Squeeze Filler Disassembly

[Jeph]

OK, this one is embarassing.

I snagged a Markant Equisit 65 from 1969 in the DDR. The pen has never been inked except for being dipped at the factory to put the writing sample in the owner's manual "this is your pen writing." There is not a flaw anywhere. Except the sac is ossified in the squeeze filler. No problem, right? Wrong.

Four days of soaking, soft heat cycles (60W lightbulb), stronger heat cycles (hairdryer until I could not stand the heat anymore with my fingers covering the exposed plastic portion) and lots and lots of profanity, I still cannot get this fill mechanism apart. My guess is that it is a plastic section that has the sac glued to it and the section is glued into the metal barrel. I also should note that the pen likes to use keyed slots in other areas so I have not twisted on the plastic portion although I desperately want to.

This is a wonderful pen. Please, please give me a hint to get this apart without damaging anything.

Thanks yet again!

Markant 65 Squeeze Filler.jpgMarkant 65 Filler Section.jpg

[KrazyIvan]

Your idea of how it is put together is what I would think.

[Jeph]

I did finally manage to get this apart.

A solid week submerged in water did nothing.

Three days submerged in naphtha (Zippo lighter fluid) also had no effect. Note: It DID start agressively attacking the ossified sack within the first 5 seconds.

Finally I had to use agressive heat. I wrapped the plastic end with several (5) layers of leather to protect it from the heat and rotated the in front of a 650 deg F heat gun. I tried 8 inches away and not getting anythinig hotter than I could hold my finger on and nothing happened. I did it 4 more times an still nothing. I also got a cheap ($15) infrared temperature gauge to try to control the temperature but while it can be useful around the house it does not have anything close to the accuracy or speed claimed to be useful in heating a fountain pen barrel, or in this case a fill mechanism. So I went to 4 inches away and far hotter than I could touch and it still would not budge. After the second try it moved just a bit but no more. On the third try it finally released. It ended up that there were no keyways that I had to worry about, but the entire circumference of the interface between the pastic nose piece and the metal sleeve was covered with adhesive for the entire approx. 1 cm of length. That is a lot of surface area of ahesive to overcome. There was a bit of heat deformation of the plastic where it contacted the sleeve but the rest of it was unaffected. I built up a layer of shellac on the contact surface to provide a friction fit during reassembly. It now is held snugly but will come apart easily if I ever need to take it back apart again.

[Buzzie]

My Markant is a model 160. Filler is similar to yours, except it threads into the section. The barrel threads onto the filler, not the section. So, no filler means no barrel, so I cannot risk damaging either set of threads. Bright ideas: (1) attempt to seal below the squeeze hole with Krazy Glue between sac and metal tube, (2). if seal fails, sawing through metal tube just above threads to remove metal tube to get to the sac or (3) all else fails, saw tube and sac off just above threads and use pen as an eyedropper. Wish me luck...markant 160.jpg

[Jeph]

I have a Markant 160 also. The squeeze filler is glued onto the clear section. Super glue is not a good idea. Nor is a saw.
Patience and careful heat are your best solution.

Edit: I just took one apart for you with heat:

Markant 160 Filler.jpg

[Buzzie]

Wow! You have inspired me. Now I know it can be done. The picture is worth 1,000 words.

[Jeph]

Since you gave me an excuse to work on this pen, I went ahead and cleaned it up. Here are the parts (less the sac) sorted out although I did not fully disassemble the cap.
Mine has corrosion on the cap and the clip (and obviously the sac cage) and some plating loss on the nib but otherwise it is in good shape. The ink channel on the feed extends all the way back along the feed to the cavity where the breather tube empties. It even has the pressure equalization hole in the end of the barrel. Overall it is a high quality East German Parker clone with the added bonus of a nice ink window. These really are pretty nice pens. I think I have another one waiting somewhere and now I think it would be worth digging it out again.

Markant 160 Parts.jpg

[Buzzie]

YES, YES!! MAHALO! (Thanks in Hawaiian) Hair dry heater was enough to remove the sac cage on my Markant 160 without damaging the threads. The sac replacement does not have a big capacity inside the sac cage, but I'm sure it will be good as new. Incidentally, my breather tube is a clear plastic, and yours looks like metal. Insignificant, but I wanted to mention it. I'm SO thrilled after being bummed out

[Flounder]

I am currently battling with superglued parts, your success is very encouraging Jeph!

I hadn't heard of these pens before. The ribbed hood is very interesting, it reminds me of the ribbed 1st year hood shown at parker51.com (scroll down a bit).

[Buzzie]

Aloha - Markant 160 restoration complete, working like a charm. (DRUM ROLL) Replaced sac and sac cage last night, then this morning reassembled and tested this venerable old pen, which is ready for another 50 years of pleasure, thanks to the tutorials and posts in this forum. Aloha!

[Jeph]

Aloha - Markant 160 restoration complete, working like a charm. (DRUM ROLL) Replaced sac and sac cage last night, then this morning reassembled and tested this venerable old pen, which is ready for another 50 years of pleasure, thanks to the tutorials and posts in this forum. Aloha!

Super! Now that pen will be that much more special because you did it yourself.
It can be frustrating, sometimes VERY frustrating, but when it works out it is worth it.