I just received an Ebay purchase



Not bad, the body's a bit scuffed up but you can still see the .50. date stamp on the pen (and the .9. on the pencil). I can also say that the breather tube in is pretty good shape. How do I know? Have a look--



Broken off, it is! So, looking at the parts listing on parker51.com, I am assuming that the back end of the collector passes through the threads of the section to give the nipple to which the filler is attached. Heating to about 150F is what it takes to unstick everything, right? I'm going to be scanning the Repair Q&A pretty thoroughly, too, but direct advice is appreciated.

Wow! The nib, collector, feed and breather tube are all one unit which are pressure fit into the filler piece which has two sets of threads (the shell and the body, separated by the clutch ring) - so you should be able to buy the whole "back end" filler and put the other parts right in. I don't think you'd want to reattach the old cage and sack if it is truly sheared off, but I'll leave that to the experts to elaborate.

You'll need to get the shell off and that will require some delicate work - heating the shell to loosen the shellac and then unscrewing it. The issue is you've got not much to hold on to (although on an aero you should only hold onto the top threaded section for fear of damaging the more pliable filler) and if you slip you may break the breather tube - which if in good shape as this one is you most definitely don't want to do. AFAIK the breather tube is shellaced in as well so removing it may be tricky (which otherwise would have been my suggestion).

The good news is that with some care and a new part you should be able to do this repair yourself, and it will give you a chance to do a nice cleaning while disassembled. David Nishimura www.vintagepens.com has complete filler assemblies for sale as well as the coupler and sac by themselves (if you can get the old ones out of the sheared off cage you could then reassamble with just this part). In fact, it is worth a look at his website just to see the parts as they help visualize how things are supposed to look and how they fit together. Also Ernesto at www.parker51.com doesn't have them listed but you could email him to see if he has any on hand (I've gotten some parts from him and he is a pleasure to work with).

Good luck and be sure to post some pics when your'e done! I've done a few minor "51" repairs and once the hood is off they are so neatly engineered they are quite easy to work on.

I can't tell if that's a "press 6 times" filler or a "press 4 times" filler from your picture. There is a difference - the former has threads that the sac guard screws onto. The later has rings cut into the sac guard nipple, but the guard simply presses on. I have some NOS "press 4 times" sac guard assemblies in stock if you want to have the pen repaired.

The assembly that you have can be repaired, with a new sac nipple being attached to replace the one that is broken off. The only advantage being that we therefore keep a part in circulation, and the NOS part being kept for a section/sac guard assembly that is broken beyond repair or where the threads are stripped.

Oh boy Ernst, you are just not having a good day! That is really bad luck, but then as the great RonZo says, it can be fixed! Then you would have a nice set as a daily writer.

Jim

It is a 6-push filler, and there is indeed an intimation of threads down the neck of the filler. Might I, having extracted the various parts from their current resting places, apply some fierce modern adhesive to reattach the sheared-off portion to the back of the collector? Looking from vintagepens to parker51, and without my Dubeil on hand, it does look rather like the collector/feed/tube are discreet again from the bits which are broken, which strikes me as relatively good news.

or Ronzoni - had a a lable from the spaghetti manufacturer on my dorm room door....

IMO, the ability to take preformed pieces of plastic to repair a vac filler or a 51 nipple are about the only two reasons for the existance of a WriteBrothers stick pen.