I just bought a Sheaffer Snorkel with a matching pencil (still boxed) off of eBay for less than $30 shipped. The seller said the snorkel was still functioning. I went ahead and purchased a new sac, gasket and o-ring just in case from Pendemonium

I received it today, and it's just as I expected, the pen doesn't actually take in ink. The front gasket is still in very good shape (I'll probably replace though, just 'cause), and the o-ring still creates pressure (replacing as well). However, the sac has petrified.

I took the snorkel tube out of the whole sac section, as I did not want to damage it while I was trying to remove the section stopper (or whatever it's called, the rubbery bit where the snorkel is inserted). I broke through the sac with a straightened out coat hanger, and tried to push it out - no luck. It just seems stuck in there, and does not even budge with all of my force applied to it.

Is there a trick to doing this? Would soaking it help loosen it up?

My next question is about the new sac.

Where do I attach it? I read from Rick Conner's website that it is attached to the section plug. I'm assuming that this means that the plug is basically inserted into the sac (much the same way a sac fits onto a section in lever fillers).

Lastly, when reattaching the snorkel to the section plug, do I need to apply a bit of shellac to make it air/water tight?

I bought this set for my Latin teacher as a thank you for all the years she's taught me, and I need it by this upcoming Thursday, so I can't really afford to send it off due to time constraints.

-Josh

EDIT


I just tried to move water through the snorkel (put water in my mouth and blew on it), and it seems to dribble out, rather than shoot out. Soaking it in an ammonia solution would be the best first aid, am I correct? I hope I don't need to floss it out with wire, because I don't think I have wire that thin...

There's a whole thread on the repair forum just this week - I don't have the time at the moment to look, but if you noodle around a bit (it isn't too far down) you'll find it.

I second the suggestion to look at previous thread(s), but you're mainly on the right track. The plug/section comes out more easily if heated, and once it's out it is attacked very like applying a sac in a lever fill. No shellac = cruel joke, of course.

Depending on the type you have, you may need to uncrimp the protector around the mouth to get the section out. If you are lucky, you have the one with two little dents in the side, those come out pretty easily.

Use a blunt hard steel object to open up the mouth of the four little channels along the side of the sac protector. There are lugs on the section that fit into these channels, and until they are open, it's not gonna come out.

I usually use the snorkel tube to wriggle the section out, that way it's in the correct orientation and depth going back in.

The sac slips onto the section, you MUST shellac it on, of course.

If you are lucky, the sac will just slide out, but be prepared to ream it off the protector. A soak in rubbing alcohol has been said to soften it up (I've not tried that one), or a 1/4" drill will nicely grind it out. By hand, please.

Coat the new sac with a generous coating of pure talc before you re-assemble the pen, that way it won't stick.

Peter

YES, otherwise it'll leak and create a real mess inside. You sort-of need to put the shellac around the edge and then move it sideways (in all directions) to ensure that the shellac seeps deeply enough. DON'T PUT THE SHELLAC first: you risk clogging the feed with shellac! If you screw up and have to take it out, make sure to avoid that problem.

Try to have it lined up perfectly BEFORE you get to the shallac level, as in, completely reassembled, and keep that as the last step (you'll have to re-disassemble it). One thing that creates a bit of pain is managing to line it up all correctly: pay attention to putting the feed hole on the right side (non-obvious on open-nib Snorkels) and at the right angle and depth. The easiest way is, in the first test assembly, to adjust it (when out) by using your fingers, then take it back in to make sure it's in the right place... then when all is right, disassemble again and shellac.

Thinning out the shellac a bit seems to help. A tiny bit of diluted shellac can also be used to deal with leaks between the section and nib (the part that screws in) IF THAT IS A PROBLEM with your pen. Assuming that it's not due to a leaking gasket, obviously, in which case that should be replaced... someone (I think it was Richard) here on FPN suggested this to me, very successfully.

All this based on my own experiences. I understand that others have other techniques and ways of doing things, and that most recommend not taking out the snorkel tube - but yours is already out. I've never managed to do it WITHOUT taking it out: I'm too afraid to break the feed, and I don't find it a big deal to put it back. But that's just me.

Hrmm....

My experience (which is admittedly limited) has been that it's not been necessary to shellac the snorkel tube to the section; it doesn't generally leak even without any sealant. Now, the few that I've done have generally been a pretty tight fit, so maybe my small sample size isn't representative - fair enough.

But, I think I would try it without any shellac first, and only seal it if you notice a problem. The alignment of the snorkel tube to the feed is significant, and if you have to adjust it in the future, you'll be glad to be able to turn the tube with respect to the section.

Thanks very much, I didn't realise I had a crimped section. I read through earlier threads dealing with Snorkel repair, and a chap had posted a picture of section just like mine (four ridges around it) and someone else had said that it wasn't crimped down and he didn't have to worry about it, so I didn't either.


Thanks, I did imagine that it would have to be shellacked in. I'll keep this in mind when I shellac it in.


Unfortunately, the replacement sac, gasket and o-ring won't be here until Monday, so I'l have to wait to advance.

Lastly, after soaking the snorkel in an ammonia solution for two or three hours, it still won't pass water easily. When I hold it up to the light, I can just barely see a dot of light through it. I can't imagine this is the proper flow. Is there another, more aggressive means of unclogging it?

OK, if the parts arrive on Monday only, then you have plenty of time to take the pen apart and clean thoroughly and lowly. If you proceed slowly you are less likely to damage the pen. Just don't forget to keep the parts in a box with a lid so that you don't lose any while waiting for the parts.

There is a more aggressive method to unclog the snorkel tube: that is to floss it out, with a thin wire or perhaps you can do it too with some thicker fishing line as well. If you can see the light through it, the clog cannot be that bad. Do not forget that there is a hard rubber feed in the tube, therefore you will not see a round spot of light through it.
If you can blow water through the snorkel tube, even if only slowly, doing that might also help cleaning up the clog.

Yeah, I realised there was a feed in there when I removed the snorkel from the stopper. At first I thought, "wow, that ink sure is stuck in there!"

The thinnest wire I have is still a bit too thick for it to pass with ease. You mentioned fishing line is helpful, I might see if I can't source that. If not, I was also told that a guitar string is particularly helpful for cleaning out feeds (at least for lever fillers), although it may be a bit too thick.

Thank you all for all your help.

Got everything in today, and installed it all.

The pen works magnificently. Perfectly smooth, not too wet, and reliably.

Thank you all for all of your help.

-DerMann

Snorks are great! I've still not decided which I like better -- Parker "51" or Sheaffer Snorkel, I waver back and forth all the time. "51" holds more ink, especially the vacs, but all but two of my Sheaffer nibs are wonderfully smooth (the two that arent are badly damaged), while the Parkers range from near perfect to very cranky from wear.

Peter

Well I just bought another Snorkel (for myself this time), and I'm having a bit of trouble getting the blasted section off.

The nib comes off without any trouble, but even after ten minutes of low heat from a hairdryer, the section does not want to come off.

The first snorkel I restored didn't even require heat. A touchdown I did last week only needed a minute or so of heat and it screwed right off.

This snorkel is being ridiculously stubborn.

Aside from heat, is there any other means of undoing the thread sealant in the section? Any particular method that I seem to be missing?

I've got one that I'm convinced the previous owner glued together. Not section-to-body, happily, but the point-holder-to-section so the gasket is inaccessible. On the other hand, a "51" I've have to do with took about 12 hours of heating before the hood would come loose, so yours may just be extra stubborn. Heat + Time + Patience² = Joy (usually)

This is a bad sign -- I have one that I finally got apart, but the guts are rusted together and I'll have to run a thin screwdriver up though the sac protector to get the blind cap off, it's full of Peacock ink from being filled by pulling up on the filler when the sac broke. The barrel has a number of longitudinal cracks, although I cannot tell if they are from attempts to unscrew the barrel or from internal expansion of corroded parts. Likely the former, as there are plier marks on the section and blind cap, which turns freely from a loose screw. I'd not have bothered with it except it's a Crest in Sage Green, an uncommon combination.

Since the section came out with part of the sac protector, I'm guessing it's total junk inside, but I'll see.

Sadly, people often discover it's possible to get ink into a Snork after the filler fails by immersing the nib and yanking up on the filler tube, then inverting the pen and slowly pushing the filler tube back up. This invariably gets ink, usually corrosive, into the innards, and then the blind cap won't unscrew, etc. because the spring is rusted to the barrel and stuck.

It's a gamble when you buy them in the wild, and for every one you get in easy to restore shape, you get one that's not.

About half seem to have the barrel shellaced, but that lets go with some heat pretty easily. Get it just hot enough to be almost uncomfortable to hold, and the barrel will come right off unless there is a corrosion problem.

Peter

Well about half-way through Casino Royale (the one with David Niven not Daniel Craig) I wrestled off the section using some improvised section pliers. There was a very dry substance in there which didn't look at all like shellac (and there was a lot of it). Cleaned up easily.

The snorkel tube had already been removed by this point. When I got the sac protector out, I felt something odd. THE SAC WAS IN PERFECT CONDITION. Spent the next twenty minutes trying to get the snorkel back in position.

Writes great, though.

That's good. Someone must have used section sealant or something else on the section. I don't, it's too much hassle.

I'm glad your pen turned out better than mine....

Peter