The guts of Sonnets

[antoniosz]

I love the Parker Sonnets, and I have been continuously thinking about how to improve them

The plated ring is subjected to corrosion, so I have been trying to find out how to plate them to repair them or improve their corrosion

resistance. But the ring must be removed. I destroyed the nipple where the converter fits in on of my pens and this gave me the opportunity

to fiddle with it. Here are the results and discussion:

 

This is the infamous ring - you can see the damage on the top right which is a potential corrosion location.

The places for the placement of some kind of tool is evident which led me to believe that the ring is "loose" rather than

press-fit.

 

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b325/azavalia/sonnet-guts002.jpg

 

Here is the whole story. From the left you see (1) the nib/feed assembly, then (2) the inner section (or maybe feed collar) with the gold plated ring on it,

(3) the outer section, (4) the metallic top of the section and (5) the converter.

Part number (4) often gets detached because it gets too tight into the barrel. You can easily secure it by placing same shellac in the inner thread (detail a in my drawing at the end) which will secure it on the inner section. As you can see there is no structural connection of the outer section with anything.

There is two small troughs on the inner section which is shaped to "accept" the out section and I could see signs of shellac there. So the outer section is lightly "glued" to the inner section. These two areas which are shellaced are also stopping any ink from travelling up or down these capillaries.

 

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b325/azavalia/sonnet-guts001.jpg

 

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b325/azavalia/sonnet-guts003.jpg

 

Here is a schematic of the over all pen. I "shrunk" the feed for clarity (and made a mistake - Detail c is wrong - it should be like the other side as the other section covers the top of the section ring. Any way it is important to avoid having ink getting under the ring (detail as it might come out on the detail c.

 

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b325/azavalia/sonnet-guts.jpg

 

That's all. Comments, corrections etc. are welcome. I would very much like to see similar (or better) cross sections of other pens.

BTW Parker 45 is shown here and Sheaffer Stylist is shown here.

Edited July 15, 2007 by antoniosz

[fibreglass_works]

good drawing and finding > I honestly like Pal like you investigate into PArker. Just to share about the "ring" you may want to put a coat of shellac since the colour is about the same gold = shellac colour. this will help the corrosion. All sonnnet have this problem. this ink you use, aslo play a parts too. if I am not wrong, the ring are fit and not move. I have not studies much about that and may be wrong too. Do give us a good finding good luck.

[chrisoslo]

Why hasn't anyone written to say a big "THANK YOU" for this? I found out about the innards the hard way, was about to share photos & then found someone else had already posted this - whith a diagram too

[radellaf]

I'm attempting this since my outer section is freely rotating over the inner section. Nib unscrewed easily. I'll set that aside. The inner section shows no signs of unscrewing from the rest of it. Maybe it is dried ink in the threads? I stoked it in ammonia solution for a few hours and that turned blue. Now it is overnight in dishwasher liquid solution, which is also turning blue.

 

I've been using a hex pencil pushed into where the nib/feed would go to get some rotational traction on that inner section and it looks unhurt despite the perhaps over zealous efforts to unscrew it.

 

Is shellac required? I have shoe goo (strong runner cement) and basic clear "contact cement". Even a bit of that on spot (a) and between outer section and metal part would mean this thing never comes apart again, though. (though why would it have to)

 

Frankly tho, in case I can't get this apart is there a glue that can slip into (a) without disassembly? CA liquid would get in there but make a mess of the outside.

 

Alternately, I really don't like the double trim rings up by the nib on this Laque amber pen. Is there a semi reliable source of "lower class" sections or does one just try to buy one from the rarely-answers-mail mfgr?

 

General gripe - In going back over my nicest pens from my previous (98-02) collecting phase I've found at least 4 a dozen pens that cost $200+ which had problems right out of the case. Loose bits, crumbled sac, crack in barrel, etc. All others fixed by mfg no charge. Maybe this would be too but tired of waiting for a response if it's as easy as this looks.

[torstar]

Interesting...

 

Mine cried "I'm a lemon" right out of the box and I wasted $$$ on the purchase and two attempts to fix it.

 

But I understand many people deeply enjoy their time using a Sonnet.

[radellaf]

When they're good, they're very very good, when they're bad... you know it.

I have four, two nice, one meh, and this beautiful ambre one that wrote fine but it didn't seal so well that you could leave it for months and find the converter still full, but that's true of too many pens.

I bought them all in the late 1990s when I was a relative newbie.

[HeartMan]

I have a Sonnet Cisele; was one of my favorite pens. Maybe it was repeated posting, but the cap no longer snaps shut. I've taken it to a pen show and the Parker repair specialist was unable to repair it. He tried placing a metal clip, ala a 75, but there wasn't any room for one.

Any clues on how to repair the cap so it fits with the nice "click" it used to have?

[radellaf]

OK I just tried with a new, never inked, black sonnet. How does part 2 (inner section) come out? Is it really supposed to unscrew somehow? I thought my double-ring section just wasn't coming apart because it was clogged with ink.

 

OTOH, I put the nib from the laque ambre into the new section and put it together with the rest of that pen and, voila, nice pen. I prefer not having the middle metal ring, and the two silver colored rings aren't really noticeable as not matching. I guess I just need to find a broken pen with a good section if I can't find someone selling just the part. Or, only use one of the two Sonnets at a time. Or have Parker get back to me one of these days.

 

Edit: nevermind, have to pay 9gbp shipping on a 12gbp item to usa, but penbox has single-ring gold-plate sections... and bonus, med italic (i'll opt for steel) nibs. That'll do. Other than an unlikely warranty repair, going to be hard to beat $30, shipped, to fix the pen. Never heard of Penbox - hope they're reputable.

Edited April 4, 2012 by radellaf

[cwhite5]

I know this thread is old, but if anyone's around...

 

My inner section is loose and I can't for the life of me figure out how to screw it back in.

 

Does anyone know how?

[pajaro]

Sometimes these come apart. You see the picture of the section exploded view?

 

The second part with the gold ring fits through the next black part and screws into the next brass part, on the side without threading. The threads on the brass part screw into the barrel.

 

I see no reason to want to take these parts apart, so I usually epoxy them together. If you don't know what you are doing, do not epoxy anything. Finger tight should tighten it enough.

[OcalaFlGuy]

If you don't know what you are doing, do not epoxy anything.

 

While certainly applicable to other areas, this is Particularly Applicable here.

 

Bruce in Ocala, Fl