Rotring 600 Trio Maintenance

[schlem]

Hi again

 

This is for your resident rotring expert (you know who you are!)

 

I have a 90's? vintage 600 trio that I got at a garage sale. I picked it up because I had other rotrings and love the design and heft. It never worked great, retracting at inopportune times, regardless of point selected. It rattled around for a number of years (I never lost track of it), but I picked it back up and started to use it more. I found that with use, the mechanism seemed to fix itself. I can no longer make it unintentionally retract, even by scribbling rapidly back and forth (formerly a guaranteed method), and I use it all the time.

 

So, questions:

* How to disassembly / clean? Other than the knurled bit at the point (? I'm certain there is a better word), is it intended to come apart? Would a mild solvent like EtOH or lighter fluid ungunk anything sticking up the locking mech?

 

* How to replace the pen inserts? Do I just yard them out of the barrel and refit by braille? Or (see prior question).

 

Now that I am using it more, I expect to run dry at some point ( the red ink seems a little faded, but writes fine).

 

Thanks in advance for your help!

Todd

 

ps sorry for the crappy quick an dirty smartphone pic - the scratch on the blue dot is the most serious cosmetic flaw.