Pelikan M120 Vintage Disassembly

[Berghain54]

Hej,

 

short question: Is the piston mechanism on a vintage M120 friction fit?

 

Coming from this picture, i do not know if this pen is of the new production or the old one.

 

If yes, one should be able to knock it out of the barrel just like so?

http://www.penboard.de/penpoint/images/peliknockout.jpg

 

Anything to be aware of?

 

Many thanks

Berg

 

Sources:

http://www.caprafico.com/pens-88/pelikan-pen-restoration-275

http://www.clubokies.com/t5278-pelikan-m120

[sargetalon]

Short Answer: Yes, Yes, See below

 

The cut away pen that you show is of the old production. The original Type I 120 does have a friction fit piston assembly if I'm not mistaken (someone can confirm but that's my recollection). Removal could be accomplished as you show. Alternatively, the assembly can be pulled out from the back of the barrel. Placing the barrel in warm (not hot) water prior to removal can help. Make sure that there is no dried ink cementing things in place if possible. There is a risk of irrevocable damage when removing the piston though any method so its not something that I would do lightly.

 

Why do you need to remove the piston?

[watch_art]

Get two small pieces of wood, put them in a vice clamp, drill a hole so that each wood has half the hole in it. Put some rubber grippy stuff around the pen so the wood doesn't scratch or mar the barrel, clamp the pen in between the two pieces of wood in your vice, and then you can easily hold the pen while tapping the piston unit out.

 

But yeah, be really careful, and a little heat does wonders.

[Berghain54]

Dear sargetalon and watch_art,

 

i made an ok-ish deal on a M120 which wasn't used since like 40 years - some good cleaning and some silicone grease could help it getting back on its feet.

 

Also it has a "PF" nib - apart from those Swiss PF customs stamps on gold nibs i can't find a description of those nibs.

The nib was originally gold coloured, but was polished down to its silver-ish base colour.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1WTkyCJPeF8NTJramZvVnowWjQ/view?usp=sharing

 

€: Some other PF Steel nib = "Pfannenfeder"

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/212315-m800-pf-nib/?do=findComment&comment=2721667

 

Many thanks

Berg

Edited June 2, 2016 by Berghain54

[sargetalon]

You have to look in one of the old 50s catalogues to find out a little about the old PF nibs. Indeed it is a Pfannenfeder which roughly translates as a pan spring nib. This was a different type of tipping available on the Pelikano and 120 in the 1950s designed for use by young school children. It produces a somewhat fatter line and responds to the application of variable degrees of pressure.

[stephanos]

Congrats on getting a deal.

 

Taking out the piston is a drastic and risky move on an old pen like this. It can easily go wrong - that's what a (ahem) friend tells me. I suggest you treat it as a last resort.

 

If the piston is working, and all you want to do is clean and lubricate it, then I doubt you'll need to resort to removing the piston. Rather, you can do the work from the other side of the barrel - carefully remove the nib and clean that way. While you're at it, you can separate the nib-and-feed to clean any dried ink out from the feed.

From the photo, it looks like you've removed and deconstructed the nib already anyway.

Once the barrel is dry, use a toothpick to apply a small amount of silicone grease to the barrel, screw the nib back in, and you should be good to go.

 

 

Of course, it's nearly a week later now, so all this may be moot. If you did go for piston-removal, how did it go?

[Berghain54]

Dear sargetalon and stephanos,

 

thank you very much for your replys.

 

I was lucky and didnt need to "punch" it out - after letting the pen sit in water for like nearly two days (changing it thrice because of all the ink) i was able to simply push it out of the barrel.

 

Funny thing:

Because i put a Pelikan M200 EF nib on a TWSBI, i had a spare M200 feed.

The original PF nib (see above) was way too broad for me and i had this spare TWSBI nib, i fixed the TWSBI into the M200 feed and put it into the Pelikan M120.

Actually i thought, that only the 1xx-Series nibunits fit into the M120's, but apparently the M2xx fit in there too (no leakage and all is holding up quite good).

 

Best regards

Berg

[stephanos]

That's really interesting to know. Which TWSBI nib did you use?

(I'm glad it worked out)

[Berghain54]

That's really interesting to know. Which TWSBI nib did you use?

(I'm glad it worked out)

 

It's sporting the TWSBI ECO's nib in F:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1WTkyCJPeF8MWFQbXdpSC01bDg/view?usp=sharing

 

In a Pelikan M2xx Feed:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1WTkyCJPeF8aEdvVU9KUFVDY2c/view?usp=sharing

 

While the ECO has the Pelikan nib:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1WTkyCJPeF8Z2lOZ0FNYThOVFk/view?usp=sharing

(although i think i have a problem with this TWSBI feed, because the nibs always tend to fall out - same with the original TWSBI nib ... i write at a quite shallow angle).

 

Best regards

Berg