Keith:

As the subject line indicates.... How do we do it?

My own approach would be to cut/saw an empty cart off about 3/8" to 1/2' above the top edge of the section to provide a convenient way to remove the assembly if necesssary. Rough up the top outside surface for an 1/8" of the cart. to provide some "tooth" and cut and glue, as long a sac as I could fit in the barrel with shellac or CA (cyanoacrylate), onto the top 1/8" of the empty cart.


And lastly, I'll bite. How do you make pellets for vacs? I know that sooner or later, I'll drop one those little devils onto the gray Berber carpeting where my desk is and kiss it goodbye. On my workshop floor, young crawling children have known to disappear for weeks at a time in the flora and fauna.


Mike O'Bryan

Mike - You seem to have the procedure for making the "sqeezac" filler right although I would have to go and check the measurements.

I guess another photo shoot is in order too as pictures really seem to make things easier.

Having as little cartridge and as much ink sac is the way to go as this will maximize volume, you also want to leave enough to the cart in place to have something to hold on to should you want to remove it. The area where the sac is attached to the cart should be similar to that of a section nipple and a silicone sac will allow you to see how much ink is left.

You will also want to secure the cart to the pen section and for this I would use shellac or rubber cement as again, you want the modification to be reversible.

Making pellet pockets is something I have started doing and I think I am still in the testing phase... there is no need to make the actual pellets as vac diaphragms usually have these already attached.

I'll post an update on this too.

I think it takes longer to shoot, edit and upload the pictures than it does to make a "Squeezac" filler...


Here is the candidate for the squeezac conversion, the Old Timer that I just receved from my new best friend, Cam.


The cartridge was cut to 3/8 of an inch or 9 mm. An intact cartridge can be used as a measuring guide as the new filler cannot exceed the length of the original cartridge. Since I have them in stock, I used a silicone sac as I like to see how much ink I have.


I installed the cartridge to the pen first and used a little bit of shellac to secure it to the section making sure none came remotely close to the feed nipple. Rubber cement could also be used.


I attached the sac with contact cement rather than cyanoacrylate as you do need a little bit of working time and I hate being accidentally glued to my work. Shellac or rubber cement could also be used to secure the sac to the cart.


You can see the new filler is not longer than the old cartridge.

The pen is currently drying and should be able to take ink before I go out to work. I canna wait... a new pen with a new filler!

A few more things...

I cut the cartridge down using a razor blade which although effective, does pose some risk. An x-acto blade would work fine and leave a clean edge.

I made a Sheaffer No Nonsense blow filler in much the same manner and the only additional steps needed was to seal the section and drill a small blow-hole in the end of the pen. When opened it looks exactly the same as the Squeezac.

The biggest plus with this little conversion is that the pen's performance will likely improve as a sacced pen will almost always work better than a cartridge or (piston) converter equipped pen.

Sweet stuff!!

And why would you do this instead of an ED?

I don't do these that often as I really do prefer eyedropper converted pens to Squeezac conversions as the ink capacity is just that much greater. With some pens, an ed conversion may also be impossible due to the pen's construction.

Some people don't like eyedropper conversions so this is also a great alternative to using cartridges or using a needle to refill empty carts as many do.

I will probably use the Old Timer as an eyedropper and fit the Squeezac to another pen but for today... I'll use the filler on this pen.

Do let us know how it writes.

The pen writes as beautifully as it looks but I did have a small problem...

:doh:

The silicone sac I used was a little thicker than a standard latex sac and does bind a little when the pen is screwed together. I'll swap this sac for a thinner walled silicone sac as there is a possibility the Squeezac could get pulled off the nipple when the pen is unscrewed.

Making sure the Squeezac is firmly attched to the pen section is really essential.

Neat! Thanks for taking the time to photograph everything and post it here

Is there any real advantage to this filling system over just refilling a cartridge with a syringe as I do.....or is the idea to make it look like an "old time" filling system? If so, I think it suits the NoNonsense chased black "Old Timer" model you have perfectly....Well done!

I looked at the Old Timer today and it was really screaming "eyedropper!" to me so the Squeezac will go in another Sheaffer pen while the Old Timer functions as an eyedropper filling pen.

Besides looking great it is a terrific writer... the fine gold plated nib writes pretty wet and comes across more like a medium nib to me.

I have a few other plated NN nibs so I will have to do a comparisin and see if it's just this nib that writes this way as I recall that these fine NN nibs do run pretty fine.

In regard to the Squeezac being better than a cart... I think that in most cases a sacced pen will always write wetter then a cart/convertor pen as the sacced pen will offer better flow.

My addressing pen has a Squeezac (I love that name) and is fitted with a medium italic nib, when it was a cart pen it could be a little skippy and ink starved but after the conversion it writes like a dream due to the increased ink flow.

to add to what keith wrote, i often use a smaller size silicone sac and glue it to the INSIDE surface of the cartridge. this way, i can ensure that

a) the sac will not interfere with the closing of the pen

i can use a much longer sac than allowed by the "ledge" present in such pens to stop the cartridge's descent.

beware one thing though: silicone sacs are notorious for getting dyed. takes half the fun out of a squeezac convertor to have the thing permanently dyed pink.

Viv,

As always, I think you are brilliant.

Thanks for the additional tip.

So I was just playing this morning as also realized that, in making the filler for a Sheaffer pen, one could use an international cart as a mount for the ink sac and then use a larger ink sac.

I'm presently putting together a Squeezac that has a #18 ink sac which fits smoothly into the barrel of a NN pen.

I just realized that with this I have actually found a practical use for tthe short international carts.

keith, how do you modify the international cartridge to fit on sheaffer nozzles?

They just happen to fit. I tried some Inoxcrom cartts and some Sheaffer internationals and they just pop on quite smoothly with no modification required.

I guess this is a good thing to know if you happen to need a cart for a NN pen.

great news indeed! never occured to me to use int'l carts in sheaffer before. i guess this is why the "reaktor" is able to use int'l carts.

I suppose it's just my own ignorance at work, but I've only put international carts in my shaeffers. Do most people use something else? (other than converters, or ED's or the Squeezac, of course)

kathy wc

There are two sizes of cartridges that Sheaffer pens can use.

You can see the standard Sheaffer cartridge in the pics here and this is what most people would use in their Sheaffer pens. The Reaktor cart pen uses international sized carts and these can also be fitted into other Sheaffer pens although their capacity is half that of the standard cart.

The ed conversion, Sqeezac, and use of a convertor are other filling options that one can use in pens like the No Nonsense.

Other Sheaffer's may be designed so that an ed conversion is not possible so something like the Squeezac becomes a viable option as a replacement for carts. It offers greater capacity than a Sheaffer convertor and more importantly, will improve the performance of most pens.

Thanks Keith!

I guess I wasn't clear with my post, though. I do understand the use of the other types of fillers (squeezac, converter, or ed). What suprised me was the idea that the international carts wouldn't fit the Shaeffers. Of course, my Shaeffers are inexpensive and may be made with that in mind, and that may be why I haven't had a problem with it.

kathy wc

I turned one of my Sheaffer Viewpoints into an ED filler. Every now and then, when the pen is turned nib down, a droplet of ink would form at the tip and fall unless the pen is righted, in which case the ink returns back into the pen.

Is there something about the design of the Viewpoint that makes it ED incompatible? Usually the pens writes very nicely.

Ednerd

I have converted countless No nonsense pens into eyedropper fillers and don't even think I have a single NN in the rotatin that hasn't been converted.

I have had the same positive results with the transparent Viewpoints as I have had with the solid coloured and patterned pens so think there may be an issue with the air/ink exchange in your pen or even a microscopic leak.

I decided to put the new Squeezac in a translucent Sheaffer Javelin and was really pleased with the fit. The section on the Javelin has a collar that would surround a normal cartridge and with the Squeezac version 2.0 it offers a good surface to add a little shellac to keep it secure.

The fit in the barrel is perfect and having the translucent pen and silicone sac is a cool combination. The ink is N.O.S. Sheaffer Skrip red and the fill after giving a a few sqeezes was nearly 100%.

Hi,

Yes, I tried an empty Rotring cartridge in someone's Sheaffer Imperial and it fit.

Dillon