What Pens Have You Restored Today?

[AL01]

The British vintage rabbit hole is a good one: not too expensive, easy to find, many are not too complicated to repair, compared to the deep and immense vintage Montblanc rabbit hole, which I so far mostly stay clear of.

 

I got close to falling down the Montblanc rabbit hole.

 

Let's just say that I am still kicking myself for not getting that wonder '80s 149 for a good deal...

[GlenV]

This is pretty cool! I usually ask a jeweller here in town so solder (or rather point weld) cracked nibs for me. How do you do it? Are you a professional to have the equipment?

Your method is better, I wish I had a laser welder, no no, just butane torch, 14k solder, flux and pickle, inexpensive, still learning how to improve. Like writing, practice practice practice! Has enabled me to save quite a few nibs though.

[Lam1]

Soldering nibs is a work in progress but started a couple years back with a nice jr Duofold that was cracked at the shank to the imprint, had to try. My repairs are intended to solidify the nib so can use, not really trying to make the fix invisible as much caution needed at least for me, especially in the thin part of the shank which sometimes is like paper thin, and a crack can become a chasm with too much heat... the spot soldered is visible on the Morrison but surprisingly can still make out most of the imprint. Ive put the 2

In a 52 1/2 its a very thin 2 actually an Eyedropper nib, but the repair is under the section now.

 

 

Oh, that's really cool! Well done!

Thanks for the pics.

 

I should probably try to learn how to do this, I have many nibs that need to be welded.

[GlenV]

Just finished this vac all cleaned up and taken apart pellet removed but have to order a sac. I couldnt help myself so worked on the nib flexibility too. NOW I have an empty queue...

[IThinkIHaveAProblem]

Just finished this vac all cleaned up and taken apart pellet removed but have to order a sac. I couldnt help myself so worked on the nib flexibility too. NOW I have an empty queue...

Really nice!

[Antenociticus]

I sandpapered the lacquer off an old Hero copper-plated pen, if that counts.

[Addertooth]

I will be playing with laser welding nibs soon. My 40W 808nm laser is a bit too much, so I will give it a shot with a 7+ Watt 450nm laser. I have to wait until my short focus G-2 optics come in. Laser welds have the advantage of using the same type of material for the repaired area, as versus a solder which may be a change in color or strength. As a point of reference for those who are unfamiliar with lasers, 7 Watts at 450nm (deep purple/blue) will cut through the spring from a ball point pen. It is plenty of power. Lasers provide a very narrow spot of

heat, instead of heating the entire nib, so you can wrap the unaffected area with a damp paper towel to keep the rest of the nib from getting too hot. The proper goggles for your laser is vital, always wear them when you are powered up, and DON'T use a magnified view of the working point. Using a camera with a decent zoom IS an approved methods to view the working area. Heavilly filter the lens on the camera.

Edited May 26, 2020 by Addertooth

[pajaro]

I resaccled a Sheaffer Imperial with Touchdown filler with a. Parker 51 pliglas sac. Works perfectly.

[GlenV]

I resaccled a Sheaffer Imperial with Touchdown filler with a. Parker 51 pliglas sac. Works perfectly.

 

 

That is a great idea!

[KBeezie]

The main one I restored was the Sheaffer Balance Craftsman in Rose Glow on the left :

 

 

Purchased under the description of it being 'very well taken care of' and 'serviced by FPH', only to have it be received with old dried ink in the feed and cap, sac completely petrified hard (at least it came out in one piece), and a crack in the cap lip.

 

 

So in a nutshell :

 

• Cleaned out all the old ink, including carefully cleaning and removing all the old shellac off the very thin celluloid nipple
• Knocked the nib/feed/collar out (it's interesting to see the rubber collar that wraps the nib/feed in the balance), cleaned those and adjusted
• Repaired the crack in the cap lip (in the first picture, where the main crack is, is facing the camera)
• Applied a #15 straight silicone sac on it with some silicone adhesive

The Balance Junior Rose Glow on the right (though it looks closer to carmine, it has the black and silver striations thru it) had a crack in the barrel threads which was also repaired.

 

Though my main annoyance with the #15 size of silicone sacs is that the diameter seems small enough that surface tension (at least with Waterman Inspired blue), is causing some of the ink to stay up near the grip, and will burp into the cap overnight when left upright (gas permeability pushing the ink upward when the surface tension holds the ink near the top with air at the bottom). Had this happen with several other pens with the same size silicone sac, but didn't occur when I used a larger #18 silicone sac (when the barrel could fit it), as it seems it was just large enough to prevent too much surface tension. So I might just pull that sac and get a latex 16 on there just to save some headache.

 

Next week will be interesting when I need to restore (or attempt to) 3 Montblancs (221Ps, 320), and 8 Pilot Tab fillers (like how my Pilot Super 250 is configured).

[GlenV]

Nice job thats a cool set

[OMASsimo]

Very nice, indeed. How does the crack look now?

[IThinkIHaveAProblem]

last week i re-sacked 2 snorkels and flushed out a new to me '61.

 

One of those snorkels just would not fill. then it would... a little, but then it wouldn't

finally last night, i had had enough. i pulled the sack out the back hole and pushed the plug back out. turns out the snorkel itself was the problem; no flow.

 

so i flossed it with some guitar strings (9 and 11s) and reinstalled. Re used the same sac since it didnt tear and passed a pressure test.

Now the pen would take up ink! yay!... but wouldn't feed it to the nib/feed... (triumph style) the top slit in the snorkel does not seem to be flowing ink properly. Luckily, I had a spare snorkel. swapped that out and FINALLY after a week of fiddling around with it trying to diagnose the problem, it works, properly.

 

I now have a parts pen that needs a section, a barrel AND a snorkel/plug/sac guard... So i've turned 4 "from the wild flea bay" pens into 3 working and one that is seriously hurting...

 

Now to buy the vac tool so I can finally do the 3 "51"s i have in the queue and my newly arrived, very first Vacumatic! (golden, double jewel, double band (junior?...) with split arrow (no diamond) and speedline filler. Barrel transparency is laughable/non existent, but thats ok, the ultra smooth nib makes it ok

[IThinkIHaveAProblem]

Very nice, indeed. How does the crack look now?

i too would like to see a before and after of the crack and details on your repair procedure?

[KBeezie]

Very nice, indeed. How does the crack look now?

It's shown in the picture of the grouping (with the side that was cracked facing the camera).

 

There's still the small horizontal surface crack above the cap band (but doesn't appear on the inside of the cap). The vertical one starting from the lip got completely sealed in up past the cap band and I also spread a very thin coat of CA on the inside of the cap behind where the horizontal cracks were. On the outside I sanded and polished the area after it was left to cure for 24+ hours.

 

I'll get a closer shot of that area later. When held up to the light you can see where the crack was in a smaller gap than the original, as clear transparent resin of sort (where as most of the rest of the celluloid is opaque~translucent.

[Carguy]

It's shown in the picture of the grouping (with the side that was cracked facing the camera).

 

There's still the small horizontal surface crack above the cap band (but doesn't appear on the inside of the cap). The vertical one starting from the lip got completely sealed in up past the cap band and I also spread a very thin coat of CA on the inside of the cap behind where the horizontal cracks were. On the outside I sanded and polished the area after it was left to cure for 24+ hours.

 

I'll get a closer shot of that area later. When held up to the light you can see where the crack was in a smaller gap than the original, as clear transparent resin of sort (where as most of the rest of the celluloid is opaque~translucent.

 

I don’t work on cracked pens, just not enough knowledge/experience to do it. Can I ask a dumb question? What is the “CA” you refer to?

 

Thanks,

 

Mike

[IThinkIHaveAProblem]

i suspect its https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanoacrylate aka krazy glue aka super glue

 

KBeezie please correct me if i'm wrong.

[KBeezie]

i suspect its https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanoacrylate aka krazy glue aka super glue

 

KBeezie please correct me if i'm wrong.

Pretty much, though different brands have different concentration of CA and other formulations.

 

I prefer to use the Gorilla super glue that comes clear as it has one of the higher average concentration of CA, doesn't run like water (but isn't a gel), and is "Impact tough". But I'm sure the professionals have their own choices for fills or such followed up by some pristine sanding/polishing for slight overfills. Then there's also MEK (ie: Solvent welding) that can take about a week+ essentially softening the material so it merges back together again like the crack never happened (as opposed to just holding it together with a filler).

 

PS: Keep in mind, I'm an amature/hobbyist, and most of the stuff/info I have comes from the people who do it professionally, but I'm not experienced in that way and use mostly consumer materials for my own work.

Edited June 4, 2020 by KBeezie

[Zookie]

I got a pen for 2 USD on ebay. The seller said it has a broken nib,it did,so I replaced the nib with a Wearever medium nib. It works fine now!

The pen is a Bombay Stationers pen, actual mfg. Unknown.

Next is an old Imperial that needs resaccing.

[mana]

Oh, on Friday I swapped the piston seal and filling knob unit to a Pelikan 100N I got that day. The seal had shrunk and the filling knob and spindle didnt want to stay connected. Took a bit of tinkering but nothing too serious.