Sheaffer No Nonsense Converter Problem

[boblister]

I have three No Nonsense pens, two of which I bought new many years ago. Those are a stainless steel and a chased black old timer. More recently I picked up a purple one in a sale. I have never been able to use the converter on the old timer, the barrel just wont fit if the converter is in place. I have measured the depth inside the barrel using a digital calliper and it is 74mm. The stainless and purple ones are both 81mm which accounts for why the barrel wont fit with the converter in place. Has anyone else got an old timer that they can check the internal depth. It's possible something has been pushed down the barrel that shouldn't be there. But I don't want to go poking around if it's meant to be like that. I can post pictures if needed.

Edited February 3, 2017 by boblister

[Ron Z]

Are you using a squeeze or piston converter? Is there a spring in the end? The rollerball versions of the NN have a spring. If someone put a fountain pen nib in and used a squeeze converter without removing the spring, it might have worked. I haven't looked into the barrel of the Old Timer, but they may have put a brass plug in the end like they did the Connaisseurs, which prevents use of a piston converter, though you can use a squeeze converter. You can remove a spring with a hook or a pair of alligator forceps. The plug, if there is one, stays. You can't pull it out.

 

Look for either a spring or a plug. Either of these could be your problem. If the plug, you need to use a squeeze converter....

[boblister]

It's a screw piston converter marked as Sheaffer and by the looks of things it is a plug. I just thought it odd the other two no nonsense barrels dont seem to have a plug. If I can get hold of a squeeze type converter I will give that a go otherwise I might resort to filling a cartridge.

[Yaakova]

Are you using a squeeze or piston converter? Is there a spring in the end? The rollerball versions of the NN have a spring. If someone put a fountain pen nib in and used a squeeze converter without removing the spring, it might have worked. I haven't looked into the barrel of the Old Timer, but they may have put a brass plug in the end like they did the Connaisseurs, which prevents use of a piston converter, though you can use a squeeze converter. You can remove a spring with a hook or a pair of alligator forceps. The plug, if there is one, stays. You can't pull it out.

 

Look for either a spring or a plug. Either of these could be your problem. If the plug, you need to use a squeeze converter....

 

If there's a spring, it might have originally been one of the ballpoints. The No-Nonsense pens came in fountain pen and ballpoint varieties - same body, different sections, and the ballpoints have a spring in the barrel.

[Ron Z]

To a life long fountain pen user, there is little difference between ballpoints and rollerballs.

[Ron Z]

It's a screw piston converter marked as Sheaffer and by the looks of things it is a plug. I just thought it odd the other two no nonsense barrels dont seem to have a plug. If I can get hold of a squeeze type converter I will give that a go otherwise I might resort to filling a cartridge.

 

Some of the Old Timer barrels were used for the herringbone Connaisseur, just pimped out with the disk and button on the end, and a barrel band below the threads. I don't know which came first though, Connaisseur or Old Timer.....

[Yaakova]

To a life long fountain pen user, there is little difference between ballpoints and rollerballs.

 

As far as I'm concerned, if it's not a fountain pen, it's disposable. I'm not advocating ballpoints by any means, just sayin' I inherited a couple along with their fountain pen counterparts. I've also got the Parker 51 and Parker 21 fountain pen/ballpoint sets. I'll never use the ballpoints, but they've been together so long that I hate to split 'em up.