Omas Gentlemen - Piston blocked

[Marco63]

Good day experts, hope you are all fairing well and keeping safe !!
I have had this pen for many years now, used it a bit when I bought it and then it has been left in a drawer because the piston filler got harder and harder to use as time went by.
An italian repair shop told me to leave in the drawer as it was not possible to fix it since Omas has shut down operations years ago.
I've tried again toget it fixed here in the UK but my repair guy says he can't get the piston to move at all even after leaving it to soak and he doesn't want to break anything.

Have any of you encountered this problem, that is if you have such pen ?
It really bugs me that it doesn't work but I don't want to destroy it at all trying to fix it given that spare parts are not available at all.
It wrote very well when it worked !! :-(

Really don't know what to do, broken for broken go for it or just leave it.
Thank you
Marco

 

[jar_]

Where are you located?

 

[Marco63]

UK, England

 

[tankerjohn]

That must be really frustrating. I bet the pen is gorgeous. Omas made some real lookers. I really don’t know anything about Omas filling systems, but I thought I’d lob a few spitballs. I trust you already tried to lube it with silicone grease. If the mechanism is irreparably jammed, is it possible for the repair shop to pull out the piston and seal up the barrel so you can at least fill it with an eye dropper? Another crazy idea I had is are there any Chinese knockoffs that use the same filling system? That’s a hack for restoring old Parker 51 vacs. I don’t suppose you could scavenge a piston from a fake Omas?

 

[jar_]

UK, England

Sorry, can't offer help on your side of the pond.

 

[Marco63]

Hi John, I told the shop to hold the pen for the duration of the lockdown as I will collect it as soon as it is possible.
He tried soaking it but it didn't budge. It is a bit like a piston of a car engine getting stuch in a cylinder. Will the barrel need to be rebored ? If so how ? Will any piston mechanism work ? If it brakes inside, how do you extract the broken pieces ? Drill it our ? All these questions, at the moment, have no answers. I've googled for this pen, there isn't much on it no the web :-(

 

[jar_]

The Gentleman and Paragon were the same pen but different trim levels; it's the Faceted Extra base.

Here is an article from Fountain Pen Network on servicing that model. There were two basic materials used; a vegital resin and celluloid. The former are slightly easier to work on.

 

[r0ckrat]

The Gentleman and Paragon were the same pen but different trim levels; it's the Faceted Extra base.

Here is an article from Fountain Pen Network on servicing that model. There were two basic materials used; a vegital resin and celluloid. The former are slightly easier to work on.

Based on the images in the linked article, it appears that once the grip section is removed, the piston could be pushed back out. Maybe with a little lubricant of some sort.

 

[Marco63]

Hi Jar,
thank you very much for the link !!! Very helpful.
Marco

 

[Marco63]

Which lubricant would you use ? Definitely something that can trickle down from the piston knob side :-(

 

[jar_]

Which lubricant would you use ? Definitely something that can trickle down from the piston knob side :-(

A silicon grease in the end of a long q-tip.

 

[nemo]

Which lubricant would you use ? Definitely something that can trickle down from the piston knob side :-(

Probably want to go in the front end with silicone grease like @jar_ recommends, but I use a wooden toothpick.

 

[Marco63]

So, after having removed the section if I put the silicon from the front won't the piston seal stop any grease from going up the barrel and reach the spindle ? Trickling grease from the piston knob could losen the whole thing or not ?

 

[nemo]

Well, my experiences are solely from repairing and restoring Pelikan filling systems (which seem very similar). But in my view, the spindle is never the problem, normally the piston sticks to the wall of the barrel. I think folks use hot water when cleaning, washing away the lube, and then putting the pen away.

 

[steveclarkus]

Well, my experiences are solely from repairing and restoring Pelikan filling systems (which seem very similar). But in my view, the spindle is never the problem, normally the piston sticks to the wall of the barrel. I think folks use hot water when cleaning, washing away the lube, and then putting the pen away.

Do you polish and correct Pelican nibs by any chance? My M-760 became very scratchy.

 

[Marco63]

I always use cold water to rinse my empty pens

 

[nemo]

Do you polish and correct Pelican nibs by any chance? My M-760 became very scratchy.

I do, but now only for my own pens. If it suddenly became scratchy I would say it's a misalignment where one tip is higher than the other. Maybe the feed slid away from center or one tip got bent a little for some reason.

Do you own a loupe? That is where I'd start and often the fix can be done with a thumbnail in under a minute. I really never polish Pelikan nib tips, they're normally very smooth.

I always use cold water to rinse my empty pens

Good boy!

 

[steveclarkus]

Thanks, I do have a loupe I’ll start there as suggested. It is a gold fine nib and has always been smooth. This is one of those things that happened overnight. The pen has never been dropped and I use a light touch with fountain pens. It was a birthday gift from my mother in the late 80’s and is one of the few things I’m sentimental about. Straight razors are the finest shaving instruments and fountain pens the finest writing instruments!

 

[r0ckrat]

If it "just happened" with no other incidents, there may be a fiber caught in the tines, should be able to tell with a loupe.

I've had that happen a few times depending on the paper.

 

[Taipei Personality]

The Gentleman and Paragon were the same pen but different trim levels; it's the Faceted Extra base.

Here is an article from Fountain Pen Network on servicing that model. There were two basic materials used; a vegital resin and celluloid. The former are slightly easier to work on.

I lubed the seal on my Paragon yesterday using these instructions. I've taken apart many different brands and this one was, by far, the easiest. From the time I started to having it back together was about two minutes.