Dismantling a 51 aero?

[Laurie]

I have just acquired my first 51 aero and you may pick up my road on "what Parker is this" thread. In short the seller of this pen has informed me that this pen was not used for sometime. I gave it a 24 hour soak and flush with Goulet Pen Flush and removed quiet a bit of old ink. It now flushes clear and has been re inked and seems to be performing normally although there is a little skipping which seems to disappear when I tilt the nib very slightly to the left. It may just be a nib characteristic.

Mike Hosea has suggested I pull off the hood and check the nib alignment. I had previously posted that I would also like to pull the pen apart for a thorough cleaning, checking the breather tube, the sac nipple and while apart do a sac replacement.
I have watched a very interesting youtube demonstration by Glenn Atkins of Triumph Vintage Pens. It is very informative and sets out the steps including the problems with removal of the hood and breather tube etc. He used hot water (sometimes repeated many times) to remove stubborn parts. It appears to me that if you are very careful and dont go applying excessive force that you can do this without much trouble. It doesnt appear to be complicated. But I have read other threads warning people not do do it.

One interesting thread was in the FPN site under Parker Pens section where there was a post asking about the method and also resulted in a discussion about the use of shellac as oppose to a resin. In fact a few members of this forum including Mike Hosea participated in that discussion. One issue raised was that Parker itself and restorers used shellac to stop/deter inexperienced pen owners from trying to pull the pen apart. Not sure if they are just worried about their own interests or worried about owners damaging their own pens. I can understand their argument if they are talking about a pen just coming back from a service or restoration and the owner pulling it apart again. But I think it is a different scenario, where in my case, I have a pen that I dont know much about and has a history of not being used for sometime (albeit that it seems to be working well) But in any event the thread was clear that many thought it was beyond the capabilities of a novice.

To my mind the two main areas where one can go wrong is with the application of excess force and the use of too much heat. Glenn Atkins advocates the use of water that is just under boiling point. He had to do this a few times on some parts but eventually he was successful.

I may be one of the fools that was referred to his that thread but something is gnawing away at me that it would be an interesting and useful experience and as I probably will acquire more 51s down the track. Also I come from Australia and shipping costs to USA or UK would be prohibitive. Hugh C has indicated a Melbourne company that does this but again it would cost close to $75 AUD to have the work done. So that is another motive for me trying to learn this skill.

So my question is this. Even though I havent done this before, if I use moderate force and go easy and use the water soaking technique (even repeated 3-5 times) can I really get into too much trouble. I appreciate that sometimes it is not just the shellac that is binding these parts and that there is issues with dry ink that heat wont remove. In those cases I imagine further soaking and even the use of a ultrasonic cleaner would loosen any stubborn parts. My other question is assuming it is a wise move what tools will I require. My present research indicates the following tools that would be helpful:

1. Non slip rubber cloth for gripping the two parts of the pen
2. Dental pick for removing any broken bits or maybe scraping ink off threads
3. Shellac for re assembly
4. Piano wire for clearing breather tube etc
5. Sim polish for cleaning various parts
6. Ultrasonic cleaner.

I would appreciate your ideas.

[pajaro]

If a Parker 51 writes decently and you have no problems like jerky ink flow or hard starting, incomplete filling, etc., you are tempting fate by disassembling the pen. While there is enough information out to guide you through the process, something can go wrong. There a lot of considerations, though.

If you take the pen apart and break something, you then get into the process of finding a replacement part or parts. This is a valuable learning experience. Then you have to assemble the pen correctly, and you will learn things by doing it. So, there is a benefit of adding to your knowledge.

Some people think you have to disassemble every Parker 51. They think some parts like the breather tube are likely broken or plugged. They might think you can't get the pen clean otherwise. I don't agree with this, and I have had a good many P51s that I never broke down for cleaning that I was able to make work quite well with a flush and a possible soak. I feel that I have to know something is wrong that I cannot fix without disassembling the pen. I have many times had the experience of disassembling things like pens, car parts, home appliances, etc, and had some part strip threads or break, and this would not have happened if I hadn't played fix it. There are good reasons why people say "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." So, that's something to mull over.

Some people have a compulsion to take everything apart to see how it works. If you get it back together without stripping something or breaking something, well and good. You might actually figure out how pens work this way.

Taking the hood or shell off usually requires some application of heat. Some hoods come off easily, and some are resistant to your best efforts. Using a hair dryer is probably OK, because it only gets so hot, and usually doesn't melt or burn the plastic. I have had the experience of having to apply so much heat on some P51 hoods that I resorted to a heat gun. Sometimes this worked, but sometimes I overdid it on the heat and melted and deformed the hood. Astoundingly, a reapplication of heat sometimes made the hood resume its normal shape. Sometimes not. For these reasons, the very hot water method is probably safer. I have not yet tried it. Note that I am not trumping up some reason to take the hood off of a functioning P51 to test this.

Consider also the effect of enthusiasm for a new (to you) pen. You want to do everything with the pen. Fill it with all kinds of ink and write with it bunches. You might want to get so into it that you want to take it all apart. I pass no judgement on this, but I have seen it in posts in this and other forums. I have felt it myself.

Think about it. Do you really need to tear the pen down? Personally I am made reluctant to disassemble pens that work well enough by all the screwups I have made.

[Laurie]

Thanks Pajaro. A search of Ebay didnt reveal any old 51s to practice on. They are all $75+. Where does one find these. Maybe I will just wait till I find one laying around somewhere.

[mhosea]

Just for the record, I only suggested you pull off the hood if you needed to align the tines, which you don't need to do, per your comments on the other thread.. And I would have strongly recommended against removing the feed from the collector or collector from the connector because this is an excellent way to destroy your breather tube. I've done it.

[whych]

I agree with Pajaro - unless there are serious issues with the pen, leave it.
At the very least, putting the hood back is fiddly to get it aligned properly again.
You say in the other thread that the only problem is how much you rotate your pen to get an even ink flow. This could be that the hood is slightly misaligned/rotated with respect to the nib.
If the pen writes without scratching when the pen is slightly rotated, leave it alone. If it scratches, check the tines are not misaligned with a loupe and try to realign.
Only if the nib is badly misaligned would I pull the pen apart.

To clear the breather tube and feed, you can fill the pen with water and leave the whole pen submersed in water while cycling it in an Ultrasonic cleaner. You won't damage anything and this will also get rid of any ink stains in the sac (if the sac is clear, you can see the stains) as well as any dried ink in the feed and breather tube.

Those old Parkers are pretty bullet proof and seldom need pulling apart. The hooded nib means it is pretty difficult to bend or misalign the nib.
If you want to pracice on a cheaper pen, look for a Parker 17. They are pretty similar to the P51.

[Laurie]

Hi Whych the pen nib and hood are perfectly aligned and a loupe examination reveals nothing apparent. But as I said it is now all fixed with a slight use of macro paper smoothing. The nib is performingly perfectly in the normal position. When I said it was better by moving slightly to the left I meant slightly. So I thought it was just a wear situation from a previous user's normal position of the pen (I am not sure if he wrote with it for 60 years in that position but if he did I imagine it would be better in that position) I gave it a recommended flush cycle so I think there is nothing really glaringly wrong inside. Maybe time will prove that wrong. But at the moment I am more than happy. It is just that gnawing human trait of wanting to know what is inside that you cant see. I will take you advice and and look into a Parker 17. Certainly buying another Parker 51 (even with problems) is becoming uneconomic from an Australian perspective.
Thanks very much for your interest and sound advice.

[Chrissy]

I have a Parker 51 aero and found when I tried to unscrew the barrel to fill it, the hood unscrewed instead. So I was able to clean mine, because once the hood has unscrewed, cleaning the internal parts is easy enough. However, I have never removed the filler or sac because I never felt the need to, and I don't want to risk breaking anything that I can't replace.

Also, when I screwed my hood back on, I didn't use any shellac or anything to keep it there permanently. It has had a clean in the ultrasonic once since then and the hood was very easy to unscrew again after that cycle.

If the hood hadn't come apart easily, I would have left it rather than risk breaking it.

Similarly I also had a 51 vac and that hood was very easy to unscrew with not much force. I never force anything that might break.

[ac12]

The other reason for shellac or rosin in the threads of the hood is to seal it, so ink does not leak.
I would go with rosin/section sealant, since it softens at a lower temp than shellac.

I have pulled hoods, but as others have said, only because I had to; bent nib, cracked hood, etc.
Otherwise, it is not worth the hassle and risk of damage.

BTW, this subject is similar to pulling the feed and nib out of a section. I've knocked out feeds (to fix a bent/broken nib) only to not be able to put the feed and nib back again, because the section had shrunk.

[Laurie]

I recall someone mentioning a Hiro 616 as a practice pen. Here is a link: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/239772-Picture-tutorial-How-to-quot-tune-quot-a-Hero-616-fountain-pen

Seems like the same innards as a Parker 51. Obviously the major difference will be that parts will separate without trouble as it would have dried ink over 50 odd years. But at least you would get some idea.

I havent checked but they are probably only a few dollars on ebay.

[Jon Szanto]

No.

Not the same. At least not enough to give you absolute confidence of the process. Similar, not the same.

[Laurie]

Yes Jon you are right. The Hiro 616 doesnt have a breather tube.