Omas Lucens 1936

[Valentino]

I am new to vintage pens.

This one just came in.

I do not know if it is working properly and I would also like to clean it.

The pump moves up and down very easily. Is that good? I tried loading it with water. Not sure it does anything.

Do you guys know how I can open it up?

 

The pin of the cap, seems to be plated with gold, but there are ware marks on it. Is there a way to replace it with a new pin?

 

The nib seems to be in pristine shape. It has a very intense yellow color. 

 

The cap screw spins less than a full turn for a full lock or unlock. Is this a sign of ware, or is this how it was built? And if it is a sign of ware, can it be fixed?

 

The pen is a very nice one, I am very excited to start using it.

 

[Seney724]

Congratulations!  These are wonderful, classic old Omas pens.  Many (me included) think the nibs are as good as any nibs ever produced.  

 

The maintenance and repair of these pens require some knowledge and skills.  If you are an experienced pen repair person you will be fine.  But, if you are just beginning, you are best advised to learn the fundamentals on some other, more simple pen and let an expert do this work for you.  (Maybe he or she would let you watch!)

 

The filling system is a plunger or so called "stantuffo tuffante."  The feeds have a removable breather tube inserted into them. (Some are easy to remove, others are not and they are very fragile.)  The nibs & feeds are friction fit directly into the section; there is no ebonite collar as in the Omas celluloid pens of the later years.  The sections themselves are not friction fit, they are threaded into the barrels.

 

Some years ago, one of our terrific members by the name of hari317 created a thread which is now kept permanently at the top of the FPN Italy-Europe subforum. I suggest you take a look at it.  Although he speaks about the faceted Extra Lucens, most of what he provides is relevant to your pen.  Unfortunately, the photos are no longer embedded in his post but perhaps you could send him a PM to see if he would provide them to you. hari317 is still an active member and contributor here.  He is a lovely gentleman and a real expert on these pens.

 

Good luck and please keep us aware of your progress.  Maybe when you make your repairs you could take some photos and post them here??

[como]

Valentino: Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your beautiful find! While this filling system is not the most challenging restoration project one may encounter, if you have not done any vintage pen restoration, this may not be an ideal first time project. Of course, if you are a resourceful, curious person who is also good with your hands, you can certainly try it.  There is enough info on internet by pen enthusiasts on how to tackle this if you do a thorough search. Or send it to a competent pen restorer to get a new cork fitted (and whatever else it needs). Good luck! As Seney724 said, these nibs are wonderful!

[Valentino]

I have been working with nibs and various types of pens most of my life. Took them apart put them back, together, modified them. I am comfortable with this type of thing. It is satisfying. Fountain pens, though not in the least new for me, are something I never used that much before. Last year my gf gave me one for my birthday, and it made me realize this is something I need in my life :)) That said vintage fountain pens are a completely new thing.

 

As I understood from Hari's post, I will need to buy some silicon grease. I am not sure exactly what I need to get, but I guess that is only one issue. The other is that I took the pen apart as in the photo attached(I will leave the nib and feeder as they are for the moment, they seem to work fine, but I do not know how to open the feeding system. I looked at photos of other Omas pens I found, but this one seems to open slightly different. The piston is shorter and hollow on the inside as it needs to leave room for that long thin breather.

 

From what I can tell, the rubber that sits on the end of the piston is either worn out, or just needs cleaning. It does not isolate very well, and as a consequence does not pump the ink almost at all. After I let it in the water for an hour, I can notice a significant improvement, so I imagine opening it up, and adding some of the silicon lubricant might do the job

 

If you guy have any tips on this they would be more than weolcome.

 

As a sidenote, before fiddling with it, I did manage to dip it in ink, and even if the nib needs some small alignment, it is such a wonderful writer. I love it.

[Seney724]

8 minutes ago, Valentino said:

I have been working with nibs and various types of pens most of my life. Took them apart put them back, together, modified them. I am comfortable with this type of thing. It is satisfying. Fountain pens, though not in the least new for me, are something I never used that much before. Last year my gf gave me one for my birthday, and it made me realize this is something I need in my life :)) That said vintage fountain pens are a completely new thing.

 

As I understood from Hari's post, I will need to buy some silicon grease. I am not sure exactly what I need to get, but I guess that is only one issue. The other is that I took the pen apart as in the photo attached(I will leave the nib and feeder as they are for the moment, they seem to work fine, but I do not know how to open the feeding system. I looked at photos of other Omas pens I found, but this one seems to open slightly different. The piston is shorter and hollow on the inside as it needs to leave room for that long thin breather.

 

From what I can tell, the rubber that sits on the end of the piston is either worn out, or just needs cleaning. It does not isolate very well, and as a consequence does not pump the ink almost at all. After I let it in the water for an hour, I can notice a significant improvement, so I imagine opening it up, and adding some of the silicon lubricant might do the job

 

If you guy have any tips on this they would be more than weolcome.

 

As a sidenote, before fiddling with it, I did manage to dip it in ink, and even if the nib needs some small alignment, it is such a wonderful writer. I love it.

I'm not sure what looks "different" to you?  What you show in your photos looks very typical and expected to me. 

 

If you unscrew (counterclockwise) and remove the turning knob, the plunger will be able to be pushed down and removed from the section end of the pen.  Be very careful as the celluloid is surely very brittle after all the years.  I suggest you apply some gentle heat and exercise a lot of patience.  If it appears there is much dried ink caked on and around the turning knob on the plunger side, you should also try to remove it with some cool water.

 

Good luck!

[Valentino]

I made a collage trying to illustrate what I see in my Lucens pen. The piston is very short and empty on the inside. The brush tail you see in the photo is of the thickness of the inside of the piston. It does not seem to have a second piece in it like in the Omas Extra in Hari's photo.

And if I twist the knob the whole thing spins around and nothing happens.

[como]

Did someone try to restore this Omas Extra Stantuffo Tuffante with a piston shaft??

This is the Stantuffo Tuffante system inner works.

https://markivo.wordpress.com/2013/03/30/omas-plunger-filler/ (thanks to Markivo).

[como]

These two photos are of different systems. I am confused as to which is your pen.

[Valentino]

Mine is the photo above.

The one with the collage.

The one bellow was an answer to Seney who asked what I say is different. And the Tuffante is obviously different from the shaft system on the Omas Extra. 

But I think the link you provided is exactly about the pen I have. I think it will prove really helpful.

A bit tricky to disassemble I think, but I will give it a good careful try. And I will be back with updates.

 

Just a question. When dry-heat is mentioned, would a hairdryer be enough?

[Seney724]

Just now, Valentino said:

 

The one bellow was an answer to Seney who asked what I say is different. And the Tuffante is obviously different from the shaft system on the Omas Extra. 

 

Correct.  What I was asking you was given you have a fountain pen with the Stantuffo Tuffante system, what were you seeing which was different from what would be expected of a pen with a Stantuffo Tuffante system?  And, the answer is nothing.....you just did not know how to get the plunger out of the pen.  But, now you do!!!

 

As for the hair dryer, use gentle warm heat.  If it makes your fingers feel uncomfortably hot, you are using too much heat.  Be careful and be patient.

[Valentino]

Thank you so much guys!

I am very excited for this.

Will keep you posted.

[como]

@Valentino:Good luck!

[Valentino]

Since yesterday I keep heating up the knob and try and twist. It just wont budge. My fingers hurt really bad :)) 

Is the heat for any sort of glue that is on the thread, or just just to increase the size of the knob relative to the piston?

Also If you have any tips for how to twist that knob, I am listening.

[como]

@Valentino:Do you see two tiny holes on opposite side of each other on the end knob? There is a metal pin inside that you need to first knock out in order to get the shaft out of the end knob.

[Valentino]

There does not seem to be a pin in the knob.

In the photo we can the the cork-seal. Could I not just open that one?

 

ps: the videos are shot with my phone through a magnifying glass, but they are not embeded in the message. When you click the lick it will automatically download it.

video0 (3).movvideo0 (2).mov

Edited December 17, 2020 by Valentino

[como]

@Valentino: Then I have to say that you just have to be VERY patient and heat and try and heat and try until you can unscrew the plunger rod off the knob, so the rod can come out from the section side (so you can start disassembling the plunger seal parts). There were times that I seriously started to think that someone probably had superglued a stuck area in vintage pen restoration, but in the end it was always the patience and persistence that paid off 🙂

[Seney724]

3 hours ago, Valentino said:

Since yesterday I keep heating up the knob and try and twist. It just wont budge. My fingers hurt really bad :)) 

Is the heat for any sort of glue that is on the thread, or just just to increase the size of the knob relative to the piston?

Also If you have any tips for how to twist that knob, I am listening.

First, be sure you are turning it in a counter-clockwise fashion.

 

There may be a lot of dried ink against and within the threads of the shaft which screw into the turning knob.  Try soaking the turning knob and shaft end in cool water for short periods of time (~10-15 minutes) in between heating sessions.  Do not immerse into the cool water right after you have heated it up and, likewise, do not go right from the water into the heat.  When you heat up the turning knob keep turning it in the heat source so it heats evenly. Do not heat it up to the point where your fingers are getting uncomfortably hot.  Finally, BE PATIENT!!  It might take a while.  As soon as you begin to feel frustrated, stop!!  

 

You'll get it done....just take your time.  There is no rush!!

[Valentino]

The good news is, I managed to improvise a tool to open the seal holding the piston in. And it came off really easy. Quite satisfyingly. What I can see is that the cork seal is pretty damaged. I guess I need to make a new one? Could it be made from rubber, does it need to be made of a specific material? If you guys know of any tutorials for that, or have any further tips, they will be highly appreciated. 

A thought I am having, is that at the end of the piston(as indicated in the picture with the letter D) the edge of the piston seems to be either threaded  in or glued on there. Could that be easier to take off rather than the piston knob?

[como]

@Valentino: Good that you got this thing out of the barrel. Meanwhile I can think of unconventional ways of trying to restore a pen, it’s usually the last resort, as it’s clear how this pen should be disassembled. All parts look intact here, so I would go the normal route. I still think that plunger knob needs to come off, in order to slide out the rest of the parts.

[Seney724]

4 hours ago, como said:

@Valentino: Good that you got this thing out of the barrel. Meanwhile I can think of unconventional ways of trying to restore a pen, it’s usually the last resort, as it’s clear how this pen should be disassembled. All parts look intact here, so I would go the normal route. I still think that plunger knob needs to come off, in order to slide out the rest of the parts.

I agree 100%!

 

But I also must compliment you @Valentino for the very clever alternative technique you have created.  Bravo!  The "tool" is easy enough to acquire and inexpensive as well!!  

 

But, similar to @como, I would employ it only if the well described, "standard" process does not work.