Sheaffer Vac Filler nut wrenches

[Ron Z]

There was a thread a while ago about a wrench to take apart a Wing Sung 699, that started with the question about whether the wrench will work on a Sheaffer Plunger filler.  Some of the early plunger fillers have a brass nut at the end, and many of the later ones (post war) have an aluminum nut that holds a small knob in the blind cap.  The combination allows the blind cap to spin freely and wiggle around so that the knob won't turn the wire rod, and the rod can be self aligning in the barrel.

 

These are the three that I use. 

 

 

 

The middle one is from the Sheaffer service department.  It rests on the plunger rod and fits into notch on the aluminum nut allowing the pen mechanic to unscrew the nut so that the knob can be taken off of the rod, and the rod extracted.  Sometimes these are really tough to remove, either because the plastic of the blind cap has shrunk, or because the aluminum has corroded.  When I encounter this, I use the top tool that I made out of a screwdriver.  I  pulled the shaft of the screwdriver out of the handle, heated it with a torch to bend it to about 45 degrees.  Then I ground the edges so it fit into the blind cap, and the using an abrasive wheel on a flex shaft tool (a  Dremel would work) to cut the notch to fit over the rod.  The picture below will show that the part of the blade above the notch has a groove so that the blade can fit pretty much straight down in the blind cap.   The shaft of the tool was then heated a bit and pressed back into the handle.  The advantage here is that I can press down on the nut much harder, and can also get more torque on the nut than with the Sheaffer tool. I hold the blind cap in a pair of section pliers.

 

Tool #3 is used on the pens that have the brass nut in the back end.  Note that the tines are fairly thin, and are spaced much farther apart compared to the wrench for the aluminum nut.  The end is bent a bit short of a 90 degree angle.  I also case hardened/heat treated the tool  using  Kasenit (available on Amazon).  The tool was driven into a piece of dowel that I coated with Krylon.

 

 

This shows the underside of two of the tools.  Note how the groove extends up the blade a bit, and that the shoulders of the blade are ground narrower so that it fits into the blind cap.  The groove milled into the Sheaffer made tool allows it lay flat on the rod and the prongs will fit properly into the slit in the nut.

 

On occasion you do screw up the threads in the blind cap, or if the plastic has shrunk you need to recut the threads.  Use a standard tap - 1/4-28 to recut,  and the nut will fit in again.

[es9]

The screwdriver one is brilliant! Though I’d be really nervous about my hand slipping. 
 

The Sheaffer one is also really neat. The version of this tool that Laurence Oldfield sells is similar in design and works very well.