Parker 61's lost arrow: major reasons??

[Switala]

Hello Redbeard, unfortunately I can say that I watched a 61 arrow come off, a very well maintained Signet that was in rotation and in a moment of stupidity while cleaning other pens, I dipped only the tip and the shell in the ultrasound.. .in a few seconds the arrow was swimming around the vat... I managed to reinsert it with the help of a hot soldering iron to press and place it in its housing and with a touch of quick glue in the original cavity. I can say that there was a worse type of glue for original fixation, but I couldn't find out what kind of glue it was and by the appearance of the cavity, the arrows are introduced with the soft plastic. I say this by the way the plastic below the arrow is molded.
The pen was fine and the lesson was learned, 61 stay away from the ultrasonic bowls.
Best Regards.

[John Danza]

Here's what I've found weird with the P61 "cracks". Unlike the P41 that actually cracks and sometimes badly, my experiences with the P61 has been that the shell develops a porosity. You can't see cracks, but you get ink on your fingers from an unseen source. The first time it happened, I thought I was doing something to get ink on my fingers. But then I wiped the shell with a paper towel and had ink on it!

[inkstainedruth]

11 hours ago, John Danza said:

Here's what I've found weird with the P61 "cracks". Unlike the P41 that actually cracks and sometimes badly, my experiences with the P61 has been that the shell develops a porosity. You can't see cracks, but you get ink on your fingers from an unseen source. The first time it happened, I thought I was doing something to get ink on my fingers. But then I wiped the shell with a paper towel and had ink on it!

Mine definitely got cracks.  I can see them.... 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[TheRedBeard]

On 1/23/2023 at 5:44 AM, jchch1950 said:

One Parker 61 signet lost the arrow when I was soaking it water nib down. I didn't notice that it was missing when I trow the water into the drain with the small metal piece in it😪 .

So sorry to hear about that, Jchch1950  

Did you use hot water then?

[TheRedBeard]

On 1/24/2023 at 9:09 AM, amk said:

It's really strange. I love the 61, but somehow the engineering is all wrong. How did Parker go from the indestructible, 100% reliable, marvellously designed Parker 51 to the cranky and problematic 61? Did the QC manager quit? or what?

I remember in the past the people here tried to find an answer to this "existential" question...

I guess that both R&D and manufacturing costs of early 61s were quite high (Rainbow caps, new inner cap, capillary filler), so the company's  engineers decided to use a newer cheaper plastic then. 

Perhaps, no proper thermoresistance tests were carried out, or those tests were quick and gave no clues on that new plastic performance in a long run...

 

Besides, as everyone using 61s know their plastic is also prone to deformation over years - it is easily visible on 61 Mk III with to tough inner caps. All my used 61s Mk III have certain level of section deformation. No cracks, but shape has been slightly changing over years. 

 

[TheRedBeard]

On 1/25/2023 at 2:29 AM, Carguy said:

I will agree that changing inks is an issue, but fortunately for me (knock on wood) not a single one of my 61’s has cracked or lost an arrow. I actually usually pass on any I find with no arrow. Recently, I used heat on a red 61, got it apart, and had no issue with the arrow. I guess that’s why I like the 61, but not as much as the 51. 
 

I have a Surf Green and Red 61 inked at all times because they are just fantastic writers!

As we discussed some time ago on another thread here, if 61's section and barrel were made of Lucite it would be my favourite pen of all times  

But 51 stays unbeatable on the top of my list...

 

 

[TheRedBeard]

On 1/25/2023 at 2:41 AM, Switala said:

Hello Redbeard, unfortunately I can say that I watched a 61 arrow come off, a very well maintained Signet that was in rotation and in a moment of stupidity while cleaning other pens, I dipped only the tip and the shell in the ultrasound.. .in a few seconds the arrow was swimming around the vat... I managed to reinsert it with the help of a hot soldering iron to press and place it in its housing and with a touch of quick glue in the original cavity. I can say that there was a worse type of glue for original fixation, but I couldn't find out what kind of glue it was and by the appearance of the cavity, the arrows are introduced with the soft plastic. I say this by the way the plastic below the arrow is molded.
The pen was fine and the lesson was learned, 61 stay away from the ultrasonic bowls.
Best Regards.

Thank you for sharing your story, Svitala. 

It is great you managed to fix it...

 

[jchch1950]

16 hours ago, TheRedBeard said:

So sorry to hear about that, Jchch1950  

Did you use hot water then?

No it was not hot. Today I look at the section and there are not cracks . 

[TheRedBeard]

6 hours ago, jchch1950 said:

No it was not hot. Today I look at the section and there are not cracks . 

I see. It gives more grounds to think the poor plastic is the main source of the problem...

[Carguy]

13 hours ago, TheRedBeard said:

I see. It gives more grounds to think the poor plastic is the main source of the problem...

No doubt it’s poor plastic, but dang they sure had some pretty colors! Like Red, the 51 will always be my favorite pen. Sure wish I could find an original Vista blue one though (not the overpriced remake - I think they made that one out of 61 plastic)