Please Help With My Super-Rotax Pen

[kokomiesterz]

Hello there,

I've only started using fountain pens recently

and that is mostly because I discovered my mum's very old one while digging through her piles of old junk.

 

on the pen it says Super-Rotax made in Germany (picture below)

 

but I cannot find the piston or converter or any which way I could fill it up with ink.

My mum said there used to be a piston or something like it but that doesn't seem right because pistons don't come off the fountain pen, right?

 

Could anyone take a look at these photos and help me and see if there is anything I could do?

 

or do I just have to take it to some expert and get it fixed there?

 

thanks

 

[ink-syringe]

Piston shouldn't come off a Super-Rotax. I don't know that model and your pictures are somewhat confusing. In any case my Super-Rotax is just a straight up German piston filler. Stick it in the ink bottle and twist the piston up. I am not sure but it looks a little like you might be missing the cap you use to twist the piston up and down?

[mike.jane]

It appears you might have screwed out the whole bottom part of the pen: so piston mechanism plus the end cap;

and that the actual piston (it would go into the cylinder) is indeed missing from the pen. But i'm really not sure about it. Does the the very end part (end cap) rotate on the cylindrical part that is attached to it?

 

A quick search came up with this photo:

http://www.ioffer.com/img3/item/512/567/960/new-vintage-super-rotax-fountain-pen-germany-4-colours-536d.JPG

This is how it should look like in the end (as with every internal piston filler) And there should be no further dis-assembly from this point. Instead, with it set like this the pen is ready to be dipped in a bottle and filled by screwing in the end cap (in turn moving the piston inside).

But as I said -and unfortunately-, you might be missing the piston entirely. You might end up having to replace it entirely with a different pen.

 

On a side note: Props for being Taiwanese I suppose.

 

Oh, and yours truly is giving away a free pen here. If you'd enter and win, I'd save postage as you are a local. Just saying though. here: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/258092-pay-it-forward-2014/?p=3186120

[kokomiesterz]

so.. is the end cap not supposed to completely be separated like what i have in my photo?

 

reply to side note: I'm a Korean living in Taiwan ahah.

Edited November 23, 2014 by kokomiesterz

[Pickwick]

The system looks very similar to my old Koh-I-Noor Technical pen. The twist mechanism separates from the piston when I dismantle it for cleaning. When I put it together it usually reconnects.

 

What you see in the barrel the piece at the top fits into the twist mechanism.

 

If you can unscrew the section you might try using a probe to push the piston up and fit it back into the twist mechanism.

[mike.jane]

Oh yeah, I can see what Pickwick means. It appears the piston is still there in the barrel. You might be able to pull it out with tweezers (or really fine point needlenose pliers, but not everyone has those of course). Otherwise it might be possible to unscrew the pen on the other end ('unscrew the section' the part where you hold the pen) you can push it out from that side.

 

When you get the piston out, don't wipe it down. There is supposed to be grease around it so as to seal the chamber (inside the barrel) in which ink is sucked.

 

Edit: What great luck that the piston was (probably) found.

Edited November 23, 2014 by mike.jane

[Pickwick]

Oh yeah, I can see what Pickwick means. It appears the piston is still there in the barrel. You might be able to pull it out with tweezers (or really fine point needlenose pliers, but not everyone has those of course). Otherwise it might be possible to unscrew the pen on the other end ('unscrew the section' the part where you hold the pen) you can push it out from that side.

 

When you get the piston out, don't wipe it down. There is supposed to be grease around it so as to seal the chamber (inside the barrel) in which ink is sucked.

 

Edit: What great luck that the piston was (probably) found.

 

Usually the piston has a rubber 'O' ring, mine is nylon and expands in the barrel for a tight fit. I don't need to use any silicone grease.

[kokomiesterz]

Thank you for all the advises!

but I cannot seem to detach the nib part from the holder...

 

help with that?

[Pickwick]

Thank you for all the advises!

but I cannot seem to detach the nib part from the holder...

 

help with that?

The section and barrel is probably one unit. My Koh-I-Noor is the same. You might try screwing the plunger back in ant1-clockwise gently to see if it connects with the plunger, or remove the nib and feed and get a piece of wire bend the tip of the wire over to prevent damage to the piston and try pushing it to the top.