Dropped A Mb Pen - Feed And Nib Partially Knocked Loose

[Justjcez]

This morning as I was putting my briefcase into my car, I leaned over and had my MB pen fall out of my shirt pocket. It hit concret (dropped about 3-4 feet) and nearly rolled into a storm drain. Luckily I was able to catch it before It rolled into the drain, but when I uncapped this to see the damage, I saw that the nib and feed section had been knocked loose. I haven't tried touching anything yet. Is this as simple as pushing the nib/feed sections back into the pen or do I need to perform pen surgery? My first instinct is to shove it back in, but since my luck today hasn't been the best, I figured I should check with the experts first.

 

Any help is appreciated!

 

- J

[hari317]

Very carefully push it in. Hold across the flat of the nib with thumb's tip above nib and forefinger against the flat slope of the nib. Do not hold the fins of feed, they might get deformed.

 

The nib and feed are usually a very tight fit in the case feeder, I am surprised this has happened.

[Justjcez]

This is actually the second time it's happened to me with a pen, the first time was with a Pilot Custom 74. I had dropped it (there's a pattern here) and it landed cap first (I assume like this one did) knocking the nib and feed loose. That nib/feed is still a little loose (snug, but can be easily removed by hand). Are the nib/feeds for MB pens held in by friction or is there any adhesive? Should I clean the whole thing up first or just gently push it in as is?

 

Thanks for the advice!

- J

[hari317]

Just push it in. It will come to a dead stop, once it has seated fully. Just take care that the nib and feed do not move relative to each other. you can simply flush the pen after pushing the nib-feed in.

 

No adhesive is used around the nib-feed, it is a friction fit into the threaded sleeve which MB calls case-feeder.

[hari317]

BTW is this a plain 146 or a solitaire? I ask due to the 18K nib.

[jar]

It's likely though that the cap is now full of ink, so a complete flush and dry is advised there as well.

[Justjcez]

The cap has been inked do to this drop >_< and will be cleaned out. This is a solitare. One of my favorite pens but I seem to have a problem dropping it. This would be the secont time, the first time I dropped piston end first. I like to call it my battle pen. Perhaps I'll be a pen technician in a few years with the rate that I'm going...

 

Thanks again for the advice!

- J

[hari317]

Also get your solitaire's clip tightened, you can DIY. so it will not escape your shirt pocket again, haha.

 

The additional weight of the solitaire impacting the hard surface might explain why the nib-feed knocked out, inertial hammer?

[Justjcez]

Well...the sad thing is that it was in my shirt pocket, but not clipped to my pocket. The clip works fine. So it truely was my fault. Clearly, intelligence is not a requirement for owning a fountain pen (at least not in my case).

- J

[Justjcez]

So I've pushed this sucker back in and it writes just as well as it did prior to the drop. My curious side got the best of me, I tried to tug the nib/feed and it came out without much effort. Should I be worried? I tried to shake the pen to see if it would come out, but it stayed in place. It will rotate also. Should I try anything else (I'm pretty certain that I've pushed it all the way in, but am squeamish so I could use more force) or will this simply be a pen that I have to be careful with from now on?

 

- J

[hari317]

So I've pushed this sucker back in and it writes just as well as it did prior to the drop. My curious side got the best of me, I tried to tug the nib/feed and it came out without much effort. Should I be worried? I tried to shake the pen to see if it would come out, but it stayed in place. It will rotate also. Should I try anything else (I'm pretty certain that I've pushed it all the way in, but am squeamish so I could use more force) or will this simply be a pen that I have to be careful with from now on?

 

- J

 

Coincidentally, I just finished disassembling a latest model modern 146 and the parts are soaking in water. (terribly choked with MB black, ebay purchase...)

 

There is NO slot/groove for the nib inside the modern case feeder!! so the nib and feed assembly can be inserted in any orientation with respect to the extractor slots. I could easily knock the nib and feed out so it is not a very tight fit either (the first gen plastic feeder was a amazing tight fit, based on a a few 149s from that era which I have opened).

 

However as you might have observed, the feed narrows towards the end(older ebonite feeds were also similar). The interface between the diameters forms a shoulder which 'buts' against the shoulder in the case feeder so I guess you have inserted it deep enough. Just push them in properly and forget about it till the next time. And pls do use the clip on the pen

[Justjcez]

The same pen in my first post is now leaking at the rear piston twist section. I'm not sure exactly where the leak is coming from, but wonder if this is a pen I should try to repair, send in for repair, or give to an enemy? (Inked...of course) Any thoughts? (Hilarious story to follow).

 

So the story continues... perhaps this is now an "unlucky" pen. I was trying clothes on in a department store looking for a few shirts. I had my pen in my shirt pocket (clipped of course) with me so that I could test to see if it would fit properly in the new shirts I was buying.

 

I found an awesome shirt I liked, but while putting it back on the hanger, I realized there was an ink stain on the shirt. I thought to myself that some genius had probably made the ink stain by putting a defective ball point pen or something and then hiding the shirt in the rack so that some poor sap (myself of course) would find it. Going to the clerk, this was the last shirt in the store, and so I had them work some magic to have another store hold a shirt for me until I could pick it up. It WAS a bit of trouble for them to do.

 

When I got home, I realized there was blue ink on my money and receipts (also in the shirt pocket) which was surprisingly mysterious. SO I look at my shirt, and realize there's ink on my shirt... The "Genius" with the defective pen was me!

 

Come to think of it, I realized my shirt had dropped (with the pen in it) between changings, and I had thought nothing of it. So now I have two shirts with ink on it, one of which will be exchanged...I don't know how I'd feel about not exchanging the shrit after the clerk went through hell to get the clean shirt for me.

 

- Just J

[hari317]

Just send it in to MB, Just J. they will fully overhaul your pen. I think it needs the overhaul by now

[Chrissy]

Just send it in to MB, Just J. they will fully overhaul your pen. I think it needs the overhaul by now

+1 for this. Then your niub/feed will be newly sealed in with the pink bubble gum type sealant, and your piston will be fixed with any new parts that it needs. All for about $80 worth of service.

[Justjcez]

So I dropped this off and will see what happens. I shall report back with the current happenings when I hear more.

- J