Pen & Pencil Won't Twist?

[Paul Raposo]

I would very much like to know how your experiment comes out. I checked my Cross set and they were both stiff with the pencil being a little crunchy.

 

Will do, Matt. I've got my curiosity piqued, and I'd like to get in there and see how these mechanisms work.

[WriteAway]

I would very much like to know how your experiment comes out. I checked my Cross set and they were both stiff with the pencil being a little crunchy.

 

Will do, Matt. I've got my curiosity piqued, and I'd like to get in there and see how these mechanisms work.

 

Paul,

At least you received your pen/pencil back in working order. Sorry you didn't get what you hoped for with the pencil. That's the trouble with items made more than just a few years ago in many industries - the parts are just not available to return an item to its original condition.

 

I do wish that either Cross, or one of the pen repair experts would offer a "Pen Re-lubrication Service" for twist-action ballpoints using factory-spec lubricants that would return Cross and other bps to smooth operation. I think they could do it easily, and still make money with a service the average Cross pen owner would be willing to pay. That alone would save many pens from the trash or garage sale.

[Paul Raposo]

Paul, At least you received your pen/pencil back in working order. Sorry you didn't get what you hoped for with the pencil. That's the trouble with items made more than just a few years ago in many industries - the parts are just not available to return an item to its original condition.

 

Very true, WriteAway. As I understand it, Parker is no loner repairing anything over three years old. Items are being sent to France, and returned unrepaired.

 

I'm fine with the ballpoint, since I prefer them. Disappointed, but happy with the work. But with the pencil, I was hoping they could have saved the .9mm mechanism. Working .9mm pencils seem to be dying out, and that's a shame. But as you wrote, when the parts aren't there, you do what you can, with what you have. I will say that the Twist-It mechanism is pretty ingenious. It fits like a regular ballpoint refill, and does the job it should with little effort. Pretty clever on Cross' part.

 

Using the watch industry as an example, IWC has parts going back over 100 years, and can handle most all repairs that come their way. Rolex continues to manufacture parts for their decades old watches. I suppose since pens are considered a throw away item now, companies are more interested in selling new items, than servicing the old.

 

Frankly, when my nephew graduated from university, I gave him a Parker Sonnet silver Cisele ballpoint, and he chuckled and thanked me for the "pen". After seeing him fill in a form with a Bic, I asked about the Parker, and he said it was "somewhere" in his parents house. If someone had given me a pen like that when I was 22, I would have freaked out.

 

Conversely, when I gave him a netbook for his birthday this past summer, he went bananas, and was overjoyed. I don't know if it's a generational thing, or an issue of the epoch we're in, or a personalty trait, but I was shocked at the difference in reactions he had to the two gifts, and how I would have reacted. I couldn't care less about computers, and I'm fascinated by old things like pens, and pocket watches. My nephew, who is only 15 years younger than me, has never owned a watch, but loves technology.

 

I do wish that either Cross, or one of the pen repair experts would offer a "Pen Re-lubrication Service" for twist-action ballpoints using factory-spec lubricants that would return Cross and other bps to smooth operation. I think they could do it easily, and still make money with a service the average Cross pen owner would be willing to pay. That alone would save many pens from the trash or garage sale.

 

I agree with this. That's one of the reasons I'd like to figure out how to get these Classic Century pens apart--so other collectors can follow the instructions to repair their pens.

 

I think the main problem is ballpoints are not considered as popular an item to collect, therefore not important enough to repair. There are numerous books on fountain pen repair, nothing that I've found on ballpoint repair.

 

As I wrote before, I have to give :thumbup: to Cross Road Island, and Morton & Clarke Co., Ltd. for how this entire process was handled. Excellent service by both organizations. I might not be completely pleased with the end result, but damned if they didn't do everything they could to make this customer happy.

Edited September 5, 2010 by Paul Raposo

[nxn96]

Another way to approach this:

 

In an earlier post, I think you said you had tried a lubricant that seemed to work, but when you tried it again a day or so later, pretty much back to square one. My thought is to try this again, but then to provide a little "warmth" to the pen (don't panic, I'll explain) for a day or two to see if the lubricant loosens up a little more throughout the mechanism.

 

My "warmth thought would be to carry the pen in your shirt pocket for a couple of days, letting the body warmth provide enough "heat" to the pen, but certainly not enough to harm it in any way. Then give it another try and see what you get.

 

Couldn't hurt.

 

Good to see the folks at Cross gave it their best try.

[ximhot]

I have a ballpoint Cross that is hard to turn, too. Can I try some WD40? BTW, the barrel is 10K gold filled.

[nxn96]

I have a ballpoint Cross that is hard to turn, too. Can I try some WD40? BTW, the barrel is 10K gold filled.

WD 40 is great stuff, but it smells like an oil refinery. Also part of its sell point is its penetration ability. How do you keep it from getting into the parts of your pen that don't need it?

 

I think your downsides here outweigh your upsides.

[wykeite]

WD 40 is not great, it actually doesn't do anything well. I remember the introduction of this "wonder fluid", we all thought this was the answer to rusted and seized nuts and bolts. It's basically multi purpose and extremely poor for all of them.

 

I think ultrasonics would be a far better proposition. Then a drop of non oxidising oil into the mechanism.

[tactilex]

Do you know how frustrating this all is??

I too have just purchased a cross bp that is totally seized.

I earlier sent in a seized desk-set pencil (marking that it had sentimental value) and received back the pencil retrofitted with a bp body and the pencil converter insert. I mention the sentimental part because at least they did return the non-functioning part that way. Turnaround was not overly long, and it only cost me $7 for shipping plus my initial postage.

But the frustration is that no one I've yet found on the web can explain how to OPEN these blasted pens/pencils!

I have at least discovered that the tip of the pen unscrews. But Then, my hopes were dashed when the inner mechanism still failed to come out of the barrel.

Oh, and WD-40 definitely is not the answer

I just bought on ebay a set where the pen is already disassembled. I'm hoping that this will provide the vital clue!!

 

Thanks

[matt385]

tactilex,

 

Did the ebay listing have pictures of the pen disassembled? can you post the link?

 

Thanks,

Matt

[nxn96]

While many have noted the "freeze up" issue in the twist mechanisms on Cross pens, I don't have that problem with any Parker pencils I have from the Vac, "51", International, etc. eras. While I could also make the same observation about the twist mechanism Parker bp's from the more current era (no freeze ups), I'm limiting my observation to the pencils that date from earlier times (the bp's from the time I reference were button or cap actuated models).

 

Is there something Parker used in those pencils that has kept the mechanism "fluid" longer than what Cross used? I have so few Cross pens/pencils myself, so I'm not in the best position to pursue this further; but I thought passing on the observation might help others in this thread.

[Chrontius]

On a completely ironic note, my Cross ballpoint comes apart when you retract the refill too far. Looks like there's motor oil lubricating the mechanism; I'll probably get fed up and clean it out at some point, and treat the parts with either NanoLube or gun oil (break-free CLP? Ezeox?) for their durability. Anybody want pictures of the mechanism posted? PM me.

[wykeite]

In my opinion the biggest problem with this type of action is the lubricant itself. Oils and greases will collect all sorts of crud, just think of where you generally keep it, a cosy fluff filled pocket. The action then gets choked, you can't replace the stale with new.

 

To those that are lucky enough to be able to take them apart I'd recommend something like pure graphite as the lubricant. In the States Ace sells it in small tubes as a lock lubricant, the great benefit being that it's not sticky so won't retain all those pocket lint fibres and bits of dead skin etc.

[Chrontius]

http://cl.ly/27f0d1a5b75a49d820bd

 

My photos of my two Cross ballpoints; both are garage-sale finds, and both come apart in their own distinct ways. This should give you all a fairly good idea how the mechanism works. And hey, if you figure out how to put them back together, I get to keep my pens with the classic American steel mechanism. The link is a 1.6mb zip archive containing 9 (cropped) fairly high-resolution jpegs I just took.

 

Regarding NanoLube, here's a link: http://www.nano-oil.com/

 

They've been experimenting with it over on CandlePowerForums for a while, with excellent results - I'm about ready to pick some up for myself by this point.

[Paul Raposo]

http://cl.ly/27f0d1a5b75a49d820bd

 

My photos of my two Cross ballpoints; both are garage-sale finds, and both come apart in their own distinct ways. This should give you all a fairly good idea how the mechanism works.

 

Excellent, Chrontius! Now I just need to find a ballpoint I'm willing to work on. Thanks much for these pics.

[swampyanqui]

Do you know how frustrating this all is??

I too have just purchased a cross bp that is totally seized.

I earlier sent in a seized desk-set pencil (marking that it had sentimental value) and received back the pencil retrofitted with a bp body and the pencil converter insert. I mention the sentimental part because at least they did return the non-functioning part that way. Turnaround was not overly long, and it only cost me $7 for shipping plus my initial postage.

But the frustration is that no one I've yet found on the web can explain how to OPEN these blasted pens/pencils!

I have at least discovered that the tip of the pen unscrews. But Then, my hopes were dashed when the inner mechanism still failed to come out of the barrel.

Oh, and WD-40 definitely is not the answer

I just bought on ebay a set where the pen is already disassembled. I'm hoping that this will provide the vital clue!!

 

Thanks

[tcgnse]

I recently acquired a Cross pen that would not turn. I have now got it working. This is how I did it.. The pen itself, a gold Century Classic, is in good shape and does not appear to have been mistreated in any way.

 

First of all, I took the cap off and removed the refill and squirted WD 40 on the outside of the stainless inner barrel, but not inside it. I kept the pen upright for a few minutes and then tried the mechanism. No improvement was apparent, although doing this may have had a longer term benefit.t.

 

Having read that one forum member has revived a number of Cross pens by holding them under a hot water tap, to soften the solidified lubricating grease on the mechanism, I did this for a couple of minutes, being careful to ensure water didn't get into the mechanism. I ran the water as hot as it would go.

 

I kept very gently trying the twist the the barrel and began to feel some slight movement. I continued to do this and it began to free up. The more I twisted it, the freer it became. However, there was still a slight resistance at about the halfway point.

 

I removed the refill and .squirted silicon oil (WD 40 HIgh Performance Siliocone Lubricant) in both ends of the pen and on the stainless internal barrel, shaking out the surplus. As we know, silicone spray dries to a very smooth slick surface. .

 

I kept gently twisting the pen back and forward, eventually arriving at a very smooth action. It now feels like a new pen.

 

All up the whole process took me about twenty minutes.

[RMN]

Bear in mind, that not all materials used in penmaking like the chemicals that are added to the silicone in the WD40! One of our repair-"gurus" warns for that.

 

Better get pure silicon lubricant without chemical additions.!

 

 

D.ick

[tcgnse]

That hadn't occurred to me. Thank you for the advice. I .just happened to have a can of the WD 40 silicone on hand so that was what I used. .

[tcgnse]

Just thought I would give an update on my January posts. The pen in question continues to work perfectly. I don't use it very much but every week or so I operate the twist mechanism a few times just to ensure it is working smoothly.

[Abelps]

I found this post searching for Cross ballpoint pen repair. Your discussions helped me repair my Cross pen and I wanted to share how I went about this.

The top of the pen pulls apart from the bottom half. This exposes the blue plastic splined portion of the ink cartridge assembly. While holding the bottom half of the pen, twist the splined end clockwise. You may have to use something to keep it from slipping.

This will expose the mechanism that has the grease that has gone bad.

I used a long wooden cleaning swab (looks like a Q-Tip on a long wooden skinny stick) and some denatured alcohol to clean the inside of the mechanism. You only want to dampen the cotton. I did this using new cleaning swabs until they came out clean. I then used a paper towel with denatured alcohol on it to clean the outside of the assembly. I also used a swab to get into some of the smaller grooves.

I had some grease made by Lubriplate. It was the 105 type grease. I have used this before on small sleeve bearing with great success.

I applied a thin even film of this grease on inner part that I removed previously (looks like a large threaded copper piece).

Insert this piece back into the pen and turn it counter-clockwise to re-install it.

If you have trouble getting the pen to go back together, pull the whole assembly out of the bottom of the pen (over a towel, because there's a spring and 2 washers). If the washers don't come out, lightly tap the bottom half upside down and they will fall out. Put the black washer on the exposed end of the ink cartridge, then the next washer and spring. Gently turn the splined end of the cartridge clockwise to where about 3/16" is showing. Turn the outside end of the pen and the cartridge assembly upside down, line it up inside the pen and push it in until the tip of the pen comes out the end. Put the top cap back on and operate it several times.

Hope this helps everyone with the grease problem.