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Sheaffer Snorkel Clicking Sound


SilverPearlVacumatic

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Greetings everyone,

 

I have a recently serviced Sheaffer Snorkel, but it does not make the distinctive click sound after extending the snorkel. And after I fill it, it does not allow me to retract the snorkel, the threads do not engage and I cannot rotate the blind-cap. Only then, when I start to pull the touch down tube out again, do I hear a very distinctive click sound. Sometimes, the snorkel extends a bit further.

 

I am not experienced with fountain pen repair. Does anyone have advice? Is this a common problem?

 

Also, I think the spring is grinding away the inside of the barrel. Is this normal?

 

Thanks

Edited by SilverPearlVacumatic
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I expect the spring is not properly seated/centered over its seat ring on the ink sac housing.

This triggers friction of the spring against the inner barrel wall

Note the seat ring screws over the sac housing and should sit completely down, at the end of the threads.

The spring is prone to rust formation when the pen has leaked and should be cleaned upfront .

Also clean the barrel internally

Francis

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Thanks Francis,

 

The pen appears to be third generation, but with a gold snorkel.

 

I manually turned the seat-ring-nut-whatever-it-is-called to the bottom of the threads before I last assembled it. This is how it appears when taken apart again, after having the problems described above (see attached photo). The spring wedges tightly into the ring. It does not move freely.

 

Any advice?

Thanks

 

 

 

post-122311-0-13987700-1487882635_thumb.jpg

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The ring that the spring seats into will sometimes slide up the threads on the sac protector, as you can see on your pen. It should be ALL the way down to the end of the threads, as far as it will go. If you get it back down there, try flipping the spring around and reassembling.

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I manually turned the nut to the bottom of the threads (which is stiff). It only goes as low as shown in the picture. It does not quite touch the black plastic threads. I turned the spring over and I did not want to force the spring into the rim, so it rests on top of the high parts. The pen worked well once, but then stopped retracting fully, stopped clicking, and behaved irregularly. Should I replace the spring? Is the nut damaged? Should the spring be free to rotate?

 

I am having difficulty trouble-shooting this myself, because I do not know what should produce the clicking sound and how the touchdown tube rotates the nut.

post-122311-0-69490800-1487998659_thumb.jpg

Edited by SilverPearlVacumatic
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Did you try flipping the spring as Brian suggested ?

The spring should definitively be seated fully inside the collar seat.

Otherwise it will rub against the barrel wall and most probably create the clicking sound you've experienced.

Even if the fit is thight, one can mostly get the spring in the collar using a screwing movement

Francis

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Okay,

I tried flipping the spring, I was able to force the spring into the collar, and I rewound the spring washer to the lowest point, which remains a few millimeters from the plastic threads (see photo).

 

I am still having the same problems as described above. Also, each time I reopen the pen, after it fails to retract fully, the spring-washer-nut is a third of the way up the threads. Why would this be?

 

Does anyone have any more advice? Can it be narrowed down to a part that I need to replace (the nut or spring)? Are there any repairmen that you would recommend?

 

Thanks for the assistance.

post-122311-0-88867600-1488076903_thumb.jpg

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Looks to me that the inner diameter of the spring is slightly too narrow.

This triggers excessive friction on the plunger tube , hence the spring rotates together with the plunger tube when unscrewing the filling knob from the barrel , resulting in the fact the spring seats unscrews.

You could try to widen the spring diameter slightly by gripping it on both ends and winding it opposite to the spring winding direction.

If this doesn't work I would install a new spring (sold by David Nishimura)

Francis

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Didn't notice this mentioned, but a little silicone grease on the outside of the tube and ID of the spring might be enough to eliminate the hangup.

 

Brian

One test is worth a thousand expert opinions.

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Thanks for the advice.

 

But the spring is already tight against the plastic barrel. I don't think it could be widened anymore. And, yes, I have tried adding some silicone grease to the outside of the spring. Could the spring be gripping onto the spring rest? It takes some force to rotates it. I don't see how it moves on its own. Would a new spring solve the problem?

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The Snorkel should not make a "click" sound. When you say "click" do you mean the puff of air when you extend the plunger tube?

 

If the tube is not retracting all the way, the reason is because the spring seat is not down all the way. Try inverting the sac protector and placing it in a knockout block such that the spring seat is on the edge of the knockout block, and the sac protector is going through the hole. Then, very gently, tap the sac protector downward so the spring seat will go all the way down.

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Brian's point about the spring ring not being down is valid, and Francis suggestion to turn the spring around often works. But they've missed the critical item. Your picture in post #6 showing the close up of the ring shows a ding in the side of the ring. Any flaw in the ring like this will cause problems because the spring can not seat completely in the ring. It also makes it difficult to take the section out because the spring binds in the ring, and it tends to unscrew the ring moving it up the sac guard. Conversely, if the edge of that spring ring is flared out it will bind in the barrel.

 

You will need to find a drill that fits in the ring to push out the dent and reform the ring back into round. Then with the ring flat on a hard surface roll the sac guard and ring to insure that the edge is not flared out. A little silicone grease on the end of the spring and/or flipping the ring over may allow things to work properly again.

 

I might add that I quite often find that the spring (especially a reproduction spring) is too wide, not narrow, so you have to twist it tighter. Any irregularities in the sac guard can cause things to bind. Again, a drill down the sac guard can be used as a mandrel to roll out anything that sticks out that shouldn't.

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Brian's point about the spring ring not being down is valid, and Francis suggestion to turn the spring around often works. But they've missed the critical item. Your picture in post #6 showing the close up of the ring shows a ding in the side of the ring. Any flaw in the ring like this will cause problems because the spring can not seat completely in the ring. It also makes it difficult to take the section out because the spring binds in the ring, and it tends to unscrew the ring moving it up the sac guard. Conversely, if the edge of that spring ring is flared out it will bind in the barrel.

 

You will need to find a drill that fits in the ring to push out the dent and reform the ring back into round. Then with the ring flat on a hard surface roll the sac guard and ring to insure that the edge is not flared out. A little silicone grease on the end of the spring and/or flipping the ring over may allow things to work properly again.

 

I might add that I quite often find that the spring (especially a reproduction spring) is too wide, not narrow, so you have to twist it tighter. Any irregularities in the sac guard can cause things to bind. Again, a drill down the sac guard can be used as a mandrel to roll out anything that sticks out that shouldn't.

 

+1

 

I have also had trouble with purchased springs. In my case the end of the spring's spiral bar was very sharp, (the spring having been cut off square). I noticed on the original spring that the ends of the spring's spirals had been blunted so that the sharp ends would bind on the nut or the inside of the barrel. I smoothed and blunted the spiral's ends and all worked much better.

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+1

 

I have also had trouble with purchased springs. In my case the end of the spring's spiral bar was very sharp, (the spring having been cut off square). I noticed on the original spring that the ends of the spring's spirals had been blunted so that the sharp ends would bind on the nut or the inside of the barrel. I smoothed and blunted the spiral's ends and all worked much better.

 

I'll have to look at that.

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Thanks for the advice. I'll try that this coming weekend, when I will have access to the tools.

 

To clarify, the ring should not move at all during the operation of the filling mechanism. It should always remain in the same spot on the sack protector. And the spring must be able to rotate freely within the ring, else the ring unscrews. And the ring should be removed entirely, fit onto a metal drill bit, and reformed.

Edited by SilverPearlVacumatic
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Thanks for the advice. I'll try that this coming weekend, when I will have access to the tools.

 

To clarify, the ring should not move at all during the operation of the filling mechanism. It should always remain in the same spot on the sack protector. And the spring must be able to rotate freely within the ring, else the ring unscrews. And the ring should be removed entirely, fit onto a metal drill bit, and reformed.

 

Right on all points. I don't know that the spring has to rotate freely, but should turn. It certainly doesn't help to have the spring firmly bind up and seize in the ring.

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