Can it be this easy

[welch]

OK, either I've forgotten somethng, or I've just become dangerous.

 

Last night removed the hood of a woebegone P51, an unoffending burgundy aerometric that was sold for less than 10UKP as a charity for a chikdren's hospice. Pen arrived with dings all over the cap, as it it had been used to hammer finishing nails, and with a nib about 180 degrees from the correct possiting: facing up at the peak of the hood.

 

I read the experts, I worried about heat guns, hair-dryers, candles, and finally tried removing the hood of a Hero 616 with a warm lightbulb.

 

A Hero might be good for other sorts of experiments, but the plastic is so thin that it warped.

 

Heaving a big sigh, I took the hammer pen to the light bulb, curled it around the bulb, gently tried again and again to unscrew the hood, and began to think that the book descriptions were all a bunch of hooey, when, without a preliminary loosening, sloosh, the hood unscrewed.

 

The inside looked nothing like the pictures in Dubiel's book or in Marshall and Oldfield. There is nothing like having the real thing in yiour hands, smudgy black ink and all, to show the delicate honey comb that prepares ink to be delivered to tghe feed and the nib. Especially after a night of soaking. Wow.

 

It seemed too easy, but I found I could take the nib with my fingers and replace it up where it clearlly fits. The feed seems like it only wants to press itslef under the half-cylinder of the nib. I pushed, waiting for a click or something to say, "In place", but only found a spot where the nib did not want to be inserted deeper.

 

The hood screws back into pplace, and of course the hood needs a touch of glue (rubber cement?), while I keep the nib lined over the feed...

 

But is that all? Is that, essentially, the work to change the nib on a P51? Isn't there something more spectacular with "knockout blocks" and tiny ball-peen hammers?

 

 

[richardandtracy]

Use shellac, not rubber cement. But, yes. That's all there is to it.

 

To line the hood with the collector can be a pain. The nib point should be in line with the wide groove in the collector, and it usually has to be done several times by trial & error to get it properly in line.

 

Having done it once, I'm sure you won't stop there. Good luck.

 

Regards,

 

Richard.

 

[grimakis]

The way I line it up is as follows.

 

Find out where the hood stops when screwed on.

 

Line up the indentation/recess/groove in the collector with the hoods point.(Or where it would be if the hood were screwed on. IE: Groove faces toward the hood.)

 

Place the feed into the collector so it is in line with the groove.

 

Place the nib so it is aligned with the feed.

 

Ready to go!

[Johnny Appleseed]

The challenging part of lining up the nib and hood is having something to align with. I found using a marker on the aerometric housing worked well (for an Aero, of course) - I think my hood point aligned with "Press 4 times", so I was able to align the nib with that. But generally it does take some trial and error to get it right.

 

John

[OldGriz]

To answer your title question...... "Can it be this easy"

SOMETIMES..... not always and not generally often..... SOMETIMES....