Doric Plunger Seals

Hi Gang,

Does anyone have a source for original size, Doric plunger seals with the 3 micro holes?

In looking into this there appears to be 2 sizes of original Doric seal.

0.320" (~8.13mm) lady/junior sized pens
0.365" (~9.27mm) standard and senior sized pens

The reason I ask, is that I've been playing around with this for some time and I haven't been able to find a solution that will reliably work.

Using the Shaeffer sized large seals that are widely available, and after sanding them down to the right size (~9.3mm), I've found that these washers are not reliable in that they don't always generate the required vacuum. My thinking is that:
- They're too thin and so usually distort as the initial vacuum is generated which releases the vacuum and the pen doesn't fill
- The hole in the centre is too large and so it's possible that is where the vacuum is lost.

It frustrating as every time it looks like I've got one working and use it to fill my pen, it lets me down on the next fill.

I've also gone down the totally customised path with a thicker sheet of rubber. That certainly solves the generating of vacuum problem, but when I try and flush the pen, the thicker seal doesn't let the ink/water past on the up stroke and so ink/water is forced past the barrel seal.

I've come to the conclusion that the only reliable solution is the original size, 3 hole seal that was originally developed by Wahl Eversharp.

So, does anyone know of a source that can supply these little gems, or perhaps an alternative solution?

Cheers,

Noel
Melbourne, Australia