Sheaffer Junior 275 - Advice on removing the section?

[digitalbrush]

Hello,

I'm trying to restore this Sheaffer Junion 275 and am having some trouble removing the section from the barrel. So far I've tried soaking it, applying heat, and using section pliers to try and get the section off. The thing just won't budge. The nib and feed have been removed for cleaning until I can figure out how to get the section off to install a new sac.

Any advice and tips on how to do this? I'm afraid I'm going to break it if I apply too much pressure and force.


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[D Armstrong]

Heh. Plastic tolerances are something you have to learn the hard way. Keep using heat, but gently. The shellac inside the joint has to warm up to about 140°F, so you have to get the surrounding plastic up to that temperature without going much higher and melting the plastic. Sometimes a minute rocking motion, interspersed with the more obvious rotational motion, can help to break the shellac bond. Just be very careful to make it as slight as possible.

I always suggest that you find a few pen corpses to play with before trying too much heating on good ones. That way you can test tolerances to the point of actually melting the plastic, and learn to recognize the signs (and smells) of each step in the process. Each pen manufacturer's plastic was slightly different from the others, so try to play with a few different makes if possible.

And for heaven's sake, put the feed back in! You are far more likely to crush the section (especially using pliers) if it is hollow. The feed will support it internally.

[KrazyIvan]

+1 on putting the feed/nib back in. You're asking for trouble without them installed.

[digitalbrush]

Got it!!! I ended up wrapping a Goulet rubber grip around the section, taped it, applied a blow-dryer for about a minute, and off it popped. I think I was just concerned about the heat cracking the section so I wasn't heating it up enough. Covering the clear section with the rubber grip did the trick though!

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[kirchh]

A couple of notes. You're better off not taping the grip material, because then you'll have to squeeze it more tightly when trying to get the section out due to the relative slipperiness of the tape, and you always want to involve the minimum of force--in all directions--when working on pens. Also, the danger of overheating is not that the section will crack, but that the celluloid of the barrel will (first) shrink and (shortly thereafter) ignite.

--Daniel

[Zisi]

A trick I’ve used on stubbornly shellacked sections is to soak overnight and use a .002 brass shim to chase inside the section/barrel break. This removes some of the shellac and allows water to get in there from more soaking. I tried this with my MB 146G and posted about it on FPN. Worked for me.

Good work with getting the section out finally!

[Replicant]

A couple of notes. You're better off not taping the grip material, because then you'll have to squeeze it more tightly when trying to get the section out due to the relative slipperiness of the tape, and you always want to involve the minimum of force--in all directions--when working on pens. Also, the danger of overheating is not that the section will crack, but that the celluloid of the barrel will (first) shrink and (shortly thereafter) ignite.

--Daniel

I agree with Daniel on this. It's quite surprising how quickly a celluloid barrel can catch fire. If you are lucky, you can put the fire out before too much damage is done. In the old days, repair manuals recommended alcohol lamps to heat the barrel and section over. I find that a heat gun with practice works best.

[kirchh]

P.S. Note that there is no model called a "Junior 275." The number sometimes seen lightly stamped below the maker's imprint on the barrel is merely the price of the pen (in cents) and it does not identify the model.