Youth 206 and Youth 208 Full Disassembly

[two_zero_three]

Some backstory:

A little under two months ago, I spotted a Kijiji ad for a box of twelve vintage Youth fountain pens for cheap. So my friend and I jointly purchased them. I took four pens while he took the other eight.

My pens ended up being three Youth 206's (one teal, one red, and one green) and a black Youth 208. To my disappointment, they were very scratchy, especially the 208. I was able to adjust the 206's to write very smoothly, and they're now my reliable workhorse pens.

But the 208's nib remained scratchy, no matter what I tried. I took the 208 to Scriptus in the hopes that a nibmeister there would be able to fix it, but alas, they did not recognize the pen. One of the vintage experts from Ottawa commented that the pen looked like it had been dropped, saw that the nib was jammed in, and suggested that I soak the 208 in hot water and try to pull the nib and feed out. The problem is, I don't know how. I cannot find any information online about disassembling a Youth 208 (or a Youth 206, either). And yes, I searched on Baidu as well.

 

I eventually figured out how to disassemble the Youth 206. Have an exploded view:

 

Note that the feed and the nib are friction fit into the translucent collar, which is then friction fit into the clear section that also screws into the barrel and the hood. The straw fits into the back of the feed.

 

I found some spare time tonight, so I got a vice, a cup of hot water, and got to work on disassembling the Youth 208. Have another exploded view:

 

The vintage expert was right: the nib was jammed in. Pretty tightly, too. I pushed the feed from behind with a screwdriver, careful not to warp the plastic. Then, once the feed was exposed enough, I strapped a rubber band around it, put it in a vice, and pulled. I finally got it out.

These pens have some sort of grease between the parts that screw together, but they do not seem to leak after reassembling.

I hope somebody out there finds these pictures useful.

Now... to find a replacement nib that will fit the Youth 208...

[Mech-for-i]

If my memory serve me right the Youth use a 5mm feed and the nib is 24mm in length , while it's pretty hard , close to impossible, to find a vintage Youth replacement nib today it's possible to find similar in the form of Delike / Moonman 's default nib units ; I had both of these in my collection , prefer the 206 both for it's aesthetics and overall better build / mechanical engineering..