Jump to content

What is this, and what do I DO with it?


Ron Z

Recommended Posts

Here's another one for you. There are multiple uses for this particular object, but there's a clue to what I use it for in the picture. Remember, the idea here is to get you to think outside the box, to look for possible tools or solutions to repair problems in ordinary things around you. I just used the tool prior to sending a pen out this evening......

 

I think that I showed this to Paul Gilster in Raleigh. If I did Paul, (or anyone else!) you have to keep mum!

 

spacer.png

spacer.png
Visit Main Street Pens
A full service pen shop providing professional, thoughtful vintage pen repair...

Please use email, not a PM for repair and pen purchase inquiries.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 14
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • Ron Z

    4

  • leprechaun

    3

  • Buzz J

    2

  • gilster

    1

Top Posters In This Topic

If the cap has a rubber insert, it takes Vac and 51 jewels out like crazy.

 

With a test tube rack, it can hold small parts of pens which are under repair, levers, lever clip rings, nibs, feeds, breather tubes.

 

With some alcohol, it can hold about a shot of whisky, tell people that it is really watery shellac. :)

 

Cheers,

Sean

PenRx is no longer in business.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's a plastic test tube with a cap. It is used just prior to packing and shipping a pen. It is also bigger than the pen in the background, and appears it could contain the whole pen.

So, presumably, the pen is repaired and has been tested and is working properly. So, the last thing you would do is make sure the pen is empty of ink, water and other fluids.

 

Put pen in test tube, put test tube in a simple centrifuge, spin pen dry.

 

I don't see it, but I would want to have some soft, spongy material in the bottom of the test tube.

And a matching weight for the other side of the centrifuge.

 

 

fpn_1412827311__pg_d_104def64.gif




“Them as can do has to do for them as can’t.


And someone has to speak up for them as has no voices.”


Granny Aching

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Put pen in test tube, put test tube in a simple centrifuge, spin pen dry.

 

There are plans up for a centrifuge are here on FPN - I used a funnel instead of a tube so that the ink could sling out of the pen. If you're interested, you'll find the thread here.

 

I did ship a bunch of pens in cigar tubes a few years ago. I don't smoke, but when I found a box full of cigar tubes at a garage sale, I bought them.

 

Sean - no rubber insert. Just a tube with a plastic cap

 

The advantage to this one is that it is translucent. I also have to tell you that I don't use the object "as found."

 

 

spacer.png
Visit Main Street Pens
A full service pen shop providing professional, thoughtful vintage pen repair...

Please use email, not a PM for repair and pen purchase inquiries.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had a feeling it was probably a shipping tube,since the only three things in the picture were the tube,the bottom end of a

P51 S/J(looks like cedar blue),and the table that they both are sitting on...... :lol:

 

John

Irony is not lost on INFJ's--in fact,they revel in it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Alright... I'll bite.

 

Do you fill a Parker "51" with water, submerge the pen to the clutch ring, then fill the pen with water? It would make it very obvious if the top of the hood had any leaks. A glass culture tube would be even better!

 

Alec

 

Edited to specify a "51" and to confess to clue back channel.

Edited by leprechaun
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Alright... I'll bite.

 

Do you fill a Parker "51" with water, submerge the pen to the clutch ring, then fill the pen with water? It would make it very obvious if the top of the hood had any leaks. A glass culture tube would be even better!

 

Alec

 

Edited to specify a "51" and to confess to clue back channel.

 

You're getting warm....

spacer.png
Visit Main Street Pens
A full service pen shop providing professional, thoughtful vintage pen repair...

Please use email, not a PM for repair and pen purchase inquiries.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Do you fill a Parker "51" with water, submerge the pen to the clutch ring, then fill the pen with water? It would make it very obvious if the top of the hood had any leaks. A glass culture tube would be even better!

 

Interesting notion. And alas, Ron, this isn't one you showed me in Raleigh, so I'm in the dark at this point.

 

Paul

"You accomplish the great task by a series of small acts." -- Lao Tzu

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Do you use this to hold water and repeatedly fill-flush a 51 or similar pen till the ejected water runs clear?

 

 

In case you wish to write to me, pls use ONLY email by clicking here. I do not check PMs. Thank you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow. Re-reading my previous post I must have been multi-tasking too much.

 

Inserting an empty "51" and filling it while submerged to the clutch ring is what I meant. If there was a leak at the top of the hood, air would be expelled.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You could also put a scale on it and use it to test the ink capacity of pens (by filling the pen out of the test tube).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You could also put a scale on it and use it to test the ink capacity of pens (by filling the pen out of the test tube).

 

Bingo, that's got to be it.

so many pens, so little time.......

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Judging by the "reference pen" in the background, that tube would easily hold about 100-150 ml of liquid. I think gradations at 0.5 to 1 ml would be too close together to be helpful. Since "Monster Reservoirs" hold about 2 ml I suspect there is another purpose for this disposable labware.

 

I for one am eagerly awaiting the purpose... but not too eagerly because this speculation is pretty fun.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Buzz does it again! The "object" is a paint ball tube. You're supposed to fill the thing with paint balls and cap it. It'll fit onto the magazine hole on the top of a paint ball gun. The picture at the bottom shows how I modified it for use. The tubes are also very handy for storing your dental picks and other sharp tools when not in use - helps to protect the fingers when rummaging around in your tool box.

 

It was Leprechaun's question about 51 capacity that prompted me to start this particular thread. The question about how to measure Parker 51 and Vacumatic ink capacity often comes up. The 51 in particular presents a problem because the collector under the hood holds a lot of ink. You can't tell if the pen is filling by measuring the amount of ink that comes out because the collector does it's job and holds the ink, and the breather tube helps to hold the ink in the pen as you pump the filler.

 

The Parker repair manuals said that the way to measure the capacity of a pen was to measure the amount of ink that was taken into a pen. They provided a tube with two graduations on it. One would fill the tube to the top line with water. If the pen took up enough water to lower the level to the lower line, the pen was working properly.

 

For a while I used a glass Sanford ink well, but ended up using it for other purposes (like holding a pen in the middle of some repair process) and the inkwell was inconvenient to take to a pen show. So, I pulled out a paint ball tube, cut it off and scribed a line on it. Then I filled the cut off tube to the line, and took a newly repaired 51 and filled it to the point where the bubbles stopped. I then pulled out the pen and looked at where the water level was, then marked that point. In this case the tube has an ID of about 3/4" The lines are about 1/4" apart. The volume between the lines is about 1.6 CC. Rather impricise measurement because the lines on my syringe are well worn, but good enough for figuring out if the pen is filling as it should.

 

There will be variations between pens because of different length breather tubes, and also between the aerometric, Demi and vac filled 51 pens. But in general if the water level goes at least 2/3 of the way down, the pen is filling fine.

 

Here's a picture of the tube that I use to measure the intake of 51s.

 

spacer.png

spacer.png
Visit Main Street Pens
A full service pen shop providing professional, thoughtful vintage pen repair...

Please use email, not a PM for repair and pen purchase inquiries.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You know as a part-time, work on mostly my own stuff, apprentice third class, repair want-to-be, I've just recently come to realize that the inspection, testing and fine tuning AFTER the repair is just as (perhaps more?) important than the repair.

 

You can complete a stunning repair job, but if you don't go through the inspection, testing and fine tuning phase, you might still have a piece of junk that doesn't get used.

 

That's why I get excited over a paint ball tube with a couple lines scored on it.

 

Thanks Ron!

 

John

so many pens, so little time.......

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Most Contributions

    1. amberleadavis
      amberleadavis
      43844
    2. PAKMAN
      PAKMAN
      33494
    3. Ghost Plane
      Ghost Plane
      28220
    4. inkstainedruth
      inkstainedruth
      26624
    5. jar
      jar
      26101
  • Upcoming Events

  • Blog Comments

    • Shanghai Knife Dude
      I have the Sailor Naginata and some fancy blade nibs coming after 2022 by a number of new workshop from China.  With all my respect, IMHO, they are all (bleep) in doing chinese characters.  Go use a bush, or at least a bush pen. 
    • A Smug Dill
      It is the reason why I'm so keen on the idea of a personal library — of pens, nibs, inks, paper products, etc. — and spent so much money, as well as time and effort, to “build” it for myself (because I can't simply remember everything, especially as I'm getting older fast) and my wife, so that we can “know”; and, instead of just disposing of what displeased us, or even just not good enough to be “given the time of day” against competition from >500 other pens and >500 other inks for our at
    • adamselene
      Agreed.  And I think it’s good to be aware of this early on and think about at the point of buying rather than rationalizing a purchase..
    • A Smug Dill
      Alas, one cannot know “good” without some idea of “bad” against which to contrast; and, as one of my former bosses (back when I was in my twenties) used to say, “on the scale of good to bad…”, it's a spectrum, not a dichotomy. Whereas subjectively acceptable (or tolerable) and unacceptable may well be a dichotomy to someone, and finding whether the threshold or cusp between them lies takes experiencing many degrees of less-than-ideal, especially if the decision is somehow influenced by factors o
    • adamselene
      I got my first real fountain pen on my 60th birthday and many hundreds of pens later I’ve often thought of what I should’ve known in the beginning. I have many pens, the majority of which have some objectionable feature. If they are too delicate, or can’t be posted, or they are too precious to face losing , still they are users, but only in very limited environments..  I have a big disliking for pens that have the cap jump into the air and fly off. I object to Pens that dry out, or leave blobs o
  • Chatbox

    You don't have permission to chat.
    Load More
  • Files






×
×
  • Create New...