I recently acquired a Sheaffer Vac-fil (Pictures attached) with a triumph nib (fine to medium) in a lot of pens off of eBay. It is pretty well shot. The ink container inside the barrel had a major hole in it (irreparable), but the plunger was shot anyway. My two options are to either sell the pen for parts or to fit it with some other sort of filling mechanism. The major parts of this decision are outlined below. Hopefully you guys can help.

1. Selling for parts:
I don't know a thing about these pens, nor do I really specifically know what model pen this is. The cap has some big flaws in the celluloid, but there is no brassing to be found. The barrel and blind cap are great, and the metal of the plunger bar is in great shape. The rubber plunger is shot. It has a visulated section, but the ink container is quite broken. It has a two tone 14k triumph nib in good shape. If anyone can think up a fair market value for this, I would appreciate it.

2. Fitting with a different filling mechanism:
I was looking at attempting to fit a cross piston converter into the pen, but it would require a bit of cutting and drilling of both the pen and the converter. I am open to other ideas. As long as the pen doesn't change in outward appearance, I'll consider it a donation to pen science. So if you've ever wanted to try to fit another kind of filler onto one of these but didn't want to sacrifice a good pen, consider me your means of experimentation. Just let me know what you wanted to try.

Thanks for your considerations
-Robert

Looking at your pictures, I don't see what the problem is. Richard Binder and I restore these pens on a regular basis. As long as the pen is not cracked, it should be repairable. If the "cartridge" inside is damaged, I have replacements. When properly restored, they hold a fair bit of ink, and are very nice writers.

Thank you. The "cartridge" inside is indeed cracked in two. It is good to know that you have replacements in stock if I ever wanted to restore it to original form. I just didn't feel I should invest the money and the turnaround time of having it fixed with the damage to the cap. I have attached another picture to show what that damage is. It's almost like the celluloid rusted. I can't figure it out. I thought it would be a fun learning experiment in pendom to try to make this pen usable myself, even if it isn't original or correct.

-Robert

Please....Please don't cut the pen up.

Sometimes gunk can make a pen look worse then it really is.

Maybe the cap liner has become exposed and is showing through.

Could be you only need to replace the cap. After restoration (by you or a pro like Ron) the pen will be a great addition to a daily pen rotation.