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Kaweco Al-Sport Cartridge Comes Loose


PDW

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OK, I'd dropped my al-Sport a couple of times, but when I opened it to check how much ink was left in the Herbin cartridge the section unscrewed but the cartridge was left loose in the barrel. It seems that in my example there is nothing holding the cartridge in place from the rear - the cartridge is free to drop down into the barrel if it comes off the nipple.

 

Is my pen missing a piece that would hold the cartridge in place, or are all al-Sports like this?

Edited by PDW
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The cartridge is held by friction to the tip of the feed (nipple) that it fits over. Did this tip break off? Maybe the cartridge opening has been cracked so it is no longer tight. Does a new cartridge stay attached? The nib and feed just pull out of the grip section. The nib and feed do not need to be aligned, but can be carefully twisted back and forth until they slip loose. Be sure to soak the pen to soften any dried ink in the section. Here is a photo. You can see the nipple at the back of the feed. That is the tip that pierces the end of a new cartridge. The cartridge grips this tip by friction.

 

If the nipple is broken off, you cannot use it unless you convert it to an eyedropper pen to fill with bottled ink. If the nipple in intact, just use a new cartridge.

 

post-106621-0-70884700-1434898680_thumb.jpg

Edited by graystranger

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The cartridge pushes back on OK, so I assume nothing is broken, but other pens I've met have have something to keep a cartridge in place when installed, even cheap two-cartridge pens. This just seems a bit under-engineered, which surprises me.

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I have numerous cartridge pens and none of them have anything to keep the cartridge in place except the friction fit inside the grip section. The Pilot Vanishing Point pens have a metal cap that covers the cartridge, but his is to make sure the overall length is right for the pen's capless mechanism and to prevent the mechanism from pushing against the soft plastic cartridges when they are used.

 

I do remember some years ago having a fountain pen that may have been like you mention. When a new cartridge was dropped into the barrel it was seated onto the pen's nipple when the barrel was screwed back on. This might be my 1965 Sheaffer Lifetime Pen. There may have been more, but I don't think any of my new pens do this at all.

 

If you have a collection of odd springs, you might find one that fits into the barrel and provides some pressure against the cartridge. If it is too long you could clip the coils until you get the right length. May need something to prevent the cartridge from fitting inside the spring.

 

Or, a simple piece of foam rubber might work. Actually, if you are careful getting the right length anything that fits into the barrel and is the right length to come close to a seated cartridge would work, a piece of wood dowel or plastic rod. In a clear pen it might look odd.

 

I really think you are over-thinking this and anticipating a problem that is not there. Apparently it is not a problem or many pens out there would address it with their design. I've never had a cartridge come use in the 20 years of using fountain pens with cartridges daily at work and home. Never. Eventually, a cartridge that is reused many times (like I do) may get loose and need to be tossed. I think that happened once for me, but it did not drop off the nipple, I just felt the loose fit and used a fresher cartridge that fit normally.

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Sorry to disagree, graystranger, but with many pens you insert the cartridge and then screw down the section to the barrel, which forces the cartridge on to the nipple and opens it. That way the cartridge is secured and started at the same time.

 

Edited for typo

Edited by PDW
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Update: a piece of tube just under 1cm long cut from a used cartridge and dropped into the barrel seems to hold the cartridge in place.

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Sorry to disagree, graystranger, but with many pens you insert the cartridge and then screw down the section to the barrel, which forces the cartridge on to the nipple and opens it. That way the cartridge is secured and started at the same time.

 

Edited for typo

Are most of these older pens? After I posted I thought my statement might be too broad. I have not seated an ink cartridge by using the barrel in nearly 30 years, as I refill the cartridges from bottles most of the time and so many cannot seat like that that I quite doing it long ago.

 

None of my Platinum pens (Preppy, Balance, Cool, 3776 Century) will seat like this. Neither do any of my Pilot pens: Parallels, Vanishing Point, Metropolitan, Metal Falcon. Nor my Italian pens: Monteverde Charisma or Loclen.

 

The only pens I have that will seat the cartridge using the barrel are my 1965 Sheaffer Lifetime pen, Waterman Carene, and a 1996 Sheaffer Prelude.

 

So, out of my arsenal of about 30 pens, I have three that seat their cartridges by screwing in the barrel. The other 25+ all have to be hand seated. Never had a cartridge from any of these come off of the nipple, even when dropped.

Edited by graystranger

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AFAIK Parkers, Lamys, Sheaffers and pens that take two international cartridges back-to-back all hold the cartridge feeding the nib firmly as I described.

 

Even my Diplomat Balance C, which takes only one international cartridge, has a barrel which holds it firmly in place.

 

All in all, finding that the cartridge in a pen sold as 'tough' as the al-Sport is is held on the nipple only was rather a surprise - hence my assumption that I'd lost a part somewhere!

Edited by PDW
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  • 7 years later...

This happened to me when nothing was wrong with any of the parts of the pen. It's just a bad design. My fix--I cut out a 2.5-3.0 cm cube out of a hardened sponge, the one that was inside an ink bottle package, and placed it in the barrel so that I feel little resistance as I screw close the barrel with a cartridge attached. This fixed the problem.

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  • 2 months later...

Late to the party but, I'll leave this for future reference.

Totally normal for the Sport series, as the gap allows for the converter plunger be pulled out all the way. For cartridge use, and as mentioned before, a piece of dowel, foam or the spring from a disposable ballpoint retractable pen can help; I cut a piece out of a vinyl eraser ("click" erasers) of about 17mm in length and drop it into the barrel before attaching the section with the cartridge (I also use refilled cartridges).

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Value Collection - Compression Spring: 0.24" OD, 1" Free Length - 03307907 - MSC Industrial Supply (mscdirect.com)

 

I don't own a Kaweco Al-Sport or any of the metal sports, but I do own quite a few of the plastic sports, including the Classics, Skylines, and Frosted. A few years ago, I bought a couple bags of these stainless-steel springs, they fit perfectly and give just the right amount of tension to the back of the cartridge. 

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