Broke a Vacumatic pump

[MartinTenbones]

Well I struggled for a while with this.  I tried all the advice I could find here.

 

Heat cycles

Took out the old sac

Soaked over night

Soaked overnight with pen cleaner

Soaked over night with rapido-eze

Naptha on the threads

Patience patience patience

 

I also use The Inky Nib collet extractor.

 

Alas the pump finally broke unfortunately.    I don't think it was my fault on the end but who knows.  More experience will help as I try and restore others.

 

Is this a common problem?  I do knok that it is possible to drill it out however I think that's above my comfort level at the moment.

 

Any advice?   I have attached a picture of the result

 

 

[FarmBoy]

Try reattaching the image. 
 

Sounds like an all plastic filler. 
 

 

[gweimer1]

Did you try to pull it out with the extractor?  I sometimes find that I need to coax (push) the pump from in the barrel while pulling on the shaft.   

[MartinTenbones]

Sorry here is the picture.

 

As you can see it's broken at the part that screws in.  The pump is still screwed in from the top so there is no way to push the pump out.

 

It certainly looks all plastic

[dbhcheung]

If anyone knows how to fix this. I have the same problem with two of my duofold vacumatics.

[FarmBoy]

You need to bore out the damaged jamb nut and replace the filler. 
 

 

[mitto]

You did everything except using dry heat. Using dry heat is a must. 

Is that a plastic filler? 

[MartinTenbones]

One day I hope to have the tooling to do this but at the moment I'll be looking for a repair shop that can.

 

Any suggestions on who?

[Ron Z]

This is tricky work to do.  You have to remove the plastic bushing without cutting into the threads and ring in the barrel.  It's not something that you want to even think about doing without a lathe.  To make it even more entertaining, some of the cones have metal in them to reinforce them. Worst case, you end up replacing the ring in the barrel along with the pump.  But it can be done.

[MartinTenbones]

Thanks Ron,

 

I do love fixing pens so I imagine that one day this will be a reality.   

[FarmBoy]

Talk to Tim

 

repairs@parker51.com

 

or ask Ron. 

[MartinTenbones]

Thanks,  I will ask both of them.

 

I appreciate the leads 

 

Is this a common problem with the plastic pumps?

 

 

[FarmBoy]

4 hours ago, MartinTenbones said:

 

Is this a common problem with the plastic pumps?

 

 

It takes a certain grit to beat them. 

[VacNut]

Sometimes those plastic fillers just will not release even with dry heat.

You mentioned an Inky Nib extractor. What is that?

 

If you can, remove the section and fill the barrel from the nib end of the barrel with water and then Naptha. If you have already tried that, all you can do is set it aside and try again, and again later.

 

I can neither confirm nor deny being impatient and shearing the threaded nut…😭😭😭.

 

I can attest to Tim being able to drill out the filler and supplying the replacement filler unit. He has a quick turn around.

[MartinTenbones]

The Inky nib extractor is this tool.  It uses a collet to get a great grip on the nut to back it out.

[VacNut]

Wow! That’s a new tool, I’ve never seen before. Most people commonly just the vac wrench.

 

My concern with that tool would be the ability to “feel” the amount of pressure applied onto the nut as it is turned. 
There must be two sizes of these collets for the larger vac pens

[MartinTenbones]

Yes they have two collets.

 

The nice thing with this is once you tighten the collet down you then have two hands again. 

 

I did feel the movement when it broke but it sheared kind of softly and felt like it was finally letting go.

 

Probably impossible to know if it was ever glued at this point or whether it was too much force. 

 

I have two more I'm going to fix today so I'm sure I learn a little more every time.   One of the ones I have today is a single line metal pump

[Ron Z]

Pulling a feed on a vintage pen is never a good idea.  The fit is much too snug, and you stand a good chance of breaking the feed, especially on Sheaffer feeds with the fine collector fins.  Since you can get to the back end, always knock it out with a knockout block and a punch.  You can make one yourself.  Take a look at the cheap tools articles on my website.  The link takes you to the articles essays page - there are two articles on the topic.

 

Modern pens are a different matter since the back end of the nib unit is sealed except for the piercing tube and the tail of the feed.  Those need to be puled, but are not nearly so tight.

[VacNut]

The later vacs used plastic threaded nuts. The earlier vacs were aluminum. The earlier metallic nuts do not shear, but the threads can be striped by the wrench if the filler is stuck.

In theory the nut should be easily removable if it has been loosened, so it shouldn’t take much force to turn it loose.

[VacNut]

Ron also has a great tool to knock out the filler from the section side of the barrel, but this requires the section and the threaded nut to be removed. I made mine over a decade ago and still use them regularly. 
You have to make 3 of them if you want to also work on 51s