Restoring a small Parker Vacumatic

[Chrissy]

A friend of mine has found an old small Parker Vac in need of restoration. It definitely needs a new pump because the plunger is down and fixed near to the threads.

I have a tool to remove the pump, but I've only used it on a Parker 51 vac before, and I remember I had to be really careful to stop unscrewing when I reached the bottom of the threads in order to not break the plastic plunger. The metal vac plunger is different though. Will it unscrew the same way?

My other question is how to remove the nib and feed. After separating the section from the barrel, will I need to remove the breather tube and knock it out with a nib block?

If so, has anyone tried using a simple nib block like this one shown on rather than having a more complicated/expensive version? I don't currently have a nib block and don't wish to spend money buying an expensive one as I rarely have to knock out a nib and feed.

Can anyone tell me what sized drill bit I will need to make a hole in a block of wood for the nib?

[PaulS]

quote from Chris ............ "Can anyone tell me what sized drill bit I will need to make a hole in a block of wood for the nib?

No - for the simple reason that without measuring the maximum width of your friends nib, it won't be possible to assess what diameter drill to use. If the Vac. is small, I would imagine something in the region of 6.5 - 7 mm would be near the mark, but the nib must be measured before making that decision.
There's nothing wrong with a makeshift block shown in the link - the main criteria is that whatever is used to support the wood must be a as solid a material that can be found.
Try using 4 or 5 separate pieces of wood - with holes pre-drilled - and then stick the pieces together making sure that holes line up - personally I wouldn't recommend banging a hammer and drift onto a rather flimsy looking plastic pot. Alternatively, up-end two similar pieces of wood to provide 'walls', on which you can then place the nib block.

The Oldfield and Marshall Pen Repair manual provides reasonable dismantling instructions, which should help, and I'm sure there must be similar words on the FPN or here. Of the two designs of metal plungers, only one locks down, and that one is released by turning anti-clockwise, and has a shorter blind cap - the other metal plunger has a longer blind cap. Sometimes these plungers can become seized in the locked position - hair dryer heat might release this.
The correct tool to grip the pump bush is essential - otherwise damage occurs to the bush threading - and again heat must be used before attempting to unscrew the pump bush. Loggerhead pliers are far safer to use than ordinary pliers - they provide 360 degree pressure when gripping the tool.

[Farmboy]

A friend of mine has found an old small Parker Vac in need of restoration. It definitely needs a new pump because the plunger is down and fixed near to the threads.

I have a tool to remove the pump, but I've only used it on a Parker 51 vac before, and I remember I had to be really careful to stop unscrewing when I reached the bottom of the threads in order to not break the plastic plunger. The metal vac plunger is different though. Will it unscrew the same way?

My other question is how to remove the nib and feed. After separating the section from the barrel, will I need to remove the breather tube and knock it out with a nib block?

If so, has anyone tried using a simple nib block like this one shown on rather than having a more complicated/expensive version? I don't currently have a nib block and don't wish to spend money buying an expensive one as I rarely have to knock out a nib and feed.

Can anyone tell me what sized drill bit I will need to make a hole in a block of wood for the nib?

Make sure it isn't a lock down filler. If you try to remove the nut in the down position bad things can happen.

[Chrissy]

Make sure it isn't a lock down filler. If you try to remove the nut in the down position bad things can happen.

I will make sure I check that.
I've watched a few videos, but the pen I have has a small blind cap, and the plunger is not plastic like the 51 vac that I restored.

[D Armstrong]

Hi Chrissy,

I have a couple of thoughts. First, a picture is worth a thousand words:



"A" is a lockdown unit
"B" is a speedline unit
"C" is a plain old vacumatic unit

The lockdown kind is locked down (surprisingly enough) in place, and is housed in a very short blind cap. The other two use the same, slightly longer, blind caps. The best thing to look for in identifying a lock-down are the two wide notches at the top of the side slits. Also, the brass top is knurled, and not smooth.

The same tool is used for all three, and they all are removed in the same way (lefty-loosey, righty-tighty). They should at no time be glued, shellacked, or loc-tited in place (I found on this week that was...) The friction of the rubber diaphragm holds them in place just fine. One word of warning: "A" and "B" can fall apart if you aren't careful. So be careful.

As far as knocking out the nib and feed goes, don't do it. They are usually extremely tight, and it will be beyond most people to get them back into place. And they usually clean up quite well without disassembly, using a brief soak bath of 5% household ammonia/95% water/a drop of dish soap.

Tradition says that Parker made Vacs with an extremely tight fit between section, nib, and feed. However, I have noticed in handling many of them that the fit is only very tight at the back end, where the threads are. This doesn't make sense, as there is no evidence that there were two different diameters of drill used to bore out the sections. So, my working theory is that because most celluloids of that era shrink a bit, the barrel probably has cinched the threaded portion of the section down tight permanently, and the front part of the section (where the fit is always looser) is the original diameter. (I'm sure there will be Opinions about my working theory...) This is all mostly academic, though, and the take-away point is that knocking out a Vacumatic nib is asking for trouble if you aren't very experienced in replacing them.

As an aside, you don't have to buy an expensive knock-out block when the time comes. You can often find vintage watchmakers' blocks (like this one)for a reasonable price, and they do the trick quite well if you put them over a piece of wood with a 1/2" hole in it for additional height. If you can find a dealer in watchmakers' tools it will be cheaper than ebay.

Hope this helps!

[penwash]

I don't currently have a nib block and don't wish to spend money buying an expensive one as I rarely have to knock out a nib and feed.

Hi Chrissy, the following method works for me, and I restored quite a lot of pens already by this time

I use two lengths (6 inches or so) of 1x1 inch wood. Soft wood like balsa works well because it won't scratch the section lip and they are cheap to replace.
Use a rubber band to tie one end together, then put the nib and feed between the wood pieces and adjust it so the section would stop and rest on the wood (instead of following the nib and feed which are sandwiched by the wood pieces).

Use a second rubber band to tie the other end of the wood, not too tight, just enough to sandwich the feed and nib without marring or crushing them.

Then use some plastic container with napkins at the bottom to catch the feed and nib when you knock them loose (I use a film cartridge container). Put the wood-piece-nib-feed sandwich on top of the container, then position a dowel (or appropriately sized screw) against butt of the feed inside the section (which is facing up). Tap gently using a rubber or plastic mallet until the nib/feed are freed.

NOTE: Take the breather tube out first of course

[ac12]

If the nib is not damaged/broken, and thus requires the removal of the nib, I would leave the nib alone. One less thing to break. And some sections are REAL TIGHT on the nib+feed. I only pull the nib if it needs to be replaced (damaged or broken).

To knock out the nib.
- I would rather use a piece of wood with a hole very close in size to the nib. That way you support the section all the way around the section, not just on 2 points, thus there is less risk of breaking the section.
- VERY IMPORTANT, support the wood with the holes about 2-1/2 inches (6.5cm) or more, above the worktable surface with something SOLID. Because when you knock the nib out, it needs to fall free, not get driven into the table top, like I did to one
I agree, NOT a plastic cup. A metal can would work better than a plastic cup.
- I use a straight metal punch. Straight is important, a close fitting tapered punch, if knocked too far into the section, could SPLIT the section. Did that too
- I also use a HARD hammer, either metal (1st choice) or HARD plastic (2nd choice). Rubber makes no sense to me, as the rubber will absorb some of the impact, so you have to HIT HARDER.

Tip - Clean the section in an UltraSonic Cleaner. If you don't have an USC, soak the section overnight in water till no more ink comes out. Dried ink can act as a cement holding the feed to the section, making removal harder.

TIP - CAREFULLY heat the section with a hair dryer before you attempt to knock out the feed. You do not need to make the section HOT, warm will do, but it has to be warm for the thickness of the section. So low heat for a longer time, so the heat penetrates the section. The heat will expand the section, and loosen its grip on the feed, making it easier to knock out the feed. If you are lucky, you will be able to simply pull the nib+feed out with your fingers. I learned this from David Nishimura's site, and it worked to remove a Lucky Curve feed, which you CANNOT knock out, without breaking it. Heating the section will also make it easier to reinstall the feed+nib.

[Farmboy]

Some random thoughts on Vacs...

Short blind cap is always a lock down filler unless it is a Sager filler which you wouldn't have.

Black sections are almost always hard rubber.

Sections with stripes are celluloid.

Some celluloid sections are not sections but part of the barrel.

I recall reading an article on the different fillers in the Pennant. (A good reason to join the PCA.)

Filler B above looks crushed. Filler A has the typical rot. (Sorry)

Tapered and stepped drill bits exist

Nibs and feeds should not really be knocked out unless all else fails.

Fillers have unionized and gotten expensive--treat them nicely.

Celluloid and hard rubber both shrink to fit the shape of the feed/nib...heat will restore most hard rubber...not so much so with celluloid.

Sometimes you can visually see the hole is flattened to fit the nib, align the nib back where it came. Mild heat can be your friend, to much and sometimes not so friendly.

The Parker made knockout tool was designed so you didn't need to remove the breather tube.

Breather tubes are celluloid tube and can be brittle. They can also be plugged.

A cost effective knock out block (should you really need one) can be made by drilling a hole in a block of wood. Add a metal strap across the top and you have what Parker sold.

I prefer a solid whack with a metal hammer on metal knockout punch in lieu of a series of kind taps on said feed.

I can generate more random thoughts later as conditions demand.

[PaulS]

from the description of the o.ps. pen, the plunger is of the lock down variety. If you do need a block, then it really should be hardwood, and clearance of the hole should only just exceed the maximum width of the nib - this will give maximum support to the front of the section when knocking out the feed. It's easy for us old hands at d.i.y., with workshops full of kit, but there are folk here who will not be so fortunate - attached is one of two I've made recently - not particularly posh, but solid and adequate, and I always face the top with metal. This one is about 3.3/4" tall.

[Chrissy]

Hi Chrissy,

I have a couple of thoughts. First, a picture is worth a thousand words:

"A" is a lockdown unit
"B" is a speedline unit
"C" is a plain old vacumatic unit

The lockdown kind is locked down (surprisingly enough) in place, and is housed in a very short blind cap. The other two use the same, slightly longer, blind caps. The best thing to look for in identifying a lock-down are the two wide notches at the top of the side slits. Also, the brass top is knurled, and not smooth.

The same tool is used for all three, and they all are removed in the same way (lefty-loosey, righty-tighty). They should at no time be glued, shellacked, or loc-tited in place (I found on this week that was...) The friction of the rubber diaphragm holds them in place just fine. One word of warning: "A" and "B" can fall apart if you aren't careful. So be careful.

As far as knocking out the nib and feed goes, don't do it. They are usually extremely tight, and it will be beyond most people to get them back into place. And they usually clean up quite well without disassembly, using a brief soak bath of 5% household ammonia/95% water/a drop of dish soap.

Tradition says that Parker made Vacs with an extremely tight fit between section, nib, and feed. However, I have noticed in handling many of them that the fit is only very tight at the back end, where the threads are. This doesn't make sense, as there is no evidence that there were two different diameters of drill used to bore out the sections. So, my working theory is that because most celluloids of that era shrink a bit, the barrel probably has cinched the threaded portion of the section down tight permanently, and the front part of the section (where the fit is always looser) is the original diameter. (I'm sure there will be Opinions about my working theory...) This is all mostly academic, though, and the take-away point is that knocking out a Vacumatic nib is asking for trouble if you aren't very experienced in replacing them.

As an aside, you don't have to buy an expensive knock-out block when the time comes. You can often find vintage watchmakers' blocks (like this one)for a reasonable price, and they do the trick quite well if you put them over a piece of wood with a 1/2" hole in it for additional height. If you can find a dealer in watchmakers' tools it will be cheaper than ebay.

Hope this helps!

Thanks, yes it helps. I would have added a picture, but I don't currently have the pen. The filler in the pen I'm getting is the middle version, and when I saw it the plunger was down. Whether that's locked down like normal or stuck down and not working I haven't yet had a chance to see.

When I get the pen, if the tool I have for removing the Parker 51 vacumatic filler, does not fit on the screw threads of this filler, then I won't bother doing the job. I will get it done by someone else.

[Chrissy]

Some random thoughts on Vacs...

Short blind cap is always a lock down filler unless it is a Sager filler which you wouldn't have.

Black sections are almost always hard rubber.

Sections with stripes are celluloid.

Some celluloid sections are not sections but part of the barrel.

I recall reading an article on the different fillers in the Pennant. (A good reason to join the PCA.)

Filler B above looks crushed. Filler A has the typical rot. (Sorry)

Tapered and stepped drill bits exist

Nibs and feeds should not really be knocked out unless all else fails.

Fillers have unionized and gotten expensive--treat them nicely.

Celluloid and hard rubber both shrink to fit the shape of the feed/nib...heat will restore most hard rubber...not so much so with celluloid.

Sometimes you can visually see the hole is flattened to fit the nib, align the nib back where it came. Mild heat can be your friend, to much and sometimes not so friendly.

The Parker made knockout tool was designed so you didn't need to remove the breather tube.

Breather tubes are celluloid tube and can be brittle. They can also be plugged.

A cost effective knock out block (should you really need one) can be made by drilling a hole in a block of wood. Add a metal strap across the top and you have what Parker sold.

I prefer a solid whack with a metal hammer on metal knockout punch in lieu of a series of kind taps on said feed.

I can generate more random thoughts later as conditions demand.

Thank you for your thoughts.

The pen barrel has some amber stripes when I hold it up to the light, so I assumed it was celluloid. From what I have read already, it seems like the filler won't just come out of the barrel after being unscrewed. So it will need to be unscrewed and then pushed out from inside the barrel. I read Richard Binder's instructions, and don't have his brass tube tool for pushing out filler units. I saw a You Tube video showing that those brass tubes might not be essential for pushing it out though. Now I've read all of the posts on here, it seems obvious that if the breather tube is in the barrel it will need a hollow push out tool, and if it's in the nib section, a piece of doweling will work.

If I don't need to remove the nib and feed, I can give that a miss.

I have a USC unit, but am a bit scared of how to soak the filler end when the barrel is made of celluloid. I assume a short time holding it in the USC is the way to go.

[Chrissy]

No - for the simple reason that without measuring the maximum width of your friends nib, it won't be possible to assess what diameter drill to use. If the Vac. is small, I would imagine something in the region of 6.5 - 7 mm would be near the mark, but the nib must be measured before making that decision.
There's nothing wrong with a makeshift block shown in the link - the main criteria is that whatever is used to support the wood must be a as solid a material that can be found.
Try using 4 or 5 separate pieces of wood - with holes pre-drilled - and then stick the pieces together making sure that holes line up - personally I wouldn't recommend banging a hammer and drift onto a rather flimsy looking plastic pot. Alternatively, up-end two similar pieces of wood to provide 'walls', on which you can then place the nib block.

The Oldfield and Marshall Pen Repair manual provides reasonable dismantling instructions, which should help, and I'm sure there must be similar words on the FPN or here. Of the two designs of metal plungers, only one locks down, and that one is released by turning anti-clockwise, and has a shorter blind cap - the other metal plunger has a longer blind cap. Sometimes these plungers can become seized in the locked position - hair dryer heat might release this.
The correct tool to grip the pump bush is essential - otherwise damage occurs to the bush threading - and again heat must be used before attempting to unscrew the pump bush. Loggerhead pliers are far safer to use than ordinary pliers - they provide 360 degree pressure when gripping the tool.

Thanks for that.
I have the Oldfield and Marshall book, as well as an informative post by Oldfield, in a thread on FPN, on how he restores a Vacumatic, without the special brass tool that Richard Binder recommends.

[grainweevil]

Filler B above looks crushed. Filler A has the typical rot. (Sorry)

Farmboy, could you possibly expand on this (I'm learning much here). To my eye Filler B's threads look kaput - is that what you mean? And typical rot for Filler A? Would that be the damage to the lockdown notches? Or what appears to be the split just beneath the brass cap? Or both?

It's easy for us old hands at d.i.y., with workshops full of kit, but there are folk here who will not be so fortunate - attached is one of two I've made recently - not particularly posh, but solid and adequate, and I always face the top with metal. This one is about 3.3/4" tall.

It's going to pain me all day that your workshop full of kit doesn't include either round head screws or a countersink, Paul!

[Chrissy]

It's easy for us old hands at d.i.y., with workshops full of kit, but there are folk here who will not be so fortunate - attached is one of two I've made recently - not particularly posh, but solid and adequate, and I always face the top with metal. This one is about 3.3/4" tall.

It's going to pain me all day that your workshop full of kit doesn't include either round head screws or a countersink, Paul!

I have to admit, after thinking about that, I decided to not say it.

[grainweevil]

I trust Paul understands I'm only jesting.

[Chrissy]

I trust Paul understands I'm only jesting.

I hope so.

[PaulS]

nope - he's gone out to the workshop to sulk - he feels abused - persecuted - and in no way appreciated............... and anyway if people didn't keep picking on him he wouldn't be paranoid. only joking folks.

looking again at that particular block those screws do have countersunk heads.......... my mistake was to forget to countersink the steel plate - probably rushing as usual, and not doing the job properly. So, for the more picky members of the audience............... see attached...
This is possibly the sort of thing the op might be able to use.

[grainweevil]

Ah, the blessed relief!

[Chrissy]

nope - he's gone out to the workshop to sulk - he feels abused - persecuted - and in no way appreciated............... and anyway if people didn't keep picking on him he wouldn't be paranoid. only joking folks.

looking again at that particular block those screws do have countersunk heads.......... my mistake was to forget to countersink the steel plate - probably rushing as usual, and not doing the job properly. So, for the more picky members of the audience............... see attached...
This is possibly the sort of thing the op might be able to use.

[penwash]

from the description of the o.ps. pen, the plunger is of the lock down variety. If you do need a block, then it really should be hardwood, and clearance of the hole should only just exceed the maximum width of the nib - this will give maximum support to the front of the section when knocking out the feed. It's easy for us old hands at d.i.y., with workshops full of kit, but there are folk here who will not be so fortunate - attached is one of two I've made recently - not particularly posh, but solid and adequate, and I always face the top with metal. This one is about 3.3/4" tall.

That is one good-looking knocking block, Paul!