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Sheaffer Vaccuum-Fil Repair


irish_monk

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Outstanding post, Richard. Thanks for the guidance.

 

In future pens I'll return to the Nishimura replacement gasket/washer method.

 

Richard

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Wow. I have learned a ton from this thread. I'm even more excited for the return of the one I sent to Ron. Sure are some knowledgable folks out there. Thanks so much.

"A man's maturity consists in having found again the seriousness one had as a child, at play."

 

Friedrich Nietzsche

 

kelsonbarber.wordpress.com

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Gerry Berg is using some, maybe all, of it; I'm not sure what material he's employing for the plunger washer.

 

Yes. I use the Buna-N material which I cut with Goosens' punches for most of my washers. I do not hesitate, however, to use the pre-cut washers supplied by Victor Chen of Penopoly. On the smalles of the three sizes, Victor's are a hair larger than the Goosens' puch cut ones, and sometimes that is just right size. Victors pre-cut washers are good if you don't want to go through the trouble of cutting your own. In the several hundred plunger-fillers that I have restored, I've had no problem with them.

 

Gerry Berg

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Francis Goossens' method seems to work, but I'm not convinced that it's the best method; his Mark I cartridge requires removal of the original packing, and his Mark II cartridge eats up a nontrivial space in the barrel. I've seen several catastrophic failures of Francis' cartridges; it's my belief that the person installing them simply did not have the skill and the necessary machine tools to do the work precisely enough. My solution for these failures has been to replace the original packing unit housing and then proceed with the method Ron and I developed.

 

A further advantage of the method Ron and I use is that it's adaptable to pens not made by Sheaffer. I currently restore Sheaffer, Wahl-Eversharp, Pilot, Onoto, and Conklin plunger fillers. Neither the Father Terry washer system nor Francis Goossens' cartridges will work for me in all these applications.

 

Richard,

I'm surprised hearing about the "catastrophic " failures you experienced on my cartridges.

I've installed at least 200 of them and only had a few which showed leakage over time because the enclosure screw was too loose.

My work & my cartridges are guaranteed for one year, so when a customer experiences problems I will gladly do the repair for free.

I'm not saying my repair approach is the best, but I'm convinced the maintenance friendlyness inherent to my design is a serious advantage.

And yes ,the additional mark 2 cartridges - made for open nib pens - take 6.0 mm of barrel volume,but I don't this is a big deal given the large amount of ink a well repaired plunger filler can hold;

In fact these cartridges are a technical sound alternative for the "add rubber plug" approach;

Note I already made & sucesfully installed dedicated cartridges for Onoto & Wahl Eversharp plunger fillers.

Francis

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I'm surprised hearing about the "catastrophic " failures you experienced on my cartridges.

Francis, I don't think the cartridge itself is at fault. The failures I've seen were on pens that were worked on by an individual who claimed to be a professional with over a decade of experience restoring pens. (Based on these and other pens I've salvaged after this person worked on them, I consider that claim to be codswallop.) The cartridges were misapplied and the work was extremely crudely performed. My concern is that when someone other than you uses one of your cartridges there's just too much opportunity for mistakes and crappy work. When you do the work, I have no reservations about the reliability of your cartridges.

sig.jpg.2d63a57b2eed52a0310c0428310c3731.jpg

 

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Other than Richard and Ron does anyone else do repairs on Sheaffer Vaccuum-Fil pens, using the traditional methods, that has a reasonable turn around time? TIA

 

I do. I have about a 2 week turn around time. I don't know what you mean by "traditional" methods, but here's what I do:

I re-pack the packing units with DAVID NISHIMURA'S O-RING made of fluorocarbon rubber, which, according to David, is "extremely durable, resisting wear & weathering far better than standard synthetic rubber seals (estimated life span in industrial settings is up to 20 years, versus 2 to 5 years for butadiene)." And I've cut the washer from RON ZORN'S "magical" Buna-N material with a precision punch made by the Belgian master craftsman, FRANCIS GOOSENS.

Sometimes I use washers from Victor Chen of Penopoly. The smallest one is a slightly different size than the Goosens punch.

My e-mail is gberg@sbc.edu

 

Cheers,

Gerry Berg

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Other than Richard and Ron does anyone else do repairs on Sheaffer Vaccuum-Fil pens, using the traditional methods, that has a reasonable turn around time? TIA

 

I do. I have about a 2 week turn around time. I don't know what you mean by "traditional" methods, but here's what I do:

I re-pack the packing units with DAVID NISHIMURA'S O-RING made of fluorocarbon rubber, which, according to David, is "extremely durable, resisting wear & weathering far better than standard synthetic rubber seals (estimated life span in industrial settings is up to 20 years, versus 2 to 5 years for butadiene)." And I've cut the washer from RON ZORN'S "magical" Buna-N material with a precision punch made by the Belgian master craftsman, FRANCIS GOOSENS.

Sometimes I use washers from Victor Chen of Penopoly. The smallest one is a slightly different size than the Goosens punch.

My e-mail is gberg@sbc.edu

 

Cheers,

Gerry Berg

 

I didn't mention Gerry earlier in this thread as I wasn't sure if he was "taking new patients." However, since he is, I want to heartily recommend his work (just as I do Ron Meloche's.) I have several vac-fillers that were restored by Gerry, and they are all fantastic.

Regards, greg

Don't feel bad. I'm old; I'm meh about most things.

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  • 6 years later...
I made the mistake of buying a pretty-looking carmine Tuckaway on ebay. Upon receiving it, I found that it wrote only intermittently. Aaaargh.


After searching FPN for an expert on Tuckaway repair, I decided to try gmberg. I had no idea just how fantastic and thoughtful and generous he is.


I asked him whether he could repair two pens:


1. the malfunctioning Tuckaway and

2. a Waterman 452 1/2v that needed a sac replacement.


Gerry is an expert at Tuckaway repair. He also told me that he'd fix the Waterman even though he doesn't usually do those.


Upon inspection, Gerry found that my Tuckaway had suffered a previous clumsy attempt at repair that had butchered it. Gerry gave me a full rundown of what needed to be fixed, and I asked him to try. It turned out that despite Gerry's skill and expertise, that pen was unfixable.


At this point, Gerry offered to replace my unfixable Tuckaway with a new one from his existing stock, for the cost of the parts and repair that he had already attempted on the broken Tuckaway.


How generous is this?


And now I have a beautiful, solid, super-smooth writer that writes consistently. And the Waterman now fills perfectly, as well.


I am so grateful for gmberg's expertise and kindness. He maintained timely and effective communication throughout. He sends the pens encased in secure packaging, along with expert advice / instruction sheets for the best treatment and use of Tuckaways.


I can't recommend him enough. He can be reached at gberg@sbc.edu.


Thanks, Gerry! :happycloud9:
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I made the mistake of buying a pretty-looking carmine Tuckaway on ebay. Upon receiving it, I found that it wrote only intermittently. Aaaargh.
After searching FPN for an expert on Tuckaway repair, I decided to try gmberg. I had no idea just how fantastic and thoughtful and generous he is.
I asked him whether he could repair two pens:
1. the malfunctioning Tuckaway and
2. a Waterman 452 1/2v that needed a sac replacement.
Gerry is an expert at Tuckaway repair. He also told me that he'd fix the Waterman even though he doesn't usually do those.
Upon inspection, Gerry found that my Tuckaway had suffered a previous clumsy attempt at repair that had butchered it. Gerry gave me a full rundown of what needed to be fixed, and I asked him to try. It turned out that despite Gerry's skill and expertise, that pen was unfixable.
At this point, Gerry offered to replace my unfixable Tuckaway with a new one from his existing stock, for the cost of the parts and repair that he had already attempted on the broken Tuckaway.
How generous is this?
And now I have a beautiful, solid, super-smooth writer that writes consistently. And the Waterman now fills perfectly, as well.
I am so grateful for gmberg's expertise and kindness. He maintained timely and effective communication throughout. He sends the pens encased in secure packaging, along with expert advice / instruction sheets for the best treatment and use of Tuckaways.
I can't recommend him enough. He can be reached at gberg@sbc.edu.
Thanks, Gerry! :happycloud9:

 

Plus One from me...

The Moonwalk Pen - honoring Apollo lunar landings
4-x-2-advertisement-copy-reduced-size.jp

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