Vacumatic Leaking On My Fingers

[Ron Z]

I've double checked the Parker repair manuals that I have. Tom is correct, there is no mention of using any sealant on the filler. The only thing used is a lubricant so that the diaphragm seats properly on the cone. There is a mention of a sealant for the section threads.

 

The manual in question covers pens going back to the 1920s. There is no date for publication in the manual.

[alkman]

 

Second Question: If I am suppose to be unable to unscrew the nib unit, how am I to clean out the pen if I want to say change ink colors?

Cleaning a Vacumatic can be a pain but you expel the ink, fill with water, expel the water and repeat. Parker dealers had a centrifuge to help expel the ink through the nib via centrifugal force.

 

Todd

 

Didn't Mr. Zorn develop a centrifuge using a modified salad spinner. I believe the instructions are hereabouts or a link thereto.

Edited July 29, 2010 by alkman

[Markthetruck]

My use of natural soap is in the same spirit of bees wax. As a matter of fact, I think now that bees wax could be even better. By the way, where do you buy your bees wax? I wanted to buy some for the leather bands of my watches and so far I was unsuccessful to find pure one. I sent money to a website called "Pinnacle Supplies", my money was gone, I never received any communication and no reply to my inquiries and no product.

Most health food or natural pharmacies carry pure bees wax. It's also common to candle makers and canning supplies. (as parafin is known for it's toxicity)

[rhr2010]

Thank you Mark

[ps4ever]

I used silicone grease as a thread sealer when I replaced the diaphraghm in my Vac. Also used it on the pump threads. Seems to work well and should make it even easier to get apart in the future. Maybe silicone grease is a terrible thing to use and will rot out celluloid, but I have never heard this.

 

The most likely cause is that the section threads were not sealed when the pen was repaired. The best way to seal it is with a rosin based thread sealant, which is what Parker used. This softens at a relatively low temperature so that the pen can be taken apart in the future without risk of damaging the pen. It's all that I use on Vacumatics when I restore them.

I sell small jars for $10 each, Giovanni Abrate sells a similar product.

[pajaro]

I used silicone grease as a thread sealer when I replaced the diaphraghm in my Vac. Also used it on the pump threads. Seems to work well and should make it even easier to get apart in the future. Maybe silicone grease is a terrible thing to use and will rot out celluloid, but I have never heard this.

 

If you read Old Griz's post, you would know you need no thread sealer on the filler. I suspect that making the filler easy to unscrew will have the enhancement of unscrewing it with the unscrewing of the blind cap.

[FarmBoy]

I used silicone grease as a thread sealer when I replaced the diaphraghm in my Vac. Also used it on the pump threads. Seems to work well and should make it even easier to get apart in the future. Maybe silicone grease is a terrible thing to use and will rot out celluloid, but I have never heard this.

 

There is no need to put anything on the filler nut. You will likely find that the filler nut works out. Any interaction between Celluloid and silicon grease will not matter, 51s are Lucite.

 

If you silicone greased the hood, it is better than nothing but it is messy and I'd rather see rosin there.

[Ron Z]

The only reason for any silicone on the filler nut/thread bushing, is that it might prevent corrosion of the threads the next time the diaphragm leaks. Even then only a very, very little bit.