Parker 51 Vac Pencil Disassembly

September 16, 2017

I have a couple early Parker 51 pencils (sold with the Vac 51s) and would like to swap just the plastic barrels between them (sans mechanisms). I've tried to unscrew the nose cones but they don't appear to be threaded(?). One cone, which was already disfigured by someone's tool, just spins in place whereas the other is too stiff to turn. Does anyone know how to remove the cones and mechanisms from these pencils? Do the meachanisms screw/pull out from the back? A photo of my clean pencil for reference:

September 16, 2017

Not clear on the goal but the nose unscrews from the mechanism and the barrel slides off.

September 17, 2017

Thanks for the help! The goal is just to swap this barrel for another, which matches the color of my pen better – the donor pen also has a broken mechanism. I thought the nose should just screw off like all the others, but have been having a lot of trouble with the donor pencil. Perhaps its stripped. Makes things easier now that I know for sure that they unscrew.

edit: By "barrel slides off" do you mean that the mechanism can be pulled from the back of the barrel? The innards seem to be attached to the barrel, making this difficult. (note that I've been referring to the barrel after the cap has been removed)

Edited September 17, 2017 by Estragon

September 18, 2017

I was able to remove the nose cone from the healthy pencil quite easily (screwed off like all the others). To clarify my question, I was wondering if it's possible now to remove the metal mechanism from the back of the plastic barrel, as illustrated by the photo below. It doesn't seem to easily unscrew or slide out and I'm afraid of damaging it. (Totally out of my depth when it comes to repairing pencils!)

September 18, 2017

Your barrel is celluloid and looks like it has seen better days. Grab the barrel in one hand and the mechanism in the other hand and pull. It is just a press or slip fit.

September 18, 2017

Oh...You can also put the funnel back on loosely and push from that end. I have a damaged tip for that purpose.

September 19, 2017

Got it removed! Thanks so much for bearing with me there. Seems I was handling it with kid gloves for fear of breaking it when it just needed a little elbow grease informed by your advice. Swapped the barrels and now have a perfect match for my daily writer.

Edited September 19, 2017 by Estragon