Pelikans' Disassembly

[brandonweng0426]

I currently own a lovely Souverän M800 blue stripe, as a newcomer to Pelikans, I'm wondering if all Pelikans(both modern and vintage) can be fully taken apart by using the same method as the M800(TWSBI wrench for the piston, nib/feed can be unscrewed, and be knocked out from the collar)?

(Discussing Souverän MXXX and their ancestors such as 400NN)

 

I've read about rare fiction fit nib units, but that doesn't seems like a huge difference?

 

My purpose of this question is that I feel more confident in spending money getting a pen that I know for sure that I can clean the pen thoroughly, apply grease...something like that.

 

Thanks for your answering!

[FPFan]

Unless there are specific problems with the piston, there is NO reason to take it out to clean the pen!

If the pen has had some strange ink in it or ink has dried up, take the nib off and clean inside the barrel with a q-tip, use a pen flush product for stubborn stains, soak then nib in the cleaner to remove the dried ink, then re-grease the piston as necessary, put the nib back in and continue writing as usual.

[OCArt]

I am an owner of many Pelikans but not an expert. In my experience most models above a Pelikano have removable nibs and modern ones unscrew. Only the M800 and M1000 have user removable pistons.

[Bo Bo Olson]

It is not a Twsbi, or Ahab.....so is not designed to take apart.

 

Pelikan was never designed to take apart since 1929 or so. It may have been the first pen with a screw out nib....in it was the first piston pen. None of the lever/sac pens had that, in the nib section was 'glued' to the sack. MB and Soennecken had to be dragged screaming and kicking into the modern '30's by Pelikan's piston pen.

MB still don't have a screw out nib...it's glued in with some sort of pine tar glue.

 

Pelikan it's self has a great repair service.

But yanking apart a 600/400/200 or older pens is a good way to go buy a new pen, that will work for a while...until that one too is ruined.

Even repairmen discourage DIY in its more tricky than some show. There are lots of Youtube ... look at me yank apart a Pelikan it's easy....I wouldn't want to buy that pen.

They are just yanking it apart in they started with a Twsbi....there was nothing wrong with the pen....but the back needed to be cleaned.....it hadn't been cleaned in decades....so it was about time.......

I have 9 or so Pelikan pens from the '50s...and they have not been cleaned behind the piston in some 60-65 years...........when it leaks out the back, I'll worry about it.

 

Would you want to buy a used pen that was yanked apart to clean behind a piston. every other day..in an area where none can see ..... just in case some ink got back there???????

 

Defiantly you will have ink behind the piston after you have enlarged the back of the pen, narrowed the piston gasket by yanking it out.

 

The 800/1000 can be taken apart....if you have OCD problems. Even they are not 'made' to be dissembled and cleaned daily. I never seen any reason for that anyway....but I don't own an 800 or 1000.

 

Someone should start a poll, how many times have you taken your 800/1000 apart.....was it necessary or did you just want to see what the guts looked like?

 

 

Some of my piston pens are old...50s and a few '90's and some three new ones, I don't have a reason to take them apart.

 

Plastic gasket 1.0 invented @ 1940, can die. Plastic Gasket 2.0 invented about 1955 seems to be good to go still. I have no problems with my post war 100n, Ibis, or a slew of '50-54 400/140's pens.

One can buy a gasket cutter and Gasket 2.0 from Richard Binder....come the day. That day is when ink leaks out the back of the pen!!!!

 

xxxxx

I do unscrew the nib, and clean the inside of the piston with a bulb syringe to save wear and tear on the piston. (Some don't like that but when screwing the nib back in I'm OCD at making it match and use a very light touch.)

 

If you use a supersaturated ink....you have to clean the pen often,,,and in it's supersaturated it will take longer.....the ink is in the front of the barrel....not the hidden back.

 

If you were to be using the same ink.....not that anyone does in modern times....the '50's instructions was clean it with water every three months....that included IG ink.

So general use was fill it, which helps clean the feed, use it and that only takes a twist down and up......to fill up with ink.

Back then one didn't change inks every week....one didn't twist and twist and twist the piston....wearing it.

 

Are you actually going to sell to the innocent a a gutted Pelikan you treat like a Twsbi???? No wonder it leaks ink out the back.

Buy a Twsbi or an Ahab instead, then you can clean it daily. ...three times a day if you wish.

Edited June 6, 2017 by Bo Bo Olson

[sargetalon]

There is rarely ever an indication to disassemble a Pelikan piston assembly. It should not be part of a routine cleaning regimen.

[MHBru]

I have two M800s and one is over 20 years old.... over that time it was in regular use... then years in a box and now back into reasonable heavy daily use. When the piston seemed to stiffen a little I cleaned it... put a bit of silicon grease in the chamber and it's good as new again. There appears to be no need at all to take it apart beyond removing the nib to clean it.

[brandonweng0426]

Maybe I didn't illustrate my point clearly enough. I don't disassemble the pen during every fill, and I basically use the same ink in that pen so not so much of cleaning problem for me. Disassembly only occurs like once in a year(or even longer), after I clean the pen out thoroughly, letting it sit dry, reapply grease, then put it back together.

You never know what had build up back there, it may have some dust/debris/dried ink in there, wearing on your piston mechanism and barrel every time you move the piston. For once in a while cleaning out all the possible threats from the pen seem to be a reasonable touch.

 

My idea is that if all the pieces are glued together/friction fit, it will be harder and more dangerous to disassemble, but as for Pelikan, everything seem to be screwed in place, and made with incredible precision. I'm aware that screwing/unscrewing it often can cause wears on the threads, but doing it less than once a year and comparing it to those pens which were glued? I don't see that as a possible threat.

 

I'm just curious that if other vintage and modern pens works the same way?

[Bo Bo Olson]

Only the 800/1000 is 'screwed' into place with the piston.

 

"""it may have some dust/debris/dried ink in there, wearing on your piston mechanism and barrel every time you move the piston."""" ????? Why should there be anything behind a good fitting gasket on the piston? Have you noticed dried ink and junk behind your piston, when you take it apart?

 

If there is send the pen in to Hanover to get a new gasket.

 

It can be 'greased' with half a rice corn of 100% pure silicon grease with out taking out the piston.

Rick...Rick Popas a major Pelikan repairman and seller, says grease it every three years, or so; if that. In it don't need that all that often. Too much grease can cause problems....don't remember exactly which, but being lazy, decided to grease when stiff and not before.

 

One must think, for many decades no one used silicon grease on their Pelikan, in there was no silicon grease. ...That has only come on in the last decade.

 

Half my '50's Pelikans....make that 2/3's, have never been greased by me....and I doubt if anyone else did too. When you buy at a live auction, someone is selling Gramp's old pens, and they wouldn't know to grease or they'd not have sold such classics. Same goes for non-pen-sellers on German Ebay. They still work just fine, or I'd greased them.

[Erik Dalton]

If i understand you correctly, you're asking: What if I had to, will these pens allow me to fully break them down?

The answer is that the M1000, M800, and also the pelikan 120 type ll made between 1973 and 1977, have screw out Piston assemblies. There may be other odd vintage models where it is possible to unscrew the piston assembly, but I haven't come across any yet.

 

The threaded nib assembly allows for easy removal and cleaning of the nib and feed. It is very rare to have to remove and seperate the nib and feed from the nib assembly. Using a knockout block is an extreme move. The use of a bulb syringe, soaking, and if warranted, ultrasonic bath, in almost every instance is sufficient to get a clean, free flowing nib.

 

The fact that the nib assembly unscrews on all models, allows for access to the interior of the barrel, and the front end of the piston head. In every case I've seen, a little silicone grease placed up at the piston head has resolved any difficult or stiff travel issues of the piston assembly. I have never come across a case where the "back end" consisting of the worm gear assembly and turning knob were a cause for a stiff moving piston.

 

In most models there is an ink window. Extending the piston down into the ink window allows for an examination of the piston head. If there is a question, you can get a pretty good feel whether or not the ink has got past the piston head and into the "back end" where it doesn't belong.

 

It is not normally necessary to remove a piston assembly even on those models which can accommodate disassembling. But, i understand that it is comforting to know that you can disassemble, if you had to.

 

Let me also say that when a pen comes to me for service, I do disassemble it as far as possible, and lube all parts, but these are pens that come to me with a problem to begin with.