Hello all again...

Yes, I know... I ordered already Da Book , but post is so slooow; should be here in a week or more, but in the meantime I would like to ask about disassembling the nib-feed-section of open nib type Sheaffer Balance and Craftsman (#33 nib). Both seem fairly clean but there is still some rest of old ink to be cleaned. I suppose they are friction type (am I right?) and in this case they should be perhaps put into the block to extraction tool?? ... or are they threaded?.

There is another question. The feed prolongs into the sac and on both pens I observed that this prolongation with its ink channel leans to one side of the reservoir, touching it. Is this normal or should I straighten them in order to lay in the centre line of the reservoir?

Thanks again
Jose...

Hi, Jose.

I am certainly not an expert on Sheaffer by any means, but can offer a couple of suggestions.

The nib and feed are friction fit, and you will most likely have to use a knock-out block to remove them, although you may be lucky with a frontal pull by hand (twisting slightly back and forth while pulling). It is likely that the section/nib/feed combination removal will be helped with a soaking in a mild soapy or ammonia/water solution to loosen up a little of the dried ink between the nib, feed and section. This would be most effective if you had an ultrasonic bath, but it's certainly not necessary.

The nib and feed are then driven out using a rod or tube and a small hobby hammer. From your description, I asume that there's a breather tube that extends up into the ink resevoir, and that will have to be protected. You can do this by using a hollow tube as a punch to drive the nib and feed out of the section. The breather tubes are fragile, but if broken off can be replaced with a few other more easily obtainable replacements. They are often curved, but I don't think that was a design element, rather an age effect. The curve does not seem to have an effect on the performance. An attempt to straighten it would likely break the tube.

Hope that helps.

Gerry

Hi Gerry

Thanks a lot for all your info. It seems that most of the secret involved here is common sense, patience and lots of water... a good soak once the nib was removed allowed the rest of dry ink to come out. After that, use of some traction with slight rocking movements did the trick and finally all the parts could be cleaned easy and nice. No extraction block was required with this one.

Regarding the breather tube it seems that it was conceived this way. It arises straight (perpendicular) to the feed, and at midway it bends some 20º to one side till it touches very slightly the sac wall. Same happens in Balance and in Craftsman and I would think this is not an ageing effect. In the latter case the bending should be just from where it attaches to the feed block and not midway, i think, or my physics are turning a bit vintage

Cheers... Jose

If you're wondering why the center feed is bent, read all about it here:

Feeds: Whatever Happened to the Lucky Curve?

Ah Richard... that is absolutely explanatory!!

Yes, the curve was in no way a casual matter, now things are clear and the reason is more than obvious. As I said some posts before, I'm here to learn a lot, and thanks to all of you that have been in this capillary world already a long time...

Jose

Jose,

Time for a little shameless self promotion here.

I have a pair of Fountain Pen repair DVD's that explains and shows the how to's of FP repair. One of the subjects covered is open nib fp's. I have them listed for sale in the marketplace.

Da Book is a great resource indeed, but a text explination will only take you so far. Seeing it done step by step is another thing all together.

Cheers
Dennis

Glad you've found the proper explanation Jose - nothing like a photo to identify what you have right away.

Thanks Richard.

Gerry