A quite nice Parker 51 Aero that I got on Ebay arrived this morning. There's a rattling noise inside the vac, similar to what you get with the little ball inside a cartridge. Is this supposed to happen with some 51's, or has something broken off inside? If it's a breather tube, does this matter?

Any advice gratefully accepted.
Cheers,
Eric

Hi Eric,

If it is the breather tube then it is important as without this in place the pen will not fill properly as everytime the sac is squeezed it will not only expel air but also any ink that it may have drawn in on the last cycle.

As the breather is the only thing that can come loose or break and that should be inside the sac it is a fair bet that it is breather tube you can hear.

Before you take the pen apart just check that the pressure bar of the fill isn't loose and moving about inside the filler housing, this can cause a rattle.

Cheers, John

I agree. "51"s can be a real pain to pull the hood. I use a 'bionic wrench' and a piece of hose with heat. I think the new 'Teflon' tubing may actually be superior to metal in this use. I still use 316SS.

Ron

Many thanks for the info. This one may have to become a little project.

Cheers,
Eric

Should you choose to have the pen resotred, both Richard and I can provide a new one as part of the repair.

Ditto on the breather tube. It may have just loosened up or you have a sterling siver breather tube that has be corroded in which case you should probably replace it. Teflon tubing is a good subsitute as it doesn't corrode. You will have to separate the filler unit from the section which can be MUCH trickier than it looks (without breaking the nipple, that is) If you haven't done this before, you can save money by having an expert do the job. You can get the pen properly cleaned and adjusted for ink flow at the same time.
Good luck and welcome to the P51 community. It's a terrific pen.

Teflon tubing is OK for a 51 special or one of the later aerometric 51s that had the celluloid breather tubes. But for ones that had the silver tube to be "correct" (and that means the hole drilled in the side of the tube) it should have one of the new stainless replacements.

You also have to be careful when removing the old breather tube. If you use a drill, you can open up the hole in the feed, and the hole will then be too big for the metal tubes.

Thanks again for the info. I now think this one will be a little project for me to have someone else do--an option I was toying with anyhow.

Cheers,
Eric