What is on your bench?

[Ron Z]

3 minutes ago, VacNut said:

Is pure talc another option on the diaphragm? 

 

I dust the part of the diaphragm that ends up on the inside with talc so that the rubber halves slide over each other.  But for the area of the diaphragm over the cone where it meets the ring on the barrel,  the water based lubricant is best.  That allows the diaphragm to slide down the cone into position.  Parker had a lubricant that they sold for the purpose, and is mentioned in the repair manuals, but they of course don't say what it is.  I figured that if the water based stuff is safe for some rubber products, it would be safe for others, so I tried it some 25 or 30 years ago.  I don't recommend saliva - lots of biological stuff that I personally don't want to introduce into my pen, and perhaps ink.    I would not use a silicone lubricant either.  I've seen cases by the way where a repairer regularly used silicone grease on the inside part.  It cause the rubber to bind and stick...  He also used red rubber diaphragms to mark them as his repairs.  That also didn't work too well.

[FarmBoy]

15 hours ago, VacNut said:

I agree with Ron. The alignment is correct. If you are really concerned, you can take a detailed photo of the cap before you remove it. I think you will find the alignment didn’t change much after the filler installation.

 

Is pure talc another option on the diaphragm? 

Not on the ink side. 

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

I learned a (not so) fun fact today, apparently the Esterbrook M2 section plastic is prone to shrinkage. I was cleaning out a pen I'd been using for a bit (smoothest 2668 nib I've ever used, really nice) - I always like to unscrew the nib unit and clean out the threads as a lot of ink gets stuck in there.

 

I could barely get it out, needed to use some padded pliers to gently loosen it before I could unscrew it. It was rough unscrewing it when I first got it and cleaned it up but at that point I thought it was just because of dried up ink.

 

I looked at the section, and it shrank a bit near the very bottom where the nib screws in. Not enough to stop the nib units from working but enough to make it a very tight squeeze. Had to realign the tines because I nudged them while trying to get the nib unit out. 

 

So for anyone having trouble with these (or any of the later post-Esterbrook J vintage Esterbrooks, assume they're made of similar plastic), I recommend a little bit of heat and extra care vs. a usual Esterbrook J where the nib units unscrew pretty easily.

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

Gosh, you really don't know what a pen will look like until you open it. I got a Parker 51 vac at a pretty good price recently. I received it and it looked great. I just opened it, took a lot of effort to get the filler out, and when I took it out I saw this:

 

 

This is after several minutes of cleaning. I have a feeling someone used something they were not supposed to on this pen because the threads will not separate from the metal bit that holds the cup.

 

Two questions:

 

1) How do I get this to separate? It seems completely fused. I am not sure if someone used something like shellac on this to secure the diaphragm and that leaked in.

2) I guess this is an extension of the last one, would be a bad idea to soak this in warmish water to see if it will make it separate? I realize there are metal bits but it wouldn't be for long.

3) If I can't get it separated, can I still use this filler as is? The spring and everything work fine, and it correctly pushed the filler down. In a properly seated filler the threaded bit will sit against the next part anyway? I'd rather not need to buy an extra filler.

 

 

 

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

Never mind, I completely destroyed the pellet cup and part of the stem holding the pellet cup trying to get the pellet out. It was incredibly brittle. I've learned my lesson with these vacumatic pellet cups. If they want to break, they will break no matter how careful you are or what tools you use. I don't feel bad about it anymore.

 

I think I will throw the bushing and the metal retainer thing into the trash, I can't find a way to separate them and I don't intend to rebuild this filler. I guess I can keep it as a thread chaser for barrel threads.

[FarmBoy]

I rebuild those all the time. You save up damaged fillers until the pile is out of control and then you remanufacture as many as possible from what you have. Springs and pellet cups are readily available though breaking them still sucks. 

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

32 minutes ago, FarmBoy said:

I rebuild those all the time. You save up damaged fillers until the pile is out of control and then you remanufacture as many as possible from what you have. Springs and pellet cups are readily available though breaking them still sucks. 

 

I've rebuilt two so far, it's not too bad. The problem is I broke up one of the "prongs" on the filler "tube" that holds the cup. Not even completely, but the very tip came off one of them, so I'm not sure it will hold a cup. I actually have an extra cup and spring to replace it with.

 

And besides that, I still can't separate the threaded bushing from the metal cup holder (I don't know the "technical" term for this).

 

I think this might be a parts pen anyways. I shone a light through the barrel which makes it slightly translucent, and I can see a tiny little stress crack in the middle of the barrel. I think it might be on the inside because I cannot see it from the outside without the light. Do you think this is still worth using? or get a replacement barrel?

[FarmBoy]

The threaded bushing is the jamb nut and the piece stuck to it is the sleeve. 
 

The broken bit is the shaft. 
 

I like fixing Vacs and 51s so I’d put it together and see what happens. 

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

31 minutes ago, FarmBoy said:

The threaded bushing is the jamb nut and the piece stuck to it is the sleeve. 
 

The broken bit is the shaft. 
 

I like fixing Vacs and 51s so I’d put it together and see what happens. 

 

I already stole the nib and put it in another Parker 51 I got a little while back that had a bad nib (the one I was practicing dry fitting the pump). Feels like I'm always one 51 behind in parts... I guess I'll give it a shot if I get another spare Parker 51 nib. Maybe the next parts pen I get.

 

The feed's bothering me on the one I just restored so I think I need to test it for a while longer to see if I'm happy with my "restoration." But I will say this one has the best endcap alignment I've ever done in probably over a dozen vacs? It's visible if you look closely but you can barely feel it. I didn't do anything different as far as I can tell...

[VacNut]

4 hours ago, LoveBigPensAndCannotLie said:

Never mind, I completely destroyed the pellet cup and part of the stem holding the pellet cup trying to get the pellet out. It was incredibly brittle. I've learned my lesson with these vacumatic pellet cups. If they want to break, they will break no matter how careful you are or what tools you use. I don't feel bad about it anymore.

 

I think I will throw the bushing and the metal retainer thing into the trash, I can't find a way to separate them and I don't intend to rebuild this filler. I guess I can keep it as a thread chaser for barrel threads.

If you able to remove the plastic shaft, I was able to separate alum parts by putting the parts in a toaster oven and then gently tapping the parts. Just make sure there are no plastic or celluloid parts. I think I heated them at 375 or 400. I wrote about my play test way back.  
Some people try water but I thought the dry heat was more fun.

[VacNut]

You can also just get a replacement filler

[VacNut]

I found my craziness…

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

1 minute ago, VacNut said:

I found my craziness…

 

Hmmm, I don't feel super comfortable putting pen parts in the same oven where I cook food but I see Ron mentioned vinegar is an option, maybe I will try that.

 

At any rate, I've already transplanted the nib to another pen so not in a hurry. Also a little skittish about the stress crack I am seeing. But then again there's a chance a bunch of these have them, I've never thought to shine a light in them before. 

[VacNut]

There is no harm to the oven with alum parts. Parts are only in the oven for 2-3 minutes. I didn’t use vinegar because the alum may be fused by corrosion. The minor acidity may add to the corrosion or pitting to the parts and spring. The heat did make cleaning the parts more simple

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

Ah, I am more worried about contaminating my oven! I'll think about it.

 

I've been testing the other Parker 51 Vac for a while and it seems to be writing fine. I think I set the feed a little deeper than it should go (not sure how... I am pretty sure they are supposed to hit a natural stop).

 

Do you all think it's worth taking it apart and resetting it? I took the feed from the original pen, I can swap in the feed that came with this nib. I am hesitant because it writes fine, just kind of dry. I let it sit overnight and it wrote with no issues as soon as I uncapped it. 

 

I also wrote with it for an hour (didn't cap it for an hour), putting it down for a few minutes a time, and I didn't have it completely dry out on me although by the end it was definitely writing less wet than I like. Reason I am a little antsy about this one is I want to give it away as a present as a "fully restored" pen and I don't want to give a faulty pen.

 

I also aligned the hood of the pen with the nib perfectly for once, so I don't want to redo that...

[FarmBoy]

The feed and nib both hit a dead stop in the collector and are to be fully inserted. 

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

9 minutes ago, FarmBoy said:

The feed and nib both hit a dead stop in the collector and are to be fully inserted. 

 

Weird, then something is off about this feed. The nib is as far as it can go, it just barely peaks over the hood. The original nib from this pen was inked with something weird, I've never seen a gold Parker 51 nib with corrosion on it before. Maybe it did something to the feed as well.

 

I'll leave it in there, it writes okay. I've learned my mistake of trying to fix my mistakes and creating bigger ones in the process. Think I'm going to take a break from vacs for a bit, I've restored a bunch lately and I'm feeling a little burned out on them. I don't even ink up most of them because cleaning them out is such a hassle.

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

I think I might be a little too neurotic. I was cleaning out the snorkel I recently restored. I had it sitting past the joint of the nib "unit" soaking for a bit to get any residual ink out. I did not operate the snorkel or the pump while it was in the water but I am a little worried I might have sucked water in through the joint while using the snorkel after.

 

I wasn't sure if it was worth opening it and seeing if it's wet inside but I can't imagine much water if any should get in considering it has a brand new gasket in the front that should stop this type of thing.

[VacNut]

All liquids will evaporate. Maybe you can set aside and focus on another pen?

[Ron Z]

...except in a sealed space.  The spring would rust first.  It is possible to pull ink in around the point holder gasket if you pull back on the TD tube with the nib immersed in ink or water because the TD tube creates a vacuum when pulled back.

 

I don't see what the issue is.  Pull  the TD tube back and unscrew the section and see if there's liquid in the barrel.

 

re. corrosion on a gold 51 nib.  Not likely to be corrosion, but I have seen a nasty mineral buildup under the hood on a number of occasions.