Sheaffer TM Touchdown Shrunk Repair

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

Boy oh boy am I having some phenomenally bad luck with repairs recently. I recently got a Sheaffer TM in really poor condition. I could barely unscrew it - when I unscrewed the blindcap, the entire thing came off (including the screw), which was the first sign of trouble. Then I had an absolutely miserable time getting the section off. I could barely get the touchdown tube out because it was so tight.

 

Cleaned everything out, got all the ink remnants (the last person who owned this used some truly nasty ink this, the entire pen was clogged up, tip to top), and tried to fit it back together and I still can barely push the touchdown tube back in without significant resistance. I took a look at the body of the pen, and unless I'm imagining things, the very end of it appears to be deformed and slightly shrunken. 

 

 

Is there anything I can do about this? I like these TM pens, they're some of my favorites Sheaffer put out so I'd rather not put this one in the parts bin - but I am not sure what to do here.

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

After looking at this a bit more, I am not so sure the end shrank? The blind cap fits perfectly without any issues, I figure if it shrank then the blind cap would not fit well. Regardless, the touchdown tube is very tight and barely moves, requires significant force to push through. Does anyone have any ideas? 

[Ron Z]

This is more common on the Fat touchdown pens that preceded the TM pens.  I've had some so tight that when you pull the tube back you can feel that flange flexing the barrel as it moves up and down.  The back end of the barrel does taper down a bit to meet the blind cap.

 

The fix for most folks is to make sure that the inside of the barrel is clean, and then coat the inside of the barrel with silicone grease.  I also make sure that I have a coating of silicone grease on the tube before I put it back in the pen.

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

17 minutes ago, Ron Z said:

This is more common on the Fat touchdown pens that preceded the TM pens.  I've had some so tight that when you pull the tube back you can feel that flange flexing the barrel as it moves up and down.  The back end of the barrel does taper down a bit to meet the blind cap.

 

The fix for most folks is to make sure that the inside of the barrel is clean, and then coat the inside of the barrel with silicone grease.  I also make sure that I have a coating of silicone grease on the tube before I put it back in the pen.

 

Funny thing, I thought this was a "Fat" touchdown pen when I was buying it but the eBay photos were misleading. Turns out the "skinny" Triumph nib looks similar to a fat one when the angle is right... Even the proportions look like a fat one on the pic. I almost thought they sent me the wrong pen but it has all the same blemishes and marks as the one in the listing.

 

I guess I will just grease it up like crazy, hopefully it is at least somewhat usable. It was seriously tight! I had to use my section pliers to pull it out when I was test fitting it back in. Is there anything else I can do to loosen it up a little or is the only fix to grease everything up? 

 

I'll report back in a few days, I don't currently have a sac for this pen but I should be getting a fresh order sometime this week, hope it goes well. I overpaid for this because I thought it was a "fat" one so I hope I can at least make a useable pen out of this.

 

Thanks for the help!

[Ron Z]

I don't know of any safe way to stretch the entire barrel on these pens.  A replacement barrel maybe...  they aren't that expensive.

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

13 minutes ago, Ron Z said:

I don't know of any safe way to stretch the entire barrel on these pens.  A replacement barrel maybe...  they aren't that expensive.

 

Hmm okay. I will see how it goes when I get the sac and reassemble it. Hopefully it's less of an issue when everything's greased up with a fresh o-ring. And if not, I'll keep an eye out for a parts pen to use for a barrel. As always, thanks for the help. I really appreciate it.

[es9]

It might be heretical, but I’ve had luck using a sanding swab to take out some material in the barrel. In the cases where I’ve done that, the shrinking has been towards the top/front of the barrel. 

[FarmBoy]

13 minutes ago, es9 said:

It might be heretical, but I’ve had luck using a sanding swab to take out some material in the barrel. In the cases where I’ve done that, the shrinking has been towards the top/front of the barrel. 

Isn’t the issue that the oring is standing proud of the groove as the barrel should not be making contact with the tube. 

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

I don't have any sanding swabs, but would it hurt to use some Simichrome with a cotton swab on the inside? It is only very slightly abrasive and I don't need to take much material off, I just need a hair more clearance between the barrel and the tube. I am guessing it would do a whole lot of nothing though.

[es9]

23 minutes ago, FarmBoy said:

Isn’t the issue that the oring is standing proud of the groove as the barrel should not be making contact with the tube. 

I’ve had both happen, but I’ve honestly given up where the o-ring end is that shrunken. On a couple of barrels, I tried to bore out a deeper o-ring groove and then think down the two plastic collars that sit around it. They all failed. One was kind of successful, but the barrel wall where the o-ring groove is ended up being way too thin. Now I just hope for shrinkage higher up in the barrel which is, admittedly, the less common flavor. 
 

23 minutes ago, LoveBigPensAndCannotLie said:

I don't have any sanding swabs, but would it hurt to use some Simichrome with a cotton swab on the inside? It is only very slightly abrasive and I don't need to take much material off, I just need a hair more clearance between the barrel and the tube. I am guessing it would do a whole lot of nothing though.

No harm in trying — especially if you have an ultrasonic to get all the simicrome out. 

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

What are these made of? Cellulose propionate/"Radite II" like the Craftsman from the same era? I hate this stuff. It smells chalky, it blooms like chocolate (and is probably less tasty, although I admit I've never tried the plastic), and super prone to shrinkage like this.

 

Also, I don't know if this helps to diagnose the problem - my brain is a little fried, long day at work - but I tried to insert the touchdown tube from the other end just to see what would happen and it inserts all the way (up to the "skirt" at the bottom) with no resistance at all. Does that mean the shrinkage is maybe towards the "bottom" of the barrel (i.e., closer to the section) and not the top as I assumed? Or do I have things backwards?

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

Ah, I feel a little dumb, I just compared this to my other Sheaffer TM touchdown and this is indeed a "fat" model. I guess I thought there would be a bigger difference in size. Wonder why this issue was more common with these?

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

Awesome, as I was reassembling this pen and I saw a massive crack at the section threads. Not sure if it was there before or if I introduced it when unscrewing the pen - the pen was almost impossible to open because the last chucklefuck who "serviced" it shellaced the section in. $40 down the drain, fantastic!

 

Edit: Sorry for the profanity... I am really frustrated. Two pens broken in two days, that's a record for me. I guess it's good for parts. Or I could try gluing the crack, the body of the pen is donzo anyway so if I can get some use out of it for myself, that would be something.

[Ron Z]

I think that the problem is that the material is thinner than on the later TD pens, so tends to shrink. At least that's my theory.  I think that they're made from the same stuff, but then again maybe Sheaffer tweaked things with the earlier pens.

 

Don't bother trying to repair the crack.  The material is thin and a solvent weld isn't likely to hold, especially since it has shrunk and is tight on the section.  But parts "happen".  Keep the parts and look for a donor pen.  You can use a fountain pen barrel here, so it doesn't have to be a pocket pen.

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

I tried putting it back together and predictably it sucks up little if no ink. I've taken the touchdown tube out and I'm using it as a "bulb filler" (i.e., pressing the sac manually) just to test the nib. I guess I can keep using it this way until I find a replacement body. Not really hopeful about that as these are a little rarer than the skinny ones and I'd be looking for a parts pen.

 

Think I'm gonna take a break from vintage pens for a week or two, it's been a disheartening few days.

[Ron Z]

Believe me, I do understand.  I remember a couple early days when I sat down to work in the morning, broke three pens.  I turned out the lights and did something else that day.  

[IThinkIHaveAProblem]

33 minutes ago, Ron Z said:

Believe me, I do understand.  I remember a couple early days when I sat down to work in the morning, broke three pens.  I turned out the lights and did something else that day.  

thank you Ron.

 

it's nice to hear this.

 

seriously. 

 

it's like watching people do woodworking on YouTube: except for a VERY few YouTubers (Lincoln St Woodworking I'm looking at you here for your honesty!)

You never get to see how much THEY screw up! which means that when YOU screw up, you feel like you've failed (and that others seemingly never do)

when the reality is that everyone screws up / has bad days 

 

I wrecked my first (and so far only) attempt at fixing a vac-fil Sheaffer Tuckaway... 40$ gone. Worse? a really nice vintage pen was now toast... 

that was a couple yrs ago. still makes me a little sick to think about it.

 

 

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

53 minutes ago, Ron Z said:

Believe me, I do understand.  I remember a couple early days when I sat down to work in the morning, broke three pens.  I turned out the lights and did something else that day.  

 

15 minutes ago, IThinkIHaveAProblem said:

thank you Ron.

 

it's nice to hear this.

 

seriously. 

 

it's like watching people do woodworking on YouTube: except for a VERY few YouTubers (Lincoln St Woodworking I'm looking at you here for your honesty!)

You never get to see how much THEY screw up! which means that when YOU screw up, you feel like you've failed (and that others seemingly never do)

when the reality is that everyone screws up / has bad days 

 

I wrecked my first (and so far only) attempt at fixing a vac-fil Sheaffer Tuckaway... 40$ gone. Worse? a really nice vintage pen was now toast... 

that was a couple yrs ago. still makes me a little sick to think about it.

 

 

 

+1 to this, thanks for saying this. It makes me feel a lot better to hear that even the pros have bad days sometimes and sometimes pens just... break. Not to say that some of this wasn't my fault (I'm sure I over torqued the barrel when trying to unscrew it) but this is still nice to hear. 

 

I've probably wrecked maybe half a dozen pens at this point, closer to ten maybe and I always feel horrible about it. My worst was an Aikin Lambert in really nice condition where I didn't do a proper job of preparing the section (i.e., heating it up) for reinsertion of the nib/feed and because of my clumsy hands destroyed the feed and broke the nib. It was a nice #3 nib too. 100% my fault for being careless, the pen was spotless. Posted about that one a few months ago, still haven't found a jeweler who is willing to pick up the job of welding the nib back together so it's just a constant reminder of my failures every time I look in my parts box.

 

At least for this one it wasn't totally my fault. This pen had maaaany issues. But maybe a more experienced/careful person would have been able to fix it.

[Ron Z]

You have seen this blog post, haven't you?  My own pen BTW, not a customers.

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

I actually have seen that! Although I forgot about it until now. Particularly enjoyed this part - "I very carefully separated the lever box and lever with the pressure bar intact (parts is parts!), took the section out, gently laid the two pieces of the barrel on the bench, and then beat the snot out of them with a ball-peen hammer."

 

The barrel of this pen might be getting a similar treatment if I ever find a replacement...