Parker 51 Hard Starts

[apastuszak]

I bought a Parker "51" aerometric from someone and began to experience hard starts with the pen after about a half hour of the pen being capped. I contacted the seller, who offered an immediate refund, but I didn't want to part with the pen. I took the cap off my Hero 616, put it on the Parker 51, and the hard starts went away. I checked the pen cap for a cracked inner cap and all looked good.

 

The seller offered to send me another cap. I put the cap on the pen, and it immediately began to hard start. But with the Hero 616 cap, it does not.

 

The seller tested the second cap in a 51 and did not notice any hard starts.

 

At this point, I am thinking it might be the clutch ring on the pen not forming an air tight seal with the cap.

 

New clutch rings look pretty cheap, so I am wondering whether I should swap the clutch ring out, or is it better to just return the pen in case it's not the clutch ring.

 

Also, would a Hero 616 clutch ring work in a Parker "51" ? I figure since I have a 616 just lying around uninked, I could cannibalize it for parts.

Edited May 31, 2017 by apastuszak

[FarmBoy]

Sounds like the pens needs a bit of work. The clutch ring does nothing for the seal, it is there for the clutch basket to rest against so you do not have metal on plastic. The seal is the inner cap resting on the hood.

 

You don't say if this is an aero or a vac. You also don't say if the pen was actually restored or just flushed with water and polished within an inch.

 

FB

[apastuszak]

Sounds like the pens needs a bit of work. The clutch ring does nothing for the seal, it is there for the clutch basket to rest against so you do not have metal on plastic. The seal is the inner cap resting on the hood.

 

You don't say if this is an aero or a vac. You also don't say if the pen was actually restored or just flushed with water and polished within an inch.

 

FB

It's an Aero. The pen was not restored. It was cleaned, tested and sold to me.

 

The original seller has agreed to take it back and swap it for another pen.

 

But I am curious what would cause a Parker "51" that writes just fine to have hard starts with a Parker "51" cap that goes away with a Hero 616 cap.

Edited June 1, 2017 by apastuszak

[Ron Z]

Sometimes the end of the inner cap cracks, allowing air to get into the inner cap. This is caused by owners jamming the pen into the inner cap to get it to stay on when the clutch fingers no longer do the job. Clutch fingers can be adjusted for a tighter fit. Sometimes the end of the inner cap cracks, with the same results.

[apastuszak]

Kind of hard to believe that two caps exhibited a cracked inner cap. And the second cap was tested overnight by the seller on his personal Parker "51" and did not cause hard starts.

 

it's more a curiosity thing at this point. The seller happily took the pen back, and I should be getting a replacement in the mail over the weekend.

[apastuszak]

So, New (to me) Parker "51" arrived. I immediately inked it up and started to write. In true Parker "51" fashion is was a very smooth writer and I was happy. Laid it down to do some stuff for work. Picked it up an hour later and I get a hard start.

 

At this point I am thinking there is no way in hell 2 different pens and 3 different caps can be causing hard starts without the issue being something on my end.

 

So I did some Googling and the term "Liberty Elysium hard start" came back with quite a number of threads on reddit and FPN about Liberty Elysium causing hard starts and clogged feeds for some people. I haven't experienced this myself in any of my other pens, but I figured I needed to rule it out.

 

So, I cleaned the pen out the best I could and filled it with Namiki Blue. We'll see how it looks in the morning.

 

Sad part is, I really like the color of Liberty Elysium. I shall need to look for alternatives in case this ink turns out to be the problem.