Putting a dismantled Custom 823 plunger filler back together.

June 29, 2009

I took apart my Custom 823 yesterday to give it a thorough clean based on Siv's excellent post. It seems Pilot had applied excess thread sealant at the filler threads which had accumulated at the knob end of the barrel, necessiating a complete stripdown to clean. A no 7 open jaw wrench(7 mm slot) fits the filler perfectly. As seen in Siv's post, the section actually consists of an inner and outer sleeve, when I tried to unscrew the section on my pen, the outer sleeve started rotating so I had to pull out the nib and feed first, unscrew the outer sleeve, slide out the section trim ring and then with the aid of a rubber sheet unscrew the inner sleeve.

While putting the section end back together, I discovered that the inner sleeve has no positive stop while screwing into the barrel, initially I threaded it in fully and realized my mistake when I tried to positively locate the section trim ring without radial movement.

The inner sleeve with the fatter O-ring should be screwed in only upto the point that the trim ring locating shelf height is sufficient to hold the ring as shown in the picture below:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii197/hari317/Custom%20823/IMG_3099.jpg

Now the filling of the pen should be checked, I filled the pen with water and screwed the stop flow knob in fully to ensure that it seats well with the tapered face of the inner sleeve bottom and seals the flow of ink. I ensured the seal by flicking the pen and ensuring no drops come out, If there is a slight leak, then the inner section sleeve may have to be screwed in a little bit more.

There is an additional narrow O-ring that seals the annular gap between the inner and outer sleeve, it is very easy to miss and lose. This should be taken care of.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii197/hari317/Custom%20823/IMG_3100.jpg

After everything is OK, slide the trim ring onto the inner sleeve and thread in and tighten the outer sleeve, the faces of the inner and outer sleeve should be roughly at the same level with the inner one slightly lower.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii197/hari317/Custom%20823/IMG_3102.jpg

The final step is to align the nib and feed outside and simply slide it into the section till it snaps in with a slight sound.

I also discovered a fast way to empty the pen, pull the plunger out fully and with the nib down press the plunger only half strokes and not all the way down, the pen should become nicely empty in a few half strokes.

I hope this report of my adventures with the 823 will be helpful.

Best,

Hari

June 29, 2009

Nice photos, Hari, and a very helpful post, thanks! I just disassembled and cleaned my 823 too, and was surprised how much white paste was in the barrel.

Are you sure this stuff is thread sealant? Mine looked like it was possibly a lubricant for the moving rubber parts of the filler.

I have two questions about this stuff, whatever it is:

1. After cleaning it all away, should we put some back? If so where to put it?

2. What exactly is it? If sealant, would it be some kind of PTFE paste? If lubricant the best guess is silicone grease (I posted a plea for help on this a few weeks ago).

I now regret cleaning it all away before investigating it a bit. In fact, I really wish I had done it before I first inked the pen. Too late now...

Phil

I took apart my Custom 823 yesterday to give it a thorough clean based on Siv's excellent post. It seems Pilot had applied excess thread sealant at the filler threads which had accumulated at the knob end of the barrel, necessiating a complete stripdown to clean. A no 7 open jaw wrench(7 mm slot) fits the filler perfectly. As seen in Siv's post, the section actually consists of an inner and outer sleeve, when I tried to unscrew the section on my pen, the outer sleeve started rotating so I had to pull out the nib and feed first, unscrew the outer sleeve, slide out the section trim ring and then with the aid of a rubber sheet unscrew the inner sleeve.

While putting the section end back together, I discovered that the inner sleeve has no positive stop while screwing into the barrel, initially I threaded it in fully and realized my mistake when I tried to positively locate the section trim ring without radial movement.

The inner sleeve with the fatter O-ring should be screwed in only upto the point that the trim ring locating shelf height is sufficient to hold the ring as shown in the picture below:
http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii197/hari317/Custom%20823/IMG_3099.jpg

Now the filling of the pen should be checked, I filled the pen with water and screwed the stop flow knob in fully to ensure that it seats well with the tapered face of the inner sleeve bottom and seals the flow of ink. I ensured the seal by flicking the pen and ensuring no drops come out, If there is a slight leak, then the inner section sleeve may have to be screwed in a little bit more.

There is an additional narrow O-ring that seals the annular gap between the inner and outer sleeve, it is very easy to miss and lose. This should be taken care of.
http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii197/hari317/Custom%20823/IMG_3100.jpg

After everything is OK, slide the trim ring onto the inner sleeve and thread in and tighten the outer sleeve, the faces of the inner and outer sleeve should be roughly at the same level with the inner one slightly lower.
http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii197/hari317/Custom%20823/IMG_3102.jpg

The final step is to align the nib and feed outside and simply slide it into the section till it snaps in with a slight sound.

I also discovered a fast way to empty the pen, pull the plunger out fully and with the nib down press the plunger only half strokes and not all the way down, the pen should become nicely empty in a few half strokes.

I hope this report of my adventures with the 823 will be helpful.

Best,
Hari

June 29, 2009

Nice photos, Hari, and a very helpful post, thanks! I just disassembled and cleaned my 823 too, and was surprised how much white paste was in the barrel.

Are you sure this stuff is thread sealant? Mine looked like it was possibly a lubricant for the moving rubber parts of the filler.

I have two questions about this stuff, whatever it is:

1. After cleaning it all away, should we put some back? If so where to put it?

2. What exactly is it? If sealant, would it be some kind of PTFE paste? If lubricant the best guess is silicone grease (I posted a plea for help on this a few weeks ago).
I now regret cleaning it all away before investigating it a bit. In fact, I really wish I had done it before I first inked the pen. Too late now...

Phil

Phil,

The opaque white stuff is the lubricant(I have no idea about its composition), I cleaned it up and re-applied Dow corning Silicone grease sparingly with a cotton ear bud to the rubber seals on the plunger, I did not touch the existing lubricant packed on the plunger shaft seal in the filler unit.

The Thread sealant(looked like some type of RTV on the inner sleeve section threads and like hardened shellac on the filler threads) was applied on the threads of the filler unit, it had flown from there and pooled into a solidified spot just after the filler threads ended.

Since I did not have section sealant at hand, I applied silicone grease to the threads and O ring on the inner section, the thin O ring, on the filler unit barrel side threads and the plunger shaft(very sparingly, wiping away excess)

In case of doubt, rebuild your pen again, it is fun.

Best,

Hari

June 30, 2009

thanks, again. looks like I'm in for a bit more fun

Nice photos, Hari, and a very helpful post, thanks! I just disassembled and cleaned my 823 too, and was surprised how much white paste was in the barrel.

Are you sure this stuff is thread sealant? Mine looked like it was possibly a lubricant for the moving rubber parts of the filler.

I have two questions about this stuff, whatever it is:

1. After cleaning it all away, should we put some back? If so where to put it?

2. What exactly is it? If sealant, would it be some kind of PTFE paste? If lubricant the best guess is silicone grease (I posted a plea for help on this a few weeks ago).
I now regret cleaning it all away before investigating it a bit. In fact, I really wish I had done it before I first inked the pen. Too late now...

Phil

Phil,

The opaque white stuff is the lubricant(I have no idea about its composition), I cleaned it up and re-applied Dow corning Silicone grease sparingly with a cotton ear bud to the rubber seals on the plunger, I did not touch the existing lubricant packed on the plunger shaft seal in the filler unit.

The Thread sealant(looked like some type of RTV on the inner sleeve section threads and like hardened shellac on the filler threads) was applied on the threads of the filler unit, it had flown from there and pooled into a solidified spot just after the filler threads ended.

Since I did not have section sealant at hand, I applied silicone grease to the threads and O ring on the inner section, the thin O ring, on the filler unit barrel side threads and the plunger shaft(very sparingly, wiping away excess)

In case of doubt, rebuild your pen again, it is fun.

Best,
Hari

June 30, 2009

Hari, why on first place you de-assembled your expensive pen? Was there any problem?

Very nice transparency of brown plastic visible in your picture.

Abhik

June 30, 2009

Thanks Hari, most interesting post (also the link to the older post).

i have a brown 823, thinking about buying a black and/or a clear one.

A rodhium-finish black 823....

June 30, 2009

Hari, why on first place you de-assembled your expensive pen? Was there any problem?

No problem with the pen except the gunk that I wanted to clean out. i had the khujli ever since I had seen Siv's post.

A rodhium-finish black 823....

The challenge will be to remove the cap trim rings for replating?, I think the acrylic holder can screwed out if it is not epoxied like in the Bexley.

Regards,

Hari

July 1, 2009

Yes Hari, 'khujli' must be the right word! Since I commented in a public forum, I refrained from using it!

Write a nice review with your fantastic photos! What ink you are using? Is it a fine nib?

Take care Hari!

Abhik

July 1, 2009

What ink you are using? Is it a fine nib?

Initial fill was with Waterman B/B, but the performance was ordinary, now I have loaded it up with Quink Black and the flow is just superb. The slit gap at the tip was zero and the pen required some pressure to get going, now that is fixed. It has a broad nib, the width is equal to a true western broad.

Best,

Hari

August 13, 2009

Hari:

As a thank-you for your wonderful pics, I am posting a pic of three Sheaffer plunger-fillers from the 1930s that work on exactly the same principles as the Custom 823. The pic includes the very rare c.1936 Balance Demonstrator, on the far left.

Cheers,

Gerry

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a152/gmberg/IMG_2688.jpg

August 13, 2009

As a thank-you for your wonderful pics, I am posting a pic of three Sheaffer plunger-fillers from the 1930s that work on exactly the same principles as the Custom 823.

Thank you Gerry, this is a nice addition to this thread.

Best,

hari

January 15, 2010

Hello Hari.

Any idea about how to remove the blind cap to clean this mess?

http://i384.photobucket.com/albums/oo288/enricofacchin/P1070612edit.jpg

Still trying to get it white gold plated.

Do you know how to remove the clip?

If you look carefully there are threads inside the cap trim ring (it is a single piece, like a MB).

Any idea about how to remove it?

Thanks.

Edited January 15, 2010 by enricof

January 16, 2010

A word of caution - as Hari had described, there's no stop to the inner sleeve when screwing it back into the barrel. I learnt my lesson the hard way - I cracked the barrel by screwing in the inner sleeve a bit more than it should :bonk: . Those were early days, and no one had then described the way to correctly take apart this pen - I had used my "ingenuity" to do so

Luckily the local pen repairer was able to put it right, with no loss to the pen's vacuum capability. There's a few slightly discernible cracks - not really noticeable (mine is the black one) unless one takes a close look, but it's there