Parker 51 - Leaky Nib/hood

[lavie]

Hi All,

 

 

I just got a Parker 51 aerometric. I never had one before.

 

The nib was slightly off-center - enough for it to be noticeable in writing. The person from whom I bought the pen told me to remove the hood (which actually did not require any force or special effort, such as heating), and to carefully and slowly rotate the collector. This worked.

 

However now, whenever I dot an "i" or write a period with even very moderate force, ink gets quite visibly sprayed onto the paper. The ink appears to be spraying from the area between the feed and the opening at the tip of the hood. This rendering the pen useless.

 

Interestingly, if I remove the hood and write without it, this problem does not occur.

 

What should I do to correct this? Please let me know if this should be posted in another forum.

 

 

Lavie

Edited November 25, 2014 by lavie

[Hooker56]

Lavie,

 

The hood is essential to the pen working properly. Thread sealant or just a small bit of shellac should be used to seal the hood on so that it doesn't leak.

 

I'm sure that there will be some push-back from others about using a bit of shellac on about a 3-4 thread section of the hod threads, but I've used it on MANY 51 hoods with no ill effect. A great alternative is thread sealant that Ron Zorn sells ( he's a moderator in the Repair Q&A Forum). http://mainstreetpens.com/ is his website.

 

Good luck.

[lavie]

Hi Hooker,

 

The hood is essential to the pen working properly.

Thanks for your response. Perhaps I wasn't clear. The leak is not from where the hood is attached to the connector. The leak seems to be around where the feed extends from out of the opening at the tip of the hood - I seem some tiny spots of ink there after I dot an "i". I'm enclosing a picture, in which I have marked in a red circle where I see the tiny drops of ink (the picture doesn't show the actual spots of ink). This picture was taken before I aligned the nib/feed with the hood.

[KBeezie]

Hi Hooker,

 

 

Thanks for your response. Perhaps I wasn't clear. The leak is not from where the hood is attached to the connector. The leak seems to be around where the feed extends from out of the opening at the tip of the hood - I seem some tiny spots of ink there after I dot an "i". I'm enclosing a picture, in which I have marked in a red circle where I see the tiny drops of ink (the picture doesn't show the actual spots of ink). This picture was taken before I aligned the nib/feed with the hood.

Normally when a pen leaks out around the feed/nib/etc, it usually means there's air getting into the back of the pen allowing the ink to escape without the capillary action. So...

 

1) The section/barrel connection could be allowing air in as it's not air/water tight and causing the ink to flow out the front of the section

2) There may be a crack in either the section or the barrel (near the section) allowing air to get in.

3) The sac might not be completely sealed to the section or might have a pinhole in it (though if so on the latter you'd also expect to see some ink leaking back into the barrel when upright).

4) The nib or feed might be making too much contact with the surrounding hooding in just the right way to allow ink to flow off them.

 

By the way if you're talking about little bits of ink showing up around the opening and hooding as you showed in the picture, and not an actual "leak" (as in continually flowing ink that eventually leaves a small puddle in your cap/paper/desk/etc), then that's not something I would worry about as you're likely to get a little spittle here and there as you uncap or move the nib along the paper. ie: About as normal as nib creep with some ink/nib combination. You can try a dryer ink if it bothers you that much.

Edited November 25, 2014 by KBeezie

[Ron Z]

Parker 51s are usually well behaved. A pin hole in the sac can cause oozing or leaking, and I have had cases where the pressure bar poked a hole through the plyglass sac. Rare, but it happens. But the leak would show up back at the sac guard, not the nib so I doubt that is the case.

 

Since this is your first Aerometric, may I be so bold as to suggest that a possible cause is that you aren't filling the pen properly? It takes a number of squeezes to fill the pen to the top of the breather tube. I usually do it until the bubbles stop coming out when you squeeze. After squeezing the sac a number of times to fill the pen, squeeze the pressure bar one more time, and while holding the bar down pull the pen out of the ink, then release. You aren't losing any ink because what ink is in the sac is retained because the air goes out the breather tube. But this does pull the excess ink out of the collector and the breather tube. Then hold a tissue or paper towel under the nib and feed to wick away the excess ink.

 

If you have been filling the pen as described, then I would suggest that the feed is not set firmly against the nib. There should be a slight upturn at the last part of the feed. Not like a ski jump, just a slight upturn. If there isn't one, you can heat the feed with the nib removed. When the rubber is soft, nudge the last 3/16" or so up slightly. This usually cures problems like random ink in the cap or burps of ink.

[lavie]

First of all , thanks to KBeezie and Ron Z for your responses.

 

Part of my "problem" is that I know nothing about handling fountain pen problems. I had been using a Pelikan M800 since about the Civil War until about 2 years ago, and that pen has 0 quirks - so I never had to learn about problem solving. Then 2 years ago, I got hooked on vintage Waterman flexies - bought from Mauricio Aguilar, and thus expertly serviced before they got into my hands. And in any case, you have to be write very slowly and delicately with those FFFF-BBBB nibs - so sharply dotting an "i" would never even be attempted. As result of all this, I know precious little about how fountain pens work.

 

 

My problem (or at least the symptom) does not appear to be a continuous leak, but rather the slight sudden force on the nib (or shake of the hand?) when doting the "i". No ink seems to be leaking otherwise - I can write for a very long time gently without any ink appearing to be dripping out.

 

The picture I posted does not show the ink problem. I took it before I aligned the nib.

 

The ink I am using is Diamine Ultra Green. Again, the pen did not seem to have a problem before I rotated the collector to align the nib to the hood.

 

Unfortunately, Ron's suggestion for how to fill the pen didn't solve the problem.

 

Lavie

Edited November 25, 2014 by lavie

[Ron Z]

 

 

My problem (or at least the symptom) does not appear to be a continuous leak, but rather the slight sudden force on the nib (or shake of the hand?) when doting the "i". No ink seems to be leaking otherwise - I can write for a very long time gently without any ink appearing to be dripping out.

 

Classic symptoms of the feed not set properly against the nib. Setting the feed properly is one of the items on my mental check list that is done with every 51 that I restore. Doing so usually cures the problem.

[lavie]

Classic symptoms of the feed not set properly against the nib.

Thanks Ron.

 

Can I watch a YoutTube howto on this and do it myself, or is it a "Children, don't try this at home"? I don't mind if I make matters worse and it can be fixed by a pro later. I just wouldn't want to cause permanent damage that a pro couldn't fix.

 

TIA,

Lavie

[OcalaFlGuy]

The ink I am using is Diamine Ultra Green. **Again, the pen did not seem to have a problem before I rotated the collector to align the nib to the hood.**

 

Lavie

 

You may have just answered your own question.

 

You mentioned that you played with the nib/feed alignment. Did you reposition it so the nib and feed are over the wider of the 2 ink channels that run the length of the collector? If not, you should have.

 

It's a key point that it Wasn't glopping Before you changed things.

 

See if you can reposition the nib and feed closer together within their slots in the collector.

 

[EDIT] Put it back like it was, except lined up correctly.

 

Bruce in Ocala, Fl

Edited November 25, 2014 by OcalaFlGuy

[lavie]

This is not my lucky day.

 

I took out the collector to make it easier to remove the feeder and the nib, and then - the breather tube basically crumbled - conveniently leaving its end inside the feeder.

 

Now - where would I get a new feeder and breather tube?

 

And again - thanks to everyone for their help. It did appear that the nib/feeder were not properly aligned with the wider ink channel in the collector.

 

Regards,

Lavie

[OcalaFlGuy]

Assuming you are talking about a Sterling Silver breather tube, those often die due to Superchrome ink eating them up. (There are some Crazy pics of these on David Nishimura's website.)

 

David Nishimura, Ron Zorn and Farmboy have replacement stainless steel ones. Ernesto Soler has factory originals. Your feed is probably ok. There is a pinned thread in Repair on how to get the breather tube nub out of it.

 

After you get the nub out, you can reinsert the breather tube after you Roto-root it clear with some steel guitar string and use that while you wait for the replacement to arrive. If you aren't flying with the pen, it should still write fine with a short breather tube, it just won't fill all the way. If you haven't already, soaking the whole front end in Ammonia water will help the parts come apart with less chance of damaging them.

 

The wide slit deal is Preferred. The pen may still write not aligned thusly but your odds are better lined up.

 

Bruce in Ocala, Fl

 

 

[lavie]

Bruce - thanks for the response.

 

While waiting for a replacement and thus before there being a breather tube, I tried writing with the pen. Since I aligned the nib/feeder with the wide channel, dotting "i"s and writing periods no longer causes the pen to spit ink.

 

But - the pen now spontaneously spits out ink from time to time - even in the pen is stored vertically in a pen holder and left entirely untouched. Could this be the result of a lack of a breather tube? What else could cause this?

 

TIA,

Lavie