Stuck

[RyanWakefield]

I got this Esterbrook on eBay, but it has no sac. I need to remove the grip section, but it refuses to budge. Is there some special trick for this?

[Beechwood]

I got this Esterbrook on eBay, but it has no sac. I need to remove the grip section, but it refuses to budge. Is there some special trick for this?

 

Try warming the section with a hair dryer, then a gentle twist action, keep trying.

 

It is possible that some vandal may have used glue however.

[RyanWakefield]

I got this Esterbrook on eBay, but it has no sac. I need to remove the grip section, but it refuses to budge. Is there some special trick for this?

 

Try warming the section with a hair dryer, then a gentle twist action, keep trying.

 

It is possible that some vandal may have used glue however.

 

Thanks, That is a good idea

[tmenyc]

Thanks for this old post and the Search function! I have picked up a couple more Esterbrook desk pens, just for the fun of restoration, and the section of one had just frozen in there; couldn't get it to budget.

A few minutes under my hot hobby lamp (I have one Ottlite and this old hot lamp...too cheap to get a good one...heck, it's only melted one hood from a 55 Chevy model that I had spent three months getting to fit perfectly...) and that stuck section twisted right out. I figured too hot for my fingers was probably getting close to hot enough, so I just held the barrel until my fingers were lightly browned.

 

Tim

[HLeopold]

Thanks for this old post and the Search function! I have picked up a couple more Esterbrook desk pens, just for the fun of restoration, and the section of one had just frozen in there; couldn't get it to budget.

A few minutes under my hot hobby lamp (I have one Ottlite and this old hot lamp...too cheap to get a good one...heck, it's only melted one hood from a 55 Chevy model that I had spent three months getting to fit perfectly...) and that stuck section twisted right out. I figured too hot for my fingers was probably getting close to hot enough, so I just held the barrel until my fingers were lightly browned.

 

Tim

 

Next time try to keep the heat to less than burning of the fingers, you are looking for approximately 130 to 140 F. Also with press-in sections it is best to not twist, but to pull it out of the barrel straight, twisting can, if the barrel is softened from the heat, twist like warm taffy. I did one like that a long time ago, it kind of ruins the whole day at the repair desk. All you really want to do is soften the shellac that is sealing the section into the barrel or just soften the barrel enough to let the section come loose without splitting the barrel.

 

One of our posters, from Florida/Bruce?, uses a regular lightbulb as his heat source and it seems to work fine for me as well the few times I had to use heat. Just hold the area that you need to warm up an inch or two from the bulb, rotating it to warm it up evenly, then carefully pull the section out, wiggling a bit. (Best to hold the pen with the nib/section away from you, pushing instead of pulling. This helps prevent sticking a nib into your body, a very painful thing to do as I have found several times, or worse you end up throwing the section and nib across the room. This I have also almost done a time or two. Holding the barrel and pushing the section away from you and out of the barrel just seems to be both safer for yourself and the pen but it also, to me anyway, lets you view your progress more easily.)

[dorothynotgale]

Hello! The pinned repair posts are very helpful, but I'm having a devil of a time with this same problem. Got a lovely Estie SJ off of Ebay for cheap (estate sale) and figured was probably in bad shape and could be my first try at repairing one. Sure enough, the sac is mummified and shattered (and appears to have been full when abandonded).

 

It is not going well.

 

The section is stuck pretty fast in there, and all instructions I've seen emphasize the fragility of them. I've been trying to heat it with my hair dryer, but it won't budge at all when pulled straight, and I know I shouldn't wiggle it. I am afraid to overheat it, but maybe I'm not heating it enough. My fiancee has stronger hands than I do, but neither of us just wants to yank on it.

 

Would soaking it in shallow water - below the lever - help? Could it be "glued" together with dried ink? Is there some sort of lubricant I can use?

 

Any advice would be welcome.

[Jflorek]

_{I was going to suggest soaking it in water. At the very least it is unlikely to make things worse. If you haven't already try using the "grippy" material that is often used to line shelves. A quick search on Google for "grippy material shelving" directs you to an Amazon.com post for a roll of the stuff or around $3. Cut it up into 4 X 4 squares. You'll be amazed how well the stuff works.}

[Scrawler]

Try taking a grip with the non-slip rubber shelf liner after heating the barrel at the joint and rotate the section first one way then the other. Pulling it straight out does not work well. Just be careful not to rock it side to side while rotating.

[OcalaFlGuy]

One of our posters, from Florida/Bruce?, uses a regular lightbulb as his heat source anoften the barrel enough to let the section come loose without splitting the barrel.

d it seems to work fine for me as well the few times I had to use heat. Just hold the area that you need to warm up an inch or two from the bulb, rotating it to warm it up evenly, then carefully pull the section out, wiggling a bit. (Best to hold the pen with the nib/section away from you, pushing instead of pulling. This helps prevent sticking a nib into your body, a very painful thing to do as I have found several times, or worse you end up throwing the section and nib across the room. This I have also almost done a time or two. Holding the barrel and pushing the section away from you and out of the barrel just seems to be both safer for yourself and the pen but it also, to me anyway, lets you view your progress more easily.)

 

Yikes.

 

I even paged away from this before it registered.

 

Yep. I DID use a bulb a few times and typed about it here somewhere. I think I came back later and retracted the idea.

 

I ended up slightly bending a barrel doing it that way. The problem is you tend to heat The Whole barrel that way.

 

IMO, I've found the best general way is to get the material to As Hot as it should be, as Quick as you can and for the Least amount of time once there. Ie; a heat gun or hair dryer.

 

My method now is to hold the section with my fingers completely surrounding the area just aft of where I want heated. I wrap my nib and section with a piece of bike inner tube.

 

My theory is;

 

The bike tube keeps the heat off the section and it's resulting expanding from heat is minimal.

My fingers act as a max thermostat (too hot for fingers, too hot for pen) And a heat sink to draw

heat Off the barrel. Only the barrel area forward at and forward of the threading gets warmed/expanded.

 

You're heating Just where you want the material to expand a bit.

 

I've been working under these assumptions for awhile now.

 

Bruce in Ocala, Fl

[Eclectica]

Hi,

 

Being of a scientific inclination, I just wondered if a water bath could be used?

 

As long as the nib/section could stand it ( ?), the heat would only be transferred where it had been dipped and not up the whole barrel?

 

We have temperature controlled ones in the lab, but a litre of water at 140F (or 60C) in a plastic jug would take a little while to cool down.

 

Desperation is the mother of invention after all.

 

Hope it goes well for you!

 

Cheers,

E.

[OcalaFlGuy]

The only problem I see with that is that IF you happen to have one of the hard rubber sections, overly warm water

will turn it brown. And it a #%^&* to polish out. For me, it's hard to tell them from the plastic ones too.

 

For someone terrified of the heat an overnight soak up to the bottom of the threads nib down might do it.

 

(Though the experts would say not.)

 

It's still better to use the dry heat for sure to reinsert the section, it's just as easy to crack a barrel doing that.

 

Bruce in Ocala, Fl

[OakIris]

I have an Estie that had a very stubborn section also, tried and tried to remove it by applying heat with a hair dryer, but the section didn't budge. Though it is frowned upon by those in the know, as Bruce mentioned, I ended up soaking the pen - with plain water just above the section - overnight (or for several hours - can't remember,) and the section pulled right out the next time I tried to remove it. Luckily, the section was plastic, not ebonite....

 

If for some reason shellac was used to glue the section to the pen - shouldn't have been used as these sections were supposed to just be friction fit, but you never know what a former owner might have done - soaking in water won't help. However, if heat does not work, the water soak method might be worth a try. Not guaranteeing it for you, of course, but it worked for my pen!

 

Holly

Edited July 25, 2013 by OakIris

[pajaro]

Yesterday I put a nurse's pen I recently bought into a cup of water, section down. When I got home from work, the section pulled right out, along with all the sac fragments. So, soaking can work.

 

The inside of the barrel is thoroughly stained with red ink. You learn something new with each venture into Estiedom. I'm glad I didn't use the heat gun on this pen.

[OcalaFlGuy]

Just use room temp when you soak a section and you should be fine, at least for a good days soak.

 

It's WARM/hot water than will turn Ebonite brown.

 

Bruce in Ocala, Fl

[PaFitch]

I've had plain room temp water turn hard rubber brown (but it soaked for more than a day). I soaked Esterbrooks all the time before I read that soaking wasn't the best way to remove a section and it's always worked great without any harm. I'll still use soaking on Esties but this is a technique that can't be universally applied to all pens (learned by experience as well as by reading).

 

I've also always twisted the section to loosen it. The barrel shouldn't distort unless you've heated it more than finger comfortable.

Bruce's technique of wrapping the section is good but I didn't have readily available inner tube pieces. What I do have available are pieces of the tape that the Red Cross uses to hold a pad over the place where they stuck the needle. It sticks to itself and gives great traction. I also wrap it over the barrel above the only part that needs warming. It shields the portion of the barrel that doesn't need heat and gives something to grip. A recent test of the effectiveness of this system was removing a section from a Sheaffer vac-fil pen. I was delighted at how it came apart without damage.

 

Esties are tougher than many pens. Its dangerous to think you can work on other pens like you do an Esterbrook.

[OcalaFlGuy]

Pa, surely you have a bicycle shop somewhere near you.

 

Give them a call and ask them to put one of their blown out thinner ones aside for you instead of in the trash can.

 

The thing about the bicycle tubes is they are thinner than even motorcycle tubes.

 

Bruce in Ocala, Fl

[PaFitch]

I'm sure you're right (probably have an old tube in the shed), but now that I've tried the bandaging tape, I like it (with two to four trips a year to donate blood, I'll never run out). I've used it for other repair processes (including wrapping the threads of a barrel when I'm polishing it--learned the need to do that the hard way). Whoever evented this tape was most clever. It sticks to itself, can be stretched to the degree of tightness that one needs, and then comes off without the usual "OUCH." It contributes to a more pleasant experience at the blood drive.