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Standard J-Bar Too Long?


white_lotus

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Hello FPN repair gurus!

 

I'm working on fixing up my first J with a sac tray. The old j-bar had rusted and broken. So I ground down the channel edges on a new j-bar, slip it into the barrel, install new section with sac.

 

And the new j-bar can't be depressed.

 

Apparently it's too long and it meets the section nibble. I've checked the depth to the end of the sac tray, and the depth of the installed j-bar, and it seems that it has gone fully to the back of the tray.

 

I guess I can take the Dremel and saw off a bit of the j-bar. Is this usual to have to do this? Or should I have ordered smaller j-bars? I'm using 54mm j-bar.

 

Thanks for advice! From what I've found searching, the j-bar goes within the sac tray, not behind it. And one result did seem to say they had to shorten the j-bar. Not sure if that's normal procedure though...

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54mm J bars are the standard size and should fit with no problem. Are you sure you have it seated as far back as it will go? The only reason IMO it would meat the section nibble is that the whole j bar unit isn't pushed as far back as it should be.

“Left-handers are wired into the artistic half of the brain, which makes them imaginative, creative, surprising, ambiguous, exasperating, stubborn, emotional, witty, obsessive, infuriating, delightful, original, but never, never, dull" James T deKay and Sandy Huffaker

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My Estie J-bars are 1 15/16-2" from the end of the J to the front. (49-50mm)

 

OR, You can cut it to match the length of the original you should still have the pieces of.

 

Bruce in Ocala, Fl

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Is there some junk like an old eraser in there?

"Don't hurry, don't worry. It's better to be late at the Golden Gate than to arrive in Hell on time."
--Sign in a bar and grill, Ormond Beach, Florida, 1960.

 

 

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I have some other old j-bars and they are 50 mm, while the new ones from Anderson Pens are 54 mm.

 

No junk in there pajaro as the erasers were in Esties that didn't have sac trays.

 

The depth to the back of the sac tray is 58 mm and the front of the sac tray is 15 mm from the from of the barrel. So with this longer j-bar installed, it goes beyond the sac tray. The leading edge of the sac tray is also distance to where the section and section nipple enter the barrel — in this pen, not sure if that is standard or not.

 

I'm going to clean up this older j-bar which has decent spring left in it and use that.

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Why not just snip the new bar off with wire cutters to the correct length, especially if you've already gone to the effort to deshoulderize it.

 

Bruce in Ocala, Fl

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Not sure I have wire cutters sharp enough for the task. Actually just checked what wire cutters look like and I might have a dull small one lying around somewhere. I think the Dremel will be easier. :)

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I would think that tinsnips or metal shears would be easier to use than either wire cutters or a dremel.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

"It's very nice, but frankly, when I signed that list for a P-51, what I had in mind was a fountain pen."

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Good idea! I have tinsnips at work, so I'll give that a try first, as they are a little bit more heavy duty.

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OK, the tinsnips didn't work for me. Maybe mine aren't very sharp. Of course I was really really dumb and tried to cut off the wrong end (the straight end, not the curved end with first the tin snips and then the dremel :doh: ) but even the other end was too thick for the tin snips. And after mangling the j-bar in all this process, I decided this was a learning experience. I put the old j-bar back in the pen. Works fine (though the lever is a little floppy).

 

So now to search online for the magic 50 mm long j-bars that Bruce can get. Maybe he has to offer special prayers to the Pen Goddess? I wonder if she'll favor me too? Only time will tell… :)

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My 49-50 mm ones are original Estie bars. I think the closest you can buy to those are the 54s.

 

Bruce in Ocala, Fl

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