Ahoy!

First, I'd like to ask right off the bat- who 'round here might do Conklin Nozac repair? I ran into something I'd been waiting for for a long time: a sub-$200 user grade Nozac. Except, it's turned out that the piston is leaky. 99% functioning, but leaky.

The short version: it's leaky. After a couple of fills with ink, I found I had ink coming out of the bottom of the pen. The seal *looks* good, but evidentially isn't; ink is getting past the seal while expelling ink and then getting pressed out during the intake phase. It seems that only a little ink is getting out, as it does take a few fills to get ink past the piston to where it doesn't belong, at which point it does happily ooze out. I have confirmed that it is indeed the ink I'm using rather than something left in the pen and all dried up.

The piston mechanism works, the knob does what it should. Like I said, it sips and spits, but some ink is getting past. My questions are:

1. Is there any hope of me fixing this?
2. Who is good for Nozac piston work?
3. How much are we talking for this sort of job?

If it was something that looked expensive, I'd probably resell the pen, or save it for restoration down the line. New baby in the house, our first, a few days shy of his 12-week birthday.

Thanks all!

Regards,
Aaron

Try Conrad Kirby who specialises in Conklin at: pete@petespenshop.com
Cheers
Innes

I think that Richard Binder also works on Nozacs--he's at richardspens.com .

John

One other note about the condition of filler that I think is rather diagnostic- when you do get it to leak out a bit of fluid, it happens with the release of pressure rather than a steady drip. That is, when I am turning the knob in the "fill" mode, the piston comes down, and then begins to slow, or even stop outright- it's encountering resistance with the buildup of air pressure beneath the piston, and the liquid down in the lower part of the mechanism is acting as a seal, presumably in the threads or opening through which the shaft turns. I have to give it a little pull and then with a sound just like a Sheaffer Vac-Fil, it goes *spoofsh* and a little ink comes out the bottom. All I mean by this, is that the piston does hold the deal most of the time, oddly enough- there seems to be some small opening or imperfection with it.

I almost wonder if it could be left to work again- I'm not sure when this pen was used last, it doesn't look like it has much more than drawer wear, and it certainly doesn't need bright backlighting to check the ink level. I wonder if a bit of soaking in the right solution could right the piston? *sigh* Or, that's what I keep telling myself. ;P

Funny, how unlike a Pelikan 100, I'm willing to pay for the outright repair of this pup, even though both are high-value pens that I got a surprisingly good deal on. I guess it's because the Pelikan 100 is a bit studier and easier to repair, whilst the Nozac is somewhat inscrutable, with there being little documentation for me to go on how to disassemble the mechanism for cleaning or repair.

Thanks all for the info!

A working vintage Nozac is not a cheap pen, as long as there are no major cosmetic defects.

First step might be to fill it with water and let it sit for a few days. The cork might be dry, and letting it moisten might be enough to fix it for now. It's certainly simpler than replacing the cork, which might be the next step. However, your last post led me to suspect something else.

If there is resistance when the piston is coming down, the ink channel might be partially blocked. This could be confirmed if the pen fills slowly as you intake ink. Perhaps the pen was stored inked, and it dried in the channel. In that case, pressure would build as you expelled ink until the cork was no longer able to keep a seal. To fix that, you'd need to remove the section, nib, and feed, and clean them thoroughly, with particular attention to the channel on the feed. Ink (or water if testing) should flow freely into and out of the pen with piston movement. There should be no pressure buildup in the pen below the cork unless you're trying to empty the pen faster than ink can flow through the channel. This should not happen with a clean channel.

Hirsch- unless I'm misunderstanding you, I don't think that's the issue. Ink flows in and out of the feed quite easily. When the pen was dry, and when there was no liquid beneath the piston, the piston moved up and down quite smoothly. It also goes smoothly and without resistance and when I've expelled all of the below-piston fluid. The gaseous pop is coming from the knob end of things, and is triggered when I give the knob a bit of a push/pull inward or outward, which I think might be enough for the now compressed air to push the liquid out. Once this compressed air has equilibrium with atmospheric pressure, the piston is back to smooth- until it goes down another centimeter and I have to give it a jiggle again.

Expelling the ink doesn't cause this problem, but if there is fluid in the knob-end of the mechanism making a bit of a seal, it's easier for outside air to push it's way in than for the compressed air to push it's way out. When expelling, ink comes out quite smoothly, in a steady thin stream if you are emptying the pen somewhat quickly.

Not sure If I'm using the right terminology- if I say above piston I mean the space between the piston and nib, below piston is between the piston and the filler knob.

I don't think this pen was stored with ink in it, or if there was, it's been cleaned extremely well. The transparency of the ink view stripes (it's not a word guage) is pretty good- amber/red in color, but far better than your average non-mint Vacumatics. It's easy to discern the ink level without holding it up to a super-bright light.

I'm going to try letting it sit willed with water for the night. I've never seen ink migrate downward while the pen is just sitting- ink seems to be getting on the wrong side of the piston when the filler is being operated.

How much of a pain is it to remove the piston assembly for repair, assuming that it isn't corroded? I mean by myself, so that I could attempt to oil/paraffin the cork before sending it off to someone else.

Cosmetically, the pen is in great condition- very little wear, even where the cap is against the barrel or where you'd post. For a celluloid pen this old there are very few scratches and scuffs, still a good shine. There is a name imprint, still with green chalk/ink filling the imprint, and it's quite sharp- which is to say I don't think the pen has been overpolished to hide scratches. I don't know if this increases or decreases the pen, but it's a rather odd fellow- it's most certainly a Conklin Nozac, but it isn't marked with the company name, any of it's model names, trademarked names like Cushion Point, patent numbers or even a crescent; the nib appears to be original, and is marked "R.H. Macy / Inc / 14K / Warranted". The nib is the exact same size as the appropriate Cushion Point, same breather, slit is the same length, etc. I'm pretty sure this was a pen manufactured by Conklin for Macy's department stores and sold under their own brand. It has two thin cap bands, and the clip is in the Endura push-style, rather than the newer streamlined clips. It's a gray stripe, with the usual greenish tinge. I know Conklin made other house-brand pens for Macy's, but I've not run into them much personally.

I emailed Conrad Kirby last night but have yet to hear anything- I've never seen so many Nozacs on sale in one place before. I'd prefer sending it to someone who has done a few before because of all the doom-and-gloom I've read about the difficulty in repairing Nozacs. Frankly, I'd love if the person I sent it to told me it was a rare version of the Nozac, worth some money, and offering me some faceted oversize Word Gauge with a broad nib as a trade. If only!

Hirsch- did you have anything you meant to put in there? All we got on our end is a quote of my post, nothing new by you.

I did let it sit overnight filled with water- and it didn't seem to leak or lose a drop. It only seems to leak when I'm in the act of refilling, when the the ink that has made it past the piston does get by. I'm going to let it soak for another couple days, let it dry for 12 hours, then try again.

Aaron