52 1/2 V Section

[Centopar]

I had an accident the other day when I was removing a perished sac from a very pretty (and otherwise intact) 452 1/2 V: the nipple part of the section where the sac attaches crumbled along with the remains of the sac itself when I started to scrape the sac rubber off gently, so there's no longer a complete nipple to attach a new sac to. I need to replace the section, but the only pens I have for parts are the wrong size: the closest I have is a 52 V, but the section on that has too large a diameter.

 

Two questions: does anyone have both a 52 1/2 and a 52 1/2 V they can compare to let me know whether the sections are identical in size? (It makes shopping for a parts pen on eBay a bit easier if they are.) And is there anyone out there who sells parts only?

Edited November 4, 2013 by Centopar

[Xof72000]

Yes, 52 1/2 and 52 1/2 V section are identical in size : the V indicates the lenght of the pen, nothing to do with the diameter.

[Centopar]

Yeah - that was what I thought, but I was a bit worried I might be wrong! Thank you very much.

[pen lady]

A few years ago I had the same accident and I rebuilt the incomplete nipple with epoxy putty. The pen isn't a daily user, it just sits in my collection, but this is how I did it. Epoxy putty doesn't stick to drinking straw plastic, I got a big fat straw and put it down the inside of the section, making an inside "form" (if it's too fat, slit the straw and it will fold over a little and fit inside), I cut another straw to a length of about 1" and slit it open to make an outside form and set it aside. Using a little of the epoxy putty I smoothed it round over the inside "form" feathering it over the remaining nipple material, then put the 1" section of straw over the putty and remaining nipple, pressing it a little making sure that the laver of putty isn't too thick. Left it to cure, took away the straws and then gently trimed the repaired nipple it to the same height as the original part. It's a bit of a "Hail Mary" move, but when all else fails..............!

[Centopar]

The epoxy putty tip is *extraordinarily* helpful - thank you very much indeed!

[balson]

the 52 1/2 and the 52 1/2 v should be the same size but i find subtle differences in size between old pens quite often.

 

if its a little bigger its not tough to sand it down to get it to fit in there. just check your work often when sanding it down. the two things to watch out for when sanding down a section to fit in a barrel that has shrunk or is a different size are, if you put it in when its too large you can crack the threaded area of the barrel, and if you sand to much the section will hang loose in the barrel. the difference between friction fit and loose in the barrel is not much either.