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In February this year I posted an introduction article about the large lot of 1930's German piston fillers I acquired. (look here: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/254348-an-exiting-project/ and here: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/261675-old-german-war-time-fountain-pens-again-mother-lode/ ) They came to me in an old brown cardboard trunk, on the bottom was an old newspaper dated: HAMBURG ECHO May 4, 1946. The pens that were in the trunk looked much older, so I suppose this lot was (part of?) a factory stock that was probably hidden in war time and had been traveling around for quite some time. One can only guess what happened to the trunk, its content and its owners in the preceding years... As I already explained in my earlier postings the pens were in a very bad condition. I worked on them for some time and now I can show some results. Disassembly, restoring different parts, and rebuilding the pens was not easy, as the materials of the pen parts were heavily deteriorated and often beyond the possibility of repair. Oxidation of the metal parts and shrinkage of the early (thermo) plastic caused a lot of irreversible damage. So a lot of pens had to be considered as lost forever. Some pens could be restored in a good working order and by combining parts of different pens of the same model, I was able to save some more. I decided to to take a lot of pictures of the restoration process. Most of them will be self explaining. In this part I will show the process of repairing the piston systems. Have fun! http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj504/Lex_van_Galen/1018_zps487b6c43.jpg The trunk. http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj504/Lex_van_Galen/1019_zpsc871aeb4.jpg This is how the pens were packed when they came to me. The seller already repacked them in pieces of plastic bubbles. http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj504/Lex_van_Galen/1020_zpsb78fbeb9.jpg The old newspaper that was on the bottom of the trunk with some of the pens. http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj504/Lex_van_Galen/1001_zps80d8281b.jpg Disassembly of a pen. The piston mechanism is completely stuck, so it has to be removed. http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj504/Lex_van_Galen/1002_zpse03505b6.jpg Some heat is needed to loose the parts. The ebonite part that holds the piston system is screwed in the thermoplastic barrel. As the plastic is shrunken, the ebonite is stuck. http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj504/Lex_van_Galen/1003_zpsc0f2e4f2.jpg Still impossible to unscrew the piston system out of the barrel by hand, so a vice is needed. A piece of rubber gas tube is used to protect the ebonite part. http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj504/Lex_van_Galen/1004_zps5db135a2.jpg The piston system came out. The piston tube is screwed on the metal piston rod, so the 2 parts have to be disconnected. As the metal piston rod and the nut in the piston tube are heavily oxidated this is not easy. The metal is a very brittle zinc alloy called ZAMAK (http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zamak) that easily breaks. http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj504/Lex_van_Galen/1005_zpseb6da44b.jpg When the 2 ZAMAK parts are oxidated together (metal oxide diffusion), there's a big chance it breaks as you can see here. End of story for this piston part! http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj504/Lex_van_Galen/1007_zpsab260283.jpg When the parts do come apart it looks like this. http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj504/Lex_van_Galen/1008_zps401ac18b.jpg To be able to clean and re-polish the metal piston rod, a small modification is needed. The wide tube that receives the narrower piston tube has to be removed, in order to reach the metal parts. This is no problem as the piston is also held in place by the cork in the barrel. http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj504/Lex_van_Galen/1009_zps83d73f25.jpg Removing the obsolete part. http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj504/Lex_van_Galen/1010_zps70c00ac7.jpg The metal screw comes in reach and can now be sanded and polished. Also the oxide on the nut on the end of the piston tube will be cleaned using a thin round (3mm) file. http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj504/Lex_van_Galen/1014_zps3d6cee2c.jpg Polishing the piston rod. http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj504/Lex_van_Galen/1011_zps4f9e4c0c.jpg Obsolete ebonite tubes. Who knows what they can be used for in another project...? http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj504/Lex_van_Galen/1013_zps284381e3.jpg Irreversible damage. Broken piston rods. http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj504/Lex_van_Galen/1012_zps2f1d43e1.jpg Damaged corks on the piston tubes can be replaced by a new one... http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj504/Lex_van_Galen/1015_zps78cb8a2f.jpg Some silicone grease on the metal parts before re-assembly. http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj504/Lex_van_Galen/1016_zps974e948a.jpg The rod can now freely move when screwed into the nut on the piston tube. http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj504/Lex_van_Galen/1017_zps1e335f5b.jpg Repaired piston systems. The units can now be screwed back in the Fountain pen barrel. The most complicated part of the operation is done. Next posting I'll show some pictures of the reassembly of the pens. Thanks for reading. Lex