Help With Cap

[Paino]

I've ended up in a situation where I've made my pen cap way too tight, and now it will not budge. I cannot get the cap off of my pen. Pen in question is 3776. I've already caused heavy damage trying to use pliers and a wrench. I need help badly. How can I get the cap off of this pen? It's completely stuck.

[hari317]

which 3776?

 

a pic will be best.

 

3776 comes in the threaded cap variety as well as push to click fit type cap variety.

[JulesSilvan]

Hold the threads under warm water? Similar to when a jar lid is too tight, the heat helps expansion. Don't know if it will help but it couldnt hurt as long as you dont go too hot.

Edited December 4, 2017 by JulesSilvan

[PaulS]

encouraging such parts to shift is mostly achieved with the dry heat from a hair dryer, which in theory should help to expand the cap - don't overdue the temperature, and keep the pen moving to help distribute the warmth.

You'll get a better advantage when gripping by using some form of non-slip material - cycle inner tube is a good material - but there are other similar products. Persist if at first you don't succeed.

Sorry to hear of the damage.

[Paino]

which 3776?

 

a pic will be best.

 

3776 comes in the threaded cap variety as well as push to click fit type cap variety.

3776 Century. You can see how I ruined it already, but I just want it to write again at this point.

 

 

[hari317]

take a piece of a drink straw and insert it over the clip. This will prevent the clip from getting marred and the cap from getting marred by clip

 

Now take two rubber gripping sheets, one over the barrel and the other over the cap. use both your hands and twist the cap open.

 

You have to twist the cap CCW to open it.

 

good luck!

[Paino]

Soaking it in warm water for now, will try hair dryer later. So far, no luck.

[Paino]

Warm water didn't work, gripping material didn't work. Please help, I'm really super distressed about this. This is the absolute worst. If this pen is stuck I am done with this hobby for good. I cannot believe this.

Edited December 4, 2017 by Paino

[jar]

Is there something you forgot to tell us like you cross threaded it or glued it or added some other surface like plumbers tape?

[mitto]

Put it in a freezer for a few minutes and then use heat and screw open the cap.

[JustWrite Pen Company]

Try leaving it in the freezer right at the back where it's coldest for at least ONE WEEK.

 

I've found this much more effective and less damaging than applying heat. Some plastics expand when heated but some ... surprisingly... shrink when heated. Whether it expands or contracts doesn't matter, the cap which is thinner than the section it is screwed onto, should contract or expand to a different degree which should break whatever bond has been formed.

 

Plastic is not a good conductor of heat and it's difficult to get heat to spread through the plastic deep enough to affect the bond. Leaving it in the freezer for a week will allow the cold to penetrate deeply right through the pen.

 

I'm not 100% certain about the science behind this but it has worked for me many times.

 

Be aware though that if there is ink in the pen, it may expand in the feeder capillaries and damage the feeder. It doesn't usually happen but it could.

 

After a week just let it go back to room temperature and it should unscrew but you may need a gripping material on both the barrel and the cap. Make two fists to hold the barrel and cap, squeeze hard and turn slowly.

 

Best of luck. It would be great if you let us know how you got on.

[EMQG]

Try leaving it in the freezer right at the back where it's coldest for at least ONE WEEK.

 

I've found this much more effective and less damaging than applying heat. Some plastics expand when heated but some ... surprisingly... shrink when heated. Whether it expands or contracts doesn't matter, the cap which is thinner than the section it is screwed onto, should contract or expand to a different degree which should break whatever bond has been formed.

 

Plastic is not a good conductor of heat and it's difficult to get heat to spread through the plastic deep enough to affect the bond. Leaving it in the freezer for a week will allow the cold to penetrate deeply right through the pen.

 

I'm not 100% certain about the science behind this but it has worked for me many times.

 

Be aware though that if there is ink in the pen, it may expand in the feeder capillaries and damage the feeder. It doesn't usually happen but it could.

 

After a week just let it go back to room temperature and it should unscrew but you may need a gripping material on both the barrel and the cap. Make two fists to hold the barrel and cap, squeeze hard and turn slowly.

 

Best of luck. It would be great if you let us know how you got on.

Huh - this is very interesting! I'd like to hear some other people's opinions on this!

[EMQG]

Warm water didn't work, gripping material didn't work. Please help, I'm really super distressed about this. This is the absolute worst. If this pen is stuck I am done with this hobby for good. I cannot believe this.

 

Don't blame the pen for you twisting it on too tightly, you shouldn't tighten it nearly tight enough to get it stuck. Get it on until you feel resistance, then stop. It'll seal and stay on just fine.

[mitto]

I have used the freezer trick on a bedly stuck cap and it worked. But I left the pen in the freezer for just 20-30 minutes and not for days.

[PaulS]

it's unhelpful when - after the event - someone criticizes our methods, but I'm very surprised that anyone would use pliers or a wrench in an attempt to dismantle a plastic pen - resulting damage is so blindingly obvious.

I'm unsure of the actual extent of damage - whether this pen is now fit only for the bin, or whether some of the plier and wrench damage can be rectified, but I'm wondering if a squirt or two of WD 40, or a similar penetrating oil, might be of use - especially if the pen is in fact a write-off and we're down at the level of 'clutching at straws'.

Hold the pen with cap downward - flood the gap between cap and barrel with penetrating oil and then stand the pen, in the same position with some form of support - you might knock the end of the cap on a hard surface after using the oil - inertia might just send the oil as far down into the threaded area as possible.

Leave for hour or so and then clean the outside of the pen with some degreasing agent - no point in trying to grip a pen that's covered in penetrating oil - alternatively, you might mask as much of the pen as possible to keep oil contact to a minimum.

This may not work of course, but if you're at the panic stage then anything is worth trying. There is the possibility that very thin oils might be absorbed by the plastic and stain or discolour the pen.

Edited December 5, 2017 by PaulS

[tetto]

May be you can try to put it in a ultrasonic cleaning machine, used to loose some rusting parts in this way, hopefully it will shake the cap a little bit loosen.

[EMQG]

it's unhelpful when - after the event - someone criticizes our methods, but I'm very surprised that anyone would use pliers or a wrench in an attempt to dismantle a plastic pen - resulting damage is so blindingly obvious.

I'm unsure of the actual extent of damage - whether this pen is now fit only for the bin, or whether some of the plier and wrench damage can be rectified, but I'm wondering if a squirt or two of WD 40, or a similar penetrating oil, might be of use - especially if the pen is in fact a write-off and we're down at the level of 'clutching at straws'.

Hold the pen with cap downward - flood the gap between cap and barrel with penetrating oil and then stand the pen, in the same position with some form of support - you might knock the end of the cap on a hard surface after using the oil - inertia might just send the oil as far down into the threaded area as possible.

Leave for hour or so and then clean the outside of the pen with some degreasing agent - no point in trying to grip a pen that's covered in penetrating oil - alternatively, you might mask as much of the pen as possible to keep oil contact to a minimum.

This may not work of course, but if you're at the panic stage then anything is worth trying. There is the possibility that very thin oils might be absorbed by the plastic and stain or discolour the pen.

Don't use WD-40. Look up Pen Potion Number Nine. It's a pen-safe penetrant.

 

I think it's #9, at least. It's one of the pen potions. They're all on the same page.

[Donald2]

Get a new pen.