I wonder if anyone can suggest a cause for my problem with a P51 I've dismantled, worked on and remantled.

I took the P51 apart to replace a breather tube that had broken. I've re-fitted a new tube to the feed after drilling a #73 breather hole. This was epoxied into the end of the feed. I checked that the feed hole connects to the breather tube & there is no blockage. I then put the feed in the collector. I've fiddled with the nib to better align the tines, then aligned the nib slit with the slit in the feed, put the collector/nib/feed assembly in the connector and twisted the collector around until the nib aligned with the hood. I've been a little careful as the hood was cracked and I've glued it together. As a result I've not twisted it on too hard - just tight enough to seal. As a result the hood, collector and connector are certainly not in the same alignment as they were when I got the pen.

Now when using the pen, the aerometric filler works fine, and the pen writes much better than it did before. Well, That is until the collector empties and the pen runs dry. No ink seems to be getting to the collector from the sac unless I squeeze the filler bar.

Have I missed aligning the collector in the connector? Or is there some other silly operation I've missed?

Thanks in advance,

Richard.

Is the breather hole in the barrel clear?

The breather hole at the end of the barrel is clear, but I can't see how this lets air into the sac.

Regards

Richard.

It doesn't let air into the sac...it lets air into the barrel and equalizes the air pressure so the sac can operate correctly.