How to replace an Esterbrook Sac

[Gendo]

Wonderful instructions! Thank you!

 

I was inspired to take apart an Esterbrook that someone recently gave me--and everything worked just as in the pics.

 

Now, however, I am wondering about something new: when I untwisted the feed/nib from the section, I found that it was not hollow as I suspected, but is rather filled with something hard and black. Am I looking at dried ink there? It's so hard, that I can't tell what I'm really looking at. If it is supposed to be like this, I don't see how the ink could move from the sac to the feed.

 

Any advice? I'm a little confused at this point.

[Chiro75]

Hmmm... sounds like a block of old dried ink. I've never seen this, personally. Should dissolve with soaking in water. Photos?

[Gendo]

Hmmm... sounds like a block of old dried ink. I've never seen this, personally. Should dissolve with soaking in water. Photos?

 

Cell phone is on the fritz, so I can't provide any pics right now. However, the good news is that I soaked it, and now I see a u-shaped slot through which the ink can descend into the feed. Hooray!

[Chiro75]

Ahhhh.... I thought you meant you unscrewed the nib from the section and the SECTION was full of a hard substance, but now it sounds like you mean the nib assembly. Here's what you should see on an Esterbrook Renew Point nib assembly:

 

 

I'm not sure what the material the feed is made from, but yes, that solid "stuff" you saw was the feed. It has a channel that allows ink to flow through it into the nib (the u-shaped channel)

[Gendo]

Yes, that's exactly it! Great photo!

 

I have a sac on the way. We'll see what I can do. . . .

[Feanor]

Yes, thanks for this. I went a little overboard on the bay this week, so I have a few esties coming. Not sure whether any will require repairs, but now I know how.

[freddy77]

This tutorial did indeed give me the courage to attempt my own sac replacements. I did two Esties, a copper LJ and a black Dollar, and both had ossified and broken original Esterbrook sacs. In each case, the broken sac came out in one piece. I have a black SJ and I thought the sac in it was fine because I could hear the rubber 'give' when the lever was used. However, after writing a very short time, the ink stopped flowing and I realized that the nib had simply acted as a dip pen and no ink had been drawn into the sac. When I removed the section from the barrel, the sac was indeed in two parts and needed to be replaced, which I have since done. However, unlike in the first two pens, this did not look like an original sac (no ESTERBROOK name stamped on the sac) and the sac was completely pliable. Is it possible for a sac to be totally pliable and yet still come apart as if it had ossified? Thanks for any information you can give me.

 

The first two photos are of the original ossified sacs and the last is of the pliable but torn sac from the SJ.

 

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy333/freddy77mac/Fountain%20pens/P1010911.jpg http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy333/freddy77mac/Fountain%20pens/P1010934.jpg http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy333/freddy77mac/Fountain%20pens/P1010965.jpg

[Geheim]

Can you use this for most lever pens, as I have a no name lever, and other then two narlblised cavaliers i did a few years back, i did not have the talc. i can see why it is needed, this one lever i want to re-sac does have a smallish barrell, looks like it might be a tight fit. Will I also be ok, doing a sonic clean on the barrell to get the bits of old sac out?

 

gsm

[Chiro75]

Don't know the answers to your questions, sorry!

[OcalaFlGuy]

Can you use this for most lever pens, as I have a no name lever, and other then two narlblised cavaliers i did a few years back, i did not have the talc. i can see why it is needed, this one lever i want to re-sac does have a smallish barrell, looks like it might be a tight fit. Will I also be ok, doing a sonic clean on the barrell to get the bits of old sac out?

 

gsm

 

Generally, I think you would want to avoid sonicating a barrel. While most all the visible trim on an Estie is stainless steel, the steel bits inside the pen holding the trim IN the pen will rust. It's excessive work to remove the fill lever just to sonicate a barrel. Other than Esties, there are also pen barrel materials that will not do well with a immersion in any liquid.

 

I will scrub out an Estie barrel with Dawn dish detergent but I also immediately make very sure the barrel is completely dry inside as soon as I'm finished.

 

If you do a little test wiggle of the Estie DJ clip, and it feels secure, I think you are ok sonicating the cap. If there is any "play" in the clip, I would not sonicate it, you could loosen it up even more. I WOULD NOT sonicate a Transitional cap. The retaining ring for the jewel is only pressure fitted and can be vibrated loose. That is not good to do.

 

Bruce in Ocala, FL

[Eduardo]

May I use silicone bladders to re-sac an Estie???

[FarmBoy]

May I use silicone bladders to re-sac an Estie???

Yes but it is not necessary and not worth the extra expense of silicon vs latex.

[river1]

Thanks Chiro, here is my Estie which is in need of a sac; I think I saw a link on where to get these in your post. Also, would you please describe how to insert the spring again and does this spring look ok to use other than cleaning and oiling it? The hair dryer worked like a charm. Doug

[Chiro75]

That spring is broken, so you're going to need a replacement. The end is missing a curved portion of about 3/4" long or so. It must've cracked off.

[OcalaFlGuy]

Push the j-bar back in first (with the long side on the lever-side of the barrel, so the lever will push it to compress the sac for filling), then the sac tray next. The sac tray goes in the barrel opposite the long side of the j-bar. I hope that makes sense. YOu can find schematics or cutaways on this forum if you search.

 

With all due respect Chiro, I don't know how you'd get the sac tray in place with the j-bar already in place.

 

There is (or should be) a plastic tab on the bottom rear of the tray. It fits (or it's SUPPOSED to fit) into the groove running around the circumference of the barrel on the inside that the lever retaining ring also fits into.

 

I personally have never been able to get one BACK in.

 

With a new/unbroken j-bar as a last resort you can reassemble it without the sac tray.

 

I have two pair of tweezers I use for Esties, both are Revlon tweezers, I think they are made a little nicer and are available at Wal-Mart. One very sharp pointy pair I use to help pull the sac on the nipple, a regular angle cut end pair to pick out pieces of an ossified sac with. They work GREAT for sac debris.

 

 

Bruce in Ocala, FL -silly trays make me crazier they do

Edited June 5, 2011 by OcalaFlGuy

[JonSzanto]

Well, thank you in advance for this great bit of info. The first Esty I got a week or two ago was well restored, but in the space of 2 days I now will have two more coming my way, and I'm willing to bet at least one is going to need restoration. I'll post pics when done!

[river1]

when I heated up the barrel of the Esterbrook it worked fine in removing it but now it seems to be swelled up and fit too tightly. Can you over heat these and cause problems? I used silicon spray to lubricate the barrel and nib plug.

[RBC]

Thanks for that great info = my first two old Esties are on the way.

[Blooze]

I've got a couple of esties that I was told had been refurbed, an SJ and a J. It took a LOT of heat to remove the J section, I was for sure I was going to break it. Took me a good hour to finally get it out. The lever bar would only come down about 45 degrees which I thought was weird, giving me reason to yank it apart. After taking it apart I saw that the sac tray was hitting the J-bar edge because the sac tray was not straight across from the J-bar. Took a small, flat nail file that fit perfectly across the diameter of the barrel and gave it a little twist. Surprisingly the tray turned and I was able to line it up. There seemed to be a somewhat snug fit for the sac in the barrel as well and I wondered if this is normal? Not so much in the SJ.

 

The section looked like it had shellec or some sort of cement on it, but it sure wouldn't melt with a hair dryer or a little alcohol. I gently sanded it off with a fine emery boar nail thingamajigger and polished it as best I could with toothpaste. It slides in a little easier now, but it is still a bear to remove (didn't have my nib lined up like I wanted.

 

The sacs all looked good, but I didn't see that they had talc of any kind on them. Should I pull the pens apart again and apply talc?

 

 

[twduffy58]

I happened upon an Esterbrook in a local antiques mall this afternoon, and since Esterbrook is new territory for me, I thought I would pick it up. It appears to have been a daily use pen as the nib is pretty dirty, but I just had to. I moved the fill lever and it semed rather "crunchy" . I'm glad I found this thread. I'll break out the wife's Blow dryer and see if I can figure out what's going on inside. I know it's not by any stretch a magnificent classic, but it is an FP. The pen itself is plastic with coloring like buffed aluminum or stainless steel. The cap has 2 small holes that appear to be vents of some kind and it has a M steel nib. I'll try to load a pic to see if anyone can help me figure out how old and a model. The inprint on the side of the barrel is pretty crisp for the most part.

Edited November 2, 2011 by twduffy58