M200 Cracked Section - Caution When Screwing In Nib Units

[evyxmsj]

Hello all,

 

Just a quick word of caution ! Just found that I properly cracked the section on my M200 classic by screwing in the nib unit too much. I was only using finger power, so surprised I could do this much damage. Only noticed when my fingers started getting really inky!

 

There doesn't seem to be a stop mechanism to prevent this, and I was trying to screw it in further to remove some creaking sounds (from too much play of the unit) when I wrote. Perhaps there was another issue at work?

 

So just to highlight that one needs to be careful!

 

[edited for clarity]

Edited December 12, 2016 by evyxmsj

[sargetalon]

Taking nibs in and out of the section has always posed an inherent risk. It's one of the nice features about Pelikan pens but one that should be used sparingly for this reason. Sorry the section cracked on you. Is it possible that the crack started first and is unrelated to the tightening of the nib? I've seen that where the crack starts and the nib loosens in the section and the impulse is to tighten the nib.

[Bo Bo Olson]

If you have papers and it's with in 3 years old send it to what ever firm does Pelikan repair in England...if older just send it directly to Pelikan in Hanover to be repaired for free.

Lamy and Pelikan still repair resent pens....made with in the last few decades.

[Chrissy]

If you have papers and it's with in 3 years old send it to what ever firm does Pelikan repair in England...if older just send it directly to Pelikan in Hanover to be repaired for free.

Lamy and Pelikan still repair resent pens....made with in the last few decades.

 

That would be Stone Marketing in the UK.

[Bluey]

Taking nibs in and out of the section has always posed an inherent risk.

But there shouldn't be if they're intended to be screwed in and out and they've been designed well.

[sargetalon]

But there shouldn't be if they're intended to be screwed in and out and they've been designed well.

I respectfully disagree. The intention was always for vendors to be able to easily offer customers a variety of nibs that can be easily exchanged. Removing the nib from the section runs the risk of damaged feeds, misaligned tines, bent nibs, lost nibs, malpostioning the nib on the feed, and cracking the section. These things can happen regardless of how well the pen is designed. If you remove the nib, you accept these risk. Thankfully, when care is taken, these issues don't arise often but it's annoying when they do. I think the design is very sound in itself but still subject to real world stress and mechanical failure like most other things of this nature.

[Bluey]

Well I've not heard about this barrel splitting occurring from any other manufacturer, even those that are not intended to swap nibs. Maybe Pelikan use low grade plastic?

 

I would think that Pelikan should or would have gone the extra mile, having designed their pens for nib swapping, to ensure that their pens have that added layer of robustness for when users inevitably swap nibs. I guess not.

.

Edited December 13, 2016 by Bluey

[fplover01]

Swapping nibs was intended for vendors to be able to offer many nib options, without having to stock many pen bodies. It was never intended that the end user would constantly change nibs. However with reasonable caution it is possible to change nibs without damaging the pen and I have regularly done so in pens that are quite old and have seen lots of use.

 

Other than that, there is an inherent risk for this problem to occur if too much craft is applied, as with any screw. There is a stress limit which if exceed will destroy the material around the threads. Try it at home by putting a screw in wood. The rest is your usual crusade against anything Pelikan.

[evyxmsj]

Just to stress (no pun intended), that it is a cracked section from the nib to the cap threads. I wonder if sargetalon has the right idea that swapping the nibs has exacerbated an underlying problem.

 

It was only screwed in to finger tight, and I struggle to see that screwing a nib unit in with hand torque is something inherently risky. However, I have cracked it somehow so I am passing on a word of caution.

 

Two days previously, my one year old threw my TWSBI Vac 700 and broke the cap, so wondering what's next!

[twdpens]

Maybe Pelikan use low grade plastic?

No.

 

I would think that Pelikan should or would have gone the extra mile, having designed their pens for nib swapping, to ensure that their pens have that added layer of robustness for when users inevitably swap nibs.

No again. Read sargetalon's post above.

 

I have used the same M200 body for Pelikan nib tuning for about 10 years now. I use this for setting up all customers' M2--, M4-- and M6-- series nibs so it gets used several times daily. If there was an inherent weakness in this component it would be evident by now. Moreover, we have been selling Pelikans for 16 years now and I have never seen a failure of the type described by the OP.

 

evyxmsj: It sounds like your pen barrel developed a fault that revealed itself when you changed nibs. Since you're in the UK, send your pen to your retailer for repair. They will forward it to the Pelikan's UK distributor (Stone Marketing) to arrange a barrel replacement. If you're lucky, it will be done free of charge.

 

HTH,

 

Martin

[Bo Bo Olson]

Twdpens....has more experience than the rest of us combined with screwing out of Pelikan nib sections.

 

One problem...for one person....makes it foolish to condemn a pen that has been unscrewing nibs since 1929...as cheap and untrustworthy.

 

Sargetalon may be right that it was safely and more often done for nib change at the Corner Pen Store.

With help of corner pen stores....German...in Pelikan or MB had no real presence in America back when there were US corner pen stores also.

 

There are still local magazine and school kid shops where one can get a Safari or perhaps an Online pen...and ink. But no repair people behind the counter.

 

How ever, I think the old timers who were able to hand crank a car, after setting the spark, could twist out a nib with out much problem. They would have had lessons at the Corner Pen shop...had they a wish to have different nib widths...and were too poor to buy a pen for it....one forgets it was One Man, One Pen days.

Someone walking around with two pens would have had a hard time in Germany back then. Normality is often a stronger force than expected.

 

Even Colored pens were looked down on....or there would have been more...of those colorful made for Export pens found in Germany today.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

With old 140-400's screw out nib and ebonite feeds, I always pad my forefinger with a paper towel.

Unscrewing, requires twisting the body towards your self. That helps with the fragile ebonite feeds. Keeping the feed still.

Same when I first open a modern plastic feed Pelikan. After that I, on the modern pens, just unscrew it...in I have used finger pressure to put them in.

 

Finger pressure by me, means I use only the thumb and forefinger to screw it back on with. I do not twist the barrel away from me.... I do not twist the barrel at all, in it's finger pressure only.

Not to a ''snug" fit...just a good fit.

The difference between easing to a stop or banging the wharf.

 

I do unscrew the nibs, in I'd never had a problem being careful not to use 'force'.

I think squirting out the barrel with either a rubber bulb or a needle syringe puts lots less stress on the works of the piston...which was made to fill a pen...and clean out a one ink pen every three months according to my instruction pamphlet from the '50s.

They did not change inks often....and to change ink takes many, many, many twistings of the plastic piston unit. That I think causes more wear and tear than the careful twisting out of the pen's nib and feed unit.

 

Best, least wearing of course is to turn back the clock....decide which single ink you are going to use with your Pelikan and clean it out every three months whether it needs it or not.

 

I will change my Pelikan nib units more than I do my Geha ones. I have Tortoise Pelikans that might enjoy a nicer nib. Or my 605 needs a real nib instead of that fat and blobby modern characterless one...so has a '54 semi-flex B................

 

My Geha 790's are black and gold outside one grey stripped body...and I do like the maxi-semi-flex OB that is on it just fine.

 

I carefully take out my nib section on either when cleaning them. I carefully fit and twist on the section when done....and others have over twisted their nib units in the past here on FPN....that I bore that in mind....to go slow....go easy...and don't crank it shut.

Edited December 13, 2016 by Bo Bo Olson

[Inkedinker]

Is there a way to repair it?

 

Or if the section was leaking around the threads?

 

Maybe glue, set and retap the section?

[Bo Bo Olson]

Send it to Hanover and let them fix it...they will and as far as I know for free.

If under warentee send to local repair center. If not send to Hanover.

Lamy is sent to Heidelberg....both still repair pens they made...up to a certain age.

That little plastic screw on part on the feed your 140 if broken will still be repaired. From what has been said.

 

Why screw around with what will be fixed for free outside of mailing...there are enough other dead company pens to fix one self....or pens like MB ...which should be sent to private repair than rob the rich repair at MB. MB uses a pine tar glue to glue the nib into the section....your MB repair man should use something similar.

[Inkedinker]

Appreciate the rant BoBo but I was curious because I want to learn to fix stuff myself. Would one go about this like metal repair? I.E. Fill the section, drill and retap? Or epoxy the section and clean up the threads? Cut the section off and epoxy a new one on??

[aeba]

Appreciate the rant BoBo but I was curious because I want to learn to fix stuff myself. Would one go about this like metal repair? I.E. Fill the section, drill and retap? Or epoxy the section and clean up the threads? Cut the section off and epoxy a new one on??

You may have better change on getting an answer on the repair Q&A section. But I would put 0.02 € on somehow separating the section from the body and then gluing a new section on. At least m800 has a lip on the body so cutting the grip off isn't a good way. There's few pictures on this thread.

 

If that isn't an option for some reason, then possibly solvent welding.

[Inkedinker]

Thank you Aeba. My mechanical mind can't leave broken things alone

[Inkedinker]

Is there a place to buy just a section?

[Bo Bo Olson]

My mechanical mind*...has no space on a desk, and no cellar workshop nor garage.

 

In the next leap year on the 30th and 31st of Febuary, I have plans to have a clean desk...and re-cork.

 

*No airplane I worked on landed too fast, or missed the runway....but that was the old days, when a pilot could push a button; disconnect the autopilot, put both feet on the dash and pull like hell on the wheel...the good old days.

PS. I like four motors too.

[Inkedinker]

My mechanical mind*...has no space on a desk, and no cellar workshop nor garage.

 

In the next leap year on the 30th and 31st of Febuary, I have plans to have a clean desk...and re-cork.

 

*No airplane I worked on landed too fast, or missed the runway....but that was the old days, when a pilot could push a button; disconnect the autopilot, put both feet on the dash and pull like hell on the wheel...the good old days.

PS. I like four motors too.

 

Hahahahaha! I have been working on cars, motorcycles, motors, welding, fabrication, paint, artwork, drawing , murals, guitars, writing and so on for as long as I can remember.... When I got into cars model cars, I had to build and modify one. When I got into dirt bikes, I had to rear it apart and build it up better than before. My uncles owned a car and motorcycle shop so I had mentors for all the mechanics. When I started playing guitar, I had to build one. And so on.... so when it comes to fountain pens, I have to restore them, build them, fix them and so on.

 

Knowledge keeps me going

[Bo Bo Olson]

There are courses, on pen repair, nib grinding.

There are folks that might take an apprentice....for real nib work.

Do pay attention to Ron Zorn...he has a few tricks he's shared. I always read what ever he says.

As mentioned we have a great repair section.

 

But in the meanwhile, there is Pen Repair second edition, by Jim Marshal and Laurence Oldfield. It is better than the older book by Frank Dubal. It is the best book on pen repair!

I have both...my Pen Repair copy is autographed by Oldfield.

 

Frank Dubal was the bridge between modern and past with home repair. He kept it alive.***

Marshal and Oldfield learned from Arthur Twydle. Arthur was the same for UK as Frank was for the States. Arthur died just as they were starting to make the book together.

Peter Twydle has some pen books too.

 

***most folks don't care for his using nail polish as a repair tool for putting sac's on lever pens...but it was something then more to be found at home before Internet home delivery....and the used pen market wasn't as big as it now is.