How happy with this filling mechanism ?
Is it reliable ?
Who fixed it for you ?

Back when I started collecting, my focus was on Sheaffer pens and I had a couple of these... all were restored by Sherrell Tyree who did a fantastic job, albeit not to original Sheaffer specs...
They all filled well and wrote beautifully....
I then switched my focus to Parkers and have sold all but one of them to support my new collection....
If I were to have one restored today, I would contact Ron Zorn or Richard Binder who are Certified Sheaffer Vintage Pen Restorers and will restore the pen to original Sheaffer specs....

Thanks for the info Tom
How reliable did you find them ?
Also did they hold a lot of ink ?

They hold a vast ocean of ink. I've a couple as-yet unrestored that still work, and on that has been put back to near-spec, and they are brilliant. You get about 80% of the barrel filled with ink (as opposed to a piston filler, which has about 50% full of mechanism). The unrestored ones may one day fill my pocket because of a failure in the felt, but it's about the same risk as a Vacumatic diaphragm coming undone and doing the same-- the blind cap MAY prevent disaster.

I have one and love it. It hasn't been restored but probably will need a tune-up someday. The filling mechanism is excellent.

These are probably the most efficient fillers for their size. If restored properly, they should be as reliable as any other filler system. I restore my own (and others), but there are plenty of restorers who do a fine job.
I'm writing an article on these for the next Pennant, so have a look!
Gerry Berg

I have a bunch of them and really like'em a lot. Lot's of different models and colors to choose from; most of them are also very affordable compared to other great pens.

They hold tons of ink and after restoration they work very reliable (Francis aka FPN member fountainbel did all the rebuilding on my recent ones - very fast and great work).

The nibs are usually fine to extra-fine writers but that's great for me.


Cheers

Michael

I have two. Both were sold to me as Snorkels, but I liked them well enough to let that slide. I got decent enough deals on the pair. One is a desk pen that sits on my desk at work. I have only water filled and dipped the other, but it holds water and writes nicely when dipped. I need to get it into rotation soon. The desk pen probably isn't restored and has some problems with the barrel coming unscrewed, but I like it. The other one is supposedly restored, though likely not to spec.

How wonderful to see so many people having and using Sheaffers with Vac-Fill pens.
I had only one Vac-Fill pen and sent it to be fixed.The pen tech got the pen and then told me he lost it with no compensation.
Well since the pen cost me only 30$ I saw it as a lesson well learned for 30$.
I hope to get one for a resonable price and try it as a writer.

Thank you all for the positive responses.

Zorn is magic with these.

-d

These are awsome pens. I have a couple of them now. The first time I filled one and put it into service I didn't think it would ever run out of ink.

They are solid pens, and the larger ones hold a ton of ink. With the rubber that I found back in July for the head gasket (piston washer), most of the pens will fill all of the way, or nearly all of the way to the top. The reliability of the filler has increased with the 0 ring replacements for the packing unit, and the high grade buna-N rubber (within 0.01" of the thickness of Sheaffers original material) for the head gasket, they should last many years.

The Tuckaway versions don't hold as much ink or fill quite as much because the chamber is small, and the stroke too short to develop a really good vacuum to pull the ink in. But it's an amazing site when you watch the barrel fill on a newly restored pen.

Both Richard and I were selected as repair centers for vintage Sheaffers, based in part on the way that we repair these pens.