, as a person making a one-off couldn't compete with the manufactured article. Plus, I'd have to find a replacement for the roller thrust washer (I'd probably just use brass washers and some oil).

 

Now, this tool, for $40, is something easy to make if you have the taps for the threaded holes. No doubt they are some special size, so one would want to make a tap for it (making special taps, especially for soft metals like brass and aluminum, is not difficult).

 

My point here is not to encourage you away from buying Tryphon's stuff, but that when you have a need for a special tool, it is likely it can be made by an interested hobbyist, perhaps in exchange for something else.

 

In fact, I'd be interested in trading my time making something for someone in return for cheap pens that are good writers. I refuse to spend any money on expensive pens, but would love to try a cheap vintage pen with an interesting flex nib. I don't care what it looks like; it just has to write well. Being a retired scientist and engineer, I love solving problems, so if someone has a repair problem they're scratching their head over or needs a special tool made, let's chat (PM me).