Leonardo Officina Italiana piston removal tool

[A Smug Dill]

It just came to my attention that there's now a piston removal tool, bearing the Leonardo Officina Italiana brand, as a retail product available from La Couronne du Comte, Fontoplumo, Pen Chalet, Goldspot, etc.

 

I wonder if it's compatible with the piston unit in the pens from other brands, e.g. Aurora and/or HongDian; and, all the value-add of the branding, stated grade of the steel, and QR code to a set of usage instructions aside, I wonder if it's really any better than the freebies HongDian used to give away in the retail packages its N1-S and N6 piston-filler models, such that the Leonardo retail product is worth even a fraction of its asking price?

 

p.s. HongDian's tool is compatible with Aurora piston units, but I don't have a Leonardo piston-filler model to test. Not for lack of trying, mind you; I ordered a Leonardo Momento Zero in Abyss Celluloid, and a Musis Oplontis, but neither case worked out because of the quality of the nibs. Giving the brand two chances to deliver is quite enough, I think.

[nibtip]

I bought this Leo tool with a magico from Appelboom last year.

Bellow a comparison with a tool set for MB meisterstück/Pelikan Mxxs. 

 

I have a N1-S arriving within days so unfortunately I cannot yet inform or comment.

Neither tools are adapted to a Jinhao Wingsung 629 piston filler. Nor to an Aurora internazionale.

 

leo:8.3mm 

pelikan: 7mm

 

 

[A Smug Dill]

@nibtip Thank you very much!

 

At a glance, I'd hazard a guess that the Leonardo piston removal tool is compatible with a HongDian N1-S and a (modern) Aurora Ottantotto.

[nibtip]

1. Thanks. Good for my coming ns1.

[Mezu]

I have the same tool as nibtip.  The MB side will work successfully on the Magico model.

[A Smug Dill]

On 5/31/2022 at 7:50 PM, nibtip said:

Bellow a comparison with a tool set for MB meisterstück/Pelikan Mxxs. 

 

I have a N1-S arriving within days so unfortunately I cannot yet inform or comment.

 

@nibtip Have you received your HongDian piston disassembly tool yet?

 

I found, just now, that it is a small fraction of a millimetre too narrow for the Montblanc Meisterstück LeGrand piston mechanism. Given you estimated the clearance between the two prongs of the Leonardo tool to be 8.3mm, while the HongDian tool only has clearance of 8.0mm at the widest — and the taper of the the prongs on the latter does not help at all — I'd say that 0.3mm makes all the difference, and the Leonardo tool should be compatible with the Montblanc's piston mechanism.

 

Luckily, my homemade tool worked on my Montblanc on account of being somewhat flexible.