I have acquired a Shaeffer Touchdown w/Triumph nib. There is an 8mm hairline crack in the barrel at the open end. There is no sac in the pen, so I am unable to test for air leakage. Has anyone had any success sealing a crack like this?

Mike

I think I gound my answer from this post.
http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...showtopic=49985
Now, if I can only make it work.

Mike

The best thing to use for repairing such a crack in a snorkel or TD is to solvent weld with Tenax 7R, not epoxy. Be sure to remove the blind cap, snorkel tube and 0 ring before solvent welding the crack

I've been able to come up with a product called Ambroid Plastic Weld. How would this do on a Touchdown barrel?

Mike

I've had good luck in the small number of crack repairs I've done using Tenex 7R from my local hobby shop. I find it tricky though. A couple of the challenges I discovered:

- Getting the correct amount of 7R in the crack (and knowing when you've done so) is a bit difficult. The stuff evaporates incredibly fast, so how to apply it is something of a question. A toothpick didn't work very well, but I've had okay results with both a small paintbrush and a glass dip pen, depending on the details.

- How to know how much solvent you need? I think I may have tended to use too much, ending up with a little bead along the weld which had to be sanded and polished out. I think this just takes practice and experimentation.

- How to clamp it while it sets? Maybe you don't need to clamp it at all, really. I've assumed that it's best to clamp it gently, but you *certainly* don't want to clamp it too hard. I had decent luck using a large metal paperclip on a Sheaffer Admiral, but it wouldn't work for any size pen.

I mean one of these kinds of paperclip:



Don't clip it on the pen the way you would on paper (much too much force); the pen goes all the way inside it, so that the clip is almost all the way closed and the pen is held on three sides, but gently.

Testors 3502 liquid plastic cement will work very nicely on Sheaffer plastics, and is much easier to use than the Tenax which is pure methylene chloride and does indeed evaporate very quickly. The Testors works slower, so you must clamp it, but it also dries much more slowly.

I apply it with a small pointed brush, just enough to fill the crack, let it sit for a minute or two, re-apply, then clamp with a wooden spring type clothes pin. This works on Parker 61 barrels and hoods, too, if enough care is taken.

Peter

I had it happen on a TD Imperial. I took the easy way out: I got another barrel.

Is Testors 3502 considered plastic weld?

Mike