How To Disassemble A Pilot Custom Grandee

[ek-hornbeck]

I've got a Pilot Custom Grandee that isn't feeding ink to the nib, so I want
to disassemble it and clean it. I've unscrewed the section from the connector
ring; that was pretty straightforward. But I cannot figure out how to get the
nib & feed out of the section. Friction fit -- grab and pull straight out?
Unscrew? Unscrew with reversed handedness?

Does anyone know how to disassemble the feed/nib/section of a Custom Grandee?

These pens are quite lovely, I think. The nibs are soft and springy, which
feels good when you write with them. The maple version of the pen is
unusual and very attractive, and it feels nice in the hand. I don't think they
get half the appreciation on the net as they deserve.

E.K.

[Flounder]

There's a photo here of the feed removed - but might be simpler and safer just to clean it without disassembly?

[ek-hornbeck]

There's a photo here of the feed removed - but might be simpler and safer just to clean it without disassembly?

 

Those photos are great! Thanks; that is useful.

 

As for your second remark: yes, it would be simpler and safer. But I've already tried that. I've used a bulb syringe to flush it. I've flushed it with water. And with Koh-i-noor pen cleaner, which is great stuff. Didn't fix the problem.

 

When I force ink into the feed & collector by giving the knob on the cartridge converter a half turn to push its piston forward, the feed & collector fill up with ink, and the pen writes fine for a line or two. So it seems clear to me that the ink path from the collector forward to the tip of the nib is working well; it is the path from the cartridge converter to the collector that is the problem.

 

So I thought I would disassemble it and have a look.

 

I have found, when dealing with old pens, that if I'm not willing and able to disassemble them, that eventually they stop working on me. A new pen is a different story.

 

Part of the problem is that I use nano-pigment inks, for their archival, permanent properties. (The saturated colors are also a nice win.) These inks put an extra burden on you to clean your pens more thoroughly. Some pens are designed to be disassembled easily, such as the TWSBI 580 or the Conid pens; they are easy to clean and maintain. But old pens can sometimes be harder to take apart. So you have to make a little investment in doing your homework on the net to get on top of it.

 

Some old pens are nice enough to make it worth the effort. So here I am.

 

E.K.

[ek-hornbeck]

There's a photo here of the feed removed

That was very useful. After staring at those photos very carefully, I was able to mostly disassemble my Custom Grandee. Those photos are particularly important because this pen has an unusual structure -- the nib is not mounted on the feed! Instead, it's mounted on this structure that's an integral part of the section, and the feed is slid into position under it. I've never seen a pen with a similar internal architecture.

 

All this means that you disassemble the pen in a non-standard way -- once the connector is unscrewed from the section, you simply push the feed backwards with a fingernail, and it pops out the back of the section.

 

The one thing I was not able to do was remove the nib from the section mounting. I suspect it snaps into position, but I couldn't figure out the best way to unsnap it with least odds of damaging it. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

 

In any event, once I had the pen knocked down into its component parts (except for popping the nib off the section), I rinsed them in water, gave them a multi-day soak in Koh-i-noor pen cleaner, and reassembled the thing. It writes great, so problem solved!

 

I'd still like to figure out how to get the nib off the section, though.

 

Thanks, everyone, for the help.

 

EKH

[Flounder]

I'm not really au fait with this model, but most of these Pilots aren't 'truly' inlaid nibs, in the sense that the section isn't injection molded around them. It can probably be unclipped & unsealed, but as you've seen yourself, there's no need even for a deep clean.