Another ebay lesson. A nice little BCHR pen, The De La Rue Pen for 99p. Sounds great.

But (always a 'but' at 99p, although no-one could have known as the cap was in place in the photo) the 14k DLR nib has two small cracks which radiate horizontally from either side of the heart shaped vent hole. These make the nib flexy in the extreme, to the extent of being unusable.

Does anyone know if this can be repaired? I'm even willing to have a go with some careful soldering on the reverse side. Do pen repairers normally offer to repair cracked nibs?


Greg

Yes, there are people out there who do repair nibs with damage like that. John Mottishaw is a name that comes to mind, although there are others of course.

John Mottishaw [jm@nibs.com]
http://www.nibs.com/repairs.html

If you are experienced at jewellery repair, or want to try a goldsmith locally, you might get an good job done by someone closer. Soldering is the repair technique that would be used, but the fluxes used, and techniques necessary are a little different for gold work than soldering with lead based materials.

On the point of soldering from the underside, remember that the fit of the nib to the feed is important to the flow of ink, so no surface lumps can be left to raise the nub from away from the feed.

Don't forget the possibility of replacing the nib - there are people out there with exact as well as generic replacement nibs available. Search around and see if you can't find one to replace your damaged one.

Finally, someone may have a parts pen with the particular nib you are looking for - perhaps the most practical solution. You can put a 'wanted' ad up on this board - as well as PT, and see if you can score a reasonable cost replacement you can use.

Good Luck.

Gerry

The "go to" guy for this type of nib repair is John Mottishaw. http://www.nibs.com/. Contact him before sending the pen to ask about repair feasability.

Nathan Tardiff is another possibility, but he may be a bit busy with his ink business.

Special gold solders can be used - they need to match the alloy in terms of karats and color. Paste solders are preferable these days (Au particles in a binder).
Check this webpage.

A problem of gold soldering is that it involves very high temperature (c. 700oC) and if one is not careful you may weaken by annealing the rest of the nib.

erm.... I think I'll try a different nib!

Anyone a spare 14K nib they want to sell?


Greg

Hi Greg,

I'm not sure of what I've got in my box of bits at home. I'll rummage through tonight (my time, Kiwi time).

Has your nib got any other identifications on it other than ODLR etc.. You may have to remove the nib to check.

Regards

Gary

That's a wonderful resource Antonio. Thanks for putting it up.

Gerry

Antonio, Gerry,

Indeed, a good article. Note the two melt points of each solder alloy. There will be what is called a "plastic" phase in between.
As an example tin / lead solder with a 63/37 mix has a "eutectic" point of 183degC which means it's solid or liquid at the same temp.

Just in case you really needed to know.

Gary

I remember writing about eutectic and eutectoid points of metals when I was at college. The thought of a nib from an important pen reaching a 'plastic' phase gives me the willies!


Unfortunately the nib on the DLR says nothing more than:

Warranted
14C
TDLR&CO.LTD

The body is BCHR with chrome (nickel?) plated fittings, and says:

The De La Rue Pen
MADE IN GREAT BRITAIN

Its neither a large nor luxurious pen but is marked with a rather nice barley pattern.

(hopefully) here's a scan of the nib

Many thanks for having a look for me,


Greg

Actually these are not two melting points.
It could be the range of temperature for melting.
The composition is not exactly eutectic, and as a result the transition from liquid to solid is over a range of temperatures. One really needs to reach this range temperature locally to melt these solders.

I've only encountered the word eutectic in one context. When two solids are mixed in a certain proportion, the eutectic mixture is not solid. I'm thinking of a eutectic mixture of lignocaine (lidocaine?) and prilocaine.

It simply happens that in your example case the melting point is lower than room temperature.

In general eutectic (=easy melting) mixture is the mixture of two of more elements that has the lower melting point than any other mixture of these elements.

Lead (Pb) has a melting point of 327C and Tin (Sn) has a melting point of 232.
The 38% Pb - 62% Sn alloy is called eutectic because it has a melting point of 183C. Any other combination of Tin and Lead has a higher melting point.

Greg,

Are you in the UK? You say you paid 99p so I'm guessing you are.

If this is the case, I know just the man! Pop me an e-mail and I'll pass on the details.

Martin

Greg,

I've had a good ferret around and can't find a suitable "spare" nib I can send you. Take Martin's advise if you want it fixed, it would be a shame not to.

Gary