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Source For Piston Cork


siamackz

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Hi,

 

I have tried a couple of sources for cork to use for making piston seals, but I dont think they are the right kind. Do you have an online source that you can share a link of please? Something you have tried and tested?

 

Thank you so much!

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Doug drinks a lot of Scotch. I get corks from him. No clue where he gets them...

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You can use wine corks. New ones are available from wine making supply stores, though in the past I made some from corks from beer bottles. The downside to that is that after smelling the beer on the cork you want to go grab a beer when you're done.

 

Fresh cork is best, and less brittle. An agglomerated cork (ground up cork pressed together) will work quite nicely, but the recommended cork is flor cork, which is the highest grade of cork because there are fewer flaws in the cork. In all cases you will need to put a hole in the center and cut it with a punch or turn it to size, and then cut to length and sand to a good fit. Lubricate with pure silicone grease.

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You can use wine corks. New ones are available from wine making supply stores, though in the past I made some from corks from beer bottles. The downside to that is that after smelling the beer on the cork you want to go grab a beer when you're done.

 

Fresh cork is best, and less brittle. An agglomerated cork (ground up cork pressed together) will work quite nicely, but the recommended cork is flor cork, which is the highest grade of cork because there are fewer flaws in the cork. In all cases you will need to put a hole in the center and cut it with a punch or turn it to size, and then cut to length and sand to a good fit. Lubricate with pure silicone grease.

Thanks so much Ron! What do you think of these options:

1. This one is 3/32 inch thick. Is that OK? https://www.amazon.in/gp/aw/d/B000HJB9ZY/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1513478466&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX118_SY170_QL70&keywords=cork+sheets&dpPl=1&dpID=31zdsmzsUyL&ref=plSrch

 

2. This one is for fishing - would a 1/4inch bore be appropriate? http://www.feather-craft.com/flor-grade-cork-rings

 

Thanks!

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Thanks for sharing! How does one piece yield multiple seals though, since they have a hole in the centre?

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Thanks for sharing! How does one piece yield multiple seals though, since they have a hole in the centre?

Those 1.25 in dia pieces and center bore is small ~ 6 mm. If I am careful I can carve out 3 or 4 seal from the periphery

 

 

 

 

These seem nice too but now sold; perhaps you got it.

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Those 1.25 in dia pieces and center bore is small ~ 6 mm. If I am careful I can carve out 3 or 4 seal from the periphery

 

These seem nice too but now sold; perhaps you got it.

Ah, I see. Thanks! And nope I didnt buy the second one

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post-17313-0-21767500-1513770658_thumb.jpg

I use champagne corks : there are two slices of high quality cork (no holes and soft) close to the bottom of the cork. They are exactly of the adapted thickness for piston recorking...

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20170507_190854~2.jpg

I use champagne corks : there are two slices of high quality cork (no holes and soft) close to the bottom of the cork. They are exactly of the adapted thickness for piston recorking...

yup, that looks good

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attachicon.gif20170507_190854~2.jpg

I use champagne corks : there are two slices of high quality cork (no holes and soft) close to the bottom of the cork. They are exactly of the adapted thickness for piston recorking...

 

That is an agglomerated cork - note the flakes/pieces. It does work.

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Wow. Finding this thread was really serendipity. I was about to search for a similar type of thread, or start one....

I went to flush out one of my Pelikans this AM (1990s era Brown Tortoise). And discovered that the seal seems to have disconnected from the rest of the piston! :o Trying now to flush the pen as best as I can, by pushing the seal back up with a Q-tip, and soaking the nib unit separately (just using distilled water for the time being).

I don't know whether this is too new to be using cork, or if it's using a modern rubber gasket, and also don't know if this is a DIY project or one for a pro. I also don't know if the issue is a factor of the inks I've been using over the past several years since getting the pen: it's had a variety of inks (most recently Visconti Brown) but always brown inks. I try to be pretty scrupulous about flushing to begin with, so I don't know if that's compounded the problem.
I'm pretty bummed, because this was my *first* bird -- and also because I was just waxing eloquent about Pelikans in another thread just yesterday (and now I feel like I have egg on my face... :blush:).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

"It's very nice, but frankly, when I signed that list for a P-51, what I had in mind was a fountain pen."

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Wow. Finding this thread was really serendipity. I was about to search for a similar type of thread, or start one....

I went to flush out one of my Pelikans this AM (1990s era Brown Tortoise). And discovered that the seal seems to have disconnected from the rest of the piston! :o Trying now to flush the pen as best as I can, by pushing the seal back up with a Q-tip, and soaking the nib unit separately (just using distilled water for the time being).

I don't know whether this is too new to be using cork, or if it's using a modern rubber gasket, and also don't know if this is a DIY project or one for a pro. I also don't know if the issue is a factor of the inks I've been using over the past several years since getting the pen: it's had a variety of inks (most recently Visconti Brown) but always brown inks. I try to be pretty scrupulous about flushing to begin with, so I don't know if that's compounded the problem.

I'm pretty bummed, because this was my *first* bird -- and also because I was just waxing eloquent about Pelikans in another thread just yesterday (and now I feel like I have egg on my face... :blush:).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

I dont think your Pelikan should have a cork seal, I think it is supposed to have the modern rubber seal which should be easily available - I remember a few websites selling it and it was available on eBay too. It will last you forever, so its not a bad idea to put in a new one. Dont worry, this should be a rather simple task. I love my MBs but my Pelikans right from the 40s till modern are such expectionally reliable writers!

My Vintage Montblanc Website--> link

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Wow. Finding this thread was really serendipity. I was about to search for a similar type of thread, or start one....

I went to flush out one of my Pelikans this AM (1990s era Brown Tortoise). And discovered that the seal seems to have disconnected from the rest of the piston! :o Trying now to flush the pen as best as I can, by pushing the seal back up with a Q-tip, and soaking the nib unit separately (just using distilled water for the time being).

I don't know whether this is too new to be using cork, or if it's using a modern rubber gasket,

 

Most likely the piston stuck to the barrel wall and pulled off when you retracted the piston because you didn't lubricate the piston seal. That can eventually wash off, especially if you frequently use a pen flush and modern inks.

 

Pelikans after 1950 or so use a plastic seal. The ones sold by Vintage Pens and others do not fit the modern Pelikans. Take the pen to pen club. I can't replace the seal there, but I have a bunch of them.

 

The piston mechanism in the M100-M600 pens are a tight snap fit into the barrel. It is possible to break the thread bushing for the grip knob if you don't know how to get them out. I can also show you how to lubricate the piston seal.

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Thanks Ron -- I was hoping that you'd weigh in. And also that you'll be at the meeting tonight.

I've had the pen nearly four years and this is the first time I've had any problems with it whatsoever (well, other than deciding that Iroshihzuku Yama-guri was way too wet an ink for it... that had been my original planned pen/ink combo for doing drawing).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

"It's very nice, but frankly, when I signed that list for a P-51, what I had in mind was a fountain pen."

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  • 4 years later...
On 12/16/2017 at 6:33 PM, Ron Z said:

the recommended cork is flor cork, which is the highest grade of cork because there are fewer flaws in the cork. In all cases you will need to put a hole in the center and cut it with a punch or turn it to size

 

Hi Ron, I am reviving this old thread because this quote deals most directly with all my issues. I'm hoping you can elaborate based on my questions. I need a 3/8" seal (which will be sanded down a little) and a center hole 13/64" which will be a little tight. That means the walls of the cork seal will be maybe 5/64" +- thick. Can that be done?

 

Flor cork: I bought some flor cork online, it comes as a disc 1.25" across with a hole in the middle. The hole is too big for my piston shaft, but theoretically I can cut a seal between that hole and the edge. Was this the right thing to buy, or should I have bought a different size?

 

Cut it with a punch: what kind of punch? I tried a wood plug cutter and I did manage to get one pretty good one out of two tries so far, but it seems prone to tear up the cork. Is there a manual punch tool for this sort of thing? I don't have a lathe to turn it to size.

 

Put a hole in the center: do this before using a punch to cut the outside circumference? What tool to do this? I don't have a drill press, and an electric drill seems to also tear up the cork. Finally, how do you make the two circles (inside hole, outside circumference) concentric?

 

Thank you for (I hope) allowing me to impose on your expertise to this extent. 

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