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Platinum Plaisir - Did I Break Something?


Elle

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I picked up this pen at a discount when Pear Tree was going out of business and it's endured some abuse over the years. I've taken it apart a few times to clean it including pulling the nib out of the feed to flush it with water from the sink. Increasingly, however, it's been giving me performance problems. Recently I noticed that the nib no longer goes back into the feed tightly and it is prone to some leakage. Did I screw something up, like perhaps accidentally flush an O-ring out of the feed? Is it user-serviceable if I did?

 

(I may be in the market for a new workhorse pen soon if this is going to continue to be a pain without an easy fix. My budget would be somewhere between $20-80 and I'd want a F/XF nib which makes the Japanese pens an appealing place to look.)

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Yeah, those sections are not really meant to be removed, especially not repeatedly. The tight plastic fit loosens over time, just as you are describing. I think that you will need a new pen.

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If the body and cap of the Plaisir are ok, you can simply buy yourself a preppy and replace the section.

 

I have several Plaisirs and most of them have sections from 02 Preppies because I prefer EF nibs for everyday writing. They'll fit perfectly: a Plaisir is basically a metallic preppy.

 

Otherwise, Pilot pens like the 78G and the Plumix do have excellent EF and F nibs, but they also use proprietary cartridges, so you'll need to be buying them or a new converter if you use bottled ink.

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If the body and cap of the Plaisir are ok, you can simply buy yourself a preppy and replace the section.

 

I have several Plaisirs and most of them have sections from 02 Preppies because I prefer EF nibs for everyday writing. They'll fit perfectly: a Plaisir is basically a metallic preppy.

 

Otherwise, Pilot pens like the 78G and the Plumix do have excellent EF and F nibs, but they also use proprietary cartridges, so you'll need to be buying them or a new converter if you use bottled ink.

 

This sounds promising! (Hurries to see if she can add a Preppy to the accessory order she made yesterday.) Cap and body are a little scratched and dinged but otherwise fine.

 

Proprietary cartridges are a pain; I do mostly use bottled ink however and you ideally only have to buy a converter once. (And I seem to keep latching onto pens that use them...I was browsing possible replacement pens and the Lamy Accent with the wood grip caught my attention, pardon me for bringing up a German pen here.)

Edited by Elle
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Thanks Qoan for the clever workaround!

It's cheerful news to have a faithful tool returned to service.

My own confession is ruining a Lamy Vista section trying to pull its feed when flushing didn't work. Should have sent to Lamy since removing feed isn't recommended. And no easy-fix like this option.

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If the body and cap of the Plaisir are ok, you can simply buy yourself a preppy and replace the section.

 

I have several Plaisirs and most of them have sections from 02 Preppies because I prefer EF nibs for everyday writing. They'll fit perfectly: a Plaisir is basically a metallic preppy....

But doing this again begins to loosen the fit of the exchanged feed in the older section housing, thus perhaps heading down the same road. The best thing is to avoid these removals on these section units.

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But doing this again begins to loosen the fit of the exchanged feed in the older section housing, thus perhaps heading down the same road. The best thing is to avoid these removals on these section units.

 

he's not saying exchange the feed, but just swap the whole section. Plaisir feeds are not removable. Even the OP only manged to pull the nib.

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Reporting back: It works! Hooray!

 

Now wondering if there's something useful I can to with a spare Preppy body and cap. Probably not.

Edited by Elle
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I think I paid about $12 for my Plaisir, complete, on Amazon. It is a nice, inexpensive setup that works well and should not involve any fuss. Do not take it apart beyond unscrewing the plastic unit from the metal shell, and then soaking and flushing the feed and nib with cool water. Rinse and drain the converter as well, if you use one. No need whatsoever to pull the nib or feeder (which is actually damaging the pen).

 

Just plan on eventually replacing the working part of the pen with the feed and nib from a Preppy, reusing the metal Plaisir shell, and you'll be all set again -or as our British cousins say, "and Bob's your uncle!"

Brian

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Reporting back: It works! Hooray!

 

Now wondering if there's something useful I can to with a spare Preppy body and cap. Probably not.

 

I'm very happy to read that! :)

 

Hope you enjoy your revived pen.

 

As for the use of the preppy parts... I have a couple spare caps and bodies in a drawer, just in case some crack (as they have been reported to do) but never had to use them for that (or otherwise). Good luck with being creative!

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Thanks Qoan for the clever workaround!

It's cheerful news to have a faithful tool returned to service.

My own confession is ruining a Lamy Vista section trying to pull its feed when flushing didn't work. Should have sent to Lamy since removing feed isn't recommended. And no easy-fix like this option.

 

I would have expected Lamy Vistas to be easy to disassemble... but then, I must be one of the few people here to have never owned a Lamy (I've tried them a couple of times, and though they write well, I find that even the EF nib is too broad for my taste).

That said, I once broke the section of an Inxocrom Atlantic because I tried to clean it too much (that was before I started to look info online for fountain pen maintenance) and in that case there wasn't much to be done...

Also, because preppy sections take forever to evaporate all the tiny drops when cleaned, I once though that it would be a good idea to put it close to the radiator to help the process. But, of course, after a minute I forgot and when I remembered... well, that's one of the reasons I have some spare caps and bodies! :rolleyes:

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