A comment on installing a nib in Sheaffer vacuum fillers (aka wire pens) after restoring the pen.
The following sentence should be in all caps, bold, italic, underlined and 50 point type. In Levenger Fireball red.
Do not use shellac to seal the threads when you screw the nib back into the pen. It makes it @#* to get the nib back out in the future.
Thank you.
PS - use section sealant, or even better yet, Sheaffer formula thread sealant.
QUOTE (Ron Z @ Aug 28 2008, 10:42 AM) 
A comment on installing a nib in Sheaffer vacuum fillers (aka wire pens) after restoring the pen.
The following sentence should be in all caps, bold, italic, underlined and 50 point type. In Levenger Fireball red.
Do not use shellac to seal the threads when you screw the nib back into the pen. It makes it @#* to get the nib back out in the future.
Thank you.
PS - use section sealant, or even better yet, Sheaffer formula thread sealant.
The following sentence should be in all caps, bold, italic, underlined and 50 point type. In Levenger Fireball red.
Do not use shellac to seal the threads when you screw the nib back into the pen. It makes it @#* to get the nib back out in the future.
Thank you.
PS - use section sealant, or even better yet, Sheaffer formula thread sealant.
Ron,
In some of the pens I just put some silicone grease on the threads, and that seems to hold the ink. Would this have any long term issues?
Julio
Silicone grease is designed to be a lubricant, not a sealant. It does, in some cases, keep liquids from moving through threads because it repels the liquid so that capillary action doesn't come into play. But I don't like it because it migrates and goes where it shouldn't go. Like maybe the feed. I also don't like it because the lubrication allows you to over tighten the nib, shell, or section without you knowing that you're doing so. That means that the plastic might crack because of the stress.
A rosing based thread sealant fills the area in the threads so that liquid is blocked from getting through, IT provides some resistance to the threads unscrewing, but releases with gentle heat so that the assembly comes apart again.
Shellac seals well, and as we know, acts as an adhesive. The lucite plastic of a 51 can handle both the heat needed to soften the shellac, and the stress applied when you unscrew the hood. Not so with the section of a wire pen. The plastic is rather thin celluloid, which may distort with the heat, or worse yet, shear off if you try to turn the nib before the shellac on the nib assembly threads softens and releases.
A rosing based thread sealant fills the area in the threads so that liquid is blocked from getting through, IT provides some resistance to the threads unscrewing, but releases with gentle heat so that the assembly comes apart again.
Shellac seals well, and as we know, acts as an adhesive. The lucite plastic of a 51 can handle both the heat needed to soften the shellac, and the stress applied when you unscrew the hood. Not so with the section of a wire pen. The plastic is rather thin celluloid, which may distort with the heat, or worse yet, shear off if you try to turn the nib before the shellac on the nib assembly threads softens and releases.
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