Here's another one for you. There are multiple uses for this particular object, but there's a clue to what I use it for in the picture. Remember, the idea here is to get you to think outside the box, to look for possible tools or solutions to repair problems in ordinary things around you. I just used the tool prior to sending a pen out this evening......

I think that I showed this to Paul Gilster in Raleigh. If I did Paul, (or anyone else!) you have to keep mum!

If the cap has a rubber insert, it takes Vac and 51 jewels out like crazy.

With a test tube rack, it can hold small parts of pens which are under repair, levers, lever clip rings, nibs, feeds, breather tubes.

With some alcohol, it can hold about a shot of whisky, tell people that it is really watery shellac.

Cheers,
Sean

It's a plastic test tube with a cap. It is used just prior to packing and shipping a pen. It is also bigger than the pen in the background, and appears it could contain the whole pen.
So, presumably, the pen is repaired and has been tested and is working properly. So, the last thing you would do is make sure the pen is empty of ink, water and other fluids.

Put pen in test tube, put test tube in a simple centrifuge, spin pen dry.

I don't see it, but I would want to have some soft, spongy material in the bottom of the test tube.
And a matching weight for the other side of the centrifuge.

There are plans up for a centrifuge are here on FPN - I used a funnel instead of a tube so that the ink could sling out of the pen. If you're interested, you'll find the thread here.

I did ship a bunch of pens in cigar tubes a few years ago. I don't smoke, but when I found a box full of cigar tubes at a garage sale, I bought them.

Sean - no rubber insert. Just a tube with a plastic cap

The advantage to this one is that it is translucent. I also have to tell you that I don't use the object "as found."

I had a feeling it was probably a shipping tube,since the only three things in the picture were the tube,the bottom end of a
P51 S/J(looks like cedar blue),and the table that they both are sitting on......

John

Alright... I'll bite.

Do you fill a Parker "51" with water, submerge the pen to the clutch ring, then fill the pen with water? It would make it very obvious if the top of the hood had any leaks. A glass culture tube would be even better!

Alec

Edited to specify a "51" and to confess to clue back channel.

You're getting warm....

Interesting notion. And alas, Ron, this isn't one you showed me in Raleigh, so I'm in the dark at this point.

Paul

Do you use this to hold water and repeatedly fill-flush a 51 or similar pen till the ejected water runs clear?

Wow. Re-reading my previous post I must have been multi-tasking too much.

Inserting an empty "51" and filling it while submerged to the clutch ring is what I meant. If there was a leak at the top of the hood, air would be expelled.

You could also put a scale on it and use it to test the ink capacity of pens (by filling the pen out of the test tube).

Bingo, that's got to be it.

Judging by the "reference pen" in the background, that tube would easily hold about 100-150 ml of liquid. I think gradations at 0.5 to 1 ml would be too close together to be helpful. Since "Monster Reservoirs" hold about 2 ml I suspect there is another purpose for this disposable labware.

I for one am eagerly awaiting the purpose... but not too eagerly because this speculation is pretty fun.

Buzz does it again! The "object" is a paint ball tube. You're supposed to fill the thing with paint balls and cap it. It'll fit onto the magazine hole on the top of a paint ball gun. The picture at the bottom shows how I modified it for use. The tubes are also very handy for storing your dental picks and other sharp tools when not in use - helps to protect the fingers when rummaging around in your tool box.

It was Leprechaun's question about 51 capacity that prompted me to start this particular thread. The question about how to measure Parker 51 and Vacumatic ink capacity often comes up. The 51 in particular presents a problem because the collector under the hood holds a lot of ink. You can't tell if the pen is filling by measuring the amount of ink that comes out because the collector does it's job and holds the ink, and the breather tube helps to hold the ink in the pen as you pump the filler.

The Parker repair manuals said that the way to measure the capacity of a pen was to measure the amount of ink that was taken into a pen. They provided a tube with two graduations on it. One would fill the tube to the top line with water. If the pen took up enough water to lower the level to the lower line, the pen was working properly.

For a while I used a glass Sanford ink well, but ended up using it for other purposes (like holding a pen in the middle of some repair process) and the inkwell was inconvenient to take to a pen show. So, I pulled out a paint ball tube, cut it off and scribed a line on it. Then I filled the cut off tube to the line, and took a newly repaired 51 and filled it to the point where the bubbles stopped. I then pulled out the pen and looked at where the water level was, then marked that point. In this case the tube has an ID of about 3/4" The lines are about 1/4" apart. The volume between the lines is about 1.6 CC. Rather impricise measurement because the lines on my syringe are well worn, but good enough for figuring out if the pen is filling as it should.

There will be variations between pens because of different length breather tubes, and also between the aerometric, Demi and vac filled 51 pens. But in general if the water level goes at least 2/3 of the way down, the pen is filling fine.

Here's a picture of the tube that I use to measure the intake of 51s.

You know as a part-time, work on mostly my own stuff, apprentice third class, repair want-to-be, I've just recently come to realize that the inspection, testing and fine tuning AFTER the repair is just as (perhaps more?) important than the repair.

You can complete a stunning repair job, but if you don't go through the inspection, testing and fine tuning phase, you might still have a piece of junk that doesn't get used.

That's why I get excited over a paint ball tube with a couple lines scored on it.

Thanks Ron!

John