Search the Community

I had an issue with ink coming out of the bottom of the trim ring which is located at the top of the section on an original Cross Century fountain pen, as illustrated in the photo. I spent several days trying to figure out what was going on and I think I finally came up with the answer. Maybe this will help if anyone else has a similar problem. It seemed like a hard puzzle to solve since the top of the trim ring, adjacent to the nib and feed, did not have any obvious place for the ink to enter and get under the ring. I called Cross and they told me to soak the pen in dish soap and warm water. But, after refilling with ink, the ink under the ring was back. OK, here's what I think happened. I was filling the pen by dipping it in ink, without regard to how much of the pen I submerged in the ink. So, if I submerged the pen below the bottom of the trim ring, a small quantity of ink could get in under the ring. I then tried two things to solve the problem. First, I pushed some silicon grease up onto the bottom of the ring, just in case there was a gap under the ring that might let ink in. Second, I did the refill being careful to only submerge the nib and not the trim ring. Now, I have had zero "leaks" from the trim ring after several days. I'm not sure you could call them leaks in the first place, but this is what happened. If I get more ink under the trim ring and never let it get submerged in the ink, I'll be proven wrong.

A while back, I purchased a celluloid Platinum 3776 pictured here. The trouble is, the wide trim ring at the base of the cap is loose. I finally cleaned it up and put it in my case after getting way too much use out of it. Today, I pulled it out and the trim ring stayed. It is friction fit onto the pen right now, but very loose and easy to turn. I'm nervous about using superglue, since it's a celluloid pen. Is there a glue I can use in a really tiny amount to hold the trim ring in place? It has to bond metal to celluloid.