Vac Fill Questions

February 5, 2016

Got my vac fill apart (later model with barrel liner and Triumph nib). The nib unit seemed quite stuck, but just a bit of heat and I could twist it out with my finger tips.

And then it went down hill.

I started dumping pieces out of the barrel liner. I knew the piston gasket was off of the plunger shaft from looking through the liner. Looking closer, the nut from the end of the shaft simply slipped on and off of the threads. Stripped. I'm assuming I can replace that easy enough when I order the other parts I need.

Then there was another little piece of plastic that fell out. It didn't take long to realize it was the center feed - that little tang of plastic that sticks out from the back of the rest of the feed. It has broken off flush with the back wall of the main feed.

So now what? Am I going to have to figure out how to get a new feed into a Triumph nib? Can it be carefully glued back in (if so, with what)? Is it even necessary for good functioning?

I've repaired a few different systems and figured I'd go for the vac fill despite what I've read on line. Go figure I've ended up here.....

February 5, 2016

First a comment - if you got the nib out with your fingers, you were lucky. Experience of the folks who regularly repair these (like me) is that without the right tool you have a 50% chance at best in getting the nib out without damage. Fountainbel here on FPN sell s a nib removal tool that takes the numbers up close to 100%. Well worth the money. Having a non-contact infrared thermometer to make sure that you are up to temperature (150-160F) but not over so hot enough to damage the pen, is a big help. I've done these for several years now, and still use one every time I take a nib out.

Now, the displacement tab on the back end of the feed. It is not uncommon to see these snapped off. Some people do it deliberately (a big mistake), or they get broken off. To prevent the rod from snapping it off as you remove the nib I always pull the rod out just a bit so it clears the tab.

There is no adhesive that will be effective here. One is that the material is hard rubber, and in general adhesives don't stick to hard rubber, especially in a butt repair instead of one where the parts overlap and are a close or snug fit. The only repair is to take a piece of stainless wire and fit it into the end of the feed to replicate the function of the rod. Fussy to do, but done right it will work.

The whole purpose of the tab is to push the head gasket aside to allow ink to flow past it and to the front of the ink chamber. Note that sometimes you can get away without the tab on the feed. Early plunger fillers didn't have it. But quite often the head gasket is close enough to the barrel wall that even though it doesn't touch it, the flow if ink around the head gasket is still impeded.

February 7, 2016

"The only repair is to take a piece of stainless wire and fit it into the end of the feed to replicate the function of the rod. Fussy to do, but done right it will work."

Thanks for the information. Given what I had read, I really was going in with an attitude of 'well, I'll give it a shot and if it breaks, I'll have parts'. So I was quite excited when it threaded out with nothing more than a little heat.

So, the stainless rod. I'm assuming you are not inserting it into the actual channel for the ink. This would then require drilling a small hole into the back wall of the feed, correct? How deep do you need to go with it? And centered where the old displacement tab used to be?

Thanks again for the help. I'll be contacting you again outside the forum for some stuff as this moves along.

Edited February 7, 2016 by deeky