Inner caps

[pwyll]

(If you've no interest in rambling prose, feel free to skip to "The point:" )

I just received three Esties I won at auction (mainly for the nib on one of them--I would have bid a little more had I noticed one was a transitional before it ended) that were listed as untested/for parts. That's perfect, as I was buying them for the one nib and to have pens for to get my learnin' on. The trans has it's issues, the brown SJ has it's issues (including what seems to be the nipple falling out as crumbled pieces through the section--won't know for sure until I take the section off), but the grey J seemed to be near perfect--even polished a bit. So I took the section off--sure enough, there was a generic-new sac freshly installed.

 

I selected a nib, reseated the section with the nib and lever aligned, and when I tried to cap it had a bit of weirdness. I looked inside the cap and the inner cap was loose. I shook it out into my palm, checked it (looked fine, no cracks or chips), and decided to take the opportunity to get the cap thoroughly clean. I dropped them both in a bit of water to soak for a few minutes, got no residue when I dried them off, and started to reseat the inner cap in the cap--and it crumbled.

 

 

The point:

Is there a source for inner caps anywhere, or is this now a parts pen with a donor jewel and clip?

 

 

Thanks,

 

Scott

[FarmBoy]

 

The point:

Is there a source for inner caps anywhere, or is this now a parts pen with a donor jewel and clip?

 

 

Thanks,

 

Scott

Scott,

 

There is more than one inner cap style. I'm guessing yours was a hard black plastic looking thing and it shattered. The later inner caps are polyethylene (or propylene) and are soft and don't crumble.

 

It sounds like you may also need a section. Sections are a bit tricky since there are more than a few different sizes and styles. I almost always ask for the pen so I can find the correct one or at least one that fits well.

 

Todd

[OcalaFlGuy]

There are metric assloads of caps out there with busted jewels that will still be waiting for new jewels to magically

appear when Jesus comes back.

 

The TRICK is getting those inner caps OUT OF those donor pens.

 

You can ask around here for someone who has an inner cap puller to do the dirty dead for you, they may even have some donor caps. Keep in mind that the better cap puller is a $100+ tool. That's mainly why *I* don't have one.

 

The next most promising idea I've seen (assuming you have a donor cap or can get one) is a post I saw here eons ago which

I am unable to put my hands on again (and man have I tried).

 

The jist was the poster made a passable cap puller from a plastic drywall expanding anchor and the screw that goes inside it. The trick there of course is to take the donor cap to Home Despot or Lowes and find Just. Exactly. The. Right. Sized. Anchor. You'd really need to "goldielocks" it, just big enough to slide into an inner cap but enough expando room to get a good enough grip to catch well.

 

Bruce in Ocala, FL

[pwyll]

There is more than one inner cap style. I'm guessing yours was a hard black plastic looking thing and it shattered. The later inner caps are polyethylene (or propylene) and are soft and don't crumble.

 

It sounds like you may also need a section. Sections are a bit tricky since there are more than a few different sizes and styles. I almost always ask for the pen so I can find the correct one or at least one that fits well.

 

Todd

 

This inner cap was a light brown, about halfway between the Estie Brown and the military's Desert Tan. If it started out black I can see why it crumbled. It was definitely not PE or PP.

 

As far as the section goes, it's not as big an issue. I'll have to wait until I have time to get it apart to know exactly what's going on, but it's an SJ. I am not particularly fond of the size since it's a bit small for my hand, so I'm happy to have the pen as donor parts--it's one of the reasons I bought this lot, after all

 

 

Thanks for the info!

 

Scott

[pwyll]

There are metric assloads of caps out there with busted jewels that will still be waiting for new jewels to magically

appear when Jesus comes back.

 

The TRICK is getting those inner caps OUT OF those donor pens.

 

...

 

Bruce in Ocala, FL

 

I can never keep it straight--is a metric assload more, or less, than an ASE assload?

 

I'll just keep the pen as a "near compleat" parts for other, inevitable, silver J's that fall into my hands. And now that you've put the bug in my head, I'll be trying to come up with a useable DIY inner cap puller.

 

If nothing else, at least I have a trade item in the undamaged jewel

 

 

Thanks for the confirmation and inspiration!

 

Scott

[Ron Z]

Victor Chen (west coast repair guy, now more or less out of pens) wrote an article a while back in which he suggested using a tap to cut threads in an inner cap, and then screwing a bolt into the inner cap. Use a flat washer to protect the cap lip, and a nut which tightens down against the washer to pull the inner cap out. If I were to try it, I would use TWO washers with a thrust washer (i.e. flat washer with bearings, used on things like McPherson struts) sandwiched in between.

 

I've contemplated using the idea in an extreme case, but haven't since I invested in an inner cap puller set years ago. Note: not all inner cap pullers are equal. Buy the ones from Woodbin or the Pen Sac Co. I do not recommend buying the ones from FPH - they don't work.

[pwyll]

Interesting idea on the inner cap puller, but it sounds like something that in my hands would fail. Still have to keep it in mind though--and your thrust washer idea sounds like a definite if anyone tries it.

 

On a note at least tangentially related to my original post, I got the other two pens apart and had to laugh out loud. The silver transitional has also been resacced, and examination of the inner cap with an otoscope shows a spider-web of cracks--not "stress fractures" but definite cracks. The brown SJ, on the other hand, has a perfect inner cap and section--the sac had ossified so badly it had shattered in the pen. And it appears to have done so in isolation as I see absolutely no indications of sac particles *anywhere* in the barrel.

 

So both full-sized silver pens are restored except for both needing an inner cap, and the brown SJ is nearly pristine except for needing a new sac and J-bar. All-in-all not a bad deal, since I won the lot for less than the price of the 9128 nib that was included

 

 

Scott

[pwyll]

There are metric assloads of caps out there with busted jewels that will still be waiting for new jewels to magically

appear when Jesus comes back.

 

The TRICK is getting those inner caps OUT OF those donor pens.

 

...

 

Bruce in Ocala, FL

 

It struck me, as seperate threads mixed in my head like coffee and chocolate--if the cap jewel is busted already, would there be a problem with drilling/chipping the jewel out from the top and then pushing the inner cap out?

 

 

Just thinkin'...

 

Scott