Question about the J Bar

[southpaw52]

If the J bar lacks tension, will this affect how ink is drawn into the bladder?

How difficult is it to replace a J bar on i.e a Esterbrook?

[mhosea]

The J-bar doesn't help draw the ink in. That's all about the resiliency of the sac, though if the J-bar prevents the sac from expanding by pressing down on it, then that would, of course, prevent it from drawing in ink. Replacing a J-bar is not very hard (though not incredibly easy, either, owing to the need to line things up and maybe make a slight adjustment or two), but you may need alligator forceps (http://www.fountainpensacs.com/alligator_forceps.html) to remove the old one.

But when you say it "lacks tension", I wonder exactly what is going on. Can you fill with water and pump it out? The sac is in good shape?

[southpaw52]

The J-bar doesn't help draw the ink in. That's all about the resiliency of the sac, though if the J-bar prevents the sac from expanding by pressing down on it, then that would, of course, prevent it from drawing in ink. Replacing a J-bar is not very hard (though not incredibly easy, either, owing to the need to line things up and maybe make a slight adjustment or two), but you may need alligator forceps (http://www.fountainpensacs.com/alligator_forceps.html) to remove the old one.

But when you say it "lacks tension", I wonder exactly what is going on. Can you fill with water and pump it out? The sac is in good shape?

The sac can appear to be good, if it does not have elasticity to it then the sack needs replacing before the j-bar correct?

[mhosea]

The sac can appear to be good, if it does not have elasticity to it then the sack needs replacing before the j-bar correct?

The sequencing is probably right, but it isn't set in stone because the two repairs are independent: the sac attaches to the section and the J-bar to the barrel.

I'd be doing both in the same repair session. I'd remove the section and clean out any old sac fragments. I'd probably replace the sac at this point because one has to let the shellac dry anyway before putting the pen back together. While the shellac is drying, I'd evaluate the J-bar by actuating the lever while watching the J-bar by looking down the barrel with a small flashlight. If the J-bar rests on the barrel when the lever is returned to the normal position, it is probably OK, at least worth testing with the new sac after the shellac has set.

[ac12]

If you are going to pull the section, I would just replace the sac. Especially if you don't know when the sac was last replaced, as an old sac could fail next week.