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I'm trying to replace the seal inside the bottom of the barrel in a Sheaffer Vac-Fil pen. The directions I've read say to install a "donut" seal and then a washer into the cavity. These are available from a number of pen part suppliers like Vintage Pens. The donut is a press fit, and the washer sort of lies on top of it just making contact with the barrel's interior surface but not actually pressed into the 1/4" diameter cavity, since the donut takes up most of the cavity's depth. MEK is then dripped onto this "sandwich" to weld it together and to the barrel. In two or three tries, I've failed to obtain a bond using the product available in my local hardware store, MEK Substitute. The washer always comes loose when the rod is run up through the sandwich seal. I'm using about 5-7 drops applied with a pipette. I've even cut down a scrap barrel so I can see what's going on when I install the donut, washer, and the MEK. Just looks like the MEK Substitute isn't actually welding well enough to bond the parts together. I assume MEK itself, not the substitute, is unavailable to the general public. Is there another solvent I can use? Should I attempt to bond the donut and washer in place with an adhesive? Any suggestions would be appreciated.