Jinhao 51A, Another New ( Or Is It Renewed ) C/c Filling Hooded Nib

[WarrenB]

I'm afraid the all plastic ones are even harder to disassemble; I haven't tried yet, but I read that they're press-fit and nearly impossible to open.

 

- N

I guess it's a good thing that I was sent the wrong item in my order this week, and received another acrylic barrel rather than a clear plastic 51a!

 

But first things first: the next investment is a pair of nylon pliers...

[Paganini]

This week I got around to disassembling my transparent plastic 51As. After 1 (intentional) exploratory destructive teardown, 1 destructive (failed attempt) teardown, and 3 successful non-destructive disassemblies, I have the following to report:

 

* The threaded connector is *not* press fit into the section; it is glued in, just as with the acrylic 51A.

 

* Each one of my 5 pens had a different amount of glue in the threads. One unscrewed very easily after just a few minutes of running hot tap water over it. One was so packed with glue that it didn't start to loosen up until I had heated it to the point that the plastic was beginning to deform.

 

* The type of glue used dissolves very quickly and easily in denatured alcohol; however, the connector is very well sealed, so just soaking the section whole section in denatured alcohol doesn't seem to expose any of the glue to the solvent. Denatured alcohol is still useful for cleaning off residual glue after a successful separation, and also once you get a little movement on a recalcitrant one by heating it, to help loosen up the mass of glue that's down deeper in the threads.

 

If you're going to do this, I'd recommend doing it in a well ventilated area that is isolated from the rest of your pens (i.e., the bathroom sink). These plastic 51As are pretty simple pens, and the plastic in them does not mind being exposed to denatured alcohol. I believe that there are other pens - in particular, nicer ones - with components made of materials that denatured alcohol is unfriendly towards.

 

* Finally, except to satisfy one's own curiosity about the inner workings of the pen, I can't see a reason that you'd ever actually need to take one apart. The interior is pretty simple; there's a feed that fits into a little collecting drum, and sealed with a little plastic collar and an o-ring. The drum has little wings that fit into slots in the section to make sure that it sits at the right orientation. There's a notch in the back of the nib that fits into a nub on the feed to make sure that they're aligned properly. The only "user adjustment" that can be made is that the feed / nib together can be rotated in the collector drum, in order to line them up with the hood. This can be done relatively easily from outside the pen without disassembling anything. If (like me) you want to harvest the nibs as spares, or for transplanting into nicer pen bodies, they pull off the feed straight out of the front of the pen.

 

- N

 

 

[Nomlenom]

On 5/20/2020 at 3:45 PM, AmandaW said:

There are quite a few listings for the 51a offering it with a nib they call an "art nib". Has anyone tried one?

 

 

Here's a quick test.

[OCArt]

Seems like a fude nib, these have been around as parts for the 51a and other similar pens for a while now. There are a couple of line sizes, personally I prefer the finer ones.  Bobby sells them on his site.

[A Smug Dill]

2 hours ago, Nomlenom said:

Here's a quick test.

 

Your handwriting is sensational. Oh, the flair! 👍

[AmandaW]

2 hours ago, Nomlenom said:

 

Here's a quick test.
 

 

Thankyou! I did get one, though mine doesn't write anywhere near as nice as yours... 😉

 

 

[Mech-for-i]

Well here's the Jinhao 85, while it got a new model name its still basically the 51a , the difference and details apart are : a metal lacquered barrel , screw in cap with separate plastic screw thread liner and inner cap ( which also serve as the screw to the tessie ring clip and top jewel so no steel screw to deal with here ) , a gold plated finish on cap and section coupler , section now had a solid no mark trim ring section and an O-ring on the thread to grip the barrel when screwed in

 

 

In all physical dimension, only marginally different than the 51a , one thing though it post much less onto the pen than 51a as expected for such kind of cap. AFAIK, 3 different colour ( Coblat Red, black, and Blue ) and 2 wood barrel options

[WarrenB]

I could go for that except all-gold caps turn me away, for some reason. Gold trim: yes. Gold caps: no.

[linkoiram]

On 11/13/2019 at 2:56 PM, LazyPen said:

Having to choose among 51a, 992... and eventually wing sung 618... which is the better option ?

51a for me, 992 cracks easily and the 618 also cracked on me super easily. Within a few minutes of using the pen it had cracked.