Wing Sung 601 Piston Mechanism

[Manalto]

I just received a Wing Sung 601 from office_supplies_pen (via eBay). It looks great; the "army green" is less military and more deep, botanical. I filled it with six pumps of the piston with Diamine 'Oxblood' and it wrote well.Then I decided I'd get more use out of it with a more neutral-color ink, so decided to flush the oxblood and refill. The plunger went in but didn't return. It had been a little sticky at the top end of its action from the outset, so I gently tried to loosen it by giving it a little help. The spring appears to have failed; the plunger will remain depressed or immobile anywhere along its route. Quality-control issues are disappointing but no big surprise with Chinese pens. I have requested a return through eBay, which I assume is either a refund or replacement. I have two questions:

 

Have others encountered piston-mechanism failure on the WS 601?

 

Has anyone fixed it?

 

 

[Mech-for-i]

Well .. sad to hear that but these kind of things do happen and with Chinese fountain pens; a bit more than we would like to see ... OK back to the 601; No I have a bunc of them both the piston pump and the vacumatic style diaphragm .. they've been working fine for me , and that is going through might be 4 or 5 fills already. None of them had seen any real service after the initial cleaning ( before inking for the first time ) .. I am expecting it would need some CLA down the road but so far so good ..

[Manalto]

Update: The seller replied, telling me to disassemble and grease the rubber ring on the piston mechanism. This is annoying because I don't know what kind of grease to use (I could find out easily enough here - I assume wheel bearing grease will do the trick ) and I didn't intend to buy a pen that I have to fix, I bought a new pen.

 

In the meantime, I took the pen apart and put it back together, sans lubricant. It works fine now. Needless to say, I've been able to easily flush ALL of the 'Oxblood' ink out of it, so the blue ink I replace it with will be its true color.

 

Thanks for your response, Mech. What's "CLA"?

Edited August 10, 2018 by Manalto

[Mech-for-i]

CLA = Clean, Lube, Adjust

[Manalto]

I guess a little CLA is in order. It jammed again whenI tried to refill.

[NighthawkSix]

Pure silicon grease is the lubrication of choice on a pen. I've received some pens from China with a converter filled with it.

[penzel_washinkton]

Silicone grease, usually WS 601/618 comes with one.

This is actually the first time I've heard a complaint on piston mechanism failure on 601. You should push for a replacement unit if you see this occurring again after with silicone grease.

[LiquidInk]

I bought from that seller before and had a good experience with him offering a replacement when the quality wasn't up to snuff, not talking about design flaw since that is not going to change between pens

[Manalto]

Thanks. As I mentioned above, the seller told me to grease the piston ring, so he may have sent silicone grease with the pen. I hope I didn't overlook it in the big wad of bubble wrap the pen came in and toss it.

 

It's good to hear that this pen's malfunction is unusual. Aside from this hassle with the piston, the 601 seems pretty nice. It reminds me of another pen - I just can't put my finger on which one.

Edited August 11, 2018 by Manalto

[penzel_washinkton]

The silicone grease usually comes inside the box in a converter/plunger already filled with it, Mine was a red color handle plunger/converter

[Manalto]

Using my own silicone grease (Super Lube) I got the pen working just fine. I liked its weight and feel and performance (thus far) so much as an EDC/workhorse pen, I bought another (dark red) to hold red ink for marking students' papers. This one (from the same seller) included the grease in a plunger that you describe and also a little plastic tool for opening up the piston mechanism. The first pen was either missing it or I had gotten into the cooking sherry at the time I opened the package and I was the one who missed it.

[Dip n Scratch]

Greasing a piston-fill 601 reduces the chances of a potentially fragile mechanism failing very quickly. It is best to do it before you ink it for the first time.

There's a few variants of this pen: Vac or piston fill, then with or without ink windows. Why?

[Manalto]

There are a few variants. I just chalk it up to the capriciousness of the market.

[sciumbasci]

Greasing a piston-fill 601 reduces the chances of a potentially fragile mechanism failing very quickly. It is best to do it before you ink it for the first time.

There's a few variants of this pen: Vac or piston fill, then with or without ink windows. Why?

Isn't the piston variant a robust mechanism?

I asked this before and got told it is.

[Manalto]

It's hard for me to think of a tiny mechanism made of plastic as "robust" but I'll let someone with more pen-construction smarts answer that one.

[steve50]

Umm is the piston mechanism screwed into the barrel? I'm having the same problem and don't know how to remove it safely. Any tips?

[Argee]

yes, you need a 5.5mm socket to unscrew it.

[steve50]

yes, you need a 5.5mm socket to unscrew it.

Thanks for that. Do you also know what I am supposed to grease up with silicone lube?

 

edit: Sorry it's already mentioned in an earlier comment - the ring in the mechanism

Edited September 14, 2018 by steve50

[WJM]

I got a tool for unscrewing the mechanism with the pen, but I could easily do it with fingers.

Edited September 15, 2018 by WJM

[Manalto]

...or a pair of needle-nosed pliers and a gentle touch.

 

Follow-up: I emptied out my pen, cleaned and lubricated it. It wrote beautifully. Then, when the ink started to get low, I tried to fill it and the plunger was frozen again, with no spring action (the original problem that caused me to start this thread).I forced it up and down a few times to be sure I had ink in it, took it to work and lost it there. Problem solved.

 

Follow up of follow-up: Going through notebooks this morning, the pen dropped out - not lost after all (sigh). Piston mechanism can be moved but it's quite stiff and not springing back as it should.

Edited September 17, 2018 by Manalto