A flea-market find this Saturday, I got a blue Sheaffer Touchdown; it has a normal non-Triumph 14K nib marked "33," and I'm quickly growing fond of it. ^_^

However, I am quickly despairing of finding working specimens in the field of any pen that relies on air-pressure; my boy is not ready to write. At least the blindcap unscrews and the Touchdown tube moves in and out freely---but too freely. The proper air pressure is not being created.

I looked up the Anatomy of the Snorkel on Richard's site (Touchdown is similar just without the proboscis, right?), and was thinking "wow, what an ingenious system!" Now that I come to understand it, it's not as much like my poor waiting-for-professional-help Vac-fils as I feared (I love 'em, but I can't fix 'em myself...).

But I thought I'd ask, is this something I might be able to fix myself, or are these models better left to the pros?

Laura, very easy to fix yourself. I have done dozens of them, and if I can do it, you can, too.
You will need a new sac (size 15), a new o-ring, silicone grease, and shellac. You can buy these items at Pendemonium.

Steps:
1. Unscrew barrel from nib and section.
2. Use long thin flat-bladed screwdriver through barrel to unscrew blind cap.
3. Now that the blind cap is off, push the silver-colored Touchdown tube back through the barrel. Use a pin to remove o-ring at blind cap end of the pen. Be careful not to score the threads. Push a new o-ring in place with a screwdriver and the assistance of a pencil or wooden dowel to help guide the ring into place.
4. Put the touchdown tube back into the barrel.
5. There is a small rubber gasket in the blind cap. Nine times out of ten these don't need to be replaced. You can put a dab of rubber cement on the screw at the end of the touchdown tube and screw the blind cap back on.
6. There is a "protector tube" that covers the sac. Rock it off. Remove the sac. Put shellac on the section where the sac attaches, and put on a new sac. Let dry.
7. Screw barrel back onto pen and you're done.

If you buy extra sacs and o-rings, you will have enough supplies to do many more of these pens, should you be interested. There is no need to pay someone 30 or 35 bucks to fix up one of these pens.

Good luck,
Don

In http://www.richardspens.com/ you can find drawings about the guts of this pen:

Laura,

What Don said. These are even easier to re-sac than most lever fillers.

Paddler

If you are going to try to rebuilt the Touchdown (and you should...they are not complicated), when you get the sac, it's a very good idea to get the thin-walled sacs that are intended for Touchdown fillers (including Snorkels). These compress more completely under pneumatic pressure and help the pen suck up more ink.

I've got some nearly-coherent directions for replacing sac and seals.

edit--...and yes, they're just about the happiest pen to work on. Totally do-it-yourself material.

I have a slender Touchdown which will be my first rebuild.

Could someone let me know the OD of the O-ring for thin Touchdowns? The OD of the O-ring I have is 0.356", and it cups quite a bit. It looks like it's 25% too big.

Where does one get a blind cap seal or gasket (the one between the blind cap and the tube)? If I can't find the right size gasket, will Tryphon's section sealant serve the purpose?

I have found the sealant to serve the purpose.

I must respectfully disagree. In my experience, the thin-wall sacs are an unnecessary solution to a nonexistent problem -- and may actually be *less* suitable for the purpose than standard sacs. If you want to read more, there's a piece here in the vintagepens.com Pen Repair FAQ.

I did get that TD working; I put one of the thin-walled sacs in just because that's what I'd read, and I gave the seals a little silicone grease and it was fine. I'm just now starting to work on TDs and Snorkels, and when I tried blowing into the barrel or pumping the barrel against my thumb and feeling for suction, I actually think the seals are fine (though happier with a little grease). My fat TD, the sac has turned to stone, and the two Snorkels I have, the sacs are too stiff to collapse properly (they "work" they just suck up a very small amount), but that's age, not thickness.

What about silicone sacs, BTW? I'd heard that they were stiffer, but just handling the sacs I recently got from Woodbin, if anything the silicone ones feel floppier. And you wouldn't have to worry about them hardening over time so much---which seems like a much bigger problem and would be especially important with the Snorkels. (...not looking forward to getting those apart no indeed...)


ETA: Okay, I am totally using the silicone sacs. Out of curiosity, I tried sucking on the necks of the sacs, thinking that would be the most salient test, and the silicone ones collapsed noticeably easier than normal latex, and I think even slightly easier than my thin-wall Snorkel sacs.

I recently had a conversation with Martin about the silicone sacs. The newer ones are thinner walled because of the concern that the thicker walled ones might break a lever. Valid at one level, but I've had only one failure where it could be attributed to a silicone sac. OTOH, the new ones are floppy, and don't stretch as much as the old ones did. I don't think that they'll pull as much ink into a pen because they do not pop into shape as easily as the old ones and the latex sacs do.

Martin still has some of the old style if you ask for them when you order.