Vintage Pelikan 400NN - advice for repair

[pajhurley]

I received a vintage (1956) 400NN Tortoiseshell yesterday that I purchased on ebay.
The pen's piston movement is only about 1/2 of an inch and the mechanism is very tough to turn.
There is also a problem with the nib and feed, the nib is not touching the feed.
I tried to remove the nib unit, but the collar was not moving. I did manage to remove the nib and feed separately, but I do not know if this is because the nib collar is not on these early models, or if I have broken the whole thing.
Putting the nib and feed back into the pen I cannot get nib to engage the feed and the nib simply is not letting any ink through.

This is my first vintage Pelikan and I would prefer not to mess up what appears to be a really lovely pen (at least visually).
I polished up the gold 14k nib when I had it out and it now shines (I cleaned the feed at the same time I had it apart).

It would be great if I could get some recommendations on pen repair people, who have experience with vintage Pelikans.

Thanks very much.

[tandaina]

Contact Rick at The Penguin Pen! He's the vintage Pelikan expert.

[pajhurley]

Thanks very much Tandaina,

I sent an email to Rick, hopefully he can help me out.
I also wandered through the PENguin Pelikan Gallery and For Sale pages, very nice!

Again thanks for the recommendation.
Paul.

[pajhurley]

I did a little Googling and found the issue with the the nib and feed - the nib collar is broken.

Richard Binder's Pen Doctor series includes an article (The Pen Doctor XXII) on "Loose Nib & Feed in a Pelikan 400NN - http://www.richardspens.com/?page=ref/pendoctor/22.htm
The article explains that the nib collars on the 400NN are made of clear polystyrene and are very brittle, leading to eventual cracking and failure.

I checked the collar inside my pen and indeed it was cracked in half. I extracted the broken pieces and they certainly seem to be pretty flimsy to me.
Richard's recommendation is to acquire a new M150 or M200 nib, knock of out steel nib and feed and use the collar to secure the 400NN nib and feed (after a little adjustment to the new collar's interior).

So... it looks like I am in the market for a M150/200 nib unit.
Sadly the piston issue remains - waiting to hear back from Rick at PENguin (his website says he is just returning from holiday this week).

[Jeph]

Richard sells M200 steel nib units for $31, and he binderizes (tunes) them before shipment.

And, while you are waiting for information, I would be soaking that pen in distilled water (normal tapwater is OK) or pen flush. There may just be a bunch of dried ink in there. Make sure that you pour water into the barrel and then put the water filled pen into its bath. If the water has any color after an overnight soak, it is still not clean. You might find that your piston frees up after soaking for a day or three.

[pajhurley]

Thanks Jeph,

I took your advise and have been soaking the 400NN body in pen flush for several hours today.
There was no ink residue in the fluid, so the pen was clean.

Additional searching of web pages led to a nice description of how to remove the piston unit from the body (you have to push it through from the front to the back).
http://www.penboard.de/penpoint/en/f...PenRepairs.htm

I was able to remove the piston unit from the body, using the plastic top from a wood glue applicator that fit down the top of the pen. The piston unit, thanks to the long soak in the solution, eased out after a couple of quick, light hammer taps. I supported the pen's body with a knockout block I made from a small 1x2 piece of wood with a hole drilled in it to allow the piston mechanism to pass through.

There was a small piece from the end of the piston that had broken off, but it does not appear to interfere with the workings of the filling system.

I applied some silicone grease to the piston's rubber seal and the threads of the mechanism. After adjusting the threads and housing, to increase the piston's travel distance, I re-inserted the piston unit into the pen. Needless to say the silicone grease on the seal made the process of putting the piston back into the pen's body much easier.

With the piston now working correctly, I can turn to replacing the broken nib collar and restoring full functionality to my first vintage Pelikan. I like the idea of ordering a couple of M200 nibs from Richard, one to use for the 400NN repair, but have another to put in my M205 DUO, as an alternative to the BB nib that is in the pen now. I have been interested in a Binderized nib and this is the perfect opportunity to get one.

I have uploaded a couple of photos showing the 400NN disassembled and a close up of the piston mechanism, and the nib unit parts (broken nib collar and all).

Thanks very much again to Jeph and Tandaina for your advise.

400NN disassembled.jpg400NN nib feed collar.jpg400NN piston disassembled.jpg

[Jeph]

That is going to be a beautiful pen.
It will be even better because you had to fix it yourself.
I got a Binderized steel M200 XF nib from Richard and it was absolutely perfect, maybe even just a tiny bit too wet with Diamine inks. It has changed my standard of what an XF nib should feel and write like.

[Jon Szanto]

I have an identical pen. Every bit of work you put into this will be worth it!

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

[rick propas]

Paul,

Apologies for the delayed response. As you noted on fpgeeks, I am just getting back from holidays and scrambling to get ready for the Washington DC pen show.

It looks to me, from the thread as if you have pretty much sorted this out. If I can be of any help, let me know.

Cheers,
Rick

[Rafael Macia]

Thanks Jeph,

I took your advise and have been soaking the 400NN body in pen flush for several hours today.
There was no ink residue in the fluid, so the pen was clean.

Additional searching of web pages led to a nice description of how to remove the piston unit from the body (you have to push it through from the front to the back).
http://www.penboard.de/penpoint/en/f...PenRepairs.htm

I was able to remove the piston unit from the body, using the plastic top from a wood glue applicator that fit down the top of the pen. The piston unit, thanks to the long soak in the solution, eased out after a couple of quick, light hammer taps. I supported the pen's body with a knockout block I made from a small 1x2 piece of wood with a hole drilled in it to allow the piston mechanism to pass through.

There was a small piece from the end of the piston that had broken off, but it does not appear to interfere with the workings of the filling system.

I applied some silicone grease to the piston's rubber seal and the threads of the mechanism. After adjusting the threads and housing, to increase the piston's travel distance, I re-inserted the piston unit into the pen. Needless to say the silicone grease on the seal made the process of putting the piston back into the pen's body much easier.

With the piston now working correctly, I can turn to replacing the broken nib collar and restoring full functionality to my first vintage Pelikan. I like the idea of ordering a couple of M200 nibs from Richard, one to use for the 400NN repair, but have another to put in my M205 DUO, as an alternative to the BB nib that is in the pen now. I have been interested in a Binderized nib and this is the perfect opportunity to get one.

I have uploaded a couple of photos showing the 400NN disassembled and a close up of the piston mechanism, and the nib unit parts (broken nib collar and all).

Thanks very much again to Jeph and Tandaina for your advise.

400NN disassembled.jpg400NN nib feed collar.jpg400NN piston disassembled.jpg

Don't give up and install an M nib and feed. Search around. Many of the pen repairers that do Pelikans would be willing to sell you a replacement collar.
The vintage nib should be better in every way, and look and act correct for your 400NN. Try martini auctions http://www.martiniauctions.com they regularly sell pelikan parts.
good luck and congratulations!

[pajhurley]

Thanks for the link Rafael,

Not to worry, I have no intention on simply swapping the nib unit on the 400NN for a modern M200 nib.

I am awaiting delivery of two new nib units from Richard's Pens.

I will be removing the nib collar from one of these new ones and using it to hold the vintage nib and feed.
I do not want to give up on having a flexible extra-fine nib in the pen. (I purchased two nib units just in case I mess up the collar replacement - as it requires that I remove some of the material from the inside of the collar to fit the gold flexible nib and feed).

I will be taking photos of the repair process and will be posting them on the thread.

[Rafael Macia]

Ok
but I would still spend the time, while waiting for the M nibs to arrive to search for a vintage collar.
Not too hard to find.
If you file out the M collar, you lose the ability to use it for an M pen, and you will have an incorrect part in a vintage pen. Also, most likely, the modified collar will not fit as good as an original collar.

[Pelikan-Vera]

Yeay good idea with the new collar from the new pen. I followed this with interest as I had a 140 with that broken collar. I have put a new collar over the old feed and nib. Worked perfectly as the threads are identical. Good luck and thanks for the thread it was a great inspiration to try this. Vera

[vates]

I will be removing the nib collar from one of these new ones and using it to hold the vintage nib and feed.
I do not want to give up on having a flexible extra-fine nib in the pen. (I purchased two nib units just in case I mess up the collar replacement - as it requires that I remove some of the material from the inside of the collar to fit the gold flexible nib and feed).

I will be taking photos of the repair process and will be posting them on the thread.

So how did it turn out?

[mustud52]

Spoke to Andrew at Pensmith today (used to be called Old Post Office Pens) in Melbourne about this situation. He repairs Pelikans with busted collars and turns up collars in 3 sizes.

Most probably most people in Australia already know this, but just in case...

(I also bought 2 NOS Sheaffer Intrigues from him, fitted with LO nibs - lovely).

[ChrisC]

There is also this option.
http://www.custompenparts.co.uk/peli...connector.html