Torque can be a terrible thing.

Wee shards all over the place.

Figure the one time i didn't let El Zorno (or a couple other trusted repair guys) work on the dang pen.

Ohhhhh, the pain.

regards

David (swamped on 16 hour hospital shifts this week)

I share your pain David...

As we are prompted to say occasionally, experience is what you get when you don't get what you want...

And I'll bet not one of those names so familiar to all of us didn't get his/her experience in the same way...

Regards,

Gerry

One of the things that I learned from a friend of mine who is a very accomplished machinist is how to respect fasteners. The mechanical advantage of the slope or the thread is amazing. With a well-lubricated thread, it's amazing what sort of pressures can be created.

Tell us more about this fix- was it a vac diaphragm fix, or was it broken upon trying to remove the vac unit, etc.?

A little bit goes a long way with fasteners... and lubrication can make all the difference in the world.

I of course haven't done any of these repairs at all- but I can only guess how much torque was used... ugh.

Sad to see such a beauty get broken,
-Allen

One interesting aspect of the failure is the clean line most of the way 'round the circumference. That suggests to me that there was an inherent defect in the pen from possibly manufacture. The barrel is composed of laminations of clear and coloured (green) plastic, bonded together. From the small jagged area we can see that the plastic actually failed. For the rest of the broken area, the separation is smooth, testifying to the failure of the bond between the plastic rings, not the plastic itself.

Just my initial observations - without actually seeing the barrel close-up.

Regards,

Gerry

David I truly feel for you and your loss (can I have the filler? )

BUT, on the other hand you have finally posted a picture of a Vacumatic that some of us can associate with.

Haven't I seen this photo before? Me thinks it is time for you to try your hand at another repair.

See you in < two weeks in Philly!

Ouch... My sympathy...

He died before his time. (playing Taps)

It is possible to weld it back together but it'll never be as cherry as it once was. I'm sure his Zornness can bring it back to snuff with some TLC & plenty of acetone...lol.

Dennis

Bummer, David!

Dennis...what'd you go and see at the theater last night?

Thats how i felt when i got a parker 51 vac from a flea marker for 2 bucks. I was soo excited, just to see how it writes. So i get home, and take the hood off... cleaned the (superchrome) ink that was caked on. But i never checked the filler... So it wouldnt budg, so i try to get it out. 5 min. later and 4 different pieces from the barrel... ohh the pain

Hi,

Ouch! There is a certain amount of risk in restoring vac filled pens, so they must be approached carefully. It looks like someone had a hard time removing the filler unit, or tightened the filler unit on with too much torque. It looks like something fixable though, but the fix would cast a shadow on the history of the pen.

Dillon

David,

Well, it is possible that even a pro would have had the same problem. I had a Parker Vac Slender that I sent off to one of the best pen restorers in the biz, and it "Did not survive the attempt at dis-assembly". I won't say who it was, but I will say they made it right - found a replacement barrel and got it all working again and it cost me no more than the standard filler repair. It was not an easy to find barrel either (1937, green-striped section).

John

The lesson here can be discerned by the location of the failure. Note that the break occurred about an inch below the back end of the barrel. That indicates that (assuming this occurred during attempted filler removal or perhaps re-insertion) the point of grip on the barrel was at or below (closer to the nib end) the location of that break. The farther apart the two points of grip are, the longer an area of the barrel is subjected to the torque, and the less shearing and the greater the helical twisting will occur, with an attendant increase in risk.

Generally, when twisting needs to be applied, keep the two counter-turning points as close together as possible.

--Daniel

Just think of it as an expensive way to get a nice lockdown filler, nib/feed/breather tube/section, and cap....



Skip

My sympathies

R

I share your pain.




(I was cleaning it and it went off, sergeant.)

Yeah I suppose we all get the problem from time to time. It's part of the deal - we fix 'em and enjoy 'em and sometimes we cuss 'em and wish we hadn't bought 'em.

I had a plain gold vac (not a very special one but a great writer) go ping and snap on me when I set it down on a table - snapped like the last post. It's very upsetting. I suppose it's all about LUBRICATION and putting the section pliers together so that there is less torsion and attendant shearing. I wonder, does heating the area being subjected to the twisting help any? or does it make the plastic more likely to snap or break? perhaps something for the hair dryer or heat gun?

Regards

Rabbi Zvi.

I'm really tempted to say we should be looking at these vacs under crossed-polars. Strain in plastic and glass (as long as they are amorphous) can be seen in the presence of two polarized lenses 90 degrees rotated from each other. I really wonder if perhaps there isn't strain in the barrels of some of these pens... if they were machined inside, it's quite possible this is the case. If they were molded and cooled too quickly, this could also be the case. [The same goes for stresses related to solvent welding and evaporation.]

It shouldn't be too difficult to do. I'd grab 2 sets of sunglasses, both polarized... I'd punch out one eye from the crappy pair, and place it in front of a good strong light (don't set it on fire!), then don the second pair of sunglasses. By rotating the first, and placing the pen in between the two sunglasses lenses (light, lens, then pen, then lens, then eye). If stress is present, you'll see it as a rainbow of colors radiating from the point of stress. You'll likely have to turn one sunglass lens 90 degrees to the other (make it look black before putting the pen in between).

Example of polarized light through an amorphous clear medium.

The above URL may not be the best example. If I come across a better one, I'll let you know. If you have any clear plastics lying around (the best is likely very thin acrylic), you can test our your little stress rig by bending the plastic and seeing if you can see any stress inside it.

This of course doesn't help any of these breaks, but I'm wondering if stress isn't happening if simply setting some of these down on the table will cause fractures!

I've got an old Vac here waiting to be restored, but it's not cleaned enough to see through the clear portion very well. If I can manage that, I'll attempt this myself and if that works, I'll try and post pictures. [don't wait around for that post, though, I'm super busy- so it's last on the list right now]

Let me know what you think of this- and if anyone has ever tried viewing the stress in these plastics!

-Allen