# Bulb fillers



## ragz (Nov 5, 2011)

going to try this here...

Can anyone give a down and dirty explanation on bulb fillers?

I recently got a lucite blank from exotics that I think would be awesome for a bulb filler. I get the concept of the silicone sac but what I'm not so sure of is the breather tube. Is the tube better or not and how does the tube work with the feed since there is only one point on the feed to attach the tube and for ink to travel to the nib??


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## ragz (Nov 6, 2011)

anyone? 
bueller....
paging doctors Timebandit and Soligen....

Bueller.....


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## MartinPens (Nov 6, 2011)

They must be out on the town, driving their father's expensive automobile around. : )


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## Timebandit (Nov 6, 2011)

LOL!!! Ok, so here is the deal. You need the breather tube for the pen to fill at all. If you didnt have the breather tube, the first time you sucked in ink, it would fill with some ink, but the next squeeze would just squeeze all of the ink out of the pen. You also need the breather tube to be long enough for the pen to fill properly. The pen will stop filling once your ink level covers the end of your breather tube. Meaning that if you have a really short breather tube, it will only fill to the top of the tube. If you have a tube that goes the full length of the barrel, meaning its almost up to where your ink sac is, it will fill all he way to the top of this tube. Now it doesnt end there. If you just stick the tube on there, there wont be anyway for the ink to get into the feed and out the nib. So what you need to do is you need to drill a hole in your breather tube down where it connects to the feed so that ink can flow into the feed and out the nib.

Hope this helps


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## ragz (Nov 6, 2011)

Yay!!!

I knew it wasn't as simple as just slapping a tube on the feed since there is only one hole on it. Thanks Justin! The lucite blank I got from exotics is very translucent and I thought that a bulbie would be better than seeing a converter pump or cartridge in it

thanks again! now i need to order some sacs and tubing


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## edavisj316 (Nov 6, 2011)

Thank you for posting this question and for the answer.  I am still a ways from doing this.  But I am tooling up to go kitless and I would like to do the bulb fillers also.  

So are you doing any modification to the feed to receive the tube?


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## soligen (Nov 6, 2011)

MartinPens said:


> They must be out on the town, driving their father's expensive automobile around. : )


 


Out of town, yes, but hunting , not driving. 


Here is what I have to add to Justin's post. The hole in the tube base must be smaller than the ID of the tube you use. Use trial and error to see what works best.


I have also modified the feed to take the tube, which I think works better, but I recommend you try the hole-in-tube method as it is non-distructive to the feed. 


The section must seal air tight to the body, as well as the feed holder into the section - otherwize leaks can happen. I used Shellac (traditional for FPs) I think Justing uses silicon grease. Also, you use Shellac to attach the sac. I used silicon sac instead of latex, which is supposed to last longer.


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## DurocShark (Nov 16, 2011)

I've seen the silicone sacs and been surprised that the shellac sticks to it. I've got a couple of vintage bulb fillers here with cracked sacs, and was debating whether to try the silicone. 

Any comments on durability of the shellac seal over time?


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## 043Turning (Nov 17, 2011)

any chance of a few pictures for us Ozzies - we need pictures :tongue:


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## Grampy122 (Nov 17, 2011)

*Me too*

I must be an Ozzie too, because I could use some pictures.


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## soligen (Nov 17, 2011)

DurocShark said:


> I've seen the silicone sacs and been surprised that the shellac sticks to it. I've got a couple of vintage bulb fillers here with cracked sacs, and was debating whether to try the silicone.
> 
> Any comments on durability of the shellac seal over time?


 
I shellaced the silicon sac on mine a couple months ago and its still holding up fine. I let it sit and dry for a couple days with the pen dis-assembled just to be safe.


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## Texatdurango (Nov 17, 2011)

DurocShark said:


> I've seen the silicone sacs and been surprised that the shellac sticks to it. I've got a couple of vintage bulb fillers here with cracked sacs, and was debating whether to try the silicone.
> 
> Any comments on durability of the shellac seal over time?


 
I can't speak to a LOT of time but I made the bulb filler in my favorite little yellow pen over two years ago now and I just opened the blind cap and the bulb looks solid as it can be.  I've probably refilled this pen several dozen times so it's been used quite a bit.  Using a 30X loop I can see no evidence of the seal cracking or shifting.

I don't know if it really matters much but I don't use shellac like I have in my shop, I order a blended mix called Sac cement from Tryphon Industries ( http://tryphon.it/catalogo.htm )  They claim the Sac cement works equally well on their silicone sacs too, and these folks know their stuff when it comes to vintage pens!  This is a good site to bookmark if you're really getting into making bulb fillers and button fillers.  I painstakenly made my own brass buttons until I found out about them and that they carried brand new brass buttons for a few dollars.


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## IPD_Mr (Nov 17, 2011)

The shellac should last about 50 plus years.  From all the vintage pens we have disassembled, most of the ones in the 50's still have soft sacs that are firmly attached.  Older pens where the sac has dried up, it is usually still attached to the section and has to be scrapped off.  So I would not worry too much about it.


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