Parker 51 Took A Fall

[SusanJoM]

Very bizarre, but my favorite Parker 51 took a nose dive off the counter onto the floor and now the hood is lodged inside the cap and I have been unable to remove it.

 

I am wondering if I could/should soak the cap/hood section in soapy water, thread the barrel back in and see if the soapyness makes it slippery enough to pull out?

That might be a bad idea, so....I need help. Please.

 

If all else fails, I will probably remove the nib and put it into one of my other P-51s, since it is by far the smoothest one I have and my favorite to write with.

 

Thanks for any help you can offer.

Susan

 

 

[JotterAddict62]

Greetings,

I know others will answer your call for help in this problem.

 

My thinking if this was my pen I would use a little heat on the cap and screw the section back in and keep turning and pulling

at the same time.

 

Welcome the the world of fountain pens.

 

Ken

[pajaro]

You might check to see if the hood is cracked after this accident. If you screw the cap+hood back onto the section, will it pull off again if the hood is cracked? Screwing the hood+cap back down does seem to be logical.

[Ernst Bitterman]

My thought, and this assumes no cracking:

• Reassemble
• Leave in the fridge all night, so everything is nice a cold and contracted
• Warm the cap a little
• Give a tug, with the pen hand about half-way down the barrel.

The idea is that the cold soak gets everything sucked in, and when you take it out you try to get the metal of the cap to expand more briskly than the plastic of the pen.

 

If what's holding onto the hood is the inner cap, this will be less helpful (although the heat has to pass through the inner cap to get to the hood, so it may still bear fruit).

[SusanJoM]

I thought I thanked you all a while ago, but maybe I didn't hit 'send'.

In any case Thank You.

I will keep you posted.

 

Susan

[FarmBoy]

Use the 'Stuck Cap Tool" as shown in Figure 46 of your service manual.

[SusanJoM]

As directed, I put the pen in the fridge overnight.

 

This morning I put the kettle on to boil, poured some hot water into a small glass, donned my rubber gloves, dipped the cap end into the hot water for about a minute, pulled hard, and viola ! ! !

 

Success.

 

Thank you.

[Ernst Bitterman]

Huzzay!

[pen lady]

Well done! It would be prudent to check the hood for cracks as suggested, and I'd put something on the threads to re-seal things too. Now, of course this will open up the field to various ideas of what constitutes "proper" thread sealant. Stand by

[sherbie]

I did the boiling water method to remove a stuck cap once. It worked, but discoloured the grey jewel

 

Did your jewel remain the same colour, or become discolured ( ie milky, frosty looking)?

[mitto]

Rubbing the jewel with a cotton cloth gently would restore it to its original color.

[oztech]

Just in case you are curious, The 51 Jammed Cap Remover was designated Parker tool # 12029. Parker sold it to dealers for $3.00 in the 1950's. It was included in Parker Repair Tool Assortment No. 320 F

[oztech]

The jewel would not have been messed up had a Parker # 12029 Jammed Cap Remover been used