Blobbing parker vacumatic... How to fix it?

[Rafal]

Hi All,

 

I was wondering if you cold give me some advice. I have this Parker Vacumatic which has new diaphragm and blobs drops of ink from the nib/section when you slightly shake the pen. There doesn't seem to be any leaks and the pen fills with ink very well. It is a wet writer but I have other wet writing pens which don't have this problem. The nib and feed however are fairly loose in the section and I can move them in and out a bit without much of a problem.

 

Do you have any suggestions on how I could fix it?

 

Thanks,

 

Rafal

[Slanski62]

Hi All,

 

I was wondering if you cold give me some advice. I have this Parker Vacumatic which has new diaphragm and blobs drops of ink from the nib/section when you slightly shake the pen. There doesn't seem to be any leaks and the pen fills with ink very well. It is a wet writer but I have other wet writing pens which don't have this problem. The nib and feed however are fairly loose in the section and I can move them in and out a bit without much of a problem.

 

Do you have any suggestions on how I could fix it?

 

Thanks,

 

Rafal

 

Hi. It sounds to me like your Vac isn't holding vacuum, which allows the ink to escape too easily. Think of picking up liquid it a straw by holding you finger on the top of the straw. No liquid comes out, but when you remove your finger, it pours out. That's how it was explained to me. So your vacuum that holds the ink inside your pen isn't complete. I had a similar problem, but in my case, the diaphragm wasn't seated properly. In your case, I bet air is seeping past the nib/feed.

 

Steve

[algabatz]

Hi All,

 

I was wondering if you cold give me some advice. I have this Parker Vacumatic which has new diaphragm and blobs drops of ink from the nib/section when you slightly shake the pen. There doesn't seem to be any leaks and the pen fills with ink very well. It is a wet writer but I have other wet writing pens which don't have this problem. The nib and feed however are fairly loose in the section and I can move them in and out a bit without much of a problem.

 

Do you have any suggestions on how I could fix it?

 

Thanks,

 

Rafal

 

You can use a small amount of bees wax around the feed to tighten it a wee bit. You should also check whether the feed has a "W" imprinted under it. If so and Your pen is not an Oversize, You have the wrong ink feed. There should also be a breather tube attached to the feed, if not, the air/ink mix doesn't work properly.

 

/T

Edited April 5, 2009 by algabatz

[Rafal]

Hi All,

 

I was wondering if you cold give me some advice. I have this Parker Vacumatic which has new diaphragm and blobs drops of ink from the nib/section when you slightly shake the pen. There doesn't seem to be any leaks and the pen fills with ink very well. It is a wet writer but I have other wet writing pens which don't have this problem. The nib and feed however are fairly loose in the section and I can move them in and out a bit without much of a problem.

 

Do you have any suggestions on how I could fix it?

 

Thanks,

 

Rafal

 

You can use a small amount of bees wax around the feed to tighten it a wee bit. You should also check whether the feed has a "W" imprinted under it. If so and Your pen is not an Oversize, You have the wrong ink feed. There should also be a breather tube attached to the feed, if not, the air/ink mix doesn't work properly.

 

/T

Thanks Guys,

 

Would a bit of shellac work to tighten the nib nad feed? I don't know if I can find beeswax.

 

Cheers,

 

Rafal

[OldGriz]

Hi All,

 

I was wondering if you cold give me some advice. I have this Parker Vacumatic which has new diaphragm and blobs drops of ink from the nib/section when you slightly shake the pen. There doesn't seem to be any leaks and the pen fills with ink very well. It is a wet writer but I have other wet writing pens which don't have this problem. The nib and feed however are fairly loose in the section and I can move them in and out a bit without much of a problem.

 

Do you have any suggestions on how I could fix it?

 

Thanks,

 

Rafal

 

You can use a small amount of bees wax around the feed to tighten it a wee bit. You should also check whether the feed has a "W" imprinted under it. If so and Your pen is not an Oversize, You have the wrong ink feed. There should also be a breather tube attached to the feed, if not, the air/ink mix doesn't work properly.

 

/T

Thanks Guys,

 

Would a bit of shellac work to tighten the nib nad feed? I don't know if I can find beeswax.

 

Cheers,

 

Rafal

 

DO NOT use shellac on the nib and feed of any pen.... first it will most likely cause major ink feed problems and secondly, if a restorer has to remove the nib and feed for some reason it could cause breakage not to mention how badly they will curse you....

You could have an air leak somewhere.... it could be a badly seated diaphragm (most likely) or a leak at the body/section.... did the restorer use section sealant when putting the section back into the body....

But from the description of the nib and feed, it sounds like they were not put back in place properly... generally there is no reason to remove the nib and feed from a Vacumatic unless one is damaged... ultrasonic cleaning and in worse cases soaking in technical pen cleaner is all that is generally needed to clean them out...

[Rafal]

Hi All,

 

I was wondering if you cold give me some advice. I have this Parker Vacumatic which has new diaphragm and blobs drops of ink from the nib/section when you slightly shake the pen. There doesn't seem to be any leaks and the pen fills with ink very well. It is a wet writer but I have other wet writing pens which don't have this problem. The nib and feed however are fairly loose in the section and I can move them in and out a bit without much of a problem.

 

Do you have any suggestions on how I could fix it?

 

Thanks,

 

Rafal

 

You can use a small amount of bees wax around the feed to tighten it a wee bit. You should also check whether the feed has a "W" imprinted under it. If so and Your pen is not an Oversize, You have the wrong ink feed. There should also be a breather tube attached to the feed, if not, the air/ink mix doesn't work properly.

 

/T

Thanks Guys,

 

Would a bit of shellac work to tighten the nib nad feed? I don't know if I can find beeswax.

 

Cheers,

 

Rafal

 

DO NOT use shellac on the nib and feed of any pen.... first it will most likely cause major ink feed problems and secondly, if a restorer has to remove the nib and feed for some reason it could cause breakage not to mention how badly they will curse you....

You could have an air leak somewhere.... it could be a badly seated diaphragm (most likely) or a leak at the body/section.... did the restorer use section sealant when putting the section back into the body....

But from the description of the nib and feed, it sounds like they were not put back in place properly... generally there is no reason to remove the nib and feed from a Vacumatic unless one is damaged... ultrasonic cleaning and in worse cases soaking in technical pen cleaner is all that is generally needed to clean them out...

Thanks OldGriz,

 

If the nib/feed weren't seated properly, and I can't find beeswax, what else can I use to fix them into place? I seem to remember that the nib and feed were pretty loose when I got this pen.

 

Cheers,

 

Rafal

[hcsk8ter]

Some pictures of the pen would help. You may have the wrong feed in the pen. Nib and feed should be firm in the section.

[Ron Z]

Like the conversation between the Dr and the patient: "Dr, it hurts when I do this." "Well then, don't do it." Some pens will spurt ink when you shake them, especially vintage pens.

 

But, having said that, there are two things to look for. The nib and feed should not be loose. You can often tighten things up quite a bit by removing them from the section, and then heating the feed to pop out the impression of the nib on the feed. There are some Vacumatics with plastic feeds out there, but most are hard rubber, so you should be OK. You'll find that the fit will be a fair bit more snug than it was before.

 

Shellac will not tighten the nib and feed - it just fills the gap a bit. I tried this in my early days of repair nearly 20 years ago. It really doesn't work, and shouldn't be needed. The bigger problem is that you risk getting shellac where you don't want it.

 

**A reminder - if you knock out the nib and feed, and then reset them in the section, check, and then double check to make sure that the nib is set deep enough that it will clear the end of the inner cap.

 

Second, you do find the occasional pen where the feed is cut a bit too deep, which allows more air than should be, to get back into the pen. But when that's the case, you usually see the pen flood or drip when held point down for a few minutes. The only cure in that case is to replace the feed.

 

But even so, you normally would expect a burp a bit of ink when you shake the pen.

 

[algabatz]

No, don't use shellac or glue or whatever. Maybe You could try and find nother feed. Otherwise bees wax isn't that hard to come by. EBAY LINK

 

/T

[Rafal]

Like the conversation between the Dr and the patient: "Dr, it hurts when I do this." "Well then, don't do it." Some pens will spurt ink when you shake them, especially vintage pens.

 

But, having said that, there are two things to look for. The nib and feed should not be loose. You can often tighten things up quite a bit by removing them from the section, and then heating the feed to pop out the impression of the nib on the feed. There are some Vacumatics with plastic feeds out there, but most are hard rubber, so you should be OK. You'll find that the fit will be a fair bit more snug than it was before.

 

Shellac will not tighten the nib and feed - it just fills the gap a bit. I tried this in my early days of repair nearly 20 years ago. It really doesn't work, and shouldn't be needed. The bigger problem is that you risk getting shellac where you don't want it.

 

**A reminder - if you knock out the nib and feed, and then reset them in the section, check, and then double check to make sure that the nib is set deep enough that it will clear the end of the inner cap.

 

Second, you do find the occasional pen where the feed is cut a bit too deep, which allows more air than should be, to get back into the pen. But when that's the case, you usually see the pen flood or drip when held point down for a few minutes. The only cure in that case is to replace the feed.

 

But even so, you normally would expect a burp a bit of ink when you shake the pen.

Thanks guys,

 

So I took the nib ad feed out of the section, the section out of the barrel and checked if the filler holds vacuum. Turns out that it starts to but when the plunger is fully released, the vacuum is gone. I re-seated the plunger section and the vacuum holding ability is much better. I would still like to improve the tightness of the nib and feed in the section. The feed looks like it's a hard rubber and doesn't have an imprint of the nib on it so it may not help if I heat it.

 

Any other ideas?

 

Cheers,

 

Rafal

[Ron Z]

Try heating the feed anyhow, and see what happens. Both the feed and section cold flow and to some degree or another take on an impression of the nib.

 

The only other thing to do it to heat the section. But this is VERY risky for the inexperienced to try, and you may very well end up with a fried section. Getting the nib and feed back in is then difficult because the ID of the section has returned back to the original size, or nearly so. Intervention by a pro may be needed.

 

I've also run across several cases this year where the retaining ring in the barrel is either scored or opened up. i.e. someone scraped across the ring, and gouged the surface, which allows air to be drawn into the barrel. I've also had 3 or 4 three band standards where the ring is under size by about 20 - 30 thousandths. This prevents a good seal at the filler. In these cases I end up replacing the ring itself.