Can't Reassemble A Geha Student Pen

July 28, 2018

I just took apart this Geha and now I can't get it back together. When I try to turn the piston down, the piston knob and the piston screw are sticking up and won't go down any further. There's a little hole in the tube that the screw goes through. Does that have anything to do with it.?

September 10, 2018

Bumping this in case you haven't found an answer.

You need to attach the piston turning knob to the threaded cylinder and turn it a few times before inserting the piston rod. Try to turn the piston all the way; the knob should cover the little hole when completely turned. If it doesn't cover the hole, start over, but give the piston knob an extra turn. It might take a few tries.

Then you can screw the assembled piston mechanism into the pen. It might require you to do a bit of fiddling, turning the piston up and down as you go along, to get the grip you need to tighten it.

I did this myself with a Geha for the first time a few days ago, though with the school pen's older brother, model 705 (with a nice gold OB), which appears to be mechanically identical, and it worked more or less the first time. I would not tighten the mechanism too much, just so that it doesn't accidentally detach itself from the barrel. I have a Staedtler Mars from the same period with an almost identical piston unit, which I accidentally tightened so much that I was unable to loosen it again without a fair bit of violence.

September 12, 2018

Thanks! I'll give it a try.

September 14, 2018

It worked!! I learned something. Thanks so much.

September 14, 2018

So glad to hear. I'm very happy with my Geha so far myself, even though the oblique nib is slanted at a significantly sharper angle than I'm used to. I've heard good things about their school pen nibs as well.

Happy writing!

September 17, 2018

This is common with many threaded piston fillers, in particular the wing sung 698 and mont blanc 149/146 pistons, you have to just get a little practice knowing where to start the piston in the holder before threading the knob back in to make sure it goes smoothly completely up and down.