Hi all,

I've bought a Silver capped Green Sheaffer Touchdown 1st year in very good shape and I'd like to restore it.

Unafortunately, I'm finding some troubles and ask for your help.

I can't take off the blind cap screwed to the Touchdown tube. It's very tight scewed. I've tried to force the screw, but it starts to get damaged.

That's the question: how can I replace the hardened o-ring and blind cap gasket if I can't take off the Touchdown tube?

Any answer will be helpfull.

Thanks.
Luciano.

Ok, I am no expert here....but I've done the repair recently so maybe I can help
I used a long thin screwdriver to unscrew the small screw holding the TD tube to the pen's barrel. Sometimes it can be a bit tricky to remove it...especially if the screwdriver is not in the correct position with regard to the screw's "slots", but it should come off.
Maybe someone else can chime in here...

Dear Luciano,

You won't be able to replace the gasket without removing the tube. Make sure the tip of your screwdriver is a positive and tight fit with the screw cap. Steady force should cause it to work free. If it's really stubborn, try warming up the cap with a blowdryer. Heat it until it's warm to the touch and then try unscrewing it.

Jim's advice is right on the mark as that retaining screw may also have a little shellac or rubber cement keeping it in place and making it's removal much harder than it should be. Warming things up can loosen any adhesive that might be present and warming pens before disassembly is always a good rule to follow as it reduces the risk of fractures.

Make sure you use a screwdriver that fits the screw perfectly or you run the risk of stripping the screw head and if the screw has already suffered damage of this type removal just gets a little (or a lot) harder.

If the screw is damaged a replacement can be found at your local hardware store's nut and bolt section and it's just a matter of matching the threads and screw length. I have purchased a good number of these but will be darned if I can remember the dimensions off the top of my head.

Da Book suggests WD40 can be used to loosen the blind cap screw. Do Kieth and other pro's out there still consider this a good idea? I have done that and it worked, but I made sure to wash all affected components very carefully in soapy water to try to make sure it all gets washed of, for fear of deteriorating the new oring and blind cap seal. Good idea, or no?

J. Appleseed.

Really interesting forum, I just came across it this evening.
I'm in Wales in the UK, and I've started a fountain pen collection - a couple of Swans, but mostly English Parkers and Sheaffer snorkels, and I've been doing some simple repairs whilst trying to gain some practical knowledge about the snorkel mechanism. I'm not a restoration purists, but I do want to get them all to function properly.

A simple question - does the slender screwdriver need to be for a straight cut screwhead or a crossheaded screw?
Also - is there a special technique for removing the chrome sleeve from over the ink sac, or is it plain brute force? The crimped ends are fooling me for the moment.

Look forward with interest to your replies

Keith K.

Dear Keith,

A long tang flathead screwdriver with a slender head is the right tool.

The sac protector for a Touchdown pen, the metal "tube" attached to the nib section, just pulls off. Just gently pull and it will come right off, as it snaps onto the section nipple. You resac it the same way as any sac pen and then replace the sac protector. To complete the job, you need to replace the O-ring in the end of the barrel, which is where this thread started.

Welcome to the site and a great hobby!

Thanks for the reply and the friendly welcome, but could you persevere with me for just a little longer!

I can see on my touchdowns how the sac protection sleeve comes off with a wiggle and a firm pull (not to mention praying with fingers crossed). But the snorkel sac protector is a different prospect altogether with the end crimped firmly onto the hard rubber plug that holds the snorkel tube. How to you persuade those little devils to part company ?

I'd be grateful for any pointers.

Keith

The 'patented' (not) Fr. Terry tool for this operation was a wood screw threaded into the hole the snorkel passed through. Obviously the snorkel tube is removed first. his tool for doing that was a pair of needle nose pliers that had a hole drilled between the two jaws so it would grip the tube without crushing it. The tips of the pliers were ground to a point that could be inserted into the crimps holding the rubber plug in and could be used to straighten the crimps out.

I was successful in wiggling all the parts free without the tools, but they would make the job easier.

All those tools and more can be had by emailing Victor Chen and asking for the Fr. Terry Catalogue, which he will send you. Victor has taken over the distribution of those parts following Fr. Terry's death.

You can contact Victor at: vwchen@pacbell.net

If you are interested, I can describe the tools in more detail so you could consider making them, or give you the reference and cost from Victor.

Regards

Gerry

To continue, the tool to remove the Sac Protector Bushing from the Sac Protector Tube is Prrt 'Y', and costs $0.50 + a SASE. The Snorkel Repair Pliers are part 'GG' and cost $10.00 (post Paid).

If you were to take a pair of say 4 to 5" Needle Nose Pliers, and drill a 0.0625" (1/16") hole centered on the split between the jaws you would have a pair like his. Not having done this yet, I don't know whether it is necessary to anneal the pliers first, or whether a good quality drill would handle the semi hardened plier face. I would also suggest that you clamp a thin shim (paper or 0.002 brass between the jaws) before drilling. If you do this, the resulting hole will be .002 smaller in the compression direction, and will grip the snorkel more tightly. Another technique would be to grind one face down a little. Either way, you do want to be able to exert a bit of pressure on the tube to grip it.

By the way, it would be strongly recommended to use a drill press and vice type holder for the pliers to do the drilling.

You may also wish to consider pliers that don't have serrations for grip on the jaws. I think the serrations may affect the precision with which the pliers close, and aren't necessary for the functions intended.

Don't forget to grind the jaw tips to a point to aid in getting into the crimps.

Regards

Gerry

Thanks everyone for all!!!

After 6 tries (soaking in warm water-dry the pen-try unscrew) I've made it.
There was a kind of glue inside the TD tube (not the shellac on blind cap).

The blind unscrewed, but the screw head has suffered a lot of damage. So I replaced it.

Again, thanks for the tips folks.

Luciano.

The "kind of glue" inside the sac tube could have very well been remnants of an old ink sac as this is a strange place to find real glue. More on how to remove that in a sec...

On Snorkels...

When I am taking apart Snorkels I use a fine pick to gently move the tabs away from the plug / sac nipple and then use a small dowel to gently tap and push the plug out from the back. The Snorkel tube also has to be removed when you do this as it can be damaged but does prevent the opening for the Snorkel tube from being damaged by the use of a wood screw.

A small bit of scotch tape laid where the snorkel tube meets the plug will let you know what depth it needs to be set at when it is reinserted providing it was set properly in the first place. Getting the position of the Snorkel tube right is a matter of a little trial and error unless you're a geek and have the proper measurement posted above your workbench... LOL. Some small rubber gripping aid is really handy for making Snorkel tube adjustments as you do not want to use pliers.

Those metal Snorkel and Touchdown tubes can be cleaned very quickly and easily with something like Goof Off which saves one the time and effort of scraping the remnants of old sacs. The solvent has to be rinsed away and the sac tube dried before the pen is reassembled and one can either use time , high pressure air, or a blow dryer.

I good idea when working on Snorkels or Touchdowns (or any sacced pen for that matter) is to test the sac seal before you put everything back together and this can be done by immersing the snorkel tub or nib end of the td filler in water and depressing the ink sac with one's fingers. There is nothing like re-assembling a Snorkel to find that the sac seal isn't as sound as you thought it was and having to take everything apart to check it.

A little pure talc or powdered graphite on the sac will keep it dry and prevent it from sticking to the metal sac tube.

What else is there to add...

The filler assembly on the Snorkel will work more smoothly if a little touch of silicone grease is added where it inserts into the section and a stiff or stuck filler is often caused by a misalignment of the filler tabs or just poor lubrication.

All those seals in the Snorkel have to be working at peak efficiency and the section threads should have a small amount of shellac applied to provide a seal and make sure the pen does not unscrew when the blind cap is turned. This is also a good safety measure as many people who are unfamiliar with anything but a cartridge pen will try and unscrew pens like Snorks, TD's and button fillers.

Oh yeah... a properly restored Snorkel should be able to fire water or ink about 4 feet which is why they were once banned in many schools.

Oh yeah...

Now I see that there are two of us here... I could get confused.

Keith H.

Such a lot of good advice - how could I possibly go wrong (Famous last words !!!!!!!!).

And Keith with a capital K - don't change for me, I'm the new kid on the block so I'll be the one to change to:

KK from the Land of Song