Video on disassembling safeties (4 types)

[siamackz]

Hi All,

 

I recently serviced a bunch of safety fillers and thought it might be a good idea to document some of the work and share it for the benefit of any novice/hobbyist restorers in our FP community. I am no expert, so please only consider this information as one possible source of ideas. There is much richer content by experts that you should peruse to learn the "best practice". But, for whatever its worth, here is a video showing how I disassembled 4 types of safety fillers - 

 

[eckiethump]

I enjoyed your video, I liked the way you speed up the frames where the processes are obvious or already covered.

When I am working on safeties and having removed the nib holding spindle, to protect the fragile helix spiral, I put a suitable size drill in there when handling.

et

 

[siamackz]

18 hours ago, eckiethump said:

I enjoyed your video, I liked the way you speed up the frames where the processes are obvious or already covered.

When I am working on safeties and having removed the nib holding spindle, to protect the fragile helix spiral, I put a suitable size drill in there when handling.

et

 

That is a great idea! Thanks so much for the tip. I will definitely be using that as standard practice from now on. 

[eckiethump]

On 9/14/2021 at 9:43 AM, siamackz said:

That is a great idea! Thanks so much for the tip. I will definitely be using that as standard practice from now on. 

It's particularly handy when inserting the "O" rings (I don't know of anybody, perhaps Tom W. to use cork seals now) for Waterman safeties when a little bit of a "push" is needed and the helix supported on reassembly.

et

[siamackz]

14 hours ago, eckiethump said:

It's particularly handy when inserting the "O" rings (I don't know of anybody, perhaps Tom W. to use cork seals now) for Waterman safeties when a little bit of a "push" is needed and the helix supported on reassembly.

et

This is a great point you brought out - about corks seals vs o rings. I have been wanting to use o rings instead and save myself the unnecessary hassle of making cork seals, but I have been finding that I need to put 7-8 seals in each pen at times. Some of these pen have long spaces in their turning knobs. Do I need to stuff as many seals in there as possible or do you just put 2-3 seals no matter how much space is there inside and then the seals just hold their place without moving? 

[Nethermark]

Thank you for the video! Amazing, how easy you can get the metal pins out. I almost always find them stuck in there and it can take many heating cycles etc. to pry them out. I see you use WD40, but doesn't that affect the hard rubber?

 

About the O-rings: you don't need to fill up the space. Just a couple will do. I mostly stick to cork though...

[loganrah]

I'm no expert either but in the few safeties I've done recently (about 5) I've only needed 2 or 3 o-rings. 1 o-ring is probably enough to avoid leaking, after that I think you are mostly going for turning resistance. Not too little, or the nib gets pushed back in writing, but not too much or the pen is annoying to open. I have a couple of NOS pens with original cork seals and the smoothness of their action is wonderful. One day I might learn to make cork seals so I can replicate that.

[siamackz]

On 9/16/2021 at 8:18 PM, Nethermark said:

Thank you for the video! Amazing, how easy you can get the metal pins out. I almost always find them stuck in there and it can take many heating cycles etc. to pry them out. I see you use WD40, but doesn't that affect the hard rubber?

 

About the O-rings: you don't need to fill up the space. Just a couple will do. I mostly stick to cork though...

Yes the metal pins can be annoying sometimes. I’ve used WD 40 a few times when needed and never had any adverse reactions. Once the pin was stuck so bad I had to drill it out with a jewellers hand drill super delicately. 
Thanks for the tip about the o rings. I’ll try them. 

[siamackz]

15 hours ago, loganrah said:

I'm no expert either but in the few safeties I've done recently (about 5) I've only needed 2 or 3 o-rings. 1 o-ring is probably enough to avoid leaking, after that I think you are mostly going for turning resistance. Not too little, or the nib gets pushed back in writing, but not too much or the pen is annoying to open. I have a couple of NOS pens with original cork seals and the smoothness of their action is wonderful. One day I might learn to make cork seals so I can replicate that.

Thanks I’ll try it out