Omas - Repair Or Landfill.....

[markh]

So OMAS is gone,

 

Lots of OMAS pens out there, including the ones I own.

 

Eventually, everything wears out, breaks, falls apart, and needs repair.

 

Anyone have a suggestion of how OMAS pens can get repaired. Anyone stocking/making parts??

 

Or do they all, someday, end up in a landfill....

 

 

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[Sabin]

Like all of us...

[tamiya]

Didn't somebody buyout the factory's stockpile?

[markh]

Didn't somebody buyout the factory's stockpile?

 

Rod stock was purchased - that's what the new pens are made of - I think they are called Armondo Simoni Club pens (ASC), but I might not have that right. I saw an ASC arlecchino pen at the L.A. show, While it was made from the same material, the internals were completely different.

 

In addition there is a full set (very beautiful and very expensive) of the new Wahl Decoband pens, each pen made of a different OMAS celluloid rod. The two pen lines (ASC and Wahl) are a "re-imagining" of the vintage lines, and have at least somewhat common ownership.

 

The new pens aren't named OMAS. My guess that is to make sure there is no confusion as to responsibility for warranty or other repair.

 

As to parts - that I don't know about. Would be interesting to hear. But even if parts are available, there needs to be someone to do the repairs.

 

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[tamiya]

Ahh ok, so it's only their raw materials bought out not their service parts.

 

Have not owned/dismantled any OMAS before, not familiar with its insides... are all the parts prorietary made inhouse?

 

Guess if the parts can be replicated then repairing OMAS wouldn't be that different to any other pen out there, skills & supply would fill the void soon as there's enough need.

 

However the great unknown is... IMHO OMAS tend to be hoarded by smaller number of collectors who might own multiple dozens & not really use them all too hard; vs a commoner daily driver marque. So the "need" might take longer to eventuate, and they might be picky about installing non-original parts etc etc

[markh]

Ahh ok, so it's only their raw materials bought out not their service parts.

 

I don't know this - it may or may not be correct. I don't know of anyone who purchased them, but the sale was quite complicated, and various parts of OMAS were purchased by the new owners over several years (I think not yet complete).

 

It would be good if someone who actually knows (instead of me, who is asking questions and guessing) could speak to this.

 

As to the pens being hoarded - well you have an interesting point. I have probably more than a dozen OMAS pens. But every time I think about taking one out of my storage drawer to fill and use, I think that if anything happens it might never be able to be repaired. So they sit.

 

Pen collectors are pretty strange, huh....

 

 

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Edited June 11, 2017 by markh

[tamiya]

I don't know this - it may or may not be correct. I don't know of anyone who purchased them, but the sale was quite complicated, and various parts of OMAS were purchased by the new owners over several years (I think not yet complete).

 

It would be good if someone who actually knows (instead of me, who is asking questions and guessing) could speak to this.

Same, know nothing concrete apart from chatting with pen store staff in recent years whenever I see the orange boxes of OMAS ink they're clearancing...

 

 

As to the pens being hoarded - well you have an interesting point. I have probably more than a dozen OMAS pens. But every time I think about taking one out of my storage drawer to fill and use, I think that if anything happens it might never be able to be repaired. So they sit.

 

Pen collectors are pretty strange, huh....

Nope, it's all very normal

 

Amongst life's luxuries I appreciate old cars, old pens, old watches, old kiddy toys made back when the corporate beancounters didn't have much say as to their design nor engineering

 

But why need to be so precious?

 

FPs are made to be used, they'll last many years in daily use I doubt I'd ever wear any out in my lifetime (I have my mother's FPs from when she was a schoolgirl, and they write just fine today!)... loss by buttmass, theft or Gravity is the main risk IMHO.

 

And I have a feeling that after I'm gone, nobody else will appreciate them as much as I so might as well ENJOY USING them whilst I still can

 

(No, the really weird hobby is Old Toys... we hoard up all these old toys from our childhood and those we DEFINITELY don't let modern feckless kiddies anywhere near my toy collection.)

[tamiya]

Ok, wiki leaks this about OMAS:-

 

OMAS stands for Officina Meccanica Armando Simoni. The company was founded by Armando Simoni, who also designed the tools and equipment needed to manufacturer the OMAS line of pens.

 

OMAS manufactured a variety of pens, the top line being the faceted Arte Italiana range, as well as a variety of limited edition pens. In their history, they introduced a number of cutting edge designs including the "Doctor's pen" (which had a tiny built-in clinical thermometer) and the double-nibbed Itala in the 1920s and the 361 model in the late 1940s whose nib could be used as a hard writer if handled in one position and as a flexible writer in another. Their last major design innovation was the 360, a fountain pen with a triangular body to maximize grip and writing comfort, launched in 1996.[1]

 

The largest size pen manufactured as a non-limited edition in their most current production was the 12-faceted Paragon, the second largest being the Milord. Omas product range was last updated in 2005. The Milord model became the size of the pre-2005 Paragon model. OMAS continued to release Limited editions based on their earlier style pens.

Sounds like all parts were made inhouse.

 

In 2000, the French company LVMH acquired OMAS from the heirs of Armando Simoni. It was the only writing instrument company in its suite of companies. In October 2007 the Xinyu Hengdeli Group of Hong Kong purchased 90% equity stake in OMAS. Xinyu had a strategic partnership with LVMH and planned to use OMAS for its expansion of luxury goods in the Asian market. The company continued to be unprofitable and in 2011 it was sold to another Chinese company, O-Luxe. O-Luxe decided to close Omas in November 2015 and the company entered voluntary liquidation in January 2016 ceasing all trading.

Sounds like Bologna factory existed till liquidation, nothing got shipped out east. Their service dept kept going in 2016... haha wouldn't surprise me if the last guy who switched off the lights also went dumpster diving for all the discarded bits?

 

PenEc's blogpost (http://www.peneconomics.com/blog/2016/2/20/vale-omas) points to an Instagram twit (https://www.instagram.com/p/BB_kAR9vgOX/) from Chatterly Luxuries... perhaps they could know more?

[fabri00]

 

The new pens aren't named OMAS. My guess that is to make sure there is no confusion as to responsibility for warranty or other repair.

 

 

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The new pens cannot be named omas because the brand name omas have not been sold.

[FriendAmos]

As to the pens being hoarded - well you have an interesting point. I have probably more than a dozen OMAS pens. But every time I think about taking one out of my storage drawer to fill and use, I think that if anything happens it might never be able to be repaired. So they sit.

.

 

That's like a man having a beautiful wife that he never gets to ... er, em. Just kept in the basement and brought out to show friends or look at. Interestng. Me myself, I would enjoy to the max.

 

Oh, and there are a couple of stories here of people who carefully kept their OMAS celluloids in boxes, pulled them out after some years, and found they were discoloured!

Edited June 11, 2017 by FriendAmos

[FriendAmos]

 

It would be good if someone who actually knows (instead of me, who is asking questions and guessing) could speak to this.

.

 

 

All this has been discussed endlessly on this forum. Just search for the threads.

[empliau]

I'm guessing that an Omas in reasonable shape will always find a home via the Classifieds, and a broken one might be usable for parts, depending of course on what broke. Several penmeisters have parts for repairing vintage pens.

 

Landfill - perish the thought!

[JungleJim]

If you check the sticky at the top of this forum section you will see that John Mottishaw of nibs.com still has a stockpile of parts and can repair your Omas pen. It will take a while though, according to his website. He is/was an authorized dealer and repair person. No relationship with him, just a happy pen purchaser.

 

All the Best.

[OMASsimo]

OMAS made pens not space crafts. Pens are comparably simple products consisting of few parts. There is nearly nothing that couldn't be manufactured by an expert artisan to restore such a pen. Keep in mind that many OMAS pens were actually hand made! Of course, if you shatter a celluloid barrel or cap completely, the problem would be to get (or make) the material for manufacturing a replacement. The real question is not whether it can be done but the price to pay for this.

[Honeybadgers]

OMAS made pens not space crafts. Pens are comparably simple products consisting of few parts. There is nearly nothing that couldn't be manufactured by an expert artisan to restore such a pen. Keep in mind that many OMAS pens were actually hand made! Of course, if you shatter a celluloid barrel or cap completely, the problem would be to get (or make) the material for manufacturing a replacement. The real question is not whether it can be done but the price to pay for this.

 

This. Caps and barrels may be tough to match (good luck finding someone to make a new parker stacked celluloid cap) But repairs of those parts are pretty doable (I've seen some insane restorations of pens that looked toast) and mechanisms can readily be fabricated nowadays from 3d printing and skilled repairmen.

 

I'm about to look into restoring a pre-WWII japanese fountain pen that my mom found on a wrecked japanese cruiser in the 1970's. Odds are, with enough time and effort, I'll be able to get it writing.

[fabri00]

I do not believe a 3d printer will be much helpful, but for sure a lathe and few other small machineries used from an experienced repair expert will solve the problem.

 

Pens are repaired since decades on that way, even before the companies started distributing spare parts.

 

Mr. Armando Simoni at the beginning of last century was doing that before starting making pens: he was crafting repair parts for American fountain pens using the machineries and tools of the train maintenance workshop of the station of Bologna.

[Honeybadgers]

I do not believe a 3d printer will be much helpful, but for sure a lathe and few other small machineries used from an experienced repair expert will solve the problem.

 

Pens are repaired since decades on that way, even before the companies started distributing spare parts.

 

Mr. Armando Simoni at the beginning of last century was doing that before starting making pens: he was crafting repair parts for American fountain pens using the machineries and tools of the train maintenance workshop of the station of Bologna.

 

For complex pieces that had to be injection molded, 3d printing will become ideal.

 

You'd be amazed what a 3d printer can do.

[fabri00]

I'm sure 3rd printers are great, but for small parts subject to strong strength like the piston or all the parts moving the piston I believe machining from a solid piece of something (plastic or metal) will be much more resistant than printing with a 3d printer.

 

But as I own a lathe and I make with it the parts I need for my own pens, and I dont have a 3d printer, maybe I'm wrong ......

[fountainbel]

Hi Omas fans !

I've already repaired several Omas pens on which the piston mechanism was broken or the piston guiding key was worn-off, see :

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/309256-sterling-omas-imagination-fp-repair/

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/310009-omas-piston-filler-repair-sheared-anti-rotation-key/

So if you would have pens with filler mechanism problems I can surely help you out.

Regards,

Francis

[tamiya]

I'm sure 3rd printers are great, but for small parts subject to strong strength like the piston or all the parts moving the piston I believe machining from a solid piece of something (plastic or metal) will be much more resistant than printing with a 3d printer.

 

But as I own a lathe and I make with it the parts I need for my own pens, and I dont have a 3d printer, maybe I'm wrong ......

 

You would be wrong in the sense that 3D printing isn't just additive strings of ABS/PLA, you've also got sintered metal power that can make "metal" objects; or just print out of wax and lost-wax cast it in metal.

 

But you'd be right in the sense that... if you only need 1 item (for repairing 1 pen, unlikely to need another copy anytime soon) then its too much work drawing it up digitally then testprinting multiple times etc etc ... when most times a skilled machinist could just whip up a part on his lathe or mill.

 

Or CNC mill it from a billet of alu or nylon