Are Omas Arco Pens Designed To Align?

[raivtash]

I have possessed quite some arco brown fountain pens and never really paid close attention to the alignment issue until fairly recently. Whereas most of my pens do align well, I also notice a couple of them do not align. Even the one I bought from a very famous authorized omas dealer does not align (one facet difference). As a result, I started to research the issue. At moment I only have several old style paragon pens, so my result may not apply to modern paragon or modern milord.

There are two alignments we are talking about. The first is the alignment between the blind cap and the barrel. Omas used an interesting design to ensure the alignment. The filling system of the arco brown is slightly different from the regular one. Arco brown has a locking system that lock the blind cap and the barrel. so if the blind cap and the barrel is not aligned, there is something wrong with the locking system.

The second is the alignment between the cap and the barrel. I am not sure if they are designed to align. All my old style paragon pens take 23 facets to close tightly. one full turn is 12 facets, so 23 facets are 1 facet less than 2 full turns. Even after the inner cap being taken out, the pens take 23 facets to a natural tight. 2 full turns will make the pen too tight. And the inner cap from arco brown is same as any regular paragon. So, if the pen takes 23 facets to close, they should not be aligned. Does your pen take 2 full turns (24 facets) or 23 facets to a natural closure?

[markh]

I have three of these pens - all the old style without a metal section. Two brown, one green.

 

All three caps alight perfectly with the body. In all three cases there are three starting points on the thread, only one that aligns.

 

On two, the blind cap aligns perfectly with the body when the piston is all the way up. One one of the browns it's off, but only about 1/3-1/4 facet, maybe less. I decided that the difference wasn't worth the risk of a repair, especially since OMAS is no longer in existence I have no idea who would do a repair, who has parts, etc....

 

 

Hope this is useful.

 

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Edited May 24, 2017 by markh

[raivtash]

All these three pens take 23 facets rotation to a natural closure.

[raivtash]

Thanks Markh. Do your pens take two full turns to close (i,e, 24 facets)?

 

I have three of these pens - all the old style without a metal section. Two brown, one green.

 

All three caps alight perfectly with the body. In all three cases there are three starting points on the thread, only one that aligns.

 

On two, the blind cap aligns perfectly with the body when the piston is all the way up. One one of the browns its off, but only about 1/3-1/4 facet, maybe less. I decided that the difference wasn't worth the risk of a repair, especially since OMAS is no longer in existence I have no idea who would do a repair, who has parts, etc....

 

 

Hope this is useful.

 

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[raivtash]

The piston assembly. There are two shallow grooves in the barrel that lock the mounting points (yellow lines on pic) .

[EclecticCollector]

The number of facets turned has no bearing on whether the cap aligns with the body, only whether the start of the threads has been placed correctly when cutting and whether the inner cap has been cut to the correct length.

[raivtash]

All these three inner caps are exactly same length. It seems that the inner cap is standard.

[HardBall]

My father gifted me a new style Paragon in Arco brown. The piston knob aligns perfectly. The cap I must fiddle with to find the right starting point for the threads, but when I do, it aligns perfectly.

 

Sadly, the cap band is a tad loose.

[mirosc]

I have two faceted OMAS (Arco Brown and Extra Vintage Lucens). One aligns perfectly and one has both cap and knob off a little bit. The knob should be turned about 1mm more to achieve alignment. The cap can be aligned if I screw it on with a lot of force (and I'm not feeling well with that).

After reading this thread I wonder if this could maybe be repaired. Any ideas?

[raivtash]

Here is my guess:

If there is no physical damage to the grooves, the knob will align perfectly with repair. The cap is same with mine. I suspect it can be aligned.

[OMASsimo]

Yes, these pens are designed to align perfectly. But over time the material might shrink a tiny bit leading to misalignment. At least for the cap this is an easy fix. Only the inner cap needs to be adjusted, which simply is screwed in (left-handed thread!) and also holds the clip. If the clip gets too loose, you might have to add a washer.

[markh]

This thread raises my big concern. The company OMAS is gone. There is another pen being made using OMAS rod stock, but I don't think there is any actual connection between the old and new businesses. I doubt the new company would honor any warranties from the old.

 

I have a number of OMAS pens. Nothing last forever. Everything eventually needs a repair.

 

So who is going to repair these?? Who will have replacement parts.

 

 

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