I have an old Sheaffer Vac fill that I would like to experiment on for my first Sheaffer Vac Repair. It's a junker, so a mistake or two won't matter all that much - still, it wold be nice to actually repair the pen.

The first step, I think, is the nib section removal. How do I go about doing this? This is a marine green striated unit with the Triumph nib and the stainless steel draw for the piston. I have a Sheaffer repair booklet that I purchased from Jim Gastion a few years ago. In it, it states that one should grasp the nib firmly and rotated it toward the left (counter-clockwise I think) to remove the nib assembly.

Well, that may have worked on the then new Sheaffer fountain pens, but what works now? Were these sealed into place with shellac? Does one have to use heat to release the nib section. If so, this is not a very high quality plastic, how much heat is acceptable before either 1. fire, or 2. melting takes place?

Is soaking the nib assembly part of the pen in water overnight OK. These pens weren't made of casine, were they? I don't want the pen to melt in the water overnight.

How much force is acceptable? I'm 6'6" and 225#, so I can apply a great amount of force without really being aware of it. I don't want to break this pen.

Anything you all might suggest, I would appreciate. I think that if I can get the nib assembly off of the pen that I can begin to repair the packing. At least I hope I can.

Peace,

Phroneo

Heat is your friend here, but only up to the point that you can hold the heated area for more than a couple of seconds. If it is hot enough that you cannot hold it for about 4-5 sec, it needs to cool before you apply any tourque. A note on Triumph nibs, I have had a couple where the nib decided to spin off of the feed after heating. This does make it much more difficult to remove the feed without damaging it. Just take your time. As for the amount of force to use, I am pretty much the same size as you, if it feels like too much and nothing is moving, back off and heat it again. This is one of those things where you need educated fingers, which can only be gained from repetition.

Read and re-read the instructions on Vintagepens.com on the procedure you are about to undertake, it is very helpful. Soaking the pen is OK, in fact probably a must for this. If you have an ultrasonic cleaner that would help as well. Caked ink is remarkably tenacious and doesn't help disassembly at all.

The other way to do this is to pull the packing unit from the blind cap end and install a Fountainbiel convertor. Search the repair page here on FPN for "Fountainbiel" and you will come across Francis Giossen's device. It does work, but the pen will not be OEM any more. Wither way, you will probably have to replace the wiper seal on the piston rod as well. Also, don't lose a single piece of the filler assembly, there are small parts there that are necessary for the whole thing to work correctly. The little coned nut on the filler rod is notorious for jumping off your bench.

Good luck,
Cheers,
Sean

The other way to do this is to pull the packing unit from the blind cap end and install a Fountainbel convertor. Search the repair page here on FPN for "Fountainbel" and you will come across Francis Goossen's device. It does work, but the pen will not be OEM any more. Wither way, you will probably have to replace the wiper seal on the piston rod as well. Also, don't lose a single piece of the filler assembly, there are small parts there that are necessary for the whole thing to work correctly. The little coned nut on the filler rod is notorious for jumping off your bench.

Thanks for mentioning my repair approach Sean.
Allow me to say that neither drilling out the old packing unit from the section side & install an O ring with a glued back-up ring is an OEM repair.
Installing the fountainbel plunger rod cartridge is a fully reversable repair, the barrel seat remains "as is" , one only extracts the worn packing assembly & replaces it with the fountainbel cartridge. Whenever wanted one can reinstall the old (upgraded) packing assembly
Benefits are obvious: No drilling, no glue, no renewed drilling & glueing whenever the O ring seal would fail, replacement of the piston &/or rod seals within 5 minutes.

I'm wondering about the fountainbel cartridge. I'm thinking of ordering one and trying it out, but I've very much of a pen repair novice (though I'm reasonably handy in general).

Does it come with installation instructions? How hard would you rate it? I'm generally capable of doing things like changing sacs, adjusting *minor* nib problems (slightly bent tines), that type of thing, but not beyond that. Would I be likely to succeed in a fountainbel repair? I would try this on a "junker" first, as well. More exactly, I have two vac-fills, one of which has a cracked nib and a damaged cap: I figure that if I end up with a perfect pen between the two of them, it's probably all that can be hoped for: getting a nib repair and dealing with a damaged cap is probably more than it's worth, so I'm willing to consider damaging a body/section for experimentation.

I've seen the information and detailed pictures of Francis' products and I'd say that's THE way for repairing the notoriously leak and malfunction prone vac-fil system. Plus, with sheaffer having stopped production for packing units (If they ever marketed them for repair utside the factory) there's absolutely NO OEM REPAIR possible on such a pen. I'd say that the harder step would be opening the section if the pen is those triumph nib vac fils that has the "little devilish piece" (Dubiel words) but then again using the fountainbel's method you can drill out the packing unit and don't get even close that hell of an assembly (vac fill sections)

Thank you all for responding to my call for help on this topic. These little Sheaffer pens are certainly a conundrum to me. I've learned how to work on a number of different manufacturer's pens well enough to feel safe carrying them in my own pockets without hesitation. - Believe me, it took me a while before I felt safe enough to put one of my repaired pens into a suit coat pocket; at my size they're expensive to replace! And I wanted to feel safe carrying my pens around before I even thought about selling any of the to another person.

But these Sheaffer fountain pens have all of these parts and the Snorkels are a rather intricate pen. I just never felt as if I had the overall fountain pen repair knowledge and capabilities to handle the Sheaffer pens. I'm still hesitant, but one has to start somewhere and since I have this "junker," which can quite possibly be turned into a nice pen, I figured this was as good a place as any to begin my Sheaffer journey.

I will take a look at the Fountainbel cartridge. I have read David Nishimura's web page. And for some reason, I'm still hesitant to work on this pen. Oh, well! I do have to start someplace, so I just might as well begin and stop complaining.

Peace,

Phroneo

I think I'm going to have a run at the fountainbel cartridge too, since it seems to be the only way in which *I* am likely to succeed. It'll probably be a few months, but I'll eventually report back on the experience :-).

You can read all on the different versions of the fountainbel cartridge on the excellent "Penpedia" site http://www.penpedia.com/w/index.php?title=...inbel_Cartridge

regards, Francis

To add to whatever else has been said about the Fountainbel method - here's another very positive vote for this repair method / repairer. I had the opportunity of meeting Francis at this years WES show in London and left behind a lovely Tuckaway for him to repair. He not only fixed the pen but also cleaned and polished it up - looked practically new! The pen works like a dream now. And his turnaround was the quickest I've ever experienced. Within just 9 days of leaving it with Francis in London, the Tucky was back with me in India. I'd recommend Francis to anyone. No affiliations, just a satisfied customer!

I think I'm going to be trying the fountainbel method.

Thanks Francis & everyone.