Omas 361 Clogged Piston

[ohtoulouz]

Hello all!

 

I just bought an OMAS 361 with the piston clogged by old dried ink. Do you have any recommendation how to fix this? I have never repaired such a pen but I suppose the piston can be accessed by removing the pin in the knob and unscrewing it: after this first step, what would you advice to avoid damaging the pen/piston?

 

Many thanks,

 

Pierre.

[RMN]

Hi. I do NOT own an OMAS pen, so I have never had to repair one.

 

Basic thinking says you would have to remove the nib and feed to get water inside to dissolve the caked ink.

 

Hopefully the piston will move after that. Otherwise a short bath in the ultrasonic cleaner might help.

 

If you are unsure of technical procedures you might also pose your question in the Repair-section of FPN, I guess the techie hotshots there can help you on your way.

 

D.ick

[ohtoulouz]

Hi. I do NOT own an OMAS pen, so I have never had to repair one.

 

Basic thinking says you would have to remove the nib and feed to get water inside to dissolve the caked ink.

 

Hopefully the piston will move after that. Otherwise a short bath in the ultrasonic cleaner might help.

 

If you are unsure of technical procedures you might also pose your question in the Repair-section of FPN, I guess the techie hotshots there can help you on your way.

 

D.ick

 

Hi Dick,

 

thanks for the advices: I'll wait for a couple of days and ask to move the post to Repair Q&A forum. However, removing nib and feed on an OMAS 361 seems not that easy because of this special hood that allows the nid to be flexible on one side and rigid on the other.

 

Best regards,

 

Pierre.

[watch_art]

try to use a syringe and slowly squirt ink down into the feed so you can get some water/ammonia mix against the piston. i'd suggest 10% ammonia water mix since your pen is so clogged. perhaps even soaking the pen just up to the section in water for a day or two would help get that part cleaned as well.

[eric47]

try to use a syringe and slowly squirt ink down into the feed so you can get some water/ammonia mix against the piston. i'd suggest 10% ammonia water mix since your pen is so clogged. perhaps even soaking the pen just up to the section in water for a day or two would help get that part cleaned as well.

 

The syringe is an interesting idea if it works, the nib and feed are quite covered by the 361 hood. But worth a try through the nib hole.

 

I'd recommend against the ammonia however since the pen is most likely celluloid. The piston seal is probably cork as well.

 

If the piston moves even just a bit, and can draw even just a bit of water, then with patience the dried ink can be dissolved. I had Omas 555/F show up with dried ink inside. But the piston descended completely -- though it had to pass a ridge of dried ink. I filled it, kept it nib up for a couple days. After that the piston moved down smoothly -- no more ridge -- and took a few more fills and days to for the water to come reasonably clean. With cork inside, water's not going to get clean clean -- nature of the beast.

[ohtoulouz]

try to use a syringe and slowly squirt ink down into the feed so you can get some water/ammonia mix against the piston. i'd suggest 10% ammonia water mix since your pen is so clogged. perhaps even soaking the pen just up to the section in water for a day or two would help get that part cleaned as well.

 

The syringe is an interesting idea if it works, the nib and feed are quite covered by the 361 hood. But worth a try through the nib hole.

 

I'd recommend against the ammonia however since the pen is most likely celluloid. The piston seal is probably cork as well.

 

Using a syringe is a great idea: I'll try it first as soon as I receive the pen. Do you think Rapido-eze could help? I have never used this cleaner but heard a lot of positive comments about it.

 

Once again, thanks for your help.

 

Pierre

[watch_art]

try it. unless it's bad for cork, which I wouldn't know. never had a pen with cork in it.

[eric47]

try to use a syringe and slowly squirt ink down into the feed so you can get some water/ammonia mix against the piston. i'd suggest 10% ammonia water mix since your pen is so clogged. perhaps even soaking the pen just up to the section in water for a day or two would help get that part cleaned as well.

 

The syringe is an interesting idea if it works, the nib and feed are quite covered by the 361 hood. But worth a try through the nib hole.

 

I'd recommend against the ammonia however since the pen is most likely celluloid. The piston seal is probably cork as well.

 

Using a syringe is a great idea: I'll try it first as soon as I receive the pen. Do you think Rapido-eze could help? I have never used this cleaner but heard a lot of positive comments about it.

 

Once again, thanks for your help.

 

Pierre

 

I would try water first before adding anything else that might not play nice with celluloid. The 361s are from a period when Omas used predominately celluloid, even black celluloid. If water's not enough then you might try something else -- you might do a search to see if Rapido-eze plays nice with celluloid and cork. Cork absorbs whatever you put in the reservoir, so it's much harder to flush all traces out.

[roberto v]

Ok here how it works.

 

1 - Do not try to open the pen from the nib side. The hood is in black ebonite and very thin in the last part: it's easily damaged when you remove the part. Another problem is that you have then to remove the feed and nib by pulling and even if you are successful (without breaking the feed), you later need to push nib and feed at the same position, otherwise the feed will crack the hood.

 

2 - the piston is accessed by removing the pin and separating the knob from the rod. You have then to draw out the piston by the rod. The cork is held in position by a hard rubber screw - nothing special.

 

The only thing is this: if piston is blocked and doesn't turn you may have one of these: dried ink inside OR celluloid shrinkage. This last case is the worst: I have a Ogiva 361 which doesn't open period. No heat, no grease, no water, no ultrasonic treatment have had any effect.... I hope this will not be your case!

 

Good luck

[ohtoulouz]

Ok here how it works.

 

1 - Do not try to open the pen from the nib side. The hood is in black ebonite and very thin in the last part: it's easily damaged when you remove the part. Another problem is that you have then to remove the feed and nib by pulling and even if you are successful (without breaking the feed), you later need to push nib and feed at the same position, otherwise the feed will crack the hood.

 

2 - the piston is accessed by removing the pin and separating the knob from the rod. You have then to draw out the piston by the rod. The cork is held in position by a hard rubber screw - nothing special.

 

The only thing is this: if piston is blocked and doesn't turn you may have one of these: dried ink inside OR celluloid shrinkage. This last case is the worst: I have a Ogiva 361 which doesn't open period. No heat, no grease, no water, no ultrasonic treatment have had any effect.... I hope this will not be your case!

 

Good luck

 

Hello Roberto,

 

many thanks for your inputs. Wait and see if the seller was honest when he wrote that the piston was clogged by old ink. As I said, I have no experience in removing pen pistons (I usually restore safety pens). Is there any tricks to set the piston back in place properly?

 

Thanks again,

 

Pierre