Minor Cheap Pen Problems: Pilot Metropolitan And Jinhao X750

[Watermonkey314]

Hi everyone,

 

I've recently started using fountain pens in the last few months (beginning with an impulse buy of a Pilot Varsity at a stationery shop, though that's a story for another time...), and I've already acquired a number of them. My workhorse pen is the first real one I bought after the Varsity: it's a silver Pilot Metro with a medium nib. It writes beautifully and reliably filled with Namiki Black, and I carry it around in my pants pocket with no problems.

 

However, it's also recently developed a strange tendency - the Metro is a snap cap, and sometimes if I hold the cap and the rear of the barrel, the metal barrel detaches from the rest of the pen instead of the cap (just posterior to the plastic trim part). This reveals some sort of plasticky-housing thing. Now, my instinct tells me that some sort of glue that should hold the two together has failed (maybe I shouldn't have carried it around in my pocket all the time?). Is this correct? Should I use a glue to fix it, and if so, what kind? Or maybe I should contact either Pilot or the store under a warranty? As it is, it's not a problem as long as I remember to hold the plastic trim when uncapping the pen, so I'd rather not risk anything that might actually screw it up. (I've since acquired two more Metros (!) so my last-ditch option is to just swap the barrels).

 

The other pen I got at the same time as the silver Metro is a Jinhao X750; I don't like it as much as it skips quite a lot and starts badly, to the point where it's unusably annoying. On top of this, while cleaning it I did something to it such that the entirety of the pen mechanism now attempts to fall out the front of the pen! If I remove the cartridge/converter and assemble the pen, the entire plastic nib/feed assembly falls out of the metal ring that holds it (the section? or is the assembly the section?) and on to the floor, into the sink, etc. With the converter, it stops as the converter seems too big to fit through the metal ring. Between the nib performance issues and my worries about having the ink-transporting joint be load-bearing, I've stopped using the pen. What did I do to the pen, and what should I do to fix it? And what might I try to help the skipping? I started making progress by switching to Noodler's Greune Cactus Eel, but the auto-disassembly cropped up about then.

 

Thanks so much!

 

Edit: Added Jinhao X750 to tags

Edited May 24, 2014 by Watermonkey314

[Algester]

pictures first it maybe the barrel is being unscrewed while inside your pocket if this is the case the plastic thingy you might be seeing is the converter if this is so your fix is to use teflon tape on the threads of the barrel to make it feel "secure" I use this on my Faber-Castell Ambition and Lamy Logo.

 

However I'm not sure

[Watermonkey314]

The part of the barrel that comes off doesn't unscrew - rather, the section of the Metro unscrews from the plastic trim portion (this, incidentally, gives the dreaded step that's the most common complaint I've seen about the Metro). The "barrel" threads likewise live forwards of the trim in the step. The plastic thing is definitely not the converter - I'd recognize it! I'd post pictures, but I'm a bit loathe to deliberately pull it apart in case it's friction-fit and that makes it worse.

[Algester]

  On 5/24/2014 at 4:39 AM, Watermonkey314 said:

The part of the barrel that comes off doesn't unscrew - rather, the section of the Metro unscrews from the plastic trim portion (this, incidentally, gives the dreaded step that's the most common complaint I've seen about the Metro). The "barrel" threads likewise live forwards of the trim in the step. The plastic thing is definitely not the converter - I'd recognize it! I'd post pictures, but I'm a bit loathe to deliberately pull it apart in case it's friction-fit and that makes it worse.

ahh indeed no worries yeah if that is the case the original adhesive used to cover the converter may indeed have come "loose" huh... since it won't be seen something like a anaerobic adhesive might work like gorilla glue or if not a loctite, but I'm really sure for what kind of adhesive to be used hahaha

Edited May 24, 2014 by Algester

[Pickwick]

I checked my Jinhao X750 and found the chrome sleeve holding the feed, nib and converter in the section is slightly loose, and managed to pull the lot out, similar to what you are experiencing. The glue holding it in has failed. This can be remedied by either gluing it in place, or wedging it in with a small piece of plumbers tape wrapped around the chrome sleeve.

 

My advice to the first part of your inquiry is never carry a fountain pen in your pants pocket! This invites disaster! My generation always carried fountain pens in either the top pocket of a jacket holding a handkerchief, or the inside pocket. or it was clipped into a shirt pocket. This is why the clip is fixed to the cap, it keeps the pen from leaking when being carried in this way.

[Algester]

and if you ever find yourself carrying single pens a single pen sleeve will do

[Watermonkey314]

  On 5/24/2014 at 4:54 AM, Pickwick said:

I checked my Jinhao X750 and found the chrome sleeve holding the feed, nib and converter in the section is slightly loose, and managed to pull the lot out, similar to what you are experiencing. The glue holding it in has failed. This can be remedied by either gluing it in place, or wedging it in with a small piece of plumbers tape wrapped around the chrome sleeve.

This makes sense, and looking in this forum I see another recent thread that mentions in passing a similar phenomenon with respect to Jinhao pens. I'll try the tape first and then the glue. Thanks!

 

 

  On 5/24/2014 at 4:54 AM, Pickwick said:

My advice to the first part of your inquiry is never carry a fountain pen in your pants pocket! This invites disaster! My generation always carried fountain pens in either the top pocket of a jacket holding a handkerchief, or the inside pocket. or it was clipped into a shirt pocket. This is why the clip is fixed to the cap, it keeps the pen from leaking when being carried in this way.

What is the exact concern here? I should mention that I keep the pen nib-up with the clip on my pocket (so it seems analogous to being clipped into a shirt pocket). An obvious risk is that of the cap coming off to release an exposed nib, but the cap is quite secure (or else the barrel problem wouldn't exist!)

[Algester]

  On 5/24/2014 at 5:06 AM, Watermonkey314 said:

This makes sense, and looking in this forum I see another recent thread that mentions in passing a similar phenomenon with respect to Jinhao pens. I'll try the tape first and then the glue. Thanks!

 

 

What is the exact concern here? I should mention that I keep the pen nib-up with the clip on my pocket (so it seems analogous to being clipped into a shirt pocket). An obvious risk is that of the cap coming off to release an exposed nib, but the cap is quite secure (or else the barrel problem wouldn't exist!)

 

well there's the friction between the pen and your pocket which like what you may have encountered apparently loosen the glue of the plastic sleeve holding the metal barrel

[Pickwick]

  On 5/24/2014 at 5:06 AM, Watermonkey314 said:

This makes sense, and looking in this forum I see another recent thread that mentions in passing a similar phenomenon with respect to Jinhao pens. I'll try the tape first and then the glue. Thanks!

 

 

What is the exact concern here? I should mention that I keep the pen nib-up with the clip on my pocket (so it seems analogous to being clipped into a shirt pocket). An obvious risk is that of the cap coming off to release an exposed nib, but the cap is quite secure (or else the barrel problem wouldn't exist!)

Some members here have carried their pens in the back pant pocket and have met up with serious damage! I guess if carried in the front pocket might not be so bad, However, it could become a disaster waiting at some time to happen!

[Watermonkey314]

Ah, I see - thanks to both of you for your helpful comments! I'll try to find a better solution for keeping my pen handy!

[Sasha Royale]

You don't say where you are from. Perhaps, it gets pretty warm in your pants pocket. (No misunderstanding, I hope.)

It is possible that the "glue" has softened and allowed the metal barrel to pull loose. It is just a tight fit, anyway. You

DID say these are "cheap" pens.

 

The Jinhao x750 problem of ink flow has been an annoyance to me, too. I bought several. I tried everything I could imagine,

as well as the suggestions of others. It seems the ink supply cannot keep up with the demands of the big nib. I gave up.

The x250 and x500 function a lot better. I recommend them.

 

Also, after a thorough flush, the Jinhao 599 wrote continuously, until the reservoir was empty. That's good.

Edited May 28, 2014 by Sasha Royale

[Watermonkey314]

  On 5/28/2014 at 4:42 AM, Sasha Royale said:

You don't say where you are from. Perhaps, it gets pretty warm in your pants pocket. (No misunderstanding, I hope.)

It is possible that the "glue" has softened and allowed the metal barrel to pull loose. It is just a tight fit, anyway. You

DID say these are "cheap" pens.

 

The Jinhao x750 problem of ink flow has been an annoyance to me, too. I bought several. I tried everything I could imagine,

as well as the suggestions of others. It seems the ink supply cannot keep up with the demands of the big nib. I gave up.

The x250 and x500 function a lot better. I recommend them.

 

Also, after a thorough flush, the Jinhao 599 wrote continuously, until the reservoir was empty. That's good.

 

At the time this occurred, I was in Boston's endless 40 degree "spring". I doubt the weather was a factor, though I certainly could have generated a reasonable amount of heat from my body. But even though the Metros are only ~$15, the build quality and look is far better than I'd expected (even with the barrel problem).

 

Out of curiousity, what sort of inks did you try in your X750s? I switched to the Eel Greune Cactus because someone suggested that I try a lubricated ink, and it seemed to be heading in the right direction. Previously I'd had skipping issues with Noodler's Liberty's Elysium and Tiananmen. When I get a chance I plan to try Namiki Black too as it seems to be well-behaved in all my other pens.