What is on your bench?

[lobster]

What happens if you screw it back together and try to pull it apart? Could the yellowish inner sleeve be a part of the filling system?

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

The sleeve is just the threads, it is ~1cm long. It doesn't really connect to anything else in the barrel.

[GlenV]

You could use as eyedropper or use sac and make little hole in the end of the barrel for blowfiller, but some pens may not really be worth the effort...

[Nethermark]

On 2/26/2024 at 9:22 PM, LoveBigPensAndCannotLie said:

ld, feels rather decent for an Arnold (which IMO are the cheapest feeling pens I have ever tried, they make Wearevers look like Sheaffers). The problem is, it has no lever or any other filling mechanism I can make out.

 

It kinda looks like it’s supposed to be a piston filler. 
 

Maybe could convert it to a button filler. All you need is a button, pressure bar and a sac. 

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

The end doesn't come off, there's nothing to unscrew. I'm a little tired from work but I will try uploading a better picture of the end another day. I am sure there are others like this one out there but my Google skills are failing me. Either that or I got the world's crappiest "prototype."

 

I haven't seen an nib imprint like this one either, not that I have an extensive collection of Arnolds (though I do have a few). It says "Arnold - Medium - Petersburg - V.A." on separate lines. Not the older "dual tone" gold plated Arnold nibs that I've seen or the later "Smoothline" or "Veri-smooth" nibs that are common on these pens.

 

The "tipping" is similar to the later "Veri Smooth" nibs I've seen. Instead of having the "butterfly" tipping where the steel tip is folded down sideways, it's folded over parallelly to provide a writing surface. Hard to describe but if you've seen these Veri Smooth nibs you know what I'm talking about.

[cat74]

Anyone know where to source a feed for a Sheaffer 350 Balance full sized slender?

This joined me through a pen lot and even before I got it apart you could tell the feed was cracked. Would be a shame to be so close to a repair and not be able to do it.

Nib tipping has cracked off - might replace or make into a stub? if I can do something about the feed

I could maybe??? add some superglue to the bottom of the long piece in the middle so as to not block any channels and slide it back together?? a tube would have been easier yes? rather than a tube shaped piece of ebonite!

 

[cat74]

On 2/26/2024 at 3:22 PM, LoveBigPensAndCannotLie said:

I got a new pen and I am a little confused by it. It's an Arnold, feels rather decent for an Arnold (which IMO are the cheapest feeling pens I have ever tried, they make Wearevers look like Sheaffers). The problem is, it has no lever or any other filling mechanism I can make out.

 

 

Do I just stick a sac in it and call it a day? I know that after Parker released the aerometric 51, a lot of companies scrambled to make their own "squeeze fillers" but most of them have some sort of metal cage, this one has nothing. And there doesn't appear to be any clearance for one, so I doubt it is missing. The nib is completely clean and there were no traces of ink anywhere in the cap, section, or body so I think it might have been NOS. But no remnants of a sac either!

 

I also included a picture of the threads because I thought it was funny. This pen is so cheaply made, they didn't even drill out the inside threads, instead it's a thin celluloid insert. I am guessing they wanted the celluloid sheets of the body as thin as possible to make it for as little as they could. And it was too thin at that point to drill threads out?

 

Still, it's a very pretty pen and I'd like to get it working as it was "designed."

 

could you add your own lever?

Like get a lever box and J-Bar and with a dremel cut out a slot for the lever box?

Or like you say - just add a sac and call it a day

[Nethermark]

4 hours ago, cat74 said:

Anyone know where to source a feed for a Sheaffer 350 Balance full sized slender?

This joined me through a pen lot and even before I got it apart you could tell the feed was cracked. Would be a shame to be so close to a repair and not be able to do it.

Nib tipping has cracked off - might replace or make into a stub? if I can do something about the feed

I could maybe??? add some superglue to the bottom of the long piece in the middle so as to not block any channels and slide it back together?? a tube would have been easier yes? rather than a tube shaped piece of ebonite!

Five Star Pens could be a source for a feed. Another possibility is eBay, either just the feed or a 350 with other issues, but a good feed.

 

I would not use superglue, as the parts are hard rubber and superglue wont hold.

 

What do you mean by 'Nib tipping has cracked off'? As far as I can see, there is tipping on the nib, but it's a bit unclear in the photo. In that case, you can try to polish it, if it's rough.

[VacNut]

7 hours ago, cat74 said:

Anyone know where to source a feed for a Sheaffer 350 Balance full sized slender?

This joined me through a pen lot and even before I got it apart you could tell the feed was cracked. Would be a shame to be so close to a repair and not be able to do it.

Nib tipping has cracked off - might replace or make into a stub? if I can do something about the feed

I could maybe??? add some superglue to the bottom of the long piece in the middle so as to not block any channels and slide it back together?? a tube would have been easier yes? rather than a tube shaped piece of ebonite!

 

You are probably better off going to a local pen show and finding the feed. I think getting someone to find a correctly sized feed and sending you the single part would be cost prohibitive.

I find that sections shrink over time and it is difficult to find a feed that matches the diameter of the section, unless you are comfortable adjusting the section with dry heat.

[cat74]

I think I may have found a donor pen with a better nib too! Was hopeful that of all the feeds Pentooling has one would work but no

Need supplies so if he had one it would have worked out perfect. Seems like Sheaffer has an infinite amount of different nib shapes and sizes!!

[GlenV]

Good job, you should be able to find those parts for not that much on a donor pen, the nib is pretty common one to find too, excellent. I like the slender balance pens they can have less cap lip cracks for posting and make nice pens to use. 

[Ron Z]

You do need to replace the feed.  The contact area is very small, and no adhesive will hold properly.  This is why you never want to pull a Sheaffer feed out of a section.  The thickness between the cuts on the outside and the hole for the insert is very thin, and the brittle hard rubber likely to break.

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

Yup... broke a Sheaffer feed exactly that way a few weeks ago. I thought I could wiggle it out the front since it was the type with the tail and I don't have a good punch out tube for those, ended up breaking it in half. 

 

Related, do any of the pen tool people sell a punch out tube for these? I know a lot of people just make one out of brass tubing and cutting it down, but I don't really have the tools for that.

[cat74]

Sadly mine came pre-broken!

Will have to be careful to get parts out in one piece from the donor. Looks like the section may have cracks..maybe I'll just break the donor section apart to get to the feed? If I'm lucky the donor will also have a useable pressure bar.

[Beechwood]

A friends Parker 51 that leaks into the cap. No sign of problems with the sac or the section, no signs of cracking. Ink flow is on the dry side from the nib and yet it blobs on the page. No problems when the cap is left off the pen and the pen is in use for the day.

 

Working on the basis that the setting of the nib to the feed needs attention. 

 

Job for Friday

[VacNut]

13 hours ago, LoveBigPensAndCannotLie said:

Yup... broke a Sheaffer feed exactly that way a few weeks ago. I thought I could wiggle it out the front since it was the type with the tail and I don't have a good punch out tube for those, ended up breaking it in half. 

 

Related, do any of the pen tool people sell a punch out tube for these? I know a lot of people just make one out of brass tubing and cutting it down, but I don't really have the tools for that.

I use a hollow alum tube from a good hobby store. You can buy them in various diameters. The hollow tube allows the breather tube to go into the inserted alum tube. I plugged the other end with a small wooden dowel to help with the hammer tapping. Brass tubing in these smaller diameters are too soft
Hollow tube are essential for vacuum fillers 

[VacNut]

12 hours ago, Beechwood said:

A friends Parker 51 that leaks into the cap. No sign of problems with the sac or the section, no signs of cracking. Ink flow is on the dry side from the nib and yet it blobs on the page. No problems when the cap is left off the pen and the pen is in use for the day.

 

Working on the basis that the setting of the nib to the feed needs attention. 

 

Job for Friday

I had a vac that did the same thing. Air was getting into the barrel at the section threads. If this is a vac filler 51, you may need to seal the hood with rosin.

[Beechwood]

2 hours ago, VacNut said:

I had a vac that did the same thing. Air was getting into the barrel at the section threads. If this is a vac filler 51, you may need to seal the hood with rosin.

 

Thanks but it is an Aero, The sac looks good, I suspect the hood isn't sealed as it shows no signs of cracking, either the sealing or feed to nib gap

 

The pen is a new eBay purchase so I am not minded to rip into the pen when there is a very real prospect of the pen going back.

 

I feel some guilt as a 51 was my suggestion to an MB person.

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

I got a Waterman Exclusive, looked to be of okay condition. Tried shoving a standard international cartridge in, but it's too fat for the barrel. And the wafer thin threads on the barrel (plastic threads going into a brass body, thanks Waterman!) have cracked as well.

 

The 80's and 90's were truly the dark ages for fountain pens. This is the last time I get a pen from this era. Why is it that a pen that on release cost > $100 in the late 80's has the build quality of a modern Jinhao?

 

Does anyone know what cartridges this godforsaken piece of (bleep) pen takes? Standard short international cartridges are too fat, standard long are too long. 

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

Alright, I found an older converter that came in one of my Waterman Lady pens, I am assuming this will fit. I need to replace the sac and had some questions:

 

 

1) What size sac is standard for these? It looks like it would have to be fairly small to even fit on the plug so I am assuming a 14 or smaller.

 

2) What do I do with the pressure bar? The bar had two dollops of dried up glue on either end (see first picture, I got one bit of it off) so I am guessing it was originally glued to the sac. I don't really want to do this, is it fine to just have it held in by the pressure of the sac?

 

Edit: I tried a #14 and it fits the body of the converter (a little too skinny actually...) but it is too fat where the plug goes in where it tapers near the end. I am not sure what the fix for this is, the "nipple" on the plug is rather fat and almost the full diameter of that area leaving no room for a sac. Did they use a thin-walled sac for this?

 

If worst comes to worst I will just shave down the "nipple" to make it fit. It's a converter, not a full on pen, and at this point I can't be bothered with this low quality junk.