"Cartridging" a lever filler

[Kabe]

Is it possible or too hard to turn a lever filler into a cartridge pen?

 

I have a few vintage waerevers, sacless, and the price of ordering sacs, getting shellac, and a lot of the stuff makes it uneffective to try to restore them the old fashioned way, as post is too expensive to this corner of the world.

 

So, can they be cartridge converted?

[Ricks]

Is it possible or too hard to turn a lever filler into a cartridge pen?

 

I have a few vintage waerevers, sacless, and the price of ordering sacs, getting shellac, and a lot of the stuff makes it uneffective to try to restore them the old fashioned way, as post is too expensive to this corner of the world.

 

So, can they be cartridge converted?

 

No it is not inpossible to do that at all.I have done it,as a mater of fact I converted one of my Waerevers.The only thing you have to do is take a kit pen nib and turn tor threads off so you get a good friction fit.(this can be a bit tricky but not to bad.)

Edited June 3, 2009 by Ricks

[ZeissIkon]

 

Okay, you're in Mexico -- but unless you own a lathe already, and know how to use it, you'll spend hundreds of US dollars on tooling to save $50 or so in materials to resac your pens. And then you'll make a lot of chips with no utility just learning to run the lathe. And then you'll most likely ruin the first two or three (or more) pens you try to do this to.

 

FWIW, with some feeds it might be possible to simply drill a small hole and glue in a suitable tube as a piercing nipple, but the cartridge nipples in my two cartridge pens actually have multiple capillary passages in them, presumably carrying the feed's separate ink and air passages right up into the cartridge or converter.

 

In general, I'd suggest you'll be ahead obtaining shellac locally (buy some from a fine woodworker, if nothing else) and ordering the sacs you'll need -- they're not terribly expensive, and they're light, so shipping is generally cheap (by US standards). And they don't look valuable, so they have a reasonable chance of arriving via the Mexican postal system (which I've heard is, um, less than secure).

[Kabe]

Nutshell: Not worh it?

[Kabe]

Nutshell: Not worh it?

[ZeissIkon]

I wouldn't even try; I'd concentrate on restoring the lever filler, even as a Frankenpen -- but then I love lever fillers and I have little liking for cartridge fillers (this is an admission of bias).

 

That said, if you really prefer cartridge fillers, I'd bet you could get one in trade for your unrestored lever filler (maybe even from me, though I haven't anything above the "daily writer" category). Failing that, depending on the brand of pen, it might be possible to replace the feed with one from a compatible cartridge pen and get something that will flow correctly -- I'd personally be more comfortable replacing the feed than trying to friction fit a turned-down nib and feed assembly from a pen kit. Depending on the pen you have, there may even be an easily obtained cartridge feed that's close to a "drop in" fit.

[Vintagepens]

I would agree wholeheartedly: restoration is much easier and cheaper than conversion, and more satisfactory in all respects.

There is not a place in the world where shellac cannot be found locally. Postage on sacs should be minimal.

 

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

Converting a perfectly good lever-fill (or plunger-fill or anything else that can be filled from a bottle without disassembly) into a cartridge-fill?

Edited June 26, 2009 by hbquikcomjamesl

[Aysedasi]

I always baulked at installing new sacs (and even moaned at sellers who routinely sold pens which needed re-saccing) but once I'd done it for the first time, I realised what a doddle it is. And if you buy a few sacs and shellac in bulk, the cost shouldn't be so bad, and they'll last you for a lot of pens.....

Edited June 27, 2009 by Aysedasi

[APPLEMAN]

This is how mine ended up.

 

Chris

[Lloyd]

Nice job, Appleman! Now, have you ever converted a CC filler into a lever filler? a piston filler? a vac filler?...