Welcome to- The Fountain Pen Community!

Members Login
Username 
 
Password 
    Remember Me  
The Fountain Pen Community -> The Workbench -> very dry Parker vacumatic
Post Info TOPIC: very dry Parker vacumatic
jor412


Vintage

Status: Offline
Posts: 259
Date:
very dry Parker vacumatic
Permalink Closed

I have a very dry Parker vacumatic debutante. I've flushed it out with water and changed inks but it's still dry. There's no problem with the diaphragm. It takes in a lot of ink and expels it just fine. It writes, too. It's just that it's too dry to be fun to use. 

So I'm thinking of knocking out the nib and feed, inspecting them, cleaning them (esp if the nib has corrosion that isn't visible), and maybe hacking the feed a bit to increase flow. 

Except I've read warnings here and there that it's hard to get the nib and feed back in.

Apart from putting them back where they were originally seated in the section, is there anything else I should worry about?



__________________
Chthulhu


Rawr.

Status: Offline
Posts: 774
Date:
Permalink Closed

Did you floss the nib? Nine times out of ten that will do the trick for me.

__________________

Mike Hungerford
http://goo.gl/dUVnUZ
jor412


Vintage

Status: Offline
Posts: 259
Date:
Permalink Closed

Yes I did with a brass shim. I tried separating the tines as well. Both only resulted in a slight improvement. I looked back at some of journals to see if it was always a dry writer and it seems it was except I hadn't tried enough pens yet to be able to tell the difference. haha

__________________
januaryman


Newbie

Status: Offline
Posts: 11
Date:
Permalink Closed

I'd flush with soapy water (1 or 2 drops of dishwashing detergent in a cup of water) and directly after ink it up. Sometimes the tiny residue of soap helps break the surface tension.

__________________

"My two fingers on a typewriter have never connected with my brain. My hand on a pen does. A fountain pen, of course. Ball-point pens are only good for filling out forms on a plane." - Graham Greene
jor412


Vintage

Status: Offline
Posts: 259
Date:
Permalink Closed

Thanks. I'll try that. If that doesn't work, I'll attempt the disassembly. And if I can't, oh well, it'll be the first pen I give up on and send off for repair. I don't want to not only because of the cost of shipping plus repair, but because the pen will be away for a good amount of time. Our local post office is truly, truly slow. For example, Hong Kong is about an hour's flight from Manila, but my shipments from HK take 3-4 weeks! It's quite ridiculous.

__________________
DWL


***

Status: Offline
Posts: 2016
Date:
Permalink Closed

This is an easy one to take care of. Heat the section/barrel joint to soften up the shellac on the section threads. Remove the section, remove the breather tube stuck in the back of the feed. Drop the nib unit in a cup of slightly warmer than room temp water, or an ultra sonic cleaner (a jewelery cleaner will work as well, but not quite as good). get a punch/dowel smaller than the inner diameter of the section nipple, but larger than the breather tube. Knock out the feed/nib, drop it back in for another quick wash/cleaning cycle. Use a toothbrush and scrub the feeds ink channels. You can even use a heavy sewing needle to gently trail down the channels to be to be 100% sure they are clean & clear. clean the nib, floss it while it's out of the section. Reassemble everything looking for the nib impression inside the section to put it back where it's always been. A touch of shellac on the section threads to reseal it & your done. let it dry for 30 minutes or so & give it a test ride. Take a look at my repair dvd/video volume 1, sticky posted in this forum. It's got a full how to on knocking out a nib etc etc.

good luck!


__________________

Tu ne cede malis sed contra audentior ito
~Yield not to misfortunes, but advance all the more boldly against them

jor412


Vintage

Status: Offline
Posts: 259
Date:
Permalink Closed

Ok. So I shouldn't be so fearful about it then. :)

Thanks to your videos, I was able to completely disassemble and fix a couple of vintage Watermans and Parker 51s, but when I did some research on the Vac, there were so many warnings about how hard it was to get the nib & feed back in the section.

__________________
DWL


***

Status: Offline
Posts: 2016
Date:
Permalink Closed

Nah, nothing to worry about at all. This is FP repair 101. It's as basic as they come. If you find the feed/nib combo hard to put back in place,take a cotton swab with a bit of silicon grease and swab the inside of the section & a schmear on the feed, keeping it out of the ink channels. This will give it enough lubrication to slide home & seat easily.

__________________

Tu ne cede malis sed contra audentior ito
~Yield not to misfortunes, but advance all the more boldly against them

DWL


***

Status: Offline
Posts: 2016
Date:
Permalink Closed

I'm glad you found the videos helpful.

__________________

Tu ne cede malis sed contra audentior ito
~Yield not to misfortunes, but advance all the more boldly against them

jor412


Vintage

Status: Offline
Posts: 259
Date:
Permalink Closed

Dennis, you're a peach. Thanks :) So far, the vac is in the category of stuck sections haha but I've done those before so I'll be patient about it.



__________________
DWL


***

Status: Offline
Posts: 2016
Date:
Permalink Closed

Do you have a knock out block?


__________________

Tu ne cede malis sed contra audentior ito
~Yield not to misfortunes, but advance all the more boldly against them

jor412


Vintage

Status: Offline
Posts: 259
Date:
Permalink Closed

I have a make-shift knock out block. It's a flare tool. I just use the holes. I put the tool over a wooden box, cushion the holes with felt cloth, and knock away with a small hammer and a knock out tool I made from old nails (sanded to a nice clean flat round end). The feed and nib drop onto some more cloth in the box. I also have copper fuel line hose which I used when I had to knock out a Sheaffer feed & feather touch nib. The feed had a "tail".

Stuck sections are a PTA. It's like someone put gobs of shellac on the sections and then it takes an extremely long soak before I can pull off them off.

I use a rubber strap wrench but I finally put in an order for two spark plug terminal pliers through Amazon. They're way cheaper than section pliers & I think they'll make my repair life easier.

__________________
jor412


Vintage

Status: Offline
Posts: 259
Date:
Permalink Closed

The section was stubborn and I got impatient so... I didn't destroy the pen. I soaked it in ammonia solution up to the section, then flushed it with water, let it dry, then flossed the nib and separated the tines and that finally, finally worked. It's not as wet a writer as I would like but way better than previously and that's fine for now.

__________________
Page 1 of 1  sorted by
 
Quick Reply

Please log in to post quick replies.
The Fountain Pen Community -> The Workbench -> very dry Parker vacumatic
Tweet this page Post to Digg Post to Del.icio.us


Create your own FREE Forum
Report Abuse 		Powered by ActiveBoard