Restored 51 Aeromatic?

[woleizihan]

I'm kind of confused about what's a "restored" Parker 51 Aerometric. I have several 51s and do not consider myself an expert in pen restoration. But in my understanding, there are not a lot of things you could possibly do to "restore" a 51 Aerometric. If I pick up one in the wild without dents on the cap and cracks on the body, I can just bring it home, give it a flush, probably polish the barrel a little bit and then the pen will likely be in decent working condition. The only other "restorations" I could think of are possibly replacing the o ring and the stained sac . Or unfortunately in the unfortunate case of a shrank hood affecting the flow, do some adjustments. Actually, one of the reasons I like 51 Aerometricis the fact that normally it's kind of bulletproof. Am I over optimistic/lucky or missing something? I have seen many people talking about "restored" P51 Aerometricand I'm just wondering what does that actually mean. Thanks in advance for any insight.

Edited October 24, 2016 by woleizihan

[FarmBoy]

You may need to replace the breather tube. I would consider that part of any 'restoration'.

[mitto]

Cleaning the collector and feed, replacing the demaged silver breather tube, replacing the ruptured sac, adjustment and alignment of nib tines, adjustment of ink flow are some of the things to be done in the restoration process of an aerometric 51. Needless to say the replacement of the often broken silver brether tube (with one with the proper breather hole) in the early production aero 51s is the only task that would restore the pen back into an AEROMETRIC 51.

[pajaro]

I'm kind of confused about what's a "restored" Parker 51 Aeromatic. I have several 51s and do not consider myself an expert in pen restoration. But in my understanding, there are not a lot of things you could possibly do to "restore" a 51 Aeromatic. If I pick up one in the wild without dents on the cap and cracks on the body, I can just bring it home, give it a flush, probably polish the barrel a little bit and then the pen will likely be in decent working condition. The only other "restorations" I could think of are possibly replacing the o ring and the stained sac . Or unfortunately in the unfortunate case of a shrank hood affecting the flow, do some adjustments. Actually, one of the reasons I like 51 Aeromatic is the fact that normally it's kind of bulletproof. Am I over optimistic/lucky or missing something? I have seen many people talking about "restored" P51 Aeromatic and I'm just wondering what does that actually mean. Thanks in advance for any insight.

 

For a long time I thought that restoring a 51 aerometric was a cosmetic job with a hefty price tag, but there is the breather tube, which might need replacing. If you are going to replace the breather tube, you might or might not want to replace the pli glass sac. If you have the pen apart that far, you might as well make sure it's clean as well. Then there's the time and effort in polishing the pen.

 

What I usually have done is flush the pen and just gone with it. Cosmetic clean up. They always seemed to work, even if I might not have been aware of the pen not filling as fully as it could because of the breather tube probably needing replacement. Who cares if you have a boxful of working 51 aeros and you can carry a couple with you? Still, the breather tube issue is valid.

Edited October 24, 2016 by pajaro

[mitto]

Pajaro, it is the rattling sound of the broken silver breather tube that says the pen needs restoration. Sac, however, need not be replaced unless it is demaged / ruptured.

[woleizihan]

You may need to replace the breather tube. I would consider that part of any 'restoration'.

 

 

Cleaning the collector and feed, replacing the demaged silver breather tube, replacing the ruptured sac, adjustment and alignment of nib tines, adjustment of ink flow are some of the things to be done in the restoration process of an aerometric 51. Needless to say the replacement of the often broken silver brether tube (with one with the proper breather hole) in the early production aero 51s is the only task that would restore the pen back into an AEROMETRIC 51.

 

 

Thanks a lot! That's very intertesting. I've never thought about that before. Most of my 51s are good after a flush,fill, write properly and no rattling sound and I think I have disassembled just 4 or 5 of them mainly for flow problems. Two of them have silver breather tubes, which both look fine so I was thinking silver tubes were replaced mainly because of the cost. But sounds like the silver tubes also didn't perform that well. I think I'll keep some replacement tubes in the future. And of course AEROMETRIC! Will turn off keyboard self correction next time. I didn't even notice that.

Edited October 24, 2016 by woleizihan

[Ron Z]

You don't always need to replace the tube, and there is no point if it is not damaged. But it is a good thing to keep them on hand because a broken one is not uncommon.

 

A 51 often needs to be disassembled to be cleaned properly. Clogged collector fins, feed, damaged breather tube, mineral buildup on the nib, dark sac, improperly set nib etc. often need to be addressed. Additional charges pop up if you have to replace the sac nipple because it has softened because you can't put a replacement sac onto a soft sac nipple. Polishing and smoothing are part of the restoration.

[pajaro]

I have had 51s since the 1070s, and I know what the rattling means and the sac issues and the belief of many that a 51 should be torn down for cleaning. Generally I think less is better, and for many years I felt like the OP. Almost all the breather tubes in my 51s seem intact, one rattles.

 

Interesting that dark sacs need replacement or attention. Two of my 51 Standard models had black sacs when new. I acquired them new. Previous denials by some consortium or junta that these pen's sacs were black when new induced me to put the 51s away, and the consortium is welcome to wallow in ignorance.

[FarmBoy]

It is a syndicate. Specifically, the Syndicate.