Working A Button Filler?

[chromantic]

Wondering what's the right way to fill a button filler, as in how many times do I push the button and how fast or slow?

 

Received a beautiful old Thrift Time button filler; the button springs freely and I can hear the pressure bar moving when I push the button but I didn't want to force the pen open to inspect the sac so I don't know its condition. So I thought I would try filling the pen with plain water to test it. When I dipped the nib into the cup of water and pushed the button a couple of times, much to my surprise green ink came out (I had run the dry nib over my fingertip and on paper too, to gauge its smoothness and no ink had come out then.)

 

I couldn't tell if it was maybe just dried ink on the feed or some in the sac that was reconstituted with the water drawn up. So, I took it to work and used it for a couple of hours (very light use) before it ran dry. I have repeated the process today, this time with the object of fully flushing the pen to put in new ink. I'm not sure, though, of the proper way to operate the filler. I'm assuming I just immerse the nib completely in the ink and push the button several times but rapid pushes or more push and wait, push and wait?

 

It doesn't seem to be pulling in a lot of liquid now. When I fill it with several pushes then hold it against a paper towel and push the button a few times, I get a large wet spot then 2or 3 smaller ones then nothing, which doesn't seem like a lot.

 

No liquid comes out of the back of the pen (at the button), btw. Thanks in advance for any advice/tips/pointers.

[FarmBoy]

Try blowing through the section. If air passes the sac is bad.

[chromantic]

Thanks, FarmBoy, I'll try that.

[mitto]

Or there could be no sac at all in the pen.

[chromantic]

I did blow through the section and air passed out, so either the sac is bad, as FarmBoy says, or there's no sac at all, as mitto says. I had feared as much as it seemed to me that noise from inside should be more muted or muffled if the pressure bar was pressing against a soft rubber sac. Well, off to a restorer, then. I've been wanting to try Mr. Fudge, I've heard good things about him.

[mitto]

If the pen had an old sac in it it would have either had a hardened sac so you wouldnt be able to push the button or it would have had a punctured/bad sac and in that case the pen would have dripped ink out of the button end.

 

And since you were able to push the button freely and there was no driiping of ink from the button end, my guess was there was no sac at all in the pen.

 

Resacking button filler is easy peasy. Once you disassemble the section from the barrel you would be able to understand how the pen works and hence rasacking wouldnt be difficult. There are videos on you tube showing how to resac a button filler.

 

Best.

[peterg]

Or the sac has hardened and then crumbled when the button was pressed

[ac12]

Or the sac disintegrated and turned to rubber particles.

 

The general rule, that I was taught and use is, if in doubt as to the age of the ink sac, REPLACE it.

So when I get a pen, it goes right into the repair queue, to replace the ink sac.

[PAKMAN]

Fudge will fix you right up!

[chromantic]

Thanks for all the advice. I've tried to get the section off and it just won't budge; I'd rather send it to a pro than risk breaking it.

[mitto]

Good decision.

[ac12]

Descretion is the better part of valor.

If in doubt, punt.

 

In my experience, removing the section is the most dangerous part of resacing a pen.

That is where you will break, damage or destroy the barrel. I have the pieces of a few of those pens in my AW SH!T box.

 

The tuition of pen repair, is the damage or destruction of pens that you are learning on.

[mitto]

Fudge will fix you right up!

 

His pen. Not him. Lol