I have a vintage Pelikan 140, and the piston plunger doesn't seem to be retracting all the way, by at least 5mm. I checked my 400NN and the piston seems to retract further. I'm wondering if I can remove the piston and reset the piston shaft so it'll fully retract. Is this hard to do? I've done this on other piston fillers, but never a Pelikan. I certainly don't want to experiment and risk damage. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

Let's see...volume = pi times radius squared times height. Radius is 0.4cm. You want 0.5cm height increase...
I get about one quarter of a cubic centimeter. That's 0.25ml. Is it worth it? Your call, I wouldn't risk it.

Sometimes they come apart easy and sometimes they don't. I normally don't go in there unless I really have to (leaker).
Normally I don't even fill my 140s much over half anyway. Just my 2¢

--Doug

The leadscrew/nut filling mechanism of the piston can be a real PITA to get aligned in the correct spot to make it travel fully. I have had about 10 of these apart and it always takes me a good 15 minutes or so of futzing about to get it in the right alignment.

The filler is into the barrel with a left handed thread. The filler leadscrew (plunger half of piston) is a two start interrupted ACME thread. To adjust it once it is out of the pen, unscrew the blind cap, but hold onto the filler so that the plunger moves, and the blind cap does not unthread itself from the filler totally. Then, aligning the leadscrew of the plunger with the key in the filler, but not engaged onto the blind cap threads, tighten the blind cap one whole revolution. Then engage the leadscrew onto the filler and tighten down the blind cap fully. This will draw the piston up towards the filler. Re insert the filler into the pen, and try the whole range of the piston. If it is still not enough, retry the above, but thread the blind cap into the leadscrew one more revolution than last time before engaging the leadscrew. Honestly, it's really not worth it to fix this if the pen fills and writes nice otherwise. I have now got a raging headache from doing this from memory and am starting to droool slightly.

I would say that it is not really worth it if the pen fills and works properly other than this issue.

Cheers,
Sean

No threads in the barrel, 140 filler is friction fit like the 400. Maybe you are thinking of 100 and 100N which do.

Duh, yeah. Sorry, its been a long day. Though that does make it a little more difficult to repair.

Cheers,
Sean

Interesting- is there some risk of damage by filling past half way? I've been filling my 140 and M400 with a complete fill- is it proper to continue doing so, or am I running a risk of damage I haven't contemplated?

Ah, heck no, no danger. I just think that they hold quite a bit of ink and with a half load one goes for quite a while in rotation. (Err, maybe I also have too many pens inked up at the same time!)

Sorry for any confusion there.

--Doug

Thanks, everyone. I agree -- not worth the effort to adjust; I might very well create a new problem! And yeah, it's not much additional ink. I guess it just doesn't feel "right" as I see my 400NN piston retract all the way. Anyway, keeping this in mind will make it feel "OK". Btw, what great little pens these are. It does seem like they're becoming more appreciated as of late, as prices seem higher than what I remember.

Btw, was there ever a brown tortoise 140?

No,but they have come in four solid colors--black,dark blue,burgundy and green.

John

Yes, there was definitely a light tortoise (cap matching the barrel) and the rare dark tortoise (with dark brown fill-knob and cap, green ink window) which was possibly only a prototype. I've never seen one, perhaps Rick Propas has, but it is referred to in the Pelikan Schreibgeräte (Dittmer/Lehmann, pg 73) and on Werner's page:
http://www.ruettinger-web.de/e-pelikan-modell-120.html

Don't forget the solid grey 140, sumgaikid. I'm lucky enough to have a demonstrator 140.

Fun stuff. --Doug

It's a real pain!
I'd wait until the piston need lubrication, or the seal needs changing, then play with it.
Wouldn't open it just to align the travel.

Enjoy! Super pen.
Paul

With regard to 140s, there is, indeed, a mother of pearl, or light tortoise, 140; and thanks for mentioning it, the only 140 I do not have

There is also, according to Dittmer and Lehmann, a tortoise 140, very uncommon, and that I do have