Hi All, looking for some advise. I have a Watermans Ideal that has a badly brassed boxed lever filler and I also have a barrel of a Watermans (not same colour) with a perfect lever section, can they come out ?. It looks from first inspection, can't see inside though, that at each end of the slot in the barrel a small metal flange is folded over holding the complete boxed part in place. I imagine the same is true on the inside therefore forming a clamp of sorts.
Any suggestions apart from sending off to someone else ?.
Thanks in advance.
Gary

Me again. I've just answered my own question. At the rear of the boxed section the "tab" can be bend up, after which the whole section can be pushed into the barrel slightly and then slid back releasing the front "clamped" area. Very simple really, looking foward now to a full restoration. I'll try to post some pics tonight if anyone else is going to or wants to try this method. The pen onlt cost me a few bucks so it's worth experimenting a little.

Congratulations - I have done similar methods, but be warned, the chances of the tabs breaking off are very high. There are some methods for heating and annealing the brass, but they are beyond my skills at the moment.

There is a long thread about this over on Lion and Pen - I don't have time to search it out right now, but I will try to find it tomorrow.

John

John, how right you are. One of the lugs fell off, luckily the underside one so a dab of superglue later and that boxed section is never coming out again.
Still a good result given the before and after state of the pen.

Ah - the instructions over at Lion and Pen suggested using epoxy - but same basic idea. Glad to hear it worked. I have a 52 with a broken lever-box I was able to epoxy back in place and make a usable pen. It was a definite salvage job as well.

John

I repair a broken tab by soldering a small bit of sheet onto the box as a replacement. This way I don't risk messing up the external appearance of the pen or gunking up the inside, and the repair is reversible -- you can take the box out again without the risk of breaking the barrel.

It is advisable never to bend the upper tabs to remove or replace a Waterman lever box. The front lower tab (the one accessible from inside the barrel) is the only one you ever need bend.

Wow, 2 replies from guru's of the pen world. Thanks guys, it's really cool of you. The next one I try to fix I'll go for the front lower flange, I guess then the lever box will push out from the inside. As I said, this was a cheapy worth experimenting on. You know what they say..'Experience is not reading the instruction manual first".
Much appreciated info.

Now that I go back and re-read the 2nd post I see you did bend the top flange. Sorry, I thought you meant the bottom.

I was actually able to bend down the rear inside tab using a dental tool that I bent into a tight hook. It was tricky, but I got it out.

Now, however, it appears that the hinge-pin on the good lever box (which had a broken lever) is stuck in place and does not want to come out. Any tips for getting the hinge-pin out?

And I agree, it's so nice to have Richard and David posting over here.

John

John, not a clue as I replaced the whole shebang not just the lever. With luck one of the guru's will help you out. Good luck with your repair.

The ends of the lever pin are always peened. In your case you won't have to grind down a pin end, however; just cut the pin in the middle and push each half out separately.