Sick Pelikan P1! How Do You Cure The Bird?

[Pennenut]

I have recently acquired a Pelikan P1 with a fine nib. I initially flushed the bird numerous times with water and kept getting turquoise ink whenever expelling the water from the pen. I have filled it with Waterman blue black ink and now am experiencing issues with variable ink flow when writing. How do I nurture this bird back to health?

Edited January 21, 2018 by Pennenut

[sargetalon]

Sorry that your P1 is not writing well. The feed may still be clogged with old ink. I would continue to try to alternate flushes and soaks. The P1 has a huge feed that holds a lot of ink. If it's an ongoing issue, you could try to remove the nib and feed for a more thorough cleaning. It can be accomplished by inserting a toothpick or similar object into the hole under the nib. Not something I would suggest if you're at all comfortable. Pelikan themselves had a special tool to accomplish this task. Good luck and I hope that you are able to sort it out.

[Ernst Bitterman]

I was surprised to discover... somewhere... that the special tool in question is threaded; you would actually screw it into the hole in the feed. I found, somewhat by accident, that it is also possible to gently wiggle the point free; this removes pressure on the feed and allows it to be extracted a little more easily without the tool in question. This is, of course, also subject to one's one comfort level regarding yanking on parts of sixty year old pens.

 

I'm putting an exploded view of a P25 below, so you can get a sense of how much feed is in there. The P25 is anatomically similar to the P1-- no filler, of course, and there's a little cartridge nipple extension on the back of the feed absent in the P1.

 

[catbert]

Here's a visual guide to the toothpick method by FPN member TorPelikan: http://www.geocities.jp/torpelikan/page101/page101.html I haven't tried it myself.

 

I was able to make my P1 write a little wetter by pulling the nib straight out, leaving the feed in place, and working on the tines a bit.

[ralfstc]

I have a couple of these old birds, and I could not believe how much ink was in the feed. I think the key may simply be patience, either in soaking or in writing. If soaking with the section vertical, make sure the water is deep enough so that its level is at least at the end of the feed; otherwise the water has less incentive to climb the feed :-)

 

Good luck-- they are wonderful writing pens when the stars are aligned!

 

Ralf

[zap210]

If you are experiencing variable ink flow then the nib, feed and pen need to be cleaned thoroughly. Get every speck of dried ink out and examine the feed. It cannot be gouged or warped. P1's either work perfectly, run dry quickly, or leak. Leaking is usually due to a crack, bad piston, or differential shrinkage in the plastics.

 

If you have a bad piston good luck. I now use a 1.5mm oring and a plug. Correct pistons seem unobtainable. If when you remove the feed and stick it back in it now leaks, its the plastics. I use a small piece of Kapton tape under the narrower part of the feed to create some pressure on the nib and feed top. There is probably a better method to control ink flow, like putting a thin coat of shellac somewhere in the pen tip but I have not tried it yet.

 

Warning: the back end of p1's crack very easily. Approach disassembly with the knowledge that you will probably crack something. I made a cheap puller that works but its a (bleep) shoot every time I replace a piston.

 

If everything is clean, then its the nib. The tiny things are hard to work on but the tines can be very gently spread to improve flow. If you try to spread the wings you will be in trouble. The p1 and p25 nibs are designed to fit the curvature of the feed exactly. If the shape of the nib wings are changed the nib will either move around and lay flatter causing dry flow, or the nib will sit too high causing a very wet writer. The two dents in the nib are there to provide precise spacing between the nib and the feed, and provide some friction.

 

Once you get it working to your satisfaction you will like it. If you do not mess with them, they are every bit as good as Parker 45's and 51's, just not as durable. OK, maybe not every bit as good but almost, and certainly more rare and unique. The P1 is my EDC pen. Also, you may be interested to know that a Parker 45 cap fits the P1 very nicely and is much more durable than the P1 caps, and its a push cap so you do not have to remember to unscrew it.

 

Hope this helps,

Zap

 

The gold p1 nibs are usually pretty good and do not seem to need much tweaking. The p25 nibs all seem to need the tines spread to provide decent ink flow.

[contaxrts2]

Here's a visual guide to the toothpick method by FPN member TorPelikan: http://www.geocities.jp/torpelikan/page101/page101.html I haven't tried it myself.

 

I was able to make my P1 write a little wetter by pulling the nib straight out, leaving the feed in place, and working on the tines a bit.

 

Hi,

 

a regular metrical screw M2x20mm will fit perfectly ("special tool") and helped me to clean my P1

[siamackz]

Hi,

 

a regular metrical screw M2x20mm will fit perfectly ("special tool") and helped me to clean my P1

Thanks for the tip. Screw it in and pull. Worked like a charm!

Edited September 9, 2020 by siamackz