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View Full Version : Care and feeding of Parker vacumatics...newbie questions



Ed333
December 23rd, 2013, 03:56 PM
I posted this over on the 'other' forum, really a maintenance rather than a repair question, but interested to see what folks have to say, I tend to worry overtime.
Background, I started looking for a birthyear pen, found a 1940 Parker Striped Duofold, and the rest is very predictable...I now have a late '30s to late '40s spread, year by year, of Duofolds and Vacumatics. I have inked all of them, written some with some of them, more with others, and then (from various readings) became concerned that I should not leave them with ink in them for protracted periods, especially if not being used. (But I wonder, in the old days, did people flush their pens, or just keep refilling them?)
Anyway, I just spent half an hour flushing a striped duofold, which had started to skip, which made me think it was running dry, and maybe I should clean it. I was surprised at how much ink I pumped out of it, and then really surprised at the persistence of (watered down) ink color. I have no idea how many times i filled it with cold tap water and then pumped it all out and then did it all over again. I started giving it 3-4 stiff thermometer shakes before pressing the pump after filling, and that seemed to help accelerate the process, but after half an hour I was still getting perceptible color. The ink was Diamine Umber. Is that just the way it goes with these vacumatic Parkers? Do I need to persist until I get absolutely clear water? And do I leave the cap off for a day or so to let it 'dry' inside?
Finally , should I just use one of my modern pens for correspondence, and save the old Parkers for just visual appreciation? That doesn't sound right...
And should I limit how many I have filled with ink at one time? I don't want to damage any of them, they have all been restored.

Thanks in advance, and Happy Holidays to all !
Ed

mhosea
December 23rd, 2013, 04:25 PM
I don't have any vacumatics, but generally speaking I think the old-school advice is to give your pen a flush at least once a year or maybe twice. Of course we're talking about vintage inks, very little of changing ink colors, and almost never changing brands. If I am changing colors, I do thorough flush, and while I seldom have the patience for it, overnight drying with pen nib down on paper towels in a cup to wick out remaining moisture is a good thing. If just refilling with the same color, I flush once a month or so. I don't think modern highly-saturated inks and infrequent flushing are a good combination.

I always start and end flushing with water alone, but you might find using a pen flush solution in the middle speeds things along dramatically. You can make it or buy it. Pen flush usually consists of diluted clear ammonia and a tiny amount of some surfactant. I used dish soap for years (just a drop of soap in an entire cup of flushing solution), but eventually I broke down and bought a bottle of Kodak Photoflo to avoid the random additives that go with dish soap.

I want to add that you should always flush first with water to bring the ink concentration way down before using the ammonia-based flush. I know of one ink that reacts with ammonia (Noodler's QSH). It's also a reason to use heavily diluted ammonia rather than the strength that you get from the household clear ammonia bottle. I can't remember what the usual recommendation is. I usually just add some ammonia to water, so I'm probably using 1 part household clear ammonia to 10 parts water, but some recipes might be as much as 1:4.

dr.grace
December 24th, 2013, 10:50 AM
Vacs take a long time to flush completely, because of their design. If the ink has dried out, using pen flush solution (like Rapido-Eze) is a good idea. You can also use a centrifugal "salad spinner" that is modified to cradle the pen. There's an old thread on that somewhere.