Who to Restore 1964 Pilot Super 250 leak?

[KBeezie]

I have a 1964 (EE22 date code) Pilot Super 250 I recently got in a trade, and seemed ok at first, but noticed some ink was around the seam between the sac protector and the section when I got it.

So after I completely flushed it (and rinsed out the sac protector), and syringed out the back of the section (just to make sure it wasn't old ink prior to a re-saccing just getting condensated again), I did a water test, and consistently it would have colored water on the outside of the metal part at the right-under-side, but not inside the sac protector (ie: not coming from the sac or sac lip).

And based on images online (particularly Crónicas Estilográficas) just like the 70s elites and the murex I have there's a clear rubber plug that sits between the feed and the rest of the pen. I suspect there is a leak along the side of it, rather than a leak in the sac.

Seems minor (assuming it's not cracked inside) however problem is, I can't get at it, as you can see.
I imagine it would require removing the nib forward (which is a pain), and then pushing the feed back thru the section (which is also a pain, especially in the 1970s Elites), and then after doing everything, putting the nib back on (which was also a major pain when I did it on a 1970s pilot elite).



where it shows blue in the initial picture is roughly how far the sac protector goes in, the dark ink on the paper towel is just from around the sac protector lip.

So wondering if there's anyone in the US that has experience with disassembling these and repairing around the feed if it's either the gasket or the sac needing to be replaced.

[KBeezie]

Seems like the culprit is probably the clear seal, the sac is shellac'd well onto it, and no holes in the sac when I tested water and it doesn't leak from the lip of the sac. So my guess is the clear seal may have shrunk over time to not fully cover the wall of the section to prevent ink from slowly escaping the back of the feed.





Thankfully it's not threaded like the 70s elites.

[Farmboy]

I have fixed a number of these including the mechanism inside the shroud. My solution was to make a new bushing.

[Jon Szanto]

I can't quite tell the filling action on this - is it somewhat like a button fill, or does it twist the sac to compress it?

[katherine]

AltecGreen calls it a switch filler. I picked up a Pilot Super 200 (I think?) at the Posse this past Saturday. The lever-thing inside the shroud seems to be broken, so for now I'm using a normal sac and just squishing it with my fingers to fill. :|

[Jon Szanto]

My question still awaits an answer.

[kernando]

Everybody else calls it a switch filler too. Pushing the switch down somehow pushes the bar sideways to squish the sac. I don't remember whether it's a spring, or what the insides look like.

[penwash]

Karl, you may want to contact Dale at Pentooling.
He makes custom pen parts, maybe if you send him the shrunken plastic seal, he can make you a new one.

[KBeezie]

A tiny bit of grease around the lip of that plastic part and the corner where it touches the feed seems to have done the trick (if the seal shrunk it'd be tighter around the tail of the feed, rather than the feed being looser inside of the seal), course it's also possible that just by me re-assembling it that I got it all back in at the correct distance too, since it hasn't shown a drop of moisture or ink whenever I slide the sleeve off after a day of testing/sitting.

Will keep Dale in mind.

Far as Jon's question, it's a quarter turn filler. The little knob at the bottom, Which is easier seen here:



Turns up against the notch (usually having a springy snap by the time it gets to the end of the turn) which squeezes a pressure bar inside to the other side. Sort of reminds me of the Mabie Todd Swan leverless pens.

[Farmboy]

Jon,

The small indentations is where a retaining ring is located inside the shroud. This holds the bottom of a pressure bar similar to that in a Duofold. At the other end is a plastic bushing. The switch on the end is more like a cam that pushes the bushing down which causes the pressure bar to bow resulting in pressure on the sac collapsing it.

Common problems include damage to the plastic components, rusted and rotted pressure bars, loose retaining rings, sack goo, and shrunk sac nipple bushings.

They can be recalcitrant if they so desire, especially when there is internal damage.

[Jon Szanto]

Gentlemen, it has all become clear. Thanks for the explanations and extra photos!