Any hope for a dead 61 Capillary?

[bunnspecial]

I know the 61 is a bit of a polarizing pen, but the capillary filler has always fascinated me. I picked up a new in box C/C Flighter in B back before Christmas, which I promptly inked(couldn't stand it) and that made me like the pen even more.

 

A few weeks ago, I decided to roll the dice a few weeks ago, and bought a non-working Flighter Cap Filler on Ebay. It's not in the best of shape and the body itself looks a bit rough, but for what I paid, I figured I wasn't losing too much.

 

In any case, I proceeded to try and clean it. The first thing I did was just spend several days soaking the nib/filler in water. That rewarded me with pools of black ink coming out the top of the filler, but those finally dried up. In there, I tried sonicating it, but that made no difference that i could see.

 

Once that was done, I tried inking it for one, which didn't do anything, but I did find that nib down on paper towels it would drain black ink out the nib. This of course dries up after a few hours, but sticking the filler end in water for a minute or two will get it restarted, which gives me some hope.

 

I've read about cleaning with an ear bulb, but I managed to ruin two doing that(when I'd stick the pen in them, they'd split along the seam). Finally, I hit on more of a brute force solution out in my garage with the Mityvac unit I use to bleed brakes. This is basically a little handheld vacuum pump. Brakes aren't its only use, but that's the main thing I use it for. It has a few pieces of Tygon tubing, a reservoir to go between the pump and the fitting you're using, and then a selection of fittings to fit various bleed nipples and the like. The Tygon with it fits snugly over both the section end and the filler end of the 51, so I used that to suck water through both ways. At first I was getting black water out, but now what I get is clear. I've tried also flushing ammonia, vinegar, and soapy water through this way. I've also sonicated in there a few times, including in each of those solutions.

 

The pen will still drain black out nib down, and when it stops I can restart it by soaking filler down in water for a minute or two.

 

I'm hopeful that it's showing signs of life, but I'm not sure if it's 100% there. Just a little while ago, I tried filling it with ink. I put it filler-down in a bottle of vintage Quink blue(which should be what it was made to work with) for 30 seconds, but it's still not writing. I dipped the nib in water and got it draining again, but it's still draining black with no hints of blue.

 

Do I just need to be patient and keep flushing? Are there any tricks to speed it along?

[Switala]

According to your description, you are on the right path, but you are concerned about the delay in releasing the paint flow, which should have already occurred because you forced it with the vacuum. As it costs nothing, still keep the immersion bath for a few more days, remember that the shell of the 61 should not be immersed in an ultrasonic bath, under penalty of being without the arrow. There is a chance that your collector will be overloaded with dry paint so the paint flow does not happen, to solve it, it will be necessary to remove the shell. Good luck and lots of patience!

 

[Carguy]

19 minutes ago, Switala said:

According to your description, you are on the right path, but you are concerned about the delay in releasing the paint flow, which should have already occurred because you forced it with the vacuum. As it costs nothing, still keep the immersion bath for a few more days, remember that the shell of the 61 should not be immersed in an ultrasonic bath, under penalty of being without the arrow. There is a chance that your collector will be overloaded with dry paint so the paint flow does not happen, to solve it, it will be necessary to remove the shell. Good luck and lots of patience!

 

Agree with the above. Have you tried adding ammonia to your water that you are running thru the pen? Also would try the ear bulb again.....you are almost there.

[bunnspecial]

First of all, thanks for the encouragement and hopefully I am close. Also, thanks for the warning on US-noted and I will be sure the section stays out.

 

I let it soak in water for a while last night, and then left it nib-down in paper towels again. It's still black, but is a lot lighter than it was. My only real concern is that I'm not seeing any hints of the blue ink I attempted to load.

 

As for the ear syringe-is there any reason why that would be better than what I'm doing now with the vacuum pump? I'd think 25"Hg of vacuum, pulled in either direction, is probably more than what I can with a bulb blower.

 

And yes, I've sucked ammonia, vinegar, and soapy water all through it.

[Kenlowe]

There is an old tip of using a drinking straw pushed over the capillary.  Dip the nib into the ink and gently suck on the straw pulling ink through the pen and up a little into the straw.

 

You then know that the pen is full of ink and any residual ink should be the first up into the straw.

[Switala]

1 hour ago, bunnspecial said:

Em primeiro lugar, obrigado pelo incentivo e espero estar perto. Além disso, obrigado pelo aviso em US-anotado e vou ter certeza que a seção permanecerá fora.

 

Deixei de molho na água por um tempo na noite passada e depois deixei cair em toalhas de papel novamente. Ainda é preto, mas é muito mais claro do que antes. Minha única preocupação real é que não estou vendo nenhum indício da tinta azul que tentei carregar.

 

Quanto à seringa auricular, há algum motivo para que seja melhor do que o que estou fazendo agora com a bomba de vácuo? Eu acho que 25 "Hg de vácuo, puxado em qualquer direção, é provavelmente mais do que eu posso com um soprador de lâmpada.

 

E sim, eu suguei amônia, vinagre e água com sabão por todo ele.

Bunnspecial, I believe that the suction pump is more efficient than the rubber lamps, I have no problem with continuing to use it.
As for not having blue ink left after refilling, it is probably because your attempted charge did not load.

Even when a new 30 seconds was little time to fill it. Leave at least 5 minutes in the ink bottle. Remember that foreign substances have passed into storage, soap, vinegar and ammonia, all of which interfere with the cellophane reel, of which the reservoir is filled.

I would make a good flush with water, suck as much water as possible, leave the nib resting on absorbent paper or tissue, to drain a little more water and only then do the filling with paint.

I usually do the drainage flow as if the pen were writing, it seems to me that if I do it the other way around I will be pushing dirt backwards, which later will return and bring me headaches. (This is my perception, without any basis or bibliography).
We continue with the expectation that it will work, so that we do not need to disassemble the pen.
Regards.

[Carguy]

1 hour ago, Kenlowe said:

There is an old tip of using a drinking straw pushed over the capillary.  Dip the nib into the ink and gently suck on the straw pulling ink through the pen and up a little into the straw.

 

You then know that the pen is full of ink and any residual ink should be the first up into the straw.

This is interesting, I have never heard nor tried this!

[Kenlowe]

37 minutes ago, Carguy said:

This is interesting, I have never heard nor tried this!

 

Its beauty is that you are certain that the pen is full of ink and that the capillary contains no water or any other color of ink.

 

The downside is that you will need to do this over the kitchen sink because there will be a little excess ink.

[Emver]

Hi Bunnspecial

 

I've owned my capillary fill Parker 61 since new in 1965 but never really liked it because it just didn't write as well as my father's old 51.  The ink flow  wasn't wet enough. It went back after a few weeks for some adjustment which improved it slightly, but it still wasn't as good as dad's 51.  At the time I put it down to the capillary filling system, that being the only important difference from the 51, but it was probably just the way it was set up.

A few years later when I met my wife I bought her a 51. That was better but still not as good as dad's old one, although it seems to have improved slightly with age.

 

Many many years later in a fit of nostalgia I dug out my old 61 and tried to revive it.  After a week or so of flushing I managed to get it writing briefly but dryly.  In frustration I put some pressure on the nib to try to open it out. That seemed to help so I pressed harder until I think I managed to inflict some permanent damage!  At that point I decided that the only solution was to remove the section in order to strip and clean it properly.  After some research I tried repeated soaking in hot water, and heating with a hairdryer, but couldn't get it to move at all.  I tried gripping it in rubber sheet to rotate it, and eventually gripping the rubber sheet with pliers. When that started to scratch the Teflon coating I gave up and put it back in the drawer for another 30 years.  I hate giving up but at least I didn't manage to break the section.

 

Having re-awakened my interest in fountain pens I started looking for an old 51 the same as my father's.  I soon found one, then another, then a few later model 61s, all of which write just as nicely as the 51s (ie. beautifully).  I've never tried another capillary filler 61 so I can't answer the question as to whether it was just my pen or whether they all behave like mine did, but no doubt some capillary enthusiasts will be along shortly to defend them.

 

Anyway Bunnspecial, I really hope that you manage to fix yours although I suspect that the only way to do it will be to dismantle it properly, if you're brave enough.

 

And if you manage to do that please let me know how you get on.  I might even send you mine to have a go at.

 

Edited March 5, 2021 by Emver

[jchch1950]

Emver: I bought a new Parker 61 many years ago. It never wrote right so it went to the drawer in the desk, after more than 20 years after I took it to repair. Every thing took less than 10 minutes and it came a nice writer. The repairman only enlarge a little the ink channel in the feed. I will not dare to try the same by myself but for me it was very rewarding to be able to use a pen that drain my savings when I was in high school.

[Aysedasi]

It's interesting to me to read of people having issues with their capillary 61's.  I've owned 5 or 6 (and still have three) and after fully bulb-flushing them, I haven't had any problems with any of them.  They have all written very well, including my first one, a grey with a gold cap that has a wide stub nib.  Maybe I've just been lucky.....?

[PithyProlix]

24 minutes ago, Aysedasi said:

It's interesting to me to read of people having issues with their capillary 61's.  I've owned 5 or 6 (and still have three) and after fully bulb-flushing them, I haven't had any problems with any of them.  They have all written very well, including my first one, a grey with a gold cap that has a wide stub nib.  Maybe I've just been lucky.....?

 

I have 3 - all good, I use all a lot, and all among my favorite pens. The only problem I have with the capillary system is that, even with a bulb, they are difficult to flush. So I've learned to ink them with a 'gentle' ink that has lasting appeal so I'm less tempted to put a different ink in them. 

Thanks for the straw tip, Kenlowe.

[tacitus]

How about the glass pipette head? After the capillary filler soaked in the water, attach the glass pipette head directly to the capillary filler head and repeat pushing out stained ink in the capillary filler and feed with water flow.

You already tried?

[Emver]

9 hours ago, jchch1950 said:

Emver: I bought a new Parker 61 many years ago. It never wrote right so it went to the drawer in the desk, after more than 20 years after I took it to repair. Every thing took less than 10 minutes and it came a nice writer. The repairman only enlarge a little the ink channel in the feed. I will not dare to try the same by myself but for me it was very rewarding to be able to use a pen that drain my savings when I was in high school.

 

Wow, that's encouraging, jchch1950!  I don't suppose you still have the repairer's contact details do you?  Presumably he removed the section to access the feed, but how did he do that in just 10 minutes?  It took me 10 days to plan it and 10 hours of struggling before I gave up!

 

PS.  Great year to have been born, if only because as we get older it makes it easier to calculate our age.

[inkstainedruth]

When I got my first 61, the guy I bought it from (some table at a pen show a few years ago) said to stick the pen under a faucet, nib down.  I didn't want to do that because I have very hard water, so I used a bulb syringe and flushed it with distilled water, then, once I got some ink flowing, wrote with the ink in the pen.  Did that over and over as the pen ran dry ("rinse, repeat" ) until the ink was so diluted it was illegible on the page, then flushed it really well; that process took about 4 months.  

It just takes patience.  And also a bit of a warning to not run any really saturated or "problem" inks through a capillary filler (I keep meaning to buy one of the 100 ml bottles of J Herbin Eclat de Saphir, because that ink works very well in that pen).

Any clue what ink was in the pen before you got it?

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

ETA: Or how long the pen has been sitting with the ink congealing into a solid lump? 

[mitto]

This is how I clean my P61s. 

[Aysedasi]

13 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

(I keep meaning to buy one of the 100 ml bottles of J Herbin Eclat de Saphir, because that ink works very well in that pen).

 

 

Definitely do it Ruth.  I have one still two-thirds full, despite it being my first 'test' ink for most of the pens I acquire (not that I acquire so many these days).  

[jchch1950]

21 hours ago, Emver said:

 

Wow, that's encouraging, jchch1950!  I don't suppose you still have the repairer's contact details do you?  Presumably he removed the section to access the feed, but how did he do that in just 10 minutes?  It took me 10 days to plan it and 10 hours of struggling before I gave up!

 

PS.  Great year to have been born, if only because as we get older it makes it easier to calculate our age.

I was born in 1950. The pen repairer had a small store in the Street of Isabel la Catolica,i Mexico city.He had a Parker official repair shop.  He died  about 15 years ago,besides been a very skill repairman he was my friend.

[bunnspecial]

Well, I've made progress...maybe too much progress

 

 

BTW, this is a fairly new(last year) bottle of Quink blue-black.

[Aysedasi]

Strange.  None of my P61s have ever behaved like that....