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Greetings everyone, I am looking, to get more into solvent welding. Specifically I am interested In welding cracks on celluoid pens, such as parker vacumatics. I know that the proper method to do this, is to dissolve celluoid in MEK, to get a pretty thick liquid then apply to the crack, wait to dry for a long time, repeat etc. The problem is were can one find celluoid. I know old, broken pens is one source. However its very difficult, at least were I am from, to even find broken/damaged pens and escpecially ones made out of celluoid. Is there any source were I can buy celluoid, as raw material? Meaning a celluoid, cube, cylinder even shavings. It does not matter since I am going to dissolve them anyway. Thanks in advance, Nestor

Their have been a number of topics recently about what is safe to use on celluloid. I have no idea, as I have never owned a celluloid pen. However, according to Wikipedia, it is not only pens that have been made out of celluloid, but (until a year a two ago) it was used for table tennis balls. So, rather than testing your 'solvents' on your beloved celluloid pen, why not test them on table tennis balls instead. (OK, you may laugh now and call me daft, but please tell me why). If this is nothing new to you, the phrase "stop teaching Granny to suck eggs" might be appropriate and I'll go crawl under a rock. The 'approved' (tournament) balls to look for are those that have the imprint "44", but not "44+" as these are made of a newer plastic. I have no idea about any others.

Hi Everyone, I've recently got a hold of a Sheaffer Snorkel from the bay. Upon receiving it, I noticed a crack at the plunger end, usually a far too common and unfortunately fatal issue in snorkels. As it's in the UK, parts are notoriously difficult to find, let alone for a justifiable price. I actually noticed the issue after winning, but having already paid, the seller just played dumb and completely denied it, even though it was blatantly obvious. Since I got it for a good price, however, it isn't worth much in returning. The crack itself is perhaps about 3/8 of an inch, roughly the same distance away from the breather hole. Internally - the pen is sound and fixable, just that little crack can cause issues. I've looked around and and I've seen Tenax 7R advertised wholeheartedly by Ron Z, however it's nearly impossible to find in the UK. (and for a good price) My question is if there's any alternatives I can find cheaply in the UK, something trustworthy as I have little option for failure. I'm confident in my ability to fix pens and have a steady hand (should have been a surgeon but chemistry wasn't my strong point hehe). Also, provided a picture of the crack. Excuse the horrible quality, I needed to MSPaint some things of help. Thanks in advance.