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Hello! I could really use some advice on this, hope someone out here has gone through something similar or has any alternatives as in what to do. Someone brought in a TWSBI ECO pen for me to try reassembling it because they weren't succesful doing so, I've given service to many of these in the past and dealt with many stuck plunger related situations, but this time I really have no idea how this person made this happen. I'm attaching a video trying the mechanism so I can show you and explain myself better because english ain't my first language and don't know how to elaborate on what's going on (my apologies and thanks for understanding). The threads don't look damaged, I'm wondering how they managed to put it all back in, the wrench obviously does not fit. I don't want to force anything because I'm afraid I could make irreparable damage to it, so I'm having a hard time figuring out a way to solve this. Thank you all who took a moment of their day to read this. x WhatsApp Video 2024-03-24 at 12.28.23 PM.mp4

Hello, I'm about to make my own cork seals for the first time. In this case it is for a Safety Pen, but there are also a few Onoto plungers in waiting. My question is this: What is the correct/best type of cork to use for seals? Does it make a difference? many thanks George

Hi guys. Advice needed. I am repairing this slim vacumatic and when i took the plunger out, i noticed there seems to be a bit missing. the cup for the ink sac pellet to pop into. can it be repaired, as in a new pellet cup? or do i need a new plunger unit? and finally, do any of you lovely people sell the parts i would need and how can i purchase them without going against the guidelines of this forum? Pics for reference. Thanks guys n gals. love you all. Dave C.

The Custom 823 pens have always been highly captivating demonstrators from Pilot Corporation (Japan), sporting the second largest nib (Pilot#15, Namiki#20 nibsize), with a vacuum plunger filling mechanism. The model number 823 refers to the price and year, of launch, although in a slightly intricate manner. Since this pen was released in the year of 2000, 82 years after the company’s inception (i.e. 1918), it carries the first two digits of the model number as ‘82’ and the last digit which is ‘3’ refers to it launch price of JPY 30,000 (3 X 10,000). Also replicated the content with additional pictures in my blog, as the images are/will be reduced to a small thumbnail after a short-while by the image hosting service. Happy reading ! Below is a link to the same: The Pilot Custom 823 Amber Demonstrator Review The Custom 823 (for the Asian market) comes packaged in a standard pilot gift box (Z-CR-GN) which might not draw much attention, quite unlike the pen. The US merchandise comes with a silver sateen lined gift box with a complementary (hey! not really folks) bottle of Pilot/Namiki Ink-70 (Blue). The pen of course is a hot star. A golden label with a model number and nib specs is tagged to the clip. The box carries a user manual for a Type P fountain pen, which does mention keeping the knob slightly unscrewed (at a 2 mm distance) relative to the metal ring, while writing. http://i1302.photobucket.com/albums/ag127/soniknitr/C823/DSC_4033_zpsn5yia4uf.jpg DESIGN - THE AMBER DEMONSTRATOR (6/6) The Custom 823 comes in three standard designs of translucency transparency - Amber, Smoke and Clear resin, all with gold plated trims. The resin material seems substantial and feels heavy. A silver trimmed version may be a nice thing for many fountain pen nerds including myself. I went for an Amber one with a medium nib and find it quite challenging to resist getting another Smoke version, with recently slashed prices in Rakuten/Ebay. The Amber demonstrator given its lightness, is capable of bedazzling you even with a tiny bit of moonlight. A golden dazzle along the three bands and the clip, subtly delivers the rest. The finials at the cap along with the piston knob conclude the design with a brownish opacity. http://i1302.photobucket.com/albums/ag127/soniknitr/C823/DSC_4038_zps59uqxwrt.jpg The cap feels substantial and unscrews with one and a half turn, revealing the elegant yet simply designed pen. The grip section is moulded from the same brown resin as the cap-final and the piston-knob, and another golden ring segregates the grip from rest of the body. The amber demonstrator translucency does reveal the steel rod with a plunger seal mechanism. http://i1302.photobucket.com/albums/ag127/soniknitr/C823/DSC_4058_zpsdj6urt8a.jpg The cap does mention a few things etched across the broader of the concentric golden bands, including the model name CUSTOM 823 and PILOT MADE IN JAPAN with six stars of separations. A thinner band above renders some more aesthetics to the overall design. The clip is tension fit and it encompasses a vertically embossed PILOT within its golden sheen. http://i1302.photobucket.com/albums/ag127/soniknitr/C823/Cap_zpsp81nns3m.jpg FILLING SYSTEM (6/6) The brown piston knob unscrews from the golden ring till an end stop, post which the plunger unit can be pulled out. The rod is made of stainless steel and is resistant to most of the commonly used inks. For IG (Iron Gall) and Pigment Inks, care must be taken to clean the pen several times, to prevent clogging or deposit accumulation inside the ink passages. The pen fills to more than two-thirds its capacity, once the nib is dipped in ink and the plunger is pushed back in. This can give a quick gush of ink inside with a comfortable volume of 1.4 - 1.5 mL, which again could last for several days. Although getting some more ink into your pen is quite possible. Cleaning the pen is a similar ritual accompanied with some shake and I suggest you do it on a regular basis, for the ink stains if left may look ugly with time, and might require a light ammonia solution to go-off. And as mentioned in the manual, while writing with the pen, you would need to keep the piston-knob slightly unscrewed (at a 2 mm distance) relative to the golden ring. This will displace a conical valve seal below the piston seal to allow passage of ink to the feed. Given the high ink capacity of these pens with plunger type filling mechanism, this has been done to prevent ink-leakage. And this is a nice thing to have, if you intend to carry the 823 in a flight. http://i1302.photobucket.com/albums/ag127/soniknitr/C823/DSC_4130_zpsjqcefo3d.jpg For a rather crazy and complete fill, you do have a workaround. With the nib pointed up, you can pull out the plunger of a partially filled 823 and then by slowly pushing the plunger inside, you would get the air-gap between the inverted ink-levels and the visible end of barrel-section minimized. Once the inverted ink-level reaches the visible end of the barrel, you can submerge the nib in the ink bottle and push the plunger in. Voila! Done. This process may result in some ink escaping to the threads of the piston knob, but again you can repeat the same process with water/cleaning solution and shake a little to wash it off. NIB - ALL THAT MATTERS (6/6) The nib is friction-fit and comes in a standard 14k monotone design across three stock widths - F, M, B (and some specially ordered custom widths of FA and WA). The nib has a standard pilot design. The tail end of the nib specifies the month and year of manufacture. An elongated hexagonal imprint separates the design from the outer shoulders and tines with an arabesque decor running inside its circumference, encompassing the circular breather hole in between. The branding and nib specifications of PILOT, 14k-585 (58.5% Au Alloy) along with the nib size and width, which are imprinted below the breather hole. http://i1302.photobucket.com/albums/ag127/soniknitr/C823/DSC_4151_zpscb3t9giu.jpg A standard bluish grey plastic feed with thin fins and a decently sized feeder hole delivers the amazing ink suction. http://i1302.photobucket.com/albums/ag127/soniknitr/C823/DSC_4152_zpswsiiokoa.jpg PHYSICS OF IT (6/6) – RELATIVELY SPEAKING With a transparent translucent resin body in form of a traditional cigar shape, it does give a comfortable feel of length. The cap itself weighs 10 grams which makes it top heavy if posted. The overall weight of the 823s have thus a significant (one-third) contribution from the cap. There is then a comfortable grip section with around 1.1 cm diameter. Uncapped Length ~ 13. 2 cm Posted Length ~ 16.4 cm Nib Leverage ~ 2.4 cm Overall Weight ~ 29 g A capped and uncapped comparison with few of the standard large pens like Visconti Homo Sapiens Maxi, Pelikan m805 and MB 146 is posted below for your reference. http://i1302.photobucket.com/albums/ag127/soniknitr/C823/DSC_4154_zpsxjd20amq.jpg http://i1302.photobucket.com/albums/ag127/soniknitr/C823/DSC_4155_zpsieq78ytb.jpg ECONOMIC VALUE(6/6) It retails at around USD 288, and as usual it’s available at lower street prices towards a band of USD 200. I had got the pen at a cost of USD 220 at that time, which I thought was a good bargain. This year Rakuten sellers made it look lamentable by selling 823s at less than USD 190, inclusive of shipping! OVERALL (6/6) This 14k nib has a wet flow, albeit a hint of softness like the custom 74. The nib is springy and lays a somewhat wider line with pressure. There is no significant variation among the horizontal and vertical strokes. These wet lines take almost 15 secs to dry a Sailor Jentle Sky High on MD paper. http://i1302.photobucket.com/albums/ag127/soniknitr/C823/DSC_4180_zpsxbepmpcf.jpg Thank you for going through the review. Sonik

I have a 1938 Parker Vacumatic with the lockdown plunger. I recent had it sent away for a diaphragm replacement. In the process, the repairman had to rebuild the plunger as it had seen some wear and had presumably been repaired at some point in the past. Unfortunately, when the pen arrived back in the mail and I removed the blind cap, I was greeted by a snake-in-a-can of spring and plunger button shooting out of the pen. It seems the button on the end of the plunger came loose from the metal plunger tube, letting the spring free from its housing. I've seen a lot of pictures of mostly disassembled Vacumatics, but haven't seen photographic examples of the internal plunger components. So I thought I'd post a couple images and include some insights and questions regarding my current problem. Here are the parts as they came loose from the end of my pen. The spring fits inside the shaft (presumably with the metal inset piece at the bottom of the spring) and the brass button slides on top of the end of the spring and inside the end of the sleeve. http://sethkastner.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/VacSpring-300x200.jpg click image for full size Here is my fix for giving the button a better chance of bonding securely inside the shaft. I've alternated between two paper clips to gradually compress the spring by sticking one through the spring, via the lock-down slot and using the other to keep the spring held down against the top of the slot. This way, the spring is not in contact with or placing upward pressure on the cap as it is glued and left to dry. http://sethkastner.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/VacClip-300x200.jpg click image for full size Any input on what I should use to get the button to stay? I've been considering epoxy or even good old fashion Krazy Glue. Obviously I'll need some that can hold tight with only a small amount, and I'm not particularly concerned with being able to undo the bond easily. I will using this pen regularly but gingerly and I assume that if anymore work is needed on the Vacumatic system, I'll be needing to replace the whole shebang. Thoughts? Questions? Also here's a (badly lit) picture of the whole pen (fine, arrow nib; "shadow wave" finish). It was my wife's great-grandfather's and its my favorite of all my pens. http://sethkastner.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/DSC02460-300x200.jpg

I have a couple of plunger fill Onoto pens. The business of filling them with ink is a little unusual, in that the pen's custodian (the very youngest Onoto plunger filler is now about to qualify for its old age pension and free bus pass, so one is a custodian for the next generation!) removes the cap, puts the nib in the ink up to the section (so far, so normal!) and then unscrews the cap at the other end of the pen, pulls it all the way out, and then firmly shoves it all the way home, at which point, all being well, ink flows into the pen's barrel. The custodian then screws up the cap (thereby, allegedly, closing the ink flow valve) wipes the nib, puts the cap on, and that's that. The bit that worries me is the business of firmly shoving the plunger home. With a lever fill, piston fill, button fill, Aerometric or Vacumatic pen, one is holding the pen so that the nib is clear of the bottom of the ink bottle, and not applying downwards force in the direction of the nib, with a plunger fill pen that is exactly what one is doing with the plunger filler - shoving the nib hard towards the bottom of the ink bottle. If the plunger slides smoothly down, as it should, there is no trouble, but if the plunger sticks slightly, or if one continues shoving after the top cap is closed, the downwards shove is transferred to the body of the pen and thus to the nib... I'm always scared of bending the nib - older Onotos are rightly famous for long, delicate, flexible nibs... I want to steady the hand holding the pen on something (not the open top of the ink bottle!) Is there an approved technique?

I am progressing with repair of an Onoto 6233 which arrived solid with ink, with a fossilised cup washer, and the rod broken at the blind cap. My last tasks in disassembly are to remove the pins in the plunger and in the blind cap. Trying to punch them out has proven difficult. I was using a dowel with a short length of stiff 0.8 mm wire embedded in its end, and light taps with a small hammer. Before I get a bigger hammer, I was wondering whether I might not be better off simply drilling them out, using a drill press? I have not tried heat at this point, being a little doubtful of how useful it would be. I could also try the USC as a loosener except the blind cap is BHR which I do not want to immerse too long in water. Of course, I could simply re-use the existing rod by gluing its end into the cap (thus not having to disassemble that part) but the pen would then become difficult to disassemble again without worsening problems. The purist in me does not like that but the practical in me wants a working pen. So, at the moment I am leaning toward drilling out, as I will have new pins anyway. Any thoughts or suggestions on that, or effective things to try which do not require quite the same precision?

Here is Kilk Custom Fountain Pen with plunger mechanism. It has double reservoir. With single shot it sucks 1.7ml of ink. With a technique shown in the video linked below, it can get up to 2.7ml of ink.. Second reservoir holds 0.6ml of ink.. German ebonite and AA resin combination. 24k goldd plated brass clip and rings. Plunger rod is also gold plated. Nib unit is JoWo#6 gold plated steel. Here is the link of the video showing filling demonstration: https://youtu.be/2dE5PAagEhU http://i392.photobucket.com/albums/pp3/KilkPens/IMG_9880_zpszlgnt8by.jpghttp://i392.photobucket.com/albums/pp3/KilkPens/IMG_9882_zpsayt01yfm.jpghttp://i392.photobucket.com/albums/pp3/KilkPens/IMG_9879_zps9guxdbsd.jpghttp://i392.photobucket.com/albums/pp3/KilkPens/IMG_9874_zpsmmlcbv3u.jpg

Over time, I observed that the 580 could not find much use, primarily because my writing preferences have graduated towards softer and larger nibs along with time. So here comes the saviour from TWSBI - The Vac 700, with a bigger nib of #6 size, and a vacuum plunger mechanism. Personally, I prefer the concept of an ink shut off valve. If you are looking for a review of the 580, here it is. If you like the blog view along with pictures, just click below: TWSBI VAC 700 with a VAC 20 Review TWSBI TWSBI (pronounced Twiz-Bee) refers to San Wen Tong, i.e TWS spelled backwards and it means ‘Hall of Three Cultures’ and if you wish to know more, the information is available on their website. BI at the end. refers to writing instruments. Ta Shin Precision has manufactured a range of things starting from toy lego parts to high-end writing instruments, for several luxury brands (both American & Japanese) for well over 40 years. So that’s plastic, metal & precision, precisely what’s required to make and sell a good looking writing instrument, under a brand name. Which luxury brands? They don’t reveal those due to privacy agreements. I have reasonable doubt from various reviews that one of them is Levenger. Also, the shaft mechanism inside Pilot Custom 823 seems similar to the one in the Vac 700. TWSBI sources its nibs from JoWo (earlier it was Bock & Schimdt), Germany (same as for Faber-Castell Stock Steel nibs). PRESENTATION Clean, clear and minimal packaging! A transparent pen lying inside a clear plastic case, encased within a brown cardboard box with adequate cushions of foam. There is an instruction sheet on filling & disassembly of the pen, highlighting the pen parts. Below the white pen-holding shelf, you will find the 7mm TWSBI wrench, couple of O-rings for the filler collar and a vial of silicone grease in two push slots. Neat! DESIGN - TAPERED TRANSPARENCY (4/6) The VAC 700 used to come in four transparent colours - Sapphire, Amber, Smoke & Clear. Now TWSBI has retained the production of the clear model only. I was looking for a clear model, since I already have a few other coloured demos. The build of VAC700 is sturdy and it seems that a substantial amount of acrylic has been used. Honestly, it never felt cheap nor does it feel luxurious. I think this pen endorses practical utility rather than art, with which you will probably associate a Visconti. More of an industrial look, for which I like this pen. Plastic & Acrylics economise both cost and weight of fittings. Most of it is visible engineering & the use of a steel plunger rod along with rubber piston and valve seals can be seen from the outside. The barrel and cap are made of thick polycarbonate, with a protective heat treated layer to increase resistance to scratches & abrasions, thus preserving the crystal transparence. The blind cap and the section exhibit translucence with smoky hue and I strongly fill that its takes out some beauty element out of the equation. But then, I wanted the clear one to enjoy the ink colour itself. The cap feels substantial and unscrews with one and a half turn, revealing a nicely sized steel nib. There is a metallic collar for the nib unit, supplying necessary chrome accents for the aesthetics part of it. The smoky translucent blind cap has a rather broad ring making the mark for usage and disassembly. The barrel is smooth and rounded with a decagonally cut blind cap, which fails to prevent the open pen from rolling away. The pen rolls on the broad steel ring below the blind cap. The acrylic orchestrates light well and dazzles the ink inside the barrel. The cap has a widish chrome band carrying a laser engraved TWSBI on one side of it and VAC 700 TAIWAN on the other. The finial carries a vibrant red & silver TWSBI logo of three pillars within a dome of transparent acrylic. The clip has a frosted aluminium feel and finish and is spring-loaded within a visible system with a chrome tassie. The cap has a geometrical decagonal cut, though the clip prevents any rolling away. The frosted look & feel of aluminium and somewhat stands out unevenly compared to the overall dazzling steel chrome trims. The cap is moderately heavy (@13g). You can also see a transparent inner cap, which prevents the nib from drying out. FILLING SYSTEM (4/6) As a plunger filler, it does have a good ink capacity around 1.8~2.3 mL (a full fill which is easy to do from an inverted Vac 20 bottle or repeated air removal filling). The smoky translucent blind cap unscrews with three complete turns. The rod is made of stainless steel and is resistant to most of the commonly used inks. For IG (Iron Gall) and Pigment Inks, care must be taken to clean the pen several times, to prevent clogging or deposit accumulation inside the ink passages. With the usual ink bottle, the pen fills to around two-thirds of its capacity, once the nib is completely dipped in ink and the plunger is pushed back in. This can give a good amount of ink inside with a comfortable volume of 1.5 - 1.8 mL. Sometimes, I have to repeat it several times to create a good vacuum, an issue I never had with the Custom 823 or the Homo Sapiens. The Custom 823 takes only a second vacuum to fill well. But YMMV. Cleaning the pen could be a similar ritual accompanied with some shake and I suggest you do it on a regular basis, for the ink stains if left may look ugly with time, and might require a light ammonia solution to go-off. Else you could just disassemble the shaft mechanism from the barrel and clean the transparent barrel with some a light dishwashing liquid water solution. And as mentioned in the manual, while writing with the pen, you would need to keep the piston-knob slightly unscrewed & pulled to the first stop (at a 4 mm distance) relative to the chrome ring. This will displace the conical valve rubber seal below the piston seal, to allow passage of ink to the feed. Given the high ink capacity of these pens with plunger filling mechanism, it has been introduced to prevent ink-leakage. And this is a nice thing to have, if you intend to carry the pen by air. The feeder hole looks like a channel to enable efficient ink suction. A problem I have landed up with this piece is that while filling it from a VAC 20 bottle, there are some ink drops coming out of the rear end of the filler collar. I emailed TWSBI Customer Service and Philip asked me to replace the filler O-ring with the spare one, which is actually thinner. However, this did not solve the issue completely and Philip was kind enough to have his factory send an immediate replacement of shaft mechanism. We both think that the inner O-ring of the shaft mechanism is the culprit. FILLING WITH THE VAC 20 INKWELL (INDEPENDENT RATING - 5/6) The VAC 20 inkwell comes within a small cardboard box. Unlike the well packaged Diamond 50 bottle, the packaging is pretty plain. It’s made of plastic and weighs around 20 grams without ink. Ink Capacity is 20 mL, of course (Thus VAC 20, but wait, what about VAC 700! ). The below bottle is around two-thirds filled. The bottle used to come in five simple variants - black, orange, red, green & blue top-caps and occupies a fraction of space taken by the Diamond 50 inkwell. The new one however is called VAC 20A and it has an additional insert for the VAC Mini. You have to remove the top cap for filling the VAC 700. The base cap has the threads of the VAC 700 pen inside, so as to fit the pen precisely. And with an inverted configuration you can pull/push the plunger to suck the ink to full capacity of the pen. And there is no need of cleaning the VAC700 after filling ink, as only the feed area is exposed. Cool ! The outer cap has a good sealing tube and I never found any ink leakage from the bottle itself even after keeping it inverted in my backpack for 2 days. Personally, I find it comfortable as a travelling inkwell since the dimensions are minimal and the base bottle offers the height of ink to completely immerse nibs of most pens with standard nib sizes. The only quibble I have is: when you fill ink in any other pen, the base cap (black) has to be unscrewed and it exposes the broader opening of the bottle. The secure bottle acting as a pen stand is now gone. The inner taper of the base cap block sections of most of the similar sized pens (except VAC 700 & a few slimmer ones). Besides it’s priced pretty decent (in US), and you do travel with 20 mL of your favourite ink. DISASSEMBLY (6/6) In cases where the piston has become stiff or there is any leakage of ink from the rear, it would require you to disassemble and self-service the pen. You can find two spare O-rings with the wrench and silicone grease. You can have a look at a 700 disassembly video. I like this one. Make sure you thoroughly flush the pen with water before disassembling it. Rotate the blind cap counter-clockwise, till it rotates freely. Pull out the blind cap till it comes to an end stop. The same thing you do while longer writing sessions. Fit the wrench below the blind cap on the area of the filler collar which has two parallel cuts on the otherwise circular section. Rotate counter-clockwise till the collar comes out of the inner threads. There is an O-ring on the collar (at the end of those threads ideally) that goes inside the barrel, to prevent leakage of ink. (the same ring for which spares are provided) Then you can pull off the shaft mechanism along with the blind cap from the barrel. The nib unit can be easily removed by first unscrewing the grip section from the barrel Since, nib is friction fit, you may remove the nib and feed from the unit, in case there is some heavy cleaning required (in case of a bad flow, sometimes the feed is coated with grease which restricts ink-flow). Make sure you carefully apply adequate amount of silicone grease with a earbud/toothpick to the sides of the conical frustum like rubber piston seal/lip before reassembly. Don't use any grease on the conical valve seal, else the grease may block the section slit, thereby the flow of ink. NIB - ALL THAT MATTERS (6/6) This is a silver accented stainless steel nib from Jowo of size#6. It carries off the TWSBI traditional dagger-like design well. Across four stock widths - EF, F, M, B and two special widths of Stub 1.1 & Stub 1.5, this looks pretty industrial and minimalistic. The nib/feed unit can also be taken out of the sleeve after unscrewing the section. The tail end specifies carries the nib width, while the name TWSBI along with the logo rest above the tail. There is some simple scroll within the symmetry of its tines, reflecting the rather industrial look of the pen. A black plastic feed with a adequate feed channel for ink suction provides the inflow of ink. The thin fins ensure an acceptable buffer capacity, although I have always found better feeds in Pilot & of course the Pelikans. The feeds are said to be a bit brittle. So suggest you take care if you are replacing the nib. These are sourced from JoWo. Earlier, TWSBI used to source its nibs from Schmidt and then Bock, which is incidentally the nib-supplier for Faber-Castell smoothy nibs too. The nib being a medium is a juicy wet delight to write with. And it lays a line which runs a tad thicker than Japanese Medium/European Fine nibs. More of this in the last section with writing sample. PHYSICS OF IT (6/6) – RELATIVELY SPEAKING The pen even without ink, does have a good balance in terms of both weight and length. The pen is not meant to be posted for the likes of me. The grip is quite comfortable for me, with a girth of 1 cm for me. The weight of the pen is mainly due to the steel/aluminium metal parts along with the steel rod used in the shaft mechanism. Uncapped Length ~ 13.2 cmCapped Length ~ 14.4 cmNib Leverage ~ 2.4 cm #6Overall Weight ~ 32 g (Cap Weight ~ 13 g)Max Ink Capacity ~ 2.3 mL Capped and uncapped comparisons with a Pelikan m805 and a Pilot Custom 823, run below for your reference. An uncapped vac 700 along with others. ECONOMIC VALUE (5/6) The VAC700 retails at around Rs 9,500 ($ 141 @ 67 INR/USD) here and I got it from Manoj (of Manoj Pen Mart) at around Rs 4500, in exchange for another sparsely used TWSBI. The pen retails at USD 65, in the US and cheaper in other countries. A major problem with ordering it from TWSBI’s website is the heavy FedEx shipping charges, and also un-calculated duties to be paid for. Thankfully, Pradeep (FPN@Prads) arranged an exchange of the 580 with Mr. Manoj, I had to pay a fraction of the Indian MRP for the Vac 700. I bought it from Mr. Manoj (of Manoj Pen Mart, Fort, Mumbai). OVERALL (5.2/6) This nib is wet and smooth with most of the inks. Since, I am used to a few large pens, I did not find a problem with either the heft or the balance of Vac 700. Many people don't find the heft/weight comfortable. There is no noticeable line variation but the #6 nib does render some spring, which can cushion your writing. The medium nib lays a line which runs a tad thicker than Japanese Medium/European Fine nibs. The pen feels balanced for my hands both with or without pressure and given the tapered profile of the section, it has a good grip. I have used single fills of Waterman Florida Blue & Sailor Yama Budo inks in rotation, and the pen nicely in the case of Sailor ink. Being a wet writer out of the box, the Medium nib puts up a nice juicy line, which takes around 22-25 seconds to dry a Sailor Yama Dori ink on MD Paper. The spring and length of this steel nib reminds me of the fact that a good steel nib can always be of joy. However, if you ask me to compare the Custom 823#15 nib with this steel nib, I would say it’s great but the 823-14k nib wins in terms of cushion, softness and additional spring by a fair margin. REFERENCES TWSBI 580 Diamond Review FPN TWSBI History Disassembly - Removing ink shut off valve (Warranty might be voided) Thank you for going through the review. You can find some more pen and paraphernalia reviews here.

Hello, Everyone. I have an old Everfeed plunger filler that I would like to restore. It appears to be a very simple design. But....where can I find a gasket/seal for it? Any ideas? I understand that it's a cheap pen, generally considered "not worth restoring". However, the pen belonged to my grandfather who was killed in WWII crossing the Rhine. I would like very much to restore it and use it. My father gave it to me in a box of old letters, medals, etc. that were my grandfathers. I think it would be really cool to restore it and write my dad a note using the pen. In the box were also three other pens: An Arnold brand lever filler, a Wearever Zenith lever filler and an Inkograph lever filler. I have cleaned and resacked those three pens, so the Everfeed is the last one to tackle. Any help or direction would be appreciated. Thanks.

Hello, Everyone. I just returned from an Easter visit with my parents. My father handed me a cardboard box and said "Here's some stuff I'd like for you to have." There was a box full o' family history with correspondences to and from my Grandfather who was killed in WWII, and his wife (my grandmother, who passed away a few years ago). Also, there is a diary, an address book, war memorabilia, postcards, and (the main reason for me posting here today!) some fountain pens. One of them is a greenish grey plastic/celluloid with a clip that is fairly rusty and reads "Eve.......", which I believe will be Eversharp, if I clean the rust off and it's not too far gone. The nib reads 'Gilbert" in script over "Kromex" over "205". It looks to be a gold plated nib. The pen body has 2 sections, threaded together. When you remove the back half, there is a little "plunger" plastic piece that moves up and down. I'm fairly new to fountain pens, so please bear with me on the descriptions! I am familiar with lever fillers (there were 3 of those in the box in rough shape), cartridge/converter fillers and the one piston filler that I have (from Bexley). I've never had plunger filler (is that what it is called?) before. Can someone help ID the model of the pen (if there is one) and maybe the approximate year (should be prior to 1947). Also, sorry for the cruddy photos. Just got home from a 2 hour drive and my back is killing me.

Hi all, After doing some reading I'm looking to replace the seals on an old Sheaffer Junior Vac Balance I've got lying around. Anyone know where's a good place to source the necessary parts, preferably in the U.K.? Thanks, Badger

Hi everyone, I have a couple of questions on a Vacuum-Fil that I'm working on. gmberg's post here: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/200999-early-thick-rods-from-sheaffer/ has been very helpful, but my situation is a little different; in his post, the packing unit came out of the pen - in mine, it is still inside. So, here are my questions: 1) Would the best method for restoration be to drill out the packing unit, as I have in the Sheaffer Vac-fils that I have restored, or is there some other method I should try? 2) As this is one of the thick-rod pens, should I search for different o-rings to use in the packing unit, or will the o-ring be flexible enough for the larger rod? I am using the ones offered by David Nishimura. I am sure there are other questions I should ask - I'll add them as I go. Here are some pictures to (hopefully) add some clarity: The pen, disassembled. Closeup of the packing unit

Hello! I've been recently given a Visconti D'essai by a friend and although it was solt to him as a NOS, the piston seems to be jammed (or perhaps the rod is broken?). Turning he piston knob seems to do something inside because it can only turn so far on one dirrection or another,but the piston stays put at the middle of the barrel. Now,the problem is that I have no ideea how to disassemble the pen and I was hoping that someone around here knows. I've tried soaking the whole pen (with the nib and feed pulled out) in water with dish washing detergent, but to no effect. I also tried to push on the piston from the section side but I didn't dare push it to strongly and it didn't budge. As far as the disassembly goes, the piston knob has no retaining pin (as in an Aurora 88k or a Luxor Grand Visible) or any sort of grooves or flat sides for a sort of key to be fitted and then pulled apart (as with the 149 or m1000...) also I tried heating the section to try and pull it out as in the old fountin pens and still nothing. So as you can see I'm struggling with this mint beautiful example that simply doesn t work. Please leave any suggestions especially if you have disassembled simmilar piston fillers. Thank you!