Kaweco Dia 803 08 Piston

September 6, 2016

My dear FPN crew,

I'm a little frustrated. I found this beautiful Kaweco Dia 803/08 on Shpok (online flea market app essentially). I first cleaned it and flushed, and soon noticed that the cork must've shrunk over the years. I sat it in water for a few days, which couldn't revive the cork's functionality. So I tried to look up how to change the piston, and found out through this video, how to actually screw out the piston unit.

Timo also pointed out in the video (at around 3:48) that unscrewing this part would prove to be quite difficult, because it's quite small. I already saw that people might have attempted unscrewing it with pliers as it looks a little scratched. I've been trying to screw off the part with nylon pliers - but without success. Can anyone help me? Does anyone have a helpful piece of advice? Also, if anyone could help me out with the year of production, that would be amazing, too.

http://66.media.tumblr.com/8984c5c4fcf2de732db5bbc24952ced8/tumblr_od2uo0kBwB1vo6rxoo1_1280.jpg

Edited September 6, 2016 by stringsandpedals

September 6, 2016

Apologies if this seems obvious, but have you tried gentle, show heat - not from a flame (on a precious Kaweco)(I'm WILD about their safeties) but from a blower set on LOW?

September 10, 2016

Many of the German piston pens, including some Kawecos I've seen, have little holes (much smaller than the typical air hole, which a piston does not need) in the piston knob. If there is a hole, push a pin into the hole, carefully and over a table, and a little pin will pop out the matching hole on the other side. This pen holds the piston knob in place. Now remove the knob and the mechanism will either pull out, screw out, or push out from the section end.

If there is no such hole, the knob may need a bit of heat and will screw off, sometimes counterclockwise, sometimes clockwise.

Once the knob is off, you'll need to get the works out. Without soaking the barrel, it might need an internal soak in water and a little ammonia and a drop of dish soap to loosen the old dried ink and break the grip of the dried cork. With a bit of heat, remove section, put the pen upright in a small jar and eyedropper the water/ammonia in, let sit for a day. Then try getting it loose. Some gentle, continual, repeated persuasion might be needed. Kawecos are wonderful but not standard. I'm learning my way through the different construction methods on a variety of beater German pistons, including pistons, and I'm not sure I've seen two pens with identical construction.

Tim

Edited September 10, 2016 by tmenyc

September 10, 2016

Nice pen! I have a Kaweco 803/07, so similar issues. What worked for me was patience and something to grip with like rubber sheeting. In mine, the piston had been replaced with something more modern, but needed some silicone grease.

I was absolutely careful not to force anything!