Stipula Vedo Nib Removal

[cbaytan]

Hello there,

 

Just grabbed a Vedo at a German auction site, it's a piston filler, out of curiosity how do we remove the nibs, are they friction fit or screw in?

 

Also piston is a bit stiff is there a way to disassemble piston mechanism?

 

Thanks in advance.

[wimg]

The nib is both friction fit and screw in .

 

Essentially, the nib unit is a nib, feed, and collar holding the nib and feed together, but I always suggest people to remove the nib these days by pulling nib and feed out. The collar is the least sturdy part of the unit, and it may also get stuck very easily in the section. The net effect may be that the nib or collar may get damaged when trying to remove the entire unit by unscrewing it. In short: treat it as a friction fitted nib.

 

As to remedying the stiff piston: in order to fix that you first need to remove the nib, and preferably the entire nib unit after all . Just soak the pen well in water for a day or so, just in case ink got between collar and section. In the mean time you can then locate some clear, transparent silicone grease, with no additives, the same stuff used to grease the rubber seal in water taps, and also available from stores selling diving equipment.You need pure, transparent silicone grease because any petroleum derived products or products containing petroleum based additives WILL dissolve rubber, including the piston in a piston thereby compromising the seal. You don't want that to happen .

 

After the soak, dry the pen with a tissue, and try to carefully unscrew the nib unit by holding the nib and feed firmly, ideally aided by some rubber matting to increase grip (a piece of inner bicycle tire tube will do nicely). Do not use excessive power to do so, it WILL damage nib and/or collar. If the unit as a whole requires too much power too remove, just pull the nib.

 

Wit a tooth pick, or something similar thin and long, you can now grease the piston. Set the piston to the "filled" position, right at the top end. Get the tiniest drop of silicone grease possible at one end of the tooth pick - actually, it should just get the point "wet", no more. Insert the greased end of the toothpick into the pen through the hole that normally captures the feeder channel, right to the piston in the up position. Now dab the cylinder wall on the inside just underneath the piston, going around, say 6 dabs, one roughly every 60 degrees.

 

Remove the tooth pick or other device again, and now turn the piston down slightly, then up again. Repeat this process, moving the piston slightly further down again, etc., until you reach the bottom end. If the stiffness does not disappear immediately, do try the greasing action again.

 

Once done, reinsert the nib/feed, or screw the unit back in again - use a little silicone grease to lubricate the threads of the collar as well, as that makes removal later on much easier, if you ever need to do that again. Again, only the tiniest amount of grease is required, you only need an extremely thin coating on the threads, and only on the threads of course .

 

Anyway, HTH, warm regards, Wim