You've Got Your First Found In The Wild Parker 51 In Your Hand, Now What?

[Komitadjie]

Man, these do NOT come apart easily! Going to keep soaking it for a while longer, I think! I'm getting clear water through with flushing now, but every so often I get "paint flakes" with a flush. Tiny little bits of dried, blue ink. And I think my breather tube might be plugged. Another 24 hours of soaking, I think, then I'll try the heat-and-unscrew routine again. These ARE standard, right-handed threads, right?

[OcalaFlGuy]

You can probably thank whoever used shellac instead section sealant to seal your hood. Of course, only After you do the impossible and convince them the shellac is causing you an issue.

 

As you're looking at the front of the hood, righty tighty...

 

Why are you taking the hood off, is the nib/hood not aligned?

 

Bruce in Ocala, Fl

[Komitadjie]

The nib and hood are slightly out of alignment (hood point is over at the side of the nib) and I'm concerned about the little 'flakes' of ink I'm getting out of it. Clearly, there is something dried and adhered to the interior that should come out... At least, that's how my newbie eye is looking at it, anyway.

[OcalaFlGuy]

I would agree that flakes that apparently aren't water soluble would be a concern to me too.

 

Have you noticed any amber edges to the flakes or amber flakes themselves? That would be a sure sign of India ink.

 

Bruce in Ocala, Fl

[Komitadjie]

No, the flakes appear to be a fairly vibrant blue, and not particularly soluable, as they come out of the pen and sit in the bottom of the soaking glass without dissolving. The ink that washed out of the pen initially was also a bright to medium blue colour, so I'd suspect they're same thing.

[dali3464]

David Nishimura (vintagepens) indicated that it's fine to dunk the the pen, up to the clutch ring, into freshly boiled, piping hot water to soften the hood sealant if it's particularly stubborn. Though you don't want to do this with the later Parker 51s that used styrene in the hood/body (I think this is the Mark III only).

 

I did this just a few days ago with a Parker 51 aero Mark I that had a hood which did not budge under any circumstances. After a hot water bath, the hood finally gave way. There was quite a lot of shellac gumming up the threads.

[Komitadjie]

I would assume the risk of that being that the hood could be distorted by the heat?

[pajaro]

If you are getting flakes of ink out of the pen, why not use a pen flush product?

[Komitadjie]

Honestly, because with that collector having the huge number of crannies and fins that it does, plus not being sure if my breather tube is blocked (I think it might be, I'm not getting much water pulled in when I fill it) I'm thinking that breaking it down for a full clean is probably a good idea... at least, extrapolating from shooting. If a pistol was that full of gunk, I know I'd have to pull it fully down to small parts to get it properly clean.

 

I could be ENTIRELY wrong, I'm quite new at this, of course! Do they make a product that will simply dissolve all of that in one shot, and not require a break-down? I'd greatly prefer that, of course! I've seen the stuff from Goulet, of course...

 

For replacing the hood once I have it released and cleaned, it would appear that Ron Zorn's section sealant is the generally suggested method of choice?

 

EDIT: I'm also working on acquiring a decent ultrasonic cleaner for use with this and some other projects. Once I get 'er apart, a good bath in DI water with a drop of Dawn should help get that gunk moving!

Edited May 5, 2014 by Komitadjie

[Komitadjie]

Or, I COULD be over-thinking the hell out of this. I finished the drying out process outlined here late last night, and just about twenty minutes ago said to heck with it, I was going to ink 'er up and see how she wrote anyway. And mis-aligned hood and all, she seems to write just fine with Waterman blue! A very nice, fine, firm nib, just a tad bit scratchy, perhaps. The only misbehaviour I can detect at the moment is a slight trouble getting started sometimes on an upstroke, like a capital "S" or similar. Overall, not bad at all for a fountain pen pushing on 50 years old!

[dali3464]

I would assume the risk of that being that the hood could be distorted by the heat?

 

That's right! The styrene used in the production of later 51s was not as durable as the Lucite used in earlier pens. The styrene has a habit of distorting when subjected to heat. But the Lucite just shrugs it off (though you don't want to push it of course!).

 

For resealing the hood, either a rosin-based section sealant (such as the stuff sold by Ron Zorn) or shellac is fine. A lot of folks (including Ron Zorn himself) prefer to use shellac since the Lucite material can be subjected to the higher heat required to soften shellac. Rosin-based section sealant is usually reserved for celluloid pens, since the temperature needed to soften shellac is awfully close to the point when celluloid distorts, and then, violently explodes.

 

Or, I COULD be over-thinking the hell out of this. I finished the drying out process outlined here late last night, and just about twenty minutes ago said to heck with it, I was going to ink 'er up and see how she wrote anyway. And mis-aligned hood and all, she seems to write just fine with Waterman blue! A very nice, fine, firm nib, just a tad bit scratchy, perhaps. The only misbehaviour I can detect at the moment is a slight trouble getting started sometimes on an upstroke, like a capital "S" or similar. Overall, not bad at all for a fountain pen pushing on 50 years old!

 

It's great that you got the pen started again! If you're wanting to fully flush the pen, I find that a full disassembly is preferable than sitting there for 20 minutes and continuously flushing a cleaning solution in and out of the pen by depressing the sac.

 

The good news is that disassembly isn't really all that difficult.

[Komitadjie]

Thanks for the awesome disassembly pointers, Dali!

 

I am reasonably sure this is a MkII, so if I'm reading the write-ups correctly, this should still be the older Lucite model, and somewhat safer to employ heat on? I do have a fresh can of shellac that I use for woodworking, that from reading around here should be just fine for sealing the hood. I've just read a lot of people suggesting section sealant in place of that for its easier-to-remove properties. I'm not quite so concerned about that myself, because I have no intent of letting this 51 crud up like it is now once I get it clean! Famous last words, though...

 

I think I am going to pursue a full disassembly and proper cleaning before I put it into my regular rotation, but I just couldn't resist seeing if it'd work after all that time cycling flush through it and soaking! Hopefully, I'll have ultrasonic capability by this coming weekend, and be able to really work it over properly!

Edited May 6, 2014 by Komitadjie

[dali3464]

Ah, the good ol' Mark I, II & III confusions! Different sites have a tendency to apply the Mks to separate versions of the Parker 51. Either this is a sign of internal consistency on the part of Parker 51 (their repair manuals used the Mk designations) or that the collectors jumbled it up later on.

 

I personally use Richard Binder's article on the Parker 51 (richardspens.com) as my working standard. A 51 would only not be made out of Lucite if it has a decorative gold trim ring in place of a functional, steel clutch ring. In this case, it'll be made out of the less hardy styrene.

 

If you're unsure, pictures of the filler unit and the exterior of the pen can provide a quick check!

[Komitadjie]

I apologize, I just realized that I'd been incorrectly citing the version! I meant a "Mk I" by Binder's definitions, not a "Mk II". That site of his is a remarkable resource! I'll get some photos this afternoon.

 

The pen is a brown or possibly a very dark maroon colour with a stainless cap, and with a single band between the body and the section that has a distinct central groove. Looking at the photos on Binder's page, it appears to be the same clutch ring as seen on all designs from the Vac to the Mk II. The filler has a black plastic rear cap, and a serrated pressure bar to compress the sac, which appears to classify it as a Mk I on Binder's site.

Edited May 6, 2014 by Komitadjie

[Komitadjie]

Victory! Thanks a lot of assistance and advice from Dali, I was successfully able to remove the hood without damage! I ended up starting with a mug full of the hottest water that would come out of the tap, then slowly raising the level in the mug by about a quarter inch at a time with boiling water, testing it each time to see if the hood would come loose after a few fifteen-second dips. I finally ended up with effectively a mug full of straight, freshly-boiled water, and two ten-second dips in that was sufficient to release the hood. After that, it screwed off easily with no additional trouble, and no damage to the hood, thankfully!

The assembled unit, minus the hood and body is now soaking in a 10% ammonia solution, where I plan to leave it for 24 hours, then attempt to remove the collector from the section, and complete the disassembly of the nib and feed.

http://i1158.photobucket.com/albums/p603/Komitadjie/IMG_20140506_170747_zps5a46920d.jpg

[Komitadjie]

Aaaaand lost the breather tube, right on the last turn! Was re-assembling the whole works after ultrasonic cleaning it (worked great!) and just barely touched the tube itself as I was sliding it back together. Snapped off right at the hole near the feed. As I look at it, those tube walls can't be two thou thick where it snapped, the corrosion has eaten it pretty badly. Going to have to look into removing the stub of the breather tube, and replacing it. I think it's too corroded for me to be able to successfully solder it back together, and even if I could fix this break, the corrosion is bad enough I'm afraid it'd just go again elsewhere.

[TimGirdler]

Aaaaand lost the breather tube, right on the last turn! Was re-assembling the whole works after ultrasonic cleaning it (worked great!) and just barely touched the tube itself as I was sliding it back together. Snapped off right at the hole near the feed. As I look at it, those tube walls can't be two thou thick where it snapped, the corrosion has eaten it pretty badly. Going to have to look into removing the stub of the breather tube, and replacing it. I think it's too corroded for me to be able to successfully solder it back together, and even if I could fix this break, the corrosion is bad enough I'm afraid it'd just go again elsewhere.

 

Losing the breather tube is quite normal, so don't beat yourself up.

 

The remnants of the breather tube must be removed. Search the fora, there is a good thread about binding a very small (the size escapes me right now) drill bit inside the tube remnant and heating the feed to remove the part. Once you do that, a new tube should be easily installable. Just make sure the small hole is closest to the feed, not far away from it.

 

Also, NEVER try to solder the tube. The replacements are easy to get and easy to install. And, it's way too easy to kill the feed if the soldering goes bad. And, even if it were successful, it isn't likely the breather tube would remain hollow and would, therefore, be rendered ineffective, making the pen less-than-functional.

 

Blessings,

 

Tim

[Komitadjie]

Thanks, Tim! It took me a couple'a minutes to stop whacking my head on the bench, that's for sure. Was SO close to having the job done without it going on me! Fortunately, there's enough sticking out of the feed still that I suspect I might be able to simply grasp it with a pair of hemostats to remove from the warmed feed, without resorting to drilling at all. If needed, I have a lathe with a fine chuck, and a very good jacobs for the tailstock, so I'm not at all worried about that! Plus, drill bits available in cobalt and carbide in every imaginable size (I work at a place that does tons of CNC machining, so we've got em ALL).

 

How much does the feed need to be heated to be effective at removal? I see that a heat gun is mentioned as a source, but that covers quite a range of temperatures!

 

Oh, I wasn't SERIOUSLY considering trying to solder it,the oxides would render it all but impossible in any case. No chance of clearing them well enough to allow the solder to wet properly, even if there WAS enough metal left. Heat sinking the feed so it doesn't take damage wouldn't be ALL that tough, but still more trouble than it's worth. I'll just order a new one from David. As an engineer, I'm a firm believer in not re-inventing the wheel.

[Glenn Atkins]

1mm drill bit or a 0090 tap should work on the breather tube remnants.

 

Glenn

[Komitadjie]

Glenn, I figure that will be my next step if I am unable to remove it with heat and a pair of hemostats on the exposed section. I'd give pretty high odds that the remaining tube will crumple when I attempt to grasp it, so that will likely be needed. I'll check on the tap at work, we most likely have them. I know we've got tons of #0-80s, and even some UNMs, so I'm fairly sure we'll have a suitable one.