How I fixed my Sheaffer Stratowriter

March 11, 2011

Hello All!

I don't know if anyone has fixed one this way before, so I thought I would share.

http://i1108.photobucket.com/albums/h413/cjapens/2a52ed1d.jpg

I recently picked up a lovely Sheaffer Stratowriter at a pen show, unrestored, and was really looking forward to doing the job myself. I bought the widget from Frank at the Pendemonium tables. He explained that I would need to attach the widget, trim an existing spring to fit (a whole one would be too much) and possibly put a bit more spring in the back to fill up the gap. If you are unfamiliar with the widget, it is a small metal insert made allow a modern refill to fit a pre-modern Sheaffer ballpoint, which used a very large refill that actually screws into the inside of the pen. The widget screws into the same threads that the old refill did, jutting out from the writing end of the pen and allowing proper fit for the tip of the modern refill. So far, so good.

I trimmed the spring from a Parker Jotter. I found that I wanted a bit more resistance than it was offering, so stretched it out a bit:

http://i1108.photobucket.com/albums/h413/cjapens/7a787ac9.jpg

All was going swimmingly, until I closed the pen up and tried to write with it. I found that, just as Frank had warned, there was a gap between the back end of the refill and the mechanism in the back of the pen. I tried using a bit of spring, but found myself unhappy with the results. I tried a bit of masking tape attached to the back of the refill, but found it too soft for my liking. On top of that, the end piece on a modern refill is just small enough that it gets hung up in the mechanishm. One remedy, written about on the Pendemonium web page, is to replace the plastic piece on the back end of a modern, metal Sheaffer BP refill with the flat end piece from an older, plastic refill.

I have an older refill on the way and will see how well that works. It took a week or two to track down someone with an older refill. This got me thinking..."What if you can't track down an older, plastic refill to get a flat end piece?" Read on to see my solution.

I took the "barrel" of a plastice Q-tip and cut the cotton bits off from each end.

http://i1108.photobucket.com/albums/h413/cjapens/d3e41bbd.jpg

You may have to remove the blue end piece from your refill, but on one side of it you will find a small hole. Place that end facing out from the refill, crimp the end of the Q-tip barrel slightly, and push it into the blue end of the refill.

http://i1108.photobucket.com/albums/h413/cjapens/9c1a6387.jpg

Start with as much of the length as possible, then trim to fit. It should fill up the entire back end of the pen; all the way to the end of the button.

http://i1108.photobucket.com/albums/h413/cjapens/4772b6a5.jpg

If done right, the tip of the refill should sit at an excellent point for writing when extended.

http://i1108.photobucket.com/albums/h413/cjapens/71377ef7.jpg

It should also retract well into the body of the widget and pen.

http://i1108.photobucket.com/albums/h413/cjapens/34a340e6.jpg

If this method, or a similar one, has been used before, please let me know. Also, any advice to clarify/simplify the explanation. I was just happy to find a way around needing the back of an old refill for those who have trouble locating one. I also considered gluing a small bit of tiny dowel rod to back of the refill. Anway, I hope this helps somebody out there!

Edited March 11, 2011 by cjabbott

December 21, 2012

Currently ordering this pen, your post actually triggered my interest to get the original Stratowriter. Thanks.

By courtesy of Pendemonium I am getting some original dried refills to try reinking them. No idea if modern ballpoint ink is of suitable viscosity or if I can clean then dried ink residue, but it will be an interesting experiment. Did not manage to find any info what kind of ink was originaly used with these pens, beyond the review on PenHero.com mentioning it is similar to Parker liquid lead.

June 26, 2013

I took a slightly different approach, using a cut-off piece of a Japanese gel cartridge to cap the end of the modern Sheaffer refill. That made the end broad enough to work well with the pen's mechanism. I also added a very short (1.5 turns) spring around the outside of the widget so that it would also retract with the refill. Both springs I used were considerably softer than the pen's original spring; what was Sheaffer thinking with that thing?

I just acquired a second '46/'47 Stratowriter and a whole bunch of the aluminum refills, so I have lots of material for potential experimentation. :-)

Edited June 26, 2013 by Chthulhu

June 27, 2013

Cory and all - Frank has recently found that a trimmed short international cartridge (cleaned out!) can slide over the end of the refill and work well with the mech at the top of the cap. Start longer than shorter and trim as needed. Each Strato seems to have a life of it's own internally!

Sam

June 27, 2013

I thought they all had caps with a fixed ball point insert like the ones in this thread:

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/235746-re-sacking-an-old-ballpoint-can-it-be-done/

The ones I have from the 40's are all capped to match the pen.

Are you sure yours isn't an early roller ball pen?

June 28, 2013

Whych, The 1946 model has a retractable point. The cap is pushed down to extend and retract the point. Later Stratowriter models came in ensemble sets and matched the style of the fountain pen they accompanied. So they all had screw caps because their companion pens did.

Also, the Q-tip method did not work on my pen. It caused the sleeve in the bayonet lock to jam when the actuator button is pressed. In fact, in the pen I have, the cartridge extension must be the EXACT diameter as the original sac protector. Otherwise the flanges in the metal sleeve will angle inward and bind.

I installed the widget differently than cjabbott did above. He screwed the widget into the barrel and then inserted the spring on top of it. I did the opposite and put the widget on top of the spring. The difference is that the widget sticks out of his pen even when the point is retracted (see his last photo above). But putting the spring in first will allow the widget to retract along with the point.

June 29, 2013

The 1946 model has a retractable point. The cap is pushed down to extend and retract the point. Later Stratowriter models came in ensemble sets and matched the style of the fountain pen they accompanied. So they all had screw caps because their companion pens did.

Thanks for that, I only have the ones that match the pens, so have never come across them. I thought they were all capped.

Found my pen I was playing with, but not tried getting it to work yet.

Perhaps the solution of using the q-tip extender is to cut the top off the old refill to act as a sleeve and put the q-tip inside it.

Did you ever try resaccing/refilling one?

July 1, 2013

Found my pen I was playing with, but not tried getting it to work yet.
Perhaps the solution of using the q-tip extender is to cut the top off the old refill to act as a sleeve and put the q-tip inside it.
Did you ever try resaccing/refilling one?

Yes, on one Stratowriter I transplanted the original ballpoint ink into a new sac and installed it back onto the cartridge frame. Now the pen writes with the original ballpoint unit and uses the original ink. It's that same blue-black color that Sheaffer still uses.

As you suggested, I did use the original sac protector for a cartridge extender in a Stratowriter retractable pen. Also I modified the threaded section to fit a Parker refill. In other words, I made my own widget. It works perfectly, and the action is smooth:

http://ashbridg.com/stratball_734.jpg

Parker refill in original Stratowriter section with original sac protector used as an extender

Edited July 2, 2013 by ashbridg