Hero 616 Anatomy

[merzig]

A Hero 616 easily unscrewed when I was cleaning it this morning, so I thought it would be useful to post pics before I put it back together.

 

Looks a lot like a P51 even on the inside. I didn't try to separate the different feed parts, but the nib slips easily off.

 

(This might be better posted in Repair Q&A; move it if it's more appropriate there. Edited to add photo. Duh!)

Edited May 8, 2009 by merzig

[someonesdad]

Dang, beat me to the punch. I got a couple of boxes of these last December and have taken a few of them apart. I was going to take pictures like you did, then use a thread title of something like "Anatomy of a Dead Hero", "Gory pictures inside -- not for the squeamish" or somesuch. I was just going to leave a little red ink on things before cleaning...

 

Anyway, great job. Did you lose the little stainless washer between the hood and the section or didn't your's have one?

 

Ah, I think I can answer this -- the 616 Jumbos don't have the washer and have a quadruple thread for the barrel. It's the el cheapo regular 616s that have the washer.

 

Edit: By the way, one of the 616s Jumbos writes like a dream for me and has become my favorite pen. It's inked with Bay State Blue.

Edited May 8, 2009 by someonesdad

[merzig]

Awwee -- tell you what, I'll see if I can get the mods to delete this thread just so you can post another with that great title! :roflmho:

 

I've had mixed success with 616s. Some are really great, others are just okay, still others are duds. A worthwhile gamble when considering the price of a ten-pack.

 

Aluminum washers do exist: they're cemented to the clear plastic sac holder, on either side of the ink window. Actually I've never seen a "normal" 616 -- maybe you can post comparison shots.

[Jimmy James]

Since the cap isn't disassembled, I'll explain what it looks like.

 

There are 4 pieces: the jewel, the clip, a plastic part that fits down in the main part of the cap and stays there due to the clip and jewel holding it in place, and the main part of the cap itself.

 

I know this because a burp of BSB in a 616 Jumbo appeared to create expansion in the plastic part, and it crumbled into about 20 pieces on me. It's either the BSB or the pen just happened to be defective. The plastic was coated in BSB and felt vaguely warm, though.

[parilla]

Thank you for the pictures. It is always nice to know what is inside. Yesterday I pulled the steel sac cover off, pulled the sac out, blocked the hole in the top end of the barrell with a bit of silicone and (so far) it is working perfectly as an eyedropper...at last, a 616 with more capacity than a few drops. I love the pen (my first ten cost 99 cents in total, plus postage) and I have now bought another ten to give to friends. So far I have only been game to modify the one.

[someonesdad]

Yesterday I pulled the steel sac cover off, pulled the sac out, blocked the hole in the top end of the barrell with a bit of silicone and (so far) it is working perfectly as an eyedropper...at last, a 616 with more capacity than a few drops.

You lucky dog -- I paid 10 times that much <walks off grumbling about getting ripped off >. Appleman has posted in the pen making forum a picture of a barrel he made for a 616 -- nice idea and it would be another way to make a slightly customized eyedropper (but you'll have to turn a quadruple thread to make it).

 

merzig: good thought; I'll try to take one apart later today and get pictures of it. And your assessment of the quality variation in the cheap Hero pens is spot on -- I've gotten good ones and not-so-good ones.

 

As I've said elsewhere, I lucked into a 616 Jumbo that is the best writing pen I have and is now my favorite, inked with Bay State Blue. It also writes like a dream with Perle Noire. It also is great for the fleeting frisson (<in Rowan and Martin voice> look that up in your Funk & Wagnalls) I get when I hear some owner of a $1000 pen complaining about its poor writing characteristics.

[DonQuixote]

How firmly is the breather tube attached to the collector/feed assembly in your Hero 616s? I just acquired one of these, and I had the devil's own time trying to ink the thing until I noticed that the breather tube was completely free to move around inside the sac. I pushed the tube into place as well as I could (without taking it apart), but I'm wondering if it is supposed to be somehow glued into the collector.

[Edgar Allan Bo]

Isn't that the fake HERO 616 !?! Because of the clip... the fakes have this simple looking clip, the "original" 616's have the PARKER arrow clip!

[richardandtracy]

Isn't that the fake HERO 616 !?! Because of the clip... the fakes have this simple looking clip, the "original" 616's have the PARKER arrow clip!

Whether it's the fake or not, the innards look like my Hero 616's, and the photo does the job of showing what they look like. Thanks Merzig, I've added this thread to my list of 'Useful FPN threads'.

 

Regards,

 

Richard.

[scutterdav]

That's a very good photo to have on record. I had no idea this pen was inwardly so similar to the P51. Does anyone know which of the parts would be interchangeable? I have a spare P51 nib, could I put that in a Hero 616?

Edited August 13, 2009 by scutterdav

[Ernst Bitterman]

...at last, a 616 with more capacity than a few drops.

 

If you just pull the flimsy aluminum protector off and treat it as a bulb filler, you can get it to fill pretty much to capacity. Unless the breather tube drops out, of course.

[Peter from Sherwood Park]

+1 on wanting photos like this available.

[merzig]

Here are a couple additional photos, one with disassembled section and cap, the other with just the cap.

 

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3538/3818408389_032a175301_o.jpg

 

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3461/3818408395_97150595e5_o.jpg

Edited August 13, 2009 by merzig

[merzig]

Someone just asked me how to remove the hood from the body, to access the nib. The answer is, the same way you remove the hood from a P51: heat it up a little. I used a hairdryer and some hot water from the tap. Once the pen was wet I used a rubber glove to provide some traction as I unscrewed the hood.

 

Once the hood is off, the feed/tube, section and nib should slip out.

[richardandtracy]

That's a very good photo to have on record. I had no idea this pen was inwardly so similar to the P51. Does anyone know which of the parts would be interchangeable? I have a spare P51 nib, could I put that in a Hero 616?

I looked at it myself. On my Hero 616 the length of the nib is much shorter than the P51 nib I had, and is a smaller diameter using slightly thinner material. I think you'd have to do a lot of work to the P51 nib - not really justified to be honest and you'd prevent it going back into a P51 if you got one.

 

Regards,

 

Richard.

[ZeissIkon]

That's a very good photo to have on record. I had no idea this pen was inwardly so similar to the P51. Does anyone know which of the parts would be interchangeable? I have a spare P51 nib, could I put that in a Hero 616?

I looked at it myself. On my Hero 616 the length of the nib is much shorter than the P51 nib I had, and is a smaller diameter using slightly thinner material. I think you'd have to do a lot of work to the P51 nib - not really justified to be honest and you'd prevent it going back into a P51 if you got one.

 

Regards,

 

Richard.

 

Richard, is yours a small one or a Jumbo? The small 616 seems to be similar to a 51 Demi, while the Jumbo 616 is sized to match an original 51 Aero.

[scutterdav]

That's a very good photo to have on record. I had no idea this pen was inwardly so similar to the P51. Does anyone know which of the parts would be interchangeable? I have a spare P51 nib, could I put that in a Hero 616?

I looked at it myself. On my Hero 616 the length of the nib is much shorter than the P51 nib I had, and is a smaller diameter using slightly thinner material. I think you'd have to do a lot of work to the P51 nib - not really justified to be honest and you'd prevent it going back into a P51 if you got one.

 

Regards,

 

Richard.

 

 

Thanks for the info Richard.

[richardandtracy]

That's a very good photo to have on record. I had no idea this pen was inwardly so similar to the P51. Does anyone know which of the parts would be interchangeable? I have a spare P51 nib, could I put that in a Hero 616?

I looked at it myself. On my Hero 616 the length of the nib is much shorter than the P51 nib I had, and is a smaller diameter using slightly thinner material. I think you'd have to do a lot of work to the P51 nib - not really justified to be honest and you'd prevent it going back into a P51 if you got one.

 

Regards,

 

Richard.

 

Richard, is yours a small one or a Jumbo? The small 616 seems to be similar to a 51 Demi, while the Jumbo 616 is sized to match an original 51 Aero.

My ones are the Jumbo size, about 15 month old now. I got them as a 10 pack from Speerbob while he was still based in the Far East.

 

Regards,

 

Richard.

[andy1m]

Very interesting and very useful posting. Thanks Merzig. I think I have to find a few 616 to try it out myself

[tuintu]

How can we distinguish the fake 616 and original 616 ?

 

what are the hints to figure out ?