Wahl Oxford Twist Fill Repair

December 19, 2018

It sounds like the thread is stripped. I don't know what to do about it.

December 19, 2018

I misinterpreted the words, now everything is out.

May 27, 2019

I would like to thank everyone who contributed to this thread because it enabled me to repair two Oxfords. I also used as a guide the repair instructions in Richard Binders website.

I have to say that I ended up modifying somewhat the methods described to meet the requirement in front of me but information on the thread and extensive trial and error, gave me enough of an understanding to go through it.

Below is a picture of both pens

Both pens had been repaired previously. The green pen on top, was missing the center seal and one of the celluloid washers. The pen on the bottom had the center seal in place and I was unable to remove it. There were no celluloid washers and the sac retainer was missing. I found that the proper sac size to do this repair was size 16, because it will go over the threaded nipple head and retract tight over the screw. With size 18 this would not happen

In order to repair the green pen on top, I purchased the O-ring sold by Indy-Pen-Dance to replace the center packing. I inserted the sac retainer inside the sac, placed the sac over the nipple put a dab of shellac, made sure the sac rolled over and around the nipple, and inserted the washer and O-ring over the thread of the nipple. Then I pushed the sac and nipple assembly into the back of the barrel with a dowel until the end of the sac was 1/16" below the barrel end. Then I threaded the twist fill assembly in place. With a wooden dowel of a diameter such that it would go through the ID of the nipple screw, from the front end I pushed the sac retainer that was inside the sac into place. I could feel like a click. The sac was slightly twisted but with the dowel I was able to straighten it. Then I pushed the nut through the front end of the barrel and screwed it in with a spanner screw driver that I had to grind to fit the geometry of the nut and the nipple screw. The sac didn't turn when I screwed the nut in, because of the pressure of the O-ring.

I had to modify the method slightly for the bottom red pen. I left the packing in place, it appeared to be cemented in and it didn't budge. I made a sac retainer from a sheet of plastic from a food container. It was somewhat less than 0.5 mm thick, but quite rigid and at the same time springy. I made the retainer by trial and error and it ended up being a square just a bit less than 5x5 mm. I cut the sac by gauging it as shown by Greenie. Inserted the retainer in the sac and assembled the sac to the nipple. The biggest problem I had with this repair was to make sure the sac was tightly sealed. I did not have the washers, but the packing seemed to be quite flat on both sides. I made sure to extend a bit of the sac over the screw beyond the nipple and again I used shellac. For this repair I disassembled the twist fill bushing assembly following Greenie's description. The next step was to insert the sac and nipple assembly. After several trials and tribulations, I found the following method.

Using a wooden dowel of the right size as before, I inserted it inside the sac through the nipple and pushed the sac retainer it into the cup of the threaded shaft of the twist fill assembly.

I inserted the nipple sac and shaft assembly through the back of the barrel and used a 5/16" styrene tube to push it. The sac will not bind on the ID of the tube and the tube will push the nipple home. I also used the dowel inside the screw, to help drive it through the hole in the packing.

Now I was able to screw the nut in, while pushing with the tube, so that the sac would not rotate and I could drive the nut tight.

Finally I reassembled the twist fill assembly as described by Greenie. To do this I pushed the sac slightly from the inside with the dowel, to prevent the sac from rotating when driving the red knob on the screw shaft.

After I finished with the red pen I found that there is some binding between the inside of the cap and the barrel threads. I have to push it a bit before I can rotate it and close the pen. I think this happened as a result of my attempts to dislodge the packing. I will try some sanding to see if I can relieve the tightness.

Thanks everybody again for the great help.