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Uncle Bud
December 23rd, 2013, 05:56 AM
I've been trying to clean out a very unloved 51, I have been soaking and flushing with water and a little ammonia for days and still the water is inky. Is it safe to flush out a 51 with diluted bleach?

I'd appreciate any advice. Thanks

Paul-H
December 23rd, 2013, 06:03 AM
Hi

I would stick to a 10% Ammonia mix if I was you. Also don't expect to get 100% of the ink out either no matter how much you flush it.

Paul

Jeph
December 23rd, 2013, 06:59 AM
I would stick with soaking in just water with daily flushes using the ammonia mix. I have had pens that had to soak for well over a week before they were clean enough to come apart for serious cleaning. Without disassembly, which I do not recommend unless you know what you are doing, the soak and flush routine could go on for a very long time. Just be patient.

You could add just a drop of dishwashing liquid to the water and ammonia mix, flush the pen with that, then re-fill the pen with the mixture and soak in plain water overnight while filled with the mixture. Repeat daily.

I would not use bleach in any dilution for any purpose.

Uncle Bud
December 23rd, 2013, 07:07 AM
Thanks guys for the advice. I'll stick with what I'm doing for a while longer. I've been reading up on disassembly and figured I'd start with this one. It's an aerometric filler and the only thing I've to find out is how to remove the sac protector. Looking forward to restoring it. Thanks again.

jar
December 23rd, 2013, 07:31 AM
Just a little more info for the future.

Trying to flush a "51" fully is an exercise in futility. When you decide to put one away for an extended period you can devote a couple days to doing flushing but for general use it is not needed even when changing ink colors. No Worry; when you do change colors there is a fair chance by the second or third refilling you'll see the new color shine through.

ac12
December 23rd, 2013, 07:35 PM
It took me 2 weeks to clean a used 51 that I got off eBay.
I did a 10 hour LONG soak (standing vertical, tip down) followed by a rinse and blotting the nib onto a tissue to draw out the ink from the collector.
I did 2 soak/rinse/blot cycles a day for approximately 2 weeks before the pen was clean enough for me to put away.
This was after many cycles in the USC.

BTW, I used either plain filtered water or 10% ammonia solution.

I would not bother resacing aerometrics. The sacs in the aerometrics are "unreal." My mother's 51 aero is still going strong maybe 50+ years later.

pajaro
December 24th, 2013, 10:20 AM
Some of the experts used a salad spinner to spin the old ink out of a Parker 51. This supposedly worked. I have had a lot of 51s, but never cared about getting the last iota of old ink out of the pen. I just got the largest part of it out when changing colors, and filling with a different color left little or no traces of the previous color. You could disassemble the pen and wash the coponents, but if you were to break something, would it be worth it. I'd be careful with the feed and breather tube. I think I would also order a few spare parts before embarking on a disassembly.

The salad spinner is supposed to work. Obviously it would require modification. I think there was an old thread about this on FPN. Enjoy your 51s. I compare each pen I buy to my first 51. Most of them don't make that cut.

welch
December 27th, 2013, 01:42 PM
Biggest thing is patience, and understanding that it is almost impossible to get a 51 completely flushed. Unless you are filling or trying to flush an ink that explodes when in contact with another ink, a prolonged squeeze flush with a 10:1 water:ammonia solution, plus a night of soaking should be good enough. Maybe 24 hours of soaking?

As mentioned above, don't have an aerometric sac replaced. Unless the sac has a pin-hole or cut, the 51 aero seems as good now as 60 years ago. 51 Vacs are another story...

85AKbN
December 27th, 2013, 02:07 PM
The salad spinner is supposed to work. Obviously it would require modification. I think there was an old thread about this on FPN. Enjoy your 51s. I compare each pen I buy to my first 51. Most of them don't make that cut.
google salad spinner fpn and you can read the cached threads (page 1 anyway) and the pics work if still hosted.

inkstainedruth
December 27th, 2013, 08:14 PM
What I've read (and it worked pretty well for me) is to soak it, nib down, in ammonia/distilled water solution (with a tiny bit of Dawn dish detergent added) for 24-36 hours (I used a plastic clothespin (the kind with the spring them) to keep the pen relatively vertical), with the liquid not quite coming up to the clutch ring; some people use shotglasses to soak the pen -- I have an inexpensive votive candle holder with very thick sides, which I think is more stable, and cost a buck at Target. Every now and then, flush and refill the pen, and turn it upright in your hand on occasion to make sure all that solution is getting all the way to the back of the sac. If the solution gets too dirty (and it very easily could), take the pen out, dump the solution, rinse out your cup/glass/whatever and put in new solution. At the end of that time, dump and rinse out the container again, and refill with distilled water; cycle the water through the pen a few times, and repeat the soak time another 18-24 hours, flushing every now and then. Then stand the pen, nib down, in a container with paper toweling in the bottom, and let the liquid wick out for about a day (replacing the toweling if it still is leaching color, or just gets too wet). Have not tried the salad spinner trick (that would involve buying a second salad spinner and dedicating it to pen use -- and *then* finding some convenient place in my house to store it...).
Yes, this method is slow. People with ultrasonic cleaners would likely take the pen apart and clean it that way, but I don't have one. And while I think I could do simple repairs such as putting a new sac on a lever pen, I'm not going to be mucking around with disassembling and reassembling a 51 (I'll leave that to the professionals, thank you very much).
But -- I have found it to found it to be a pretty effective method.
And +1 to what pajaro said about comparing new pens to a 51. I have lots of pens, some cheap (and some *very* cheap) some a bit pricy, and one that even would count as "bling" (a very attractive Morrison ringtop with a gold-filled filigree overlay). But a 51 (especially an Aerometric) is like nothing else. Ever.
Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

ac12
December 27th, 2013, 09:43 PM
Ruth
I have a USC and it will not clean the collectors, with the hood on the pen.
I still resort to soaking to get the ink out of the collectors.

Uncle Bud
December 31st, 2013, 05:54 AM
Hi Ruth, thanks for the info, I've been doing as you say and it's working fine now. Thanks.