Search the Community

As I never seem to have much luck on the repair board, hopefully I can find an Onoto-experienced eye here. Snagged a small group of pens from a "If it's in a Parker box it's a Parker" seller, but instead of a Platignum or whathaveyou in the box, somewhat to my trepidation find myself the owner of a De La Rue "Onoto the Pen" with the model number 3050 imprinted on the blind cap. Well I never expected one of these to swim into my ken, so I've perforce been taking a crash course in these pens and established what I need to do to, hopefully, get it working. Despite a copy of Pen Repair, various threads and articles, I have a couple of queries I hope someone could help me with. Viz: a. The plunger rod is not entirely straight; it's not wildly bent, but it is slightly off. Is this going to be a problem? b. Despite Custom Pen Parts efforts, I'm not absolutely sure what this pen counts as in their identification table. Tend to assume "Standard", but the barrel length is a bit off, however I don't know how variable those can be. I've tried to find information on understanding Onoto model numbers and approach it from that angle, but no dice. Which size washer does this 3050 need? Any other tips, pointers, information on this pen, all very gratefully received. Thank you muchly. I wouldn't say I'm out of my depth here, but I'm having to paddle pretty vigorously! Cheers, Al

Recently I bought an Onoto 5601 in green marble. I rebuilt it and was shocked to find it wouldn't work. Now my Onoto rebuilds always work, so I took a very close look. I found cracks along the marbling - ugh! So I sealed these but it still didn't work. Then I noticed that the barrel was actually distorted; it will NEVER work! As it happened I had a 3050 in very nice order but lacking nib and cap. The 3050's section is identical to the 5601s, so I have what might just be the first Onoto Frankenpen to grace these pages! Cob