Full Version: Repairing Touchdown
In reconditioning a Sheaffer Touchdown I knocked out the nib and feed with a knockout block. However the collector or small tube attached to the feed was broken off. The nib is a feathertouch not a conical nib. Will the pen work OK without the collector?
It should still work, but you may have ink flow problems.
I have never needed to remove the nib and feed on a Touchdown so far -- I have put the whole section in a sonicating bath more than once to clear old ink, but I've never felt a need to disassemble one.
In my limited experience, replacing the sac, sonicating the section with nib and feed in place, and replacing the barrel o-ring have restored the pen to nearly new function.
Peter
I have never needed to remove the nib and feed on a Touchdown so far -- I have put the whole section in a sonicating bath more than once to clear old ink, but I've never felt a need to disassemble one.
In my limited experience, replacing the sac, sonicating the section with nib and feed in place, and replacing the barrel o-ring have restored the pen to nearly new function.
Peter
I've also broken off the breather tube, while I was just fiddling with the feed, thinking, I wonder how easy it is to break this... 
QUOTE (artaddict @ Jul 30 2008, 10:52 PM) 
I've also broken off the breather tube, while I was just fiddling with the feed, thinking, I wonder how easy it is to break this...
You may wish to post this in the 'Lessons I have learned' thread Artaddict.... ;-)
Regards,
Gerry
QUOTE (Gerry @ Jul 31 2008, 02:28 AM)
QUOTE (artaddict @ Jul 30 2008, 10:52 PM)
I've also broken off the breather tube, while I was just fiddling with the feed, thinking, I wonder how easy it is to break this...
You may wish to post this in the 'Lessons I have learned' thread Artaddict.... ;-)
Regards,
Gerry
Not sure I've learned this lesson...
I had a picture of the tool to use when knocking out a feed in a Sheaffer. A simple idea really - Sheaffer cut a slit down the side of their knockout tube so that it would fit around the tail on a feed without risk of damaging it. It was one of the "ah ha!" moments when I was in the Sheaffer repair center in February.
The Sheaffer feeds are especially fragile. That tail goes down about 2/3 of the way down a hole in the feed. The feed therefore is really quite thin because the center is bored out to accept this tail. They break quite easily. One should NEVER try to pull out a Sheaffer feed, but rather always knock it out. You should also try to support the feed alongside the nib when you press it back into place.
I've seen sac type pens work OK without the tail. Not so with a vacuum filler (or as Sheaffer called them "wire pens") - that tail is cut to length and angled so that it pushes the filler wire and washer to one side to allow the ink to flow around the washer. If the tail is missing, surface tension will keep the ink in the back end of the pen, and you'll have to play with the thing repeatedly to get ink to the front of the barrel.
The Sheaffer feeds are especially fragile. That tail goes down about 2/3 of the way down a hole in the feed. The feed therefore is really quite thin because the center is bored out to accept this tail. They break quite easily. One should NEVER try to pull out a Sheaffer feed, but rather always knock it out. You should also try to support the feed alongside the nib when you press it back into place.
I've seen sac type pens work OK without the tail. Not so with a vacuum filler (or as Sheaffer called them "wire pens") - that tail is cut to length and angled so that it pushes the filler wire and washer to one side to allow the ink to flow around the washer. If the tail is missing, surface tension will keep the ink in the back end of the pen, and you'll have to play with the thing repeatedly to get ink to the front of the barrel.
QUOTE (Ron Z @ Jul 31 2008, 12:46 PM)
I had a picture of the tool to use when knocking out a feed in a Sheaffer. A simple idea really - Sheaffer cut a slit down the side of their knockout tube so that it would fit around the tail on a feed without risk of damaging it. It was one of the "ah ha!" moments when I was in the Sheaffer repair center in February.
The Sheaffer feeds are especially fragile. That tail goes down about 2/3 of the way down a hole in the feed. The feed therefore is really quite thin because the center is bored out to accept this tail. They break quite easily. One should NEVER try to pull out a Sheaffer feed, but rather always knock it out. You should also try to support the feed alongside the nib when you press it back into place.
I've seen sac type pens work OK without the tail. Not so with a vacuum filler (or as Sheaffer called them "wire pens") - that tail is cut to length and angled so that it pushes the filler wire and washer to one side to allow the ink to flow around the washer. If the tail is missing, surface tension will keep the ink in the back end of the pen, and you'll have to play with the thing repeatedly to get ink to the front of the barrel.
The Sheaffer feeds are especially fragile. That tail goes down about 2/3 of the way down a hole in the feed. The feed therefore is really quite thin because the center is bored out to accept this tail. They break quite easily. One should NEVER try to pull out a Sheaffer feed, but rather always knock it out. You should also try to support the feed alongside the nib when you press it back into place.
I've seen sac type pens work OK without the tail. Not so with a vacuum filler (or as Sheaffer called them "wire pens") - that tail is cut to length and angled so that it pushes the filler wire and washer to one side to allow the ink to flow around the washer. If the tail is missing, surface tension will keep the ink in the back end of the pen, and you'll have to play with the thing repeatedly to get ink to the front of the barrel.
Thanks for the replies. This looks like a bigger oops than I thought. I will try it as it is and hope for the best
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