A new sac, Sheaffer Snorkel
Unlike the other pneumatic-fill pens of this maker, I rather despise
trying to fit a new sac in a Snorkel. Described as the most
technically complex pen ever made, it is immensely more difficult to
refit than a Touchdown, because there's more parts between you and the
sac. Read the TD instructions first, then come
back here to compare.
Before unscrewing the section, unscrew the blind cap. This should
extend the snorkel itself. Once it's all the way out, undo the
section. There will be a sac protector here, inside a helical
spring (this spring helps to drive the snorkel out), although sometimes
the spring will stay inside the body, which means extra trouble.
Take the spring off the protector, then pull the protector and snorkel
out of the section. This will leave you with a very cool-looking
but slightly fragile item. Inside the snorkel is a tiny little
feed made out of hard (think "brittle") black rubber, which you do not
want to monkey with if at all possible.
At this point, you should check whether the rest of this trip is really
necessary. Use some kind of blunt probe (the fat end of a flat
toothpick is about right), and prod at the sac gently. If it
gives, you may be able to leave the sac in place. One other test:
put the open end of the snorkel in your mouth and suck on it very
gently to collapse the sac-- depending on how well you can cross your
eyes, you may want to have a mirror to watch the result.
What you want to see is the sac fall away from the holes in the
protector, at which point no more air comes through the tube. If
this is the case, rejoice! Any problem the pen is having filling
is seals-based, and that is
trivial to put right
The snorkel is set in a softer rubber stopper, to which the sac is
attached. Sometimes this is crimped in place, and you have to
de-crimp the protector (without deforming it) before the stopper can
come out. It is possible to pull the stopper out by pulling
straight out on the snorkel, but make sure it's a straightpull
so as not to bend the snorkel or break the feed-- keep your grip
as close to the stopper as possible. Gentle dry heat will make it
easier to draw the stopper; I suspect this
is through thermal expansion of the protector itself. The
snorkel may actually come out of the stopper, which is slightly
alarming as there will be a few millimeters of the fragile inner feed
sticking out the back, but it is also a good thing because it means
you're free to apply some kind of flat-ended rod up through the
protector to push the stopper out of place (doing this with the tube in
place puts the inner feed in some peril). My understanding of the
way old Sheaffer repairman used to handle the thing was to draw the
tube and then run a small screw up the central hole which they could
then yank on; they had access to replacement stoppers, of course, and
didn't care if it got chewed up. I don't do this.
Because the protector is threaded, it is a little harder to scrape old
sac out if it sticks. Once you've got the stopper out, applying
the sac is essentially the same as in the Touchdown, and don't
forget to powder it.
If the snorkel tube came out of the stopper, you should put it back in
before returning the stopper to the protector, probably even before
applying the sac (so you can see that the tube has reached the back of
the stopper). There are little
rails on the protector that fit into the back of the section-- on some
models one is a different size to give the protector a very definite
"up", while others are just cruciform and have four
possible
ups.
Whichever you have, you need to put the tube in so
that the slit in it is facing upwards relative to the nib-- otherwise
the pen will starve for ink. You also have to be careful that the
tube is neither too deep nor too shallow in its setting, or it won't
sit right in when the pen is in use, and starvation is the consequence
again.
Once the stopper is back in place, and recrimped if you had to uncrimp
it, slide the protector back into the section (taking care of right-way
up). Seat the spring in the little ring at the base of the
threaded part of the protector, and put the whole affair back into the
barrel. At this point, follow the filling instructions, and if
nothing happens then it's likely a seals problem.
Wasn't that fun?
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