Platinum Preppy Cap Crack Repairs-Stage 1

[bone215]

I love my Platinum Preppies. Lovely nibs that write way above their paygrade.

I kept reading about the caps cracking. Here I am thinking wow, these people cracking their caps must be abusing their pens, being heavy handed, etc. Mine are fine.

 

OOOOpppppppppppssssssssssss.

 

What with a cold winter and the heat running and lower humidity levels, blah blah blah I am making excuses----3 out of 4 of my caps cracked within days of each other. Some of my pens are three years old and the new 0.2 preppy is but weeks old. BAM.

 

So now the cracks are bothering me and beginning to make the caps not stick on properly.

 

Honey, do we have any glue good for plastic?

Sure.

She hands me crazy glue which I don't like, besides it is for porous stuff like wood etc so I used a product called goop. I have no idea if this will work.

 

Ok, it is worth a try, so I gathered up some weak clips, spread the cap a bit by sticking in my needle nose pliers, apply goop. It is like a gel so I wipe it and then clamp the caps.

 

I have no idea how long to let them dry but I will go for 24 hours.

I will let you know how it works.

Here is a picture.

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/uploads/imgs/fpn_1425502239__first_stage_of_preppy_cap_repairs__resized.jpg

 

 

Cheers, more snow coming Thursday!

[sharmon202]

I had 3 preppy 02s crack and one so bad it would not stay on at all. The other two are on their way there now. Someone suggested scotch tape tight around the cap where it is cracked. I tried it and it is working. You cannot really see the tape too bad. Surely this company is going to fix this in the future? I do love these new ultra-fines.

[PaperDarts]

I used the scotch tape method. It's not elegant but so far it's working just fine. The 2 other Preppies I got at the same time show no sign of cracks, though they're used about as much as the one sporting the scotch tape waistcoat.

[inkstainedruth]

I've had a similar problem with the cap on one of my Preppies. I think I may try the scotch tape trick that sharmon202 suggested.

I tried using Superglue on the broken-off cap finial on a Guanleming 2001 demonstrator (the clip caught on the elastic in a pen case and snapped the top of the finial, with the threaded section still inside the pen) but it didn't work. I suspect that the Preppies are going to be a similar enough type of plastic. Since they came free with bottles of Noodler's ink, I'm not going to be all that bummed if the tape doesn't work in the long run (all three of the Preppies are currently set up as rollerball eyedroppers), and I end up just tossing the pen (I've still got the nib and feed for it, as well as for the other two).

I *do* know that stickers don't stay on all that well, and neither does the "removable" scotch tape -- all three pens have the same color trim (black). Plus, all three pens were being used to test a variety of black inks, so I needed some way to keep track of which pen was which and which held which ink (a much simpler proposition when I only had two and one had Noodler's Black and the other had the reformulated PR Invincible Black -- because PRIB stained the barrel badly at the time!

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[FarmBoy]

I found these Preppy pens on-line for 3 bucks. Someone I know wanted a 100 of them and got them for under 2 skins each.

I just bought a tube of goop to fix a pair of shoes and it cost 4.95.

 

I'm with Inkstain, I'd just buy a new pen.

[mhosea]

If aesthetics aren't important, you can wrap the end of the cap with 3M Temflex Rubber Splicing Tape, trimmed with a razor to make a sort of custom cap band. Makes them a little tight, but they're stronger that way. Best thing is to put it on before they crack, but it can be used after. I use the tape for other stuff from time to time.

[Frank C]

The next time this happens, I think you should fix it the Japanese way:

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/243140-moon-cat-is-back-and-she-is-fabulous/

 

They even do this before they break:

 

http://www.nibs.com/nakaya-piccolo-writer-string-rolled-shiro-tamenuri.htm

 

You will also learn a new skill. After all, Preppies are Japanese!

[fabri00]

Thr body of preppy is in polycarbonate.

I guess cyanoacrilic glue should be ok for that.

[bone215]

Two of the repairs worked, so far. Testing remains in progress over the next few days.

The newer 0.2 did not repair well. Scotch tape to the rescue.

 

Yes I agree it is easier to just buy a new pen.....but, I wanted to tinker.

 

Since this cap cracking problem continues to exist, I wonder if it is time to seek the next $4.00 wonder pen?

[DaveBj]

Cracked my first Preppy cap today, my 0.2 Taped it up, taped my other two as a preventive.

[dcwaites]

I just run two turns of 1 cm clear sticky tape around any new preppy caps, as well as repairing any broken ones. It's hardly visible, you can just feel it, and if you do a neat job, doesn't start to fray on the edges for a year or so. Then you just re-do it. Cost of repair - < 1 cent money and < 1 minute time.

 

I feel that the cost of a repair should reflect the value of the repairee.