Questions Regarding A Waterman 52 1/2 V

[Cepasaccus]

Two questions:

 

1) The blind cap fell out. Should I glue it into the cap with shellac or do you have other recommendations?

 

2) The nib/feed fit really tight in the section and hence are really difficult to position. (That is proabably why the blind cap fell out.) Heat would probably help. Do you have recommendations how to proceed with inserting nib/feed?

 

Thanks

Cepasaccus

[kirchh]

It's generally called the "inner cap," and a bit of shellac is a good choice for securing it. Probably no connection between the loose inner cap and the tight fit of the nib/feed in the section. Warm the section before inserting nib/feed and try to find the original orientation to ease insertion and reduce the likelihood of blotting.

 

--Daniel

[Cepasaccus]

Thanks.

 

The connection between both is that the nib scratched inside the inner cap while putting on the cap because it was to far outside the section. I asume this has losened the inner cap so much that it fell out.

 

Cepasaccus

[gweimer1]

You might also want to measure the inside clearance of the cap against your pen to make sure you won't run into further problems. Pressing the nib against the inside of the pen is courting disaster.

[rtrinkner]

This may be heretical, but I've had success refitting too-tight nibs/sections by *gently* sanding down the girth of the section (just barely... enough to allow for safe insertion of the nib without buckling it). You have to be really careful not to get any sanding dust into the feed's channels, as well as to sand evenly all around the portion of the nib that will end up inside the section. If you sand too much, ink can leak around the feed, so only sand as little as possible to get the job done. I use one of the rougher micromesh square pads to do the sanding, so I can go very slowly and only remove just enough material to safely insert the feed/nib. I use .2mm brass shims and a toothbrush to floss the feed channels free of dust.

 

Heating the tail of hard rubber feeds can help them slide home more easily. I also find that a bit of saliva on the feed can act as a temporary lubricant. Hey, Van Gogh ate some of his paint (especially chromium yellow, I hear)... we might as well enjoy the taste of our favorite artistry, too. :-) Of course, eating that chromium yellow probably didn't do Vincent any favors...

[Cepasaccus]

A heretic! A heretic!

 

I will think about sanding down, when all else had failed. Nib and feed was inside this section, so it should be possible to get it in again. It might be, that the heating for opening up the pen has deformed the section a bit.

 

Regarding the cap problem, I will shellac the inner cap, when nib and feed is set. That way I can gently test with the blind cap alone if something is getting touchy.

 

I'm sure I'm very much obliged to you for your comments.

 

Cepasaccus, who is currently reading Violet Strange

[Cepasaccus]

Ok, everything assembled. I inserted nib+feed loosely and turned it to see where it goes in easiest. Then I pushed it down as far as possible. The remaining few milimeters I heated the section with a hair dryer before pushing. I haven't inked the pen so far, but it looks good and it did not scratch in the cap even before the last few milimeters.

 

Then I fixed a new sac of size 14 and finally shellaced the inner cap into the outer cap and screwed on the cap.

 

Btw. with this pen came this leaflet:

http://www.penexchange.de/pen-wiki/index.php/Datei:Waterman-Anleitung-UK-1924.png

 

Cepasaccus

[rtrinkner]

Huzzah! Let us know how it writes when you're done.

[Cepasaccus]

The original nib was a hard flexible (more than springy) medium (according to modern standards) nib. I exchanged it to an also hard flexible, but more like XF nib (0.25 - 0.3 mm). Will post tomorrow a writing sample.

[Cepasaccus]

Inner cap fell out again. So more shellac.

[Cepasaccus]

The nib started writing perfectly this morning while hanging on a chain over the night. So nib and feed must be set well. And this is the writing sample. Top two lines with this pen and Pelikan 4001 Blueblack. Bottom three lines with a 12 1/2 V.S. BABY with pure iron gall ink. That one has a 18k nib. The first V is 5.1 mm high.

 

Sorry, no pix of the pen itself. I want to keep it for the the Advent calendar of another pen forum as it has a nice box.

 

Cepasaccus

Edited February 24, 2015 by Cepasaccus

[rtrinkner]

Thanks for the epilogue!

[Cepasaccus]

Made for you this photo of the 12 1/2 V.S. BABY as a surrogate for the 52 1/2 V. 12 1/2 V.S. BABY is stamped at the end. Don't know where the BABY comes from as 94mm should be normal for a 12 1/2 V.S.. A G.M. for Gold Mounted could be attached for the two 18kt gold bands. I bought it unknowingly on ebay from a forum member. I had to glue the partly broken double helix and get some non-standard O-rings, but now it works well and has an XXF or so nib (0.2mm), which suits it well. The photo is taken with a German magazin from 1920 as a background. I thought the pen matches nicely the parrot.

 

Cepasaccus