Maintenance Advice Needed For The Pilot Custom 823 (Greasing Seal)

[Heretechnocrat]

Hello all,

 

I am pondering a possible acquisition of a Pilot Custom 823 and I only have one concern. I have recently become more sensitive to being able to maintain my pens over the length of time I own them. Specifically, I want to be able to address common issues that are likely to emerge for a pen over its operational lifetime. With the Custom 823 and other pens with filling mechanisms that use a seal (viz. piston-fillers), it is likely that the seal will lose its lubrication and cause the operation of the mechanism to become stiff. It happened before with my Lamy 2000 but I was able to unscrew the section and access the interior of the barrel, enabling me to apply a dab of silicon grease to restore full smoothness to the piston seal.

 

As far as I know, pilot does not advise unscrewing the section with the barrel to reach the rod's seal without removing the whole housing from the rear of the pen. I know it is possible to do this, but I am uncertain of the risk that it entails. Based on your experience with the Custom 823 (if any), how difficult is it to lubricate the seal if it causes the mechanism's operation to become stiff? Do I risk serious damage or causing performance issues with the pen if I unscrew the section with the barrel (viz. cracking the resin) to perform this maintenance task?

 

Thank you for reading, I look forward to your responses.

[BDarchitect]

I did this recently using a TWSBI wrench and it was very easy to unscrew the metal piston guide from the back of the barrel, clean everything thing, and then relube the piston and shaft with silicone and screw it all back together again. As with any of these type of fillers, you just have to take care not to over tighten the threads or the pressure might crack the plastic; not right away, maybe, but it can happen.

What I haven't done is remove the nib and feed, which I understand from other threads on FPN that Pilot does not warranty.

[sirgilbert357]

I've taken my Lamy 2000 apart a few times to grease the piston. It was not complicated or difficult. What kind of issues did you have with that?

 

As far as the Pilot 823, which I also have, I don't think this is much harder than doing a Lamy 2000. You are literally just unscrewing the pen from the back instead of the front. Just make sure you lube the plunger rod too.

 

There are likely videos on YouTube you could reference for the procedures too...

[dapprman]

Any disassembling of an 823 completely invalidates the warranty. The pens are not designed to be taken apart for cleaning. Ad to this the barrels seem to be rather over-sensitive to over-tightening as you will find lots of reports of cracking and leaking where the one thing in common (aside from being a 823) is the pens had been taken apart for cleaning - normally comments of "I was careful not to over tighten" are included.

Edited September 1, 2019 by dapprman

[Erik Dalton]

In reality, if you were to buy an 823 today, it would be something on the order of 5-10 years before you would have to be lubing the piston. It’s not a big thing to take it apart from the back. But you should do your homework first, have the proper tools and materials on hand and take your time with it.

As far a warranty. Once you take it apart you’ve voided it. I suspect it would be off warranty by then anyway.

If you like the pen, you should go ahead and buy it. The 823 is a wonderful pen that writes like a dream, holds a ton of ink and gives many years of reliable service. I put it up there with my Montblanc 146 for reliability.

[sirgilbert357]

Over tightening can be avoided by meticulously observing the number of turns it took to unscrew the part and only screwing it back in the same number of turns. You could also mark the parts with tape or something to be sure they line up properly. Lots of ways to manage the risk of overtightening.

 

But you can lube the plunger rod without even taking the pen apart. Just unscrew the plunger and pull it out. Lube the rod and push it back in/pull out a few times. Wipe off excess lube and you're done. The stroke got noticeably smoother on mine after I did it - and it was less than 6 months old. Not messing with the rubber seal inside the pen until it really needs it...will cross that bridge when I come to it.

[rafapa]

What about filling the pen a few times with a mixture of water and glycerine?

[Erik Dalton]

Sirgilbert357: “you can lube the plunger rod without even taking the pen apart. Just unscrew the plunger and pull it out. Lube the rod and push it back in/pull out a few times. Wipe off excess lube and you're done. The stroke got noticeably smoother on mine after I did it”

 

Interesting. I would never have thought of lubing up just the rod. Makes sense though. When i rebuild a piston filler I lube up the hex rod along with the other moving parts of the piston assembly.

I guess i shouldn’t have generalized in my answer. Every pen is different and you never know what you’ve got until it’s inked up for the first time.

[neverforget]

Any disassembling of an 823 completely invalidates the warranty. The pens are not designed to be taken apart for cleaning. Ad to this the barrels seem to be rather over-sensitive to over-tightening as you will find lots of reports of cracking and leaking where the one thing in common (aside from being a 823) is the pens had been taken apart for cleaning - normally comments of "I was careful not to over tighten" are included.

 

How would anyone be able to accurately determine that a given pen (pilot 823) was disassembled? Assuming care was taken to do this properly and gently, I don't understand why this is repeated so often.

[dapprman]

 

How would anyone be able to accurately determine that a given pen (pilot 823) was disassembled? Assuming care was taken to do this properly and gently, I don't understand why this is repeated so often.

You mean aside from what ever version of locktite they've used having been broken ?

[sirgilbert357]

You mean aside from what ever version of locktite they've used having been broken ?

Is there Locktite on 823's? Is there something preventing an end user from adding more Locktite upon reassembly?

[neverforget]

You mean aside from what ever version of locktite they've used having been broken ?

 

Which parts of the 823 have locktite applied at the factory?

[Honeybadgers]

You mean aside from what ever version of locktite they've used having been broken ?

 

lol, no. There is no thread locker compound on the piston.

 

If you use a TWSBI wrench or other very secure wrench, and aren't stupid enough to over tighten it way, way too hard, there isn't a snowball's chance in hell that Pilot will EVER know you were in there.

 

If they wanted it to be completely non-user-serviceable, they would have either used threadlocking compound, pressed it in, form molded it, used a proprietary installation that required special tools or prevented disassembly altogether, or about a dozen other methods for assembly.

 

You shouldn't have to disassemble it more than once every year or two at the most for greasing. What I do recommend is every few months putting a thin whisper of silicone grease on the rod itself and running it up and down a few times to keep the main rod seal lubricated. It's much more important than trying to lube the piston itself.

[Honeybadgers]

 

Which parts of the 823 have locktite applied at the factory?

 

None, at least, none that I've ever seen.

 

I've also never heard any systemic issues of the barrel cracking.

 

Unless he's talking about trying to unscrew the SECTION from the barrel, in which case he's partly right. Early 823's had a threaded section into the barrel. These days, it's bonded to the barrel. It could be threaded with threadlocking compound, but looking very carefully at mine (which is not made to have the section unscrewed) it looks like it's thermal bonded.

[neverforget]

 

lol, no. There is no thread locker compound on the piston.

 

If you use a TWSBI wrench or other very secure wrench, and aren't stupid enough to over tighten it way, way too hard, there isn't a snowball's chance in hell that Pilot will EVER know you were in there.

 

If they wanted it to be completely non-user-serviceable, they would have either used threadlocking compound, pressed it in, form molded it, used a proprietary installation that required special tools or prevented disassembly altogether, or about a dozen other methods for assembly.

 

You shouldn't have to disassemble it more than once every year or two at the most for greasing. What I do recommend is every few months putting a thin whisper of silicone grease on the rod itself and running it up and down a few times to keep the main rod seal lubricated. It's much more important than trying to lube the piston itself.

 

 

 

None, at least, none that I've ever seen.

 

I've also never heard any systemic issues of the barrel cracking.

 

Unless he's talking about trying to unscrew the SECTION from the barrel, in which case he's partly right. Early 823's had a threaded section into the barrel. These days, it's bonded to the barrel. It could be threaded with threadlocking compound, but looking very carefully at mine (which is not made to have the section unscrewed) it looks like it's thermal bonded.

 

Thanks for clarifying this Honeybadgers, I had a feeling he was spreading misinformation.