Just removed the nib and feed on it to
retrieve sac remnants,it's a lever filler.
Came out nice and easy by hand.
Now it won't go back in.

It's as if the barrel has instantly shrunk in diameter.
Obviously don't want to try and force it.
It's a 1332 with the latticed transparent appearance.
Lubricant,heat or leave it to someone who has a clue?

Also are these grooves for seals?

Hi maxrhino,

I have several Onotos and a DLR in this material, the Onotos are repaired from the other end and by other people so this problem doesn't as a rule crop up, the DLR wasn't a problem when I put a sac in it. The same problem you describe did happen with a marbled DLR though, section came out and wouldn't go back in, I tried my only spare section in this size and that fitted so I was lucky.

Try to clean any burrs or crud of the section and the barrel mouth and try silicone grease as a lubricant and rotate the section or the barrel as you GENTLY try to press them to fit they can sometimes be a little out of round.

You could perhaps carefully file/emery/micromesh a tad off all round, on a plain solid colour you could at a pinch scrape the inner face of the barrel you can't on cellulars unless you polish the barrel afterwards.

I would be wary of heat unless very controllable as several of my donor DLRs over the years have arrived showing signs of slumping and warping as well as shrinkage having been put somewhere too hot (kept in a desk drawer in Central Africa in one case).

I have never seen any seals in the grooves on the sections in DLRs that haven't been mucked about but I have seen thread in them on some, to be kind 'well worn' (spares only) pens that may have had sections replaced. You will find these grooves in several makes I think that the idea is to give you a fighting chance at getting the section out, the friction of a face to face contact over the whole area might put too much stress on the barrel mouth when trying to remove the section.

As always this is only my opinion and my ideas for what they are worth, which may not be much but i hope that they are of some help.

If in doubt you could ask Pete Twydle at the Pen Museum about them, he is only up the road from you, well still in Yorkshire, I have his contact details if you need them, he has worked on Onotos and De la Rues for years and is about the closest specialist repairer I can think of to you.

Cheers, John

Thanks for that John.

I'll have a go at that now.
I've seen the pen museum site before but
as he doesn't display his address I didn't know he was close.
Shame the museum isn't still open.

I wonder if he does courses?

Hi,
I don't think he does courses but you might ask him, I will dig up his details an e-mail you with them in a while.
Cheers, John

Done it.

It clicked back in in three stages so there must be a small lip
that engages with each of the grooves.

Hello again,
Nice one, did you need to use a lubricant or was it a case of just cleaning the edges?
Now you have the pleasure of using a DLR/Onoto nib, in my view one of the most consistently good of all the vintage nibs in UK pens, DLR had good quality control.

Glad it all worked out well, John

A little bit of cleaning and the smallest amount of shaving.
And seeing as I had no silicone grease to hand
some extra virgin olive oil.
I think it's nerves that hold you back.
You don't want to use what you consider to be too much force.