Parker 51, new hood, need help with re-assembly

[Monz]

Dear Friends,
I recently bought my first Parker 51 from a pen show, just to see what the fuss is all about. It was a teal coloured pen with silver cap (lustraloy?). Unfortunately there was a fine crack in the hood which only became apparent when I noticed ink on my fingers during writing. The hood was not quite the same colour as the barrel either. So, I bought a "new" teal coloured hood from ebay and had a go at some DIY repair....

I was able to remove the old hood after immersion into hot water a few times. I gave everything a spring clean and fine-tuned the nib alignment. I am ready to put it all back together. My question is, where should I apply the shellac when I reassemble? On the treads? Also, do I need to use any sealant anywhere?26073

[Chrissy]

You don't actually need to use shellac. I have a Parker 51 that comes apart when I need it to because it doesn't have shellac on the threads. I never used sealant on it anywhere either. :)

[Monz]

Thanks Chrissy. I was thinking of doing just that but wasn't sure if I would have a leaky pen! :-)

[Flounder]

Hi Monz! I'm in a bullet point kind of mood.

Sealant
I really would advice using sealant. Firstly, it looks like the new hood has an O ring gap at the lip, but your connector doesn't look like the O ring accomodating type. Without an O ring to keep it sealed, or sealant to keep the hood in place, you'll have to crank down on the hood hard to get it ink tight. The lip is much thinner on the O ring hoods, so you'll be risking another crack, do not pass go, etc. etc. Ideally, I would be asking the seller if he's prepared to swap the hood for a non-O ring type to match your connector.

Shellac can be used but was not specified in the Parker manuals, and the pros prefer a rosin based sealant. Rosin sealant will keep the join ink proof, and stop the hood shifting around without having to crank the poor thing down over-tight. Unlike shellac, it also releases very easily when you need it to, none of that hot water bizny required (mild dry heat is best btw). I have to say I have never used shellac on an 51 hood since.


Crack in the Hood y'all
It looks like the old hood is from a cedar blue '51' vacumatic.
Are you sure the old hood has a crack? Ink could have been reaching your fingers from other sources, such as an inner cap that's choked up, or the seller not bothering to remove & replace old sealant from the connector when putting the pen together.

You can check for hood cracks - and other internal flaws - by holding the hood to a bright torch in a dark room. Here's a '51' vacumatic barrel I returned, it was too iffy to keep.

http://i773.photobucket.com/albums/yy19/flounder2009/1948%20Canadian%20Parker%2051%20Vac/P51%20cedar%20blue%20blemish%20B.jpg

http://i773.photobucket.com/albums/yy19/flounder2009/1948%20Canadian%20Parker%2051%20Vac/P51%20cedar%20blue%20blemish%20backlit%20B.jpg

Alternatively, with the pen inked, wrap blutack or damp paper towel around the area you suspect. As the paper dries, it will wick up ink stains from tiny cracks.
http://i773.photobucket.com/albums/yy19/flounder2009/Sort017_800x600.jpg

http://i773.photobucket.com/albums/yy19/flounder2009/Sort015_800x600.jpg

[Monz]

Hi Monz! I'm in a bullet point kind of mood.

Sealant
I really would advice using sealant. Firstly, it looks like the new hood has an O ring gap at the lip, but your connector doesn't look like the O ring accomodating type. Without an O ring to keep it sealed, or sealant to keep the hood in place, you'll have to crank down on the hood hard to get it ink tight. The lip is much thinner on the O ring hoods, so you'll be risking another crack, do not pass go, etc. etc. Ideally, I would be asking the seller if he's prepared to swap the hood for a non-O ring type to match your connector.

Shellac can be used but was not specified in the Parker manuals, and the pros prefer a rosin based sealant. Rosin sealant will keep the join ink proof, and stop the hood shifting around without having to crank the poor thing down over-tight. Unlike shellac, it also releases very easily when you need it to, none of that hot water bizny required (mild dry heat is best btw). I have to say I have never used shellac on an 51 hood since.


Crack in the Hood y'all
It looks like the old hood is from a cedar blue '51' vacumatic.
Are you sure the old hood has a crack? Ink could have been reaching your fingers from other sources, such as an inner cap that's choked up, or the seller not bothering to remove & replace old sealant from the connector when putting the pen together.

You can check for hood cracks - and other internal flaws - by holding the hood to a bright torch in a dark room. Here's a '51' vacumatic barrel I returned, it was too iffy to keep.
...
...
...
...
Alternatively, with the pen inked, wrap blutack or damp paper towel around the area you suspect. As the paper dries, it will wick up ink stains from tiny cracks.


Thank you Flounder for such a comprehensive reply!
Re: Sealant. At the moment I have just put everything back together without shellac or sealant. I see your point about over-tightening the hood. I don't have any rosin based sealant but a few months ago I made some home-brew sealant using bees wax and castor oil. This wax sealant has successfully stopped my Mont Blanc 146 from leaking. Maybe I can use this wax sealant on the Parker 51?

26086

Re: Crack in hood. There is a fine longitudinal crack in the hood which is just visible to the naked eye but is more obvious under the 12x loupe. I noticed tiny droplets of ink near the crack and so assumed that he ink was coming through the crack. Initially I applied a coating of shellac over the crack with a brush but, as you can imagine, this did not look particularly attractive! Anyway, I wasn't happy with the mismatching colour of the hood (it's actually a lot darker than the barrel) and decided to change it. The new hood is a a much closer match to the barrel.

On a side note, the pen is a really nice writer and I can see why so many people enthuse about it.

[Flounder]

Hi Monz,

From my limited experience of making castor loosened beeswax (think that was after reading your recipe!) it doesn't have much in the way of adhesive property. With the rosin sealant, you can screw the hood on till finger tight, and it will stay aligned afterwards.

It's just as easy making rosin sealant btw. I see you're in the UK too, if you like I can send you a lump of rosin (I've run out of castor oil) to experiment with, or enough premade sealant for your 51 smeared in some wax paper.

That clever check-for-cracks-with-a-torch tip isn't my invention btw, I once saw an FPN user's avatar showing it, and it's stuck in my ead ever since. Very handy!

[Farmboy]

Often a good amount of thick rosin based sealant will stop a hood thread crack from leaking.

The replacement hood, as mentioned, is not correct for the connector but it will work.

There is no reason to omit a thread sealant on a 51 hood. There really isn't a good reason you should need to regularly remove the hood. If you are using glitter ink or another boutique ink that is known to cause problems and you can't resist, consider a different pen.

[Hawk]

I have used silicone thread sealant on the hood threads, a leakproof joint yet the hood can be removed without problems. It won't stop leaking on a cracked hood.

[Monz]

Hi Monz,

From my limited experience of making castor loosened beeswax (think that was after reading your recipe!) it doesn't have much in the way of adhesive property. With the rosin sealant, you can screw the hood on till finger tight, and it will stay aligned afterwards.

It's just as easy making rosin sealant btw. I see you're in the UK too, if you like I can send you a lump of rosin (I've run out of castor oil) to experiment with, or enough premade sealant for your 51 smeared in some wax paper.

That clever check-for-cracks-with-a-torch tip isn't my invention btw, I once saw an FPN user's avatar showing it, and it's stuck in my ead ever since. Very handy!

Hi Flounder,
Thank you for your kind offer. I'll PM you.
Monz

[Monz]

Often a good amount of thick rosin based sealant will stop a hood thread crack from leaking.

The replacement hood, as mentioned, is not correct for the connector but it will work.

There is no reason to omit a thread sealant on a 51 hood. There really isn't a good reason you should need to regularly remove the hood. If you are using glitter ink or another boutique ink that is known to cause problems and you can't resist, consider a different pen.

Thanks Farmboy. How can we tell if a hood accepts an 'O' ring? Is there a recess at the end of it?

[Monz]

I have used silicone thread sealant on the hood threads, a leakproof joint yet the hood can be removed without problems. It won't stop leaking on a cracked hood.

Thanks Hawk. I have a pot of silicone in the drawer which I use to lubricate pistons, ink converters and such like. When I used it on a leaky Mont Blanc 146, it did not seem to work too well and I still had inky fingers!

[mhosea]

In case you don't know, Farmboy is the expert on 51s, so I'd listen to him.

Silicone grease is a decent sealant, but it's got a couple of drawbacks here. For one, it's easy to over-tighten, maybe crack the hood. For another, it's not good to have the hood unscrew instead of the barrel when you want to remove the barrel for filling. That only makes it more likely that you'll overtighten the hood.

If I had no rosin-based sealant, I wouldn't hesitate to use shellac. I will never use silicone grease for this application again.

[mhosea]

How can we tell if a hood accepts an 'O' ring? Is there a recess at the end of it?

If the hood accepts an O-ring, there will be a slight undercut on the inside edge to accommodate the o-ring. If there is no cutout for the o-ring, don't use one (obviously). Conversely, if the connector isn't designed for an o-ring but the hood is, also skip the o-ring. That's your case. I made up a batch of my own rosin-based sealant using castor-oil and rosin (for the bows of stringed instruments). But since the hood is made of acrylic (high melting point), shellac is safe and works great on those threads. Whatever sealant you choose, apply it directly to the threads on the connector in front of the clutch ring where the hood threads on (best not to apply to the hood itself, so you won't drag any onto the collector as you put the hood on).

[Monz]

How can we tell if a hood accepts an 'O' ring? Is there a recess at the end of it?

If the hood accepts an O-ring, there will be a slight undercut on the inside edge to accommodate the o-ring. If there is no cutout for the o-ring, don't use one (obviously). Conversely, if the connector isn't designed for an o-ring but the hood is, also skip the o-ring. That's your case. I made up a batch of my own rosin-based sealant using castor-oil and rosin (for the bows of stringed instruments). But since the hood is made of acrylic (high melting point), shellac is safe and works great on those threads. Whatever sealant you choose, apply it directly to the threads on the connector in front of the clutch ring where the hood threads on (best not to apply to the hood itself, so you won't drag any onto the collector as you put the hood on).

Thanks Mike. For the moment I have applied a small amount of beeswax/castor oil on the threads as an experiment. So far so good.

[pajaro]

I experimented with silicon grease, bought for lubing piston fillers. I found the hood could be inadvertently loosened, and I spent some time getting the silicon lube off. It's not a sealant. This has been written about before. I would use the thread sealant or shellac, or just nothing.

[Flounder]

Monz I posted off your sealant today, it should be enough for 2 or 3 51s.

I forgot to say if you get it on your fingers, rub your hands in olive oil to remove it, then you can wash off the olive oil with normal hand soap.

[Farmboy]

Monz I posted off your sealant today, it should be enough for 2 or 3 51s.

I forgot to say if you get it on your fingers, rub your hands in olive oil to remove it, then you can wash off the olive oil with normal hand soap.

Methylbenzene also works well...

[Monz]

Monz I posted off your sealant today, it should be enough for 2 or 3 51s.

I forgot to say if you get it on your fingers, rub your hands in olive oil to remove it, then you can wash off the olive oil with normal hand soap.

Thanks Flounder, much appreciated :-)