I Just Broke My Piston!

[humsin]

Ahhhh my impulsive move to try to disassemble my pen; I kept twisting the piston knob and crack and the piston rod broke! What should I do?!

[Paul Raposo]

You're not having much luck, are you?

[Koyote]

As long as the star lines up, I wouldn't worry about the piston.

[Sasha Royale]

For my tenth birthday, Dad bought me a Timex watch.

"Ahhhh my impulsive move to try to disassemble my" watch,

I succeded. For fifty years, I have kept the Timex in my

bureau drawer, in a sack of thirty to forty pieces.

 

Still hurts, whenever I come across it.

 

Don't fix it ! Keep it as a reminder. It will save you

alot in years to come.

[RobertS]

'Sasha Royale wrote:

For my tenth birthday, Dad bought me a Timex watch.

"Ahhhh my impulsive move to try to disassemble my" watch,

I succeded. For fifty years, I have kept the Timex in my

bureau drawer, in a sack of thirty to forty pieces.

 

So much for the old adage, "Takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'"

[Silvermink]

I wonder if speerbob might have one. I know he was putting up lots of replacement parts for Montblancs of that vintage on eBay a few months ago, but I don't recall having seen any piston parts.

[ImagineItReal]

As long as the star lines up, I wouldn't worry about the piston.

:roflmho:

[humsin]

I'm trying to get to know my pens better.

[entropydave]

Hello

 

I was given a pen in which someone did exactly the same thing. Essentially, they twisted the spindle until it twisted and snapped.

 

One solution would be to send the pen to someone who can fix it. There are such people in Europe, where I live, but I have never used one so cannot make a reliable recommendation. In addition, I am not expert in pen repair, what follows is my experience.

 

If you want to try the fix yourself it is possible.

 

There is a machine (basically a screw driven tool with two halves and some custom plates) for taking these pens apart. You can find one on penboard.de, where you can see some pictures. I don't have this tool. The piston assembly is friction fitted into the barrel. The way that I removed the one I have was to remove the section; warm the barrel near the piston; insert a wood dowel into the barrel from the section end, then--bracing the dowel--push the barrel against it thereby forcing the whole assembly out.

 

Once you have the assembly out, you can easily remove the turning cap by unscrewing it from the piston shaft. At this point you can see the broken spindle. Your first option would be to find someone who can sell you a replacement turning cap. If you want an appropriate one, it is one that needs a gold ring set into it (12 and 72). If you just want one that works, you can use one from a 22 with no gold ring. Good luck.

 

The other option is to take the turning cap apart fully. To do this (you can get the idea by looking at the photos of the machine on penboard) you need to drive the small white star "into" the turning cap. I found that I could do this easily by resting the cap on a vise and hammering it gently using a soft wood shaft (I modified a chopstick). This releases what I will call the spindle assembly. This assembly is three parts: the white star which has a plastic cup on its underside; a small metal cup that is a spacer between the piston shaft and the white star; and the (broken) spindle.

 

At this point you just need to find someone with spare spindles. I am told these are more common and are the same among models of this vintage. Get a replacement spindle and reassemble. Reassembly should be straightforward. You can use the threads on the main part of the piston assembly to drive most of the elements of the turning cap back into place. Put the turning cap elements together with your fingers, then screw the turning cap onto the threaded part of the assembly. That will do 75% of the job. After that you need a soft, narrow cylinder to gently hammer the pieces into their final positions.

 

If you complete this repair, you will indeed know your pen a lot better.

 

David.

[TorPelikan]

I do not own Montblanc 12 but I have 72 and 24. Their filling mechanism is identical to MB 12's I believe.

 

As far as I know, the piston system of those models are not friction fit.

If you want to disassemble the piston, you have to remove the section from the barrel. It's very easy because they are ordinary screw fit.

After removing the section, you will find a transparent cylinder protruding from the barrel.

When you turn the filling knob counterclockwise, the piston seal will came up and touch the top of the cylinder. If you twisted the knob further, the knob or the rod will be broken.

To avoid this to happen, you have to screw out the cylinder.

After you completely disassembled the barrel, you will get the transparent cylinder, outer sheath of the barrel, piston, rod-knob unit, and one more longitudinally grooved sleeve to hold the piston in the right angle.

 

Please remember, there's some tip to reassemble them.

I have to try many times to get it work satisfactory. Sometimes, the piston won't suck enough ink, the other times, the knob will not fit tightly to the barrel.

 

 

At least you need a new rod-piston unit to repair your pen.

If you have scarce skill to repair pens, I recommend you to ask a pen professional to see your pen.

 

 

regards,

 

 

Tor

[humsin]

I definitely need a new rod; I think I'll let the folks at MB do this repair.

[entropydave]

Hello Tor

 

I do not own Montblanc 12 but I have 72 and 24. Their filling mechanism is identical to MB 12's I believe.

 

As far as I know, the piston system of those models are not friction fit.

 

Perhaps there is more than one kind of Montblanc 12, but I can tell you with certainty that the few I have seen had piston assemblies that were friction fit. The photo below is one I had hanging around (the quality is poor), but I have used a yellow arrow to indicate the piston assembly housing. It is threaded at one end to take the filler knob and smooth over the other 80% of its length. It slides into the barrel in the direction of the yellow arrow and is stopped by the presence of the translucent blue plastic inside the barrel at the other end.

 

I did not think the blue plastic sleeve could be detached. It does not appear to be threaded, but I would be very pleased to be shown evidence to the contrary. I had concluded it was fused. If it were possible to remove the blue plastic then it would be much easier to remove the turning knob in the way you describe. This is how the later Montblanc 221 (and other 22x models) work and it is very convenient.

 

 

David.

[TorPelikan]

Hello entropydave

 

Thank you for your very helpful information and clear photo.

 

Perhaps, there may be some variations for a single model name.

Accumulated data and careful observation is necessary to prevent these accidents, I believe.

 

Thank you again.

 

 

 

best regard,

 

Tor

[TorPelikan]

Hello,

 

 

I have to apologize!

 

Many years ago, I disassembled some 121, 320, 72 and 24 in a short period.

So, I misunderstood they are all the same made.

 

Yesterday, I took them all and disassembled and noticed my mistake.

Pistons of 121 and 320 are not friction fit. The front channel hole was very narrow and I cannot clean the inside of the barrel so I found it is possible to unscrew the transparent cylinder from the front side.

On the opposite, the front opening of the cylinder of 72 and 24 are wide and I have no need to totally disassemble them. Which means, I did not disassembled the piston mechanism so I know nothing about them.

 

entropydave, you are exactly right, they are friction fit.

 

 

It maybe a common fact for majority here, but there are many newbies too.

 

Please everybody here, do not try to disassemble 12 from the front.

And, do not remove the mechanism of 121 from the bottom.

 

 

regards,

 

 

Tor