Rotring 600 (2Nd Gen) Cap Clip Failure

[hpenner]

Greetings experienced FPNers,

 

I was hoping someone could help me with a mechanical problem:

 

A Rotring 600 Lava was my favorite pen for about a year -- it's a really solid-feeling fountain pen and the rough finish keeps it from getting slippery -- until something happened to the cap mechanism. These 2nd-generation 600's have two small raised square metal buttons on the section that serve the same function as the 'ears' on a Lamy 2000, holding the cap on nice and tight. One of these 'ears' seems to have snapped, so that it overlaps onto the section instead of staying in its proper place. This makes the cap hard to put back on and reduces the usability of the pen enough that mine is now sitting on a shelf. Normally this would be the manufacturer's problem, but from what I understand Rotring doesn't seem to make or support these pens anymore...

 

There is a thread from 2009 where a few people had the same problem (includes a good photo of the broken part):

http://www.fountainp...568#entry684568

 

Is this a common issue for 2nd-gen 600's? And more importantly, has anyone been able to figure out a workaround (or even better, a real fix) for the problem?

 

Thanks in advance for any ideas!

 

Kind regards,

Harry

 

PS If anybody knows how to move this post to the "Repair Q&A" forum, that appears to be where it belongs... sorry for the miscategorization...

Edited September 20, 2011 by hpenner