Vacumatic Conversion

[pajaro]

My version

 

http://appleman-pens.blogspot.ca/2016/01/vac-filler-to-ed.html

 

Ah, yes, burping. I lack confidence in eyedroppers. Others are welcome to use them. If you are going to enjoy this pen endeavor, you should have confidence in the pen.

[pajaro]

 

I disagree with the characterization of this statement, especially with the Sheaffer plunger fillers.

 

In both cases, the pen as is, is not only non-functional, but useless without the simple basic changes that are made. Refills are no longer available for the Eversharp. the process is not destructive, but rather a modification that allows one to use the pen with a modern refill.

 

Sheaffer abandoned the plunger filler in part because they did not have a good, reliable way to seal the back end of the pens. The felt wears, the grease dries out, the pen both fails to fill and leaks as a result. Sheaffers fix was to drill out the old packing unit and replace it entirely. I talked to a Sheaffer employee when Richard and I visited the service center in 2008, who told me that she had worked there for 35 years and had never fixed a "wire pen." They simply replaced the pen. They were delighted that we had a method of restoring the pen so that they could be used, and told us that we were the real pen repair people because we could do what they could not.

 

Even replacing the packing material with new grease impregnated felt and rubber washers would involve drilling out the old packing material and installing a retaining washer, solvent welding it in place. David's fix is to replace the failed packing material with something durable and reliable. But the underlying structure, integrity and design of the pen remains unchanged. The rubber for the head gasket is within 0.001" of the original. The sealant we use is made using the same materials that Sheaffer used, and is even the same in appearance.

 

That is a far cry from what the OP has proposed.

 

Since the Sheaffer has been brought up, do you know what the life expectancy of the pen is before needing a restoration. I think I have one of these that is unrestored but working.

[Greenie]

We should be glad that pen people are not vintage car people. We would never have anything beautiful like these wonderful cars to enjoy. After all, these were not rare like a Tucker, or a Ferrari with a racing pedigree, so why not play with them and have fun? Show them off. Drive them - don't just cart them around on a flat bed truck. Jay Leno is a huge collector, and he puts good brakes on the old classic and sometimes rare cars, he adds seatbelts, and he drives them. And car people respect him.

 

Famous diamonds are re-cut and reset, and these are one of a kind items. I never hear anyone say that the Hope Diamond was "ruined" despite its many incarnations.

 

Vintage furniture and other items are often re-purposed like this, rather then thrown away, or just put in storage. Briefcases become medicine cabinets. Pianos become bookcases like these.

 

But you guys are right. Never, never, ever modify a pen. That would be wrong.

 

Seriously, though. Hundreds of Vacumatics for sale on any given day, and some pen people are unhappy with a discussion of modifying the pen to better suit the needs of the current owner - modifying it to actually use the pen regularly as a writing instrument. He wants to continue to use it, and just not just clean it up to sit in a pen tray in a collection.

 

It is his pen, the pen is common, and if he wants to make it into the pen equivalent of a low rider car with a bath tub sofa for a seat, I think that is great creative thinking and should be encouraged.

 

I will await my written admonition by the usual suspects.

[Ron Z]

 

 

Since the Sheaffer has been brought up, do you know what the life expectancy of the pen is before needing a restoration. I think I have one of these that is unrestored but working.

 

No good answer to that one. Are you sure it hasn't been worked on before?

 

I find these in all conditions, from nearly perfect with white felt in the packing unit and intact head gaskets to rock hard packing material, crumbled head gaskets and plunger rods rusted away to a needle point. I assume that the pen will need to be restored sooner rather than later. If it fills, continue to use it until it either leaks or quits filling. Lubricating the plunger rod with silicone can't hurt.

 

If the pen has been properly restored, (as in Viton 0-rings, buna-N head gasket with the right durometer, not the rubber plug in the end method) it should last a good long time. I've had some come back after 5 years of constant use. Once the rod was lubricated with a bit of silicone grease, it filled as well as it did the day it was restored.

[FarmBoy]

This is an interesting discussion. I will start by saying I don't think Jay will be putting sissy bars on his 33 Indian anytime soon. Taking a whole serviceable pen and fusing the parts together is quite different than doing so with left over parts that have minimal future repair value.

 

I wouldn't convert a Vacuum Filler because I lacked a proper nib. I might make one from random third generation Standard parts. I'd offer that the cost may well exceed the desire given the time it would take.

[pajaro]

 

No good answer to that one. Are you sure it hasn't been worked on before?

 

I find these in all conditions, from nearly perfect with white felt in the packing unit and intact head gaskets to rock hard packing material, crumbled head gaskets and plunger rods rusted away to a needle point. I assume that the pen will need to be restored sooner rather than later. If it fills, continue to use it until it either leaks or quits filling. Lubricating the plunger rod with silicone can't hurt.

 

If the pen has been properly restored, (as in Viton 0-rings, buna-N head gasket with the right durometer, not the rubber plug in the end method) it should last a good long time. I've had some come back after 5 years of constant use. Once the rod was lubricated with a bit of silicone grease, it filled as well as it did the day it was restored.

 

Thanks for that info. I have silicone lubricant and I will lube it lightly. The pen I bought is just like the one my mother used. I am amazed this one is still working. This is a nice writing extra fine.

[pajaro]

This is an interesting discussion. I will start by saying I don't think Jay will be putting sissy bars on his 33 Indian anytime soon. Taking a whole serviceable pen and fusing the parts together is quite different than doing so with left over parts that have minimal future repair value.

 

I wouldn't convert a Vacuum Filler because I lacked a proper nib. I might make one from random third generation Standard parts. I'd offer that the cost may well exceed the desire given the time it would take.

 

Not every pen strikes one the same way. Some pens I would feel free to chop up, and some pens I would revere the integrity of. The Vacumatic I would more revere more or less. It is possible to make this an eyedropper non-destructively. If I were to make one an eyedropper I would choose the non-destructive approach.

 

I have had many opportunities to make various pens into eyedroppers when converters weren't available. The last thing I would do to a pen that had a filling system would be to make it into an eyedropper. There are some pen mods I have various measures of contempt for. Bastardizing a pen into an eyedropper is one of those.

[Ron Z]

Some pens I would feel free to chop up...

 

Wearevers, or as Robyn and I call them, Whatevers, fall into this category. I needed a section for one, bought 4 at the end of the last day at a show a few years ago, figuring one had go be good. Every one of them had a crack. One might say I would do it with alacrity.

[pajaro]

 

Wearevers, or as Robyn and I call them, Whatevers, fall into this category. I needed a section for one, bought 4 at the end of the last day at a show a few years ago, figuring one had go be good. Every one of them had a crack. One might say I would do it with alacrity.

 

When I was nine or ten I bought a few Wearever fountain pens in a Woolworth's five and dime store. Every one leaked catastrophically in less than a month. I realize now that the sacs probably failed on those lever fillers. I ever after thought Wearever was the equivalent of a four letter word. By association I felt the same about all lever fillers. This is probably why I never really warmed to Esterbrook J series pens but liked the M2 squeeze fillers. This goes to show you how one bad experience can give you a bad feeling about something forever. They had their chance and they blew it.

[Ron Z]

Every one leaked catastrophically in less than a month. I realize now that the sacs probably failed on those lever fillers.

Nah, It was the pen. I had two Wearever cartridge fillers in 4th grade. Both leaked like a sieve. I always had inky fingers and finally tossed both pens. Never deliberately bought another one. Sheaffer school pens, yes. Esterbrook, yes. Wearever, never.

 

I had a NOS pen come through the shop a few years ago to be restored for sale. He never handled the pen since it was in a big collection that he bought. It really was NOS, mint. The first time I pulled the lever the J-bar broke. That's quality for you.

[pajaro]

Nah, It was the pen. I had two Wearever cartridge fillers in 4th grade. Both leaked like a sieve. I always had inky fingers and finally tossed both pens. Never deliberately bought another one. Sheaffer school pens, yes. Esterbrook, yes. Wearever, never.

 

I had a NOS pen come through the shop a few years ago to be restored for sale. He never handled the pen since it was in a big collection that he bought. It really was NOS, mint. The first time I pulled the lever the J-bar broke. That's quality for you.

 

Essence of Wearever

[Kdvillines]

At risk of jumping into a conversation that is very old, very controversial, but very interesting, I worked my way through a conversion process. It involved the following:

 

1. Sanding out the section of the vacumatic to make it a bit larger in diameter.

2. Sanding down the diameter of a Moonman N3 nib unit to make it a bit smaller.

3. Placing the nib unit into the section.

4. Remove the vacumatic filler, but keep the threaded blindcap holder in place.

 

Pictures:

 

 

 

Edited January 30, 2022 by Kdvillines

[OCArt]

Wow, what a thread! I appreciate your post Kdvillines!

[APM]

On 8/8/2016 at 6:28 PM, APPLEMAN said:

My version

 

http://appleman-pens.blogspot.ca/2016/01/vac-filler-to-ed.html

Wow ... nice job ... you could literally make custom barrels for some of the less frequently Eye-Dropper pens like the PFM, touchdowns, vacuum fillers, Parkers, Conway Stewarts!

The main thing would be to figure out the threads/mm (metric system) on the nib sections and offer a demonstrator clear barrel or a classic black barrel.

This way you could literally convert any non-traditional Eye-Dropper pen candidates. A little silicone grease and bobs your uncle!

 

There must be a resource somewhere of every FP thread/mm data for the different sections.

[Ron Z]

...and literally kill the value of the pen.

[Beechwood]

Speaking of killing the value, I bought a Vac that had been very badly converted into an eye dropper, paid $10 for the pen. I bought it for the cap and its medium to broad nib. This was around 2008.

 

It didn't leak but it was a faff and a half to fill due to a worn out thread, I could never trust it completely in a jacket pocket..

[inkstainedruth]

Missed this thread before now somehow.

And it's making me think of a Sheaffer Snorkel I picked up last fall at an estate sale company's showroom sale.  Took it to OPS to get it rehabbed -- only to find that some former owner had tried to turn it into a c/c pen!   Gave it to Ron Zorn as a "parts pen", and he ended up trading me a Cross Adventura for it.  The person who was going to do the rehab on the Snorkel showed it to me and we were looking at each other and basically going "WHY?  Why did someone DO this?"  Because of course it wouldn't have worked -- the Snorkel tube was still in the pen and of course that meant that there would have been the hole in the feed if the person doing the "modification" HAD removed the tube.... 

If it had been black or burgundy, I would have not been so PO'd -- those are pretty common colors to find.  The blue (I think it's Aqua)?  Not so much.... 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

ETA: The comment I have for anyone doing stuff like this is: "If you don't like the fill system on a vintage pen as is, why buy the pen in the FIRST place?"  Repairs are one thing.  Mangling it (which is exactly what the OP was wanting to do, and exactly how that butchered Snorkel had been treated) is not only going to destroy the value, but isn't likely to even work....