Button Fill Repair

[dvelosky]

Good morning all,

 

I recently picked up this pen at a Flea Market and am in the midst of restoring it. I am under no delusions about it's worth, in fact the clip is missing, so I have no idea as to the maker. That aside, I wanted some experience with a button fill. As you can see, the plastic button was once attached to the pressure bar which has a bad case of the rot. The button and bar merely slide into the barrel button first from the section end and rest on the button's shoulder on the blind end.

 

I have been looking around for this combination of button and bar, but have had no luck. Are these out there and if not what is there that may be compatible? I am contemplating purchasing a bar and then modifying the button to accept it.

 

I know, what a bunch of work for a no-name pen. Well, I'm retired and loving my hobby and the pen is quite good looking. The exterior, section, feed, and nib are all in great shape. I have resolved the cap and clip issue, so I'm taking on the fill portion. I don't mind creating a "Frankenpen" that looks and writes good for my personal use.

 

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

 

dvelosky

[Ron Z]

The end of your pressure bar is stuck in the button, the rest broken off because of stress/corrosion/rust. Buy a regular pressure bar, pinch the end in so that it fits in the button after you have removed the remains of the old one. You may have to drill out the button a bit, and may have to modify the pressure bar length, but you can get it to work.

[grahamtillotson]

Good for you -- I really like this type of restoration. I've struggled with the old/brittle pressure bars because they can't really be repaired and matching replacements is challenging. I've tried to epoxy small flat pieces of metal across the break, but that throws off the dynamic of the bend and doesn't really work. Also tried leaving the button and bar out while looking for a replacement and compressed the sac manually to fill.

 

If anyone out there has a solution for the spring steel I'd like to know (a source or alternative replacement). Gets me wondering if plastic could be used. From a 2-liter bottle? Something like that?

 

Graham

[dvelosky]

Thanks Ron and Graham...I misdiagnosed the button and bar as a single unit so I'll get some measurements and start the pressure bar hunt. I was able to get the nib polished, it's a Penman. Will the lever fill sacs work in this type of pen?

[pen lady]

As far as I know, a regular sac will be fine. I've restored a few button fillers (Wearevers and older Parkers) and have just used a normal sac. Good luck and welcome to the league of kitchen-table pen restorers.

[Ron Z]

A lever, button, twist (as in Swan), Crescent (Conklin), etc are all variations of, and ways to evade, the other guys patent on a way to compress the sac to fill the pen. The exceptions are accordion sacs, Waterman Inkview sacs, and Vacumatic diaphragms. Pretty much everything else uses a sac. Even Sheaffer Touch Down and Snorkel fillers use sacs, and the originals weren't special sacs, just.... sacs.

[Hooker56]

Graham,

 

I've used a girls' Barrett hair clip and shaped and cut it with a dremel tool to fit where the old broken pressure bar was. Spring steel and you get about 6 on a card from the beauty supply for about $2.98 USD. Works like a charm!

[viclip]

Fountain Pen Hospital carries 2 sizes of pressure bars for use in button fillers. At the bottom left, hit the drop-down list button to see them:

 

http://www.fountainpenhospital.com/accessories/accessories.asp?TYP=tools

[dvelosky]

As far as I know, a regular sac will be fine. I've restored a few button fillers (Wearevers and older Parkers) and have just used a normal sac. Good luck and welcome to the league of kitchen-table pen restorers.

Thanks pen lady, that's good to hear as I have a bit of inventory already.

[dvelosky]

Graham,

 

I've used a girls' Barrett hair clip and shaped and cut it with a dremel tool to fit where the old broken pressure bar was. Spring steel and you get about 6 on a card from the beauty supply for about $2.98 USD. Works like a charm!

Graham...now that's the kind of fix I like to hear about. If it ain't about a "matching numbers" restoration and you just want a pen to perform, then the further out of the box the better!

[dvelosky]

Fountain Pen Hospital carries 2 sizes of pressure bars for use in button fillers. At the bottom left, hit the drop-down list button to see them:

 

http://www.fountainpenhospital.com/accessories/accessories.asp?TYP=tools

Thanks, I've measured the barrel and the shorter version is on the way.