Parker 51 12K Gold Cap Restoration Help

[Glenn Atkins]

Thanks Glenn!

 

You are welcome my friend.

 

Glenn

[ALeonardoA]

Upon further consideration, I think I'm going to stick with the shellac (get it?) OK sorry. I've seen people say you need dewaxed shellac or specifically orange (amber) shellac or that any will do. If anybody wants to weigh in on this please do. Otherwise I'm going to the hardware store for some regular ol' clear Zinsser tomorrow. Thanks.

[Flounder]

I think this is my first ever use of the multiquote reply feature!

 

 

You send the fat stubbish thing to me and I send you a Barbie Locks nib.

 

Nose oil, we better discuss in person, dangerous stuff.

 

Going to LA?

 

Todd

 

LA - alas, only shortly before I wake up. One of these days! I can't find nose oil in the UK, but a helpful fellow at the bottom of my street has fixed me up with something called 'nose candy', which he says is very good quality. I will give it a go and report back.

 

 

Hi guys. Flounder, to answer your question the hood does have a space for the O ring to sit inside. As for the connector, I just purchased this one from vintagepens.com to replace the old one, the description says it is an original coupler unit for 51 Aerometrics, perhaps you can tell me if it's not the right one. As for the clutch ring, is it possible that they used different sized rings during the production of 51s? Maybe this gentleman (well, not exactly gentleman) who sold me the new one made a mistake since it's only a little under half a millimeter too small?

 

The coupler looks fine. Parker did make similar-looking 51 clutch rings of different external profiles, before the switch to the slim Parker61-vestigial-style clutch ring on the Mk.3. They should both fit on the coupler though. It's a puzzler.

 

I have noticed some slop in the fit of the clutch ring to a few aero connectors, and having nothing else to go on, presumed that it was due to shrinkage of the injection molded plastic - their barrel-end threads also looked a bit more tapered. Expansion of the plastic seems unlikely.

 

In any event, you've already compared your two clutch rings and found internal diameter differences, so I really don't know what to think about your case. A mystery!

 

An interesting footnote - when the PCA made their archive of Parker manuals available to all, I was surprised to read how Parker dealt with older 51 cap repairs. One manual suggested removing the clutch with a hook, in favour of cap internals with the later open-basket arrangement. Strangely, no reference was made to changing the clutch ring on the pen body to match the swapped-out cap clutch. *

 

 

Upon further consideration, I think I'm going to stick with the shellac (get it?) OK sorry. I've seen people say you need dewaxed shellac or specifically orange (amber) shellac or that any will do. If anybody wants to weigh in on this please do. Otherwise I'm going to the hardware store for some regular ol' clear Zinsser tomorrow. Thanks.

 

No apologies necessary, hope it all goes well.

* edit - see pages 64 and 65 of this service manual.

Edited January 27, 2016 by Flounder

[hood]

I can't find nose oil in the UK, but a helpful fellow at the bottom of my street has fixed me up with something called 'nose candy', which he says is very good quality. I will give it a go and report back.

 

[Flounder]

I'm resurrecting this thread, as a curiously similar scenario has unfolded chez moi. I have a connector unit that won't accept a clutch ring!

 

I made the discovery after I finally managed to open my black aero with the chipped hood (no adhesive on the threads, but a gooy, inky deformed O ring caused trouble). I was rooting around my spares for a fresher O ring, and found a forgotten sac-protectorless O ring style aero connector. Well, that connector won't allow 2 separate deep-style clutch rings past the hood threads!

 

I will check if it will accept a shallow style clutch ring and report back.

 

IIRC, during the course of this thread there was a question mark over the authenticity of the OP's replacement clutch ring, and the seller thought the problem was user related. May well be neither after all!

[mitto]

Interesting. Would be waiting for the updates.

[Flounder]

I'll shoot a youtube clip tomorrow.

[mitto]

Flounder, does your clutch ring has an inward slope on one slide? If so, the ring would fit keeping the side with the slope facing the barrel end. I remember I once encountered the same problem and I was able to find that the ring would only fit with the side having the inward slope facing the barrel end.

 

Anyhow you may have some different problem. So anxiously waiting to know about your findings.

[Flounder]

Bit too groggy to wheel the camera out tonight, but the connector unit that rejected the two deep-style clutch rings will indeed accept a shallow-style clutch ring.

[Flounder]

Sorry for the delay shooting this folks. The question-mark connector is below. All connectors shown are O ring models.
 
What do you think is going on here?

 

Edited June 25, 2016 by Flounder

[ralfstc]

Is there any chance that different countries of production could have used different clutch rings? I have no data, just a query.

 

Thanks,

 

ralf

[Erik Dalton]

Nice job on your first refurbishing. Once done you’ll have a great pen that will give you years of trouble free writing.

Nice job finding parts by the way. I’m on the hunt for an early vintage connector myself.