Rotring 600 Fountain Pen Repair

[troubleman]

I have a problem with a rotring 600 fountain pen with nib F.
the part between the cap and the body, the threaded part that screws the pen to the body, is no longer fixed to the cylinder of the pen, moves forward and backward making it impossible to insert the cap correctly, moves until the complete exit of the upper part. I hope I was clear. is it possible to repair it?

Edited January 27, 2021 by troubleman

[mana]

Is the chrome colored part at the end of the section (that is now covered with black tape?) loose from the rest of the. section (the knurled part that you grip the pen from and that has the nib at the other end)?

[inkandseeds]

I have two Levenger versions of this pen from way back.  One developed the same problem.  The knurled section section piece separated from the rest of the section.  Comparing it to the other pen it appears that two taps which hold the section piece in disintegrated.  In the attached photo, the upper pen is the broken pen.  
 

I stopped using the good pen years ago as the knurled section is slightly loose.

 

 

[mana]

On the 600 the threaded chrome/steel colored metal insert that screws into the barrel is glued into the section (the whole section is assembled with glue aside from the feed and nib which are friction fit). So if that is the problem then it can be remedied by just gluing it back in place. Shellac should work fine.

The rOtring Newton (and also the Levenger branded versions of those) have the same construction but with the addition of those studs, much like the Lamy 2000. They are prone to breaking through metal fatigue from repeated use. Unfortunately haven't heard or read on how to fix those. I would assume that if one were to disassemble a working section, a similar part (with the retaining studs/nubs) could be manufactured using an intact one as a model, and then, the whole section assembled again.

 

rOtring 600 are great looking and feeling pens but despite feeling very much over-engineered they have some serious shortcomings on the longevity department due to some questionable design and engineering choices. I am not using mine (aside from the mechanical pencils which are superb) due to those issues. As in, using them will inevitably break key components in them, namely the cap retaining mechanisms in both the 600 and the Newton/Levenger versions of the pens. Funny that as those studs were actually added to alleviate and mitigate the problems in the original 600...  

[troubleman]

14 hours ago, mana said:

Is the chrome colored part at the end of the section (that is now covered with black tape?) loose from the rest of the. section (the knurled part that you grip the pen from and that has the nib at the other end)?

there's no tape .

the "screwing" part just came out of the barrel . 

 

4 hours ago, mana said:

On the 600 the threaded chrome/steel colored metal insert that screws into the barrel is glued into the section (the whole section is assembled with glue aside from the feed and nib which are friction fit). So if that is the problem then it can be remedied by just gluing it back in place. Shellac should work fine.

The rOtring Newton (and also the Levenger branded versions of those) have the same construction but with the addition of those studs, much like the Lamy 2000. They are prone to breaking through metal fatigue from repeated use. Unfortunately haven't heard or read on how to fix those. I would assume that if one were to disassemble a working section, a similar part (with the retaining studs/nubs) could be manufactured using an intact one as a model, and then, the whole section assembled again.

 

rOtring 600 are great looking and feeling pens but despite feeling very much over-engineered they have some serious shortcomings on the longevity department due to some questionable design and engineering choices. I am not using mine (aside from the mechanical pencils which are superb) due to those issues. As in, using them will inevitably break key components in them, namely the cap retaining mechanisms in both the 600 and the Newton/Levenger versions of the pens. Funny that as those studs were actually added to alleviate and mitigate the problems in the original 600...  

just glued? i thought it was clipped in somehow .. Is Shellac a glue? 

 

i didn't find the levenger version with red logo and  bevel anywhere online . i'm curious about them .

 

[troubleman]

7 hours ago, inkandseeds said:

I have two Levenger versions of this pen from way back.  One developed the same problem.  The knurled section section piece separated from the rest of the section.  Comparing it to the other pen it appears that two taps which hold the section piece in disintegrated.  In the attached photo, the upper pen is the broken pen.  
 

I stopped using the good pen years ago as the knurled section is slightly loose.

 

 

my situation is like this 

[joss]

I guess that the bush with internal thread was originally glued (I think that I see remnants of a glue) and tightly clamped inside the barrel. 

A bit of superglue will do the trick but if you have shellac I would try that first because it is readily reversible.

 

Shellac is a resin and widely used in pen repair:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shellac

Edited January 28, 2021 by joss
textual

[troubleman]

9 minutes ago, joss said:

I guess that the bush with internal thread was originally glued (I think that I see remnants of a glue) and tightly clamped inside the barrel. 

A bit of superglue will do the trick but if you have shellac I would try that first because it is readily reversible.

actually the remaining glue that u see was my attempt to fix it with superglue , as you can see, with no result 😕 .

 

i ran a little google search on shellac , i found this : HOT STUFF Instant Glues Red label, Hot Stuff.  is it the "right" glue to use? 

 

anyway i wrote to rotring and newell  and they said that there's no more spare parts(obiouvsly) so every 600 are literally impossible to repair. i'm in contact now with a vintage restore pen shop, the guy will see the pen and he will tell me if is possible to do somethin. 

i'm so disappointed for this issue 

[troubleman]

p.s.

anyone knows how to change the nib?

[joss]

23 minutes ago, troubleman said:

actually the remaining glue that u see was my attempt to fix it with superglue , as you can see, with no result 😕 .

 

i ran a little google search on shellac , i found this : HOT STUFF Instant Glues Red label, Hot Stuff.  is it the "right" glue to use?

 

it is metal on metal so you likely have to use a special glue. Shellac might not be the ideal choice here so I wouldn't bother if you do not have it available.

 

The problem is that the bush fits tightly into the barrel so pushing the glued or shellacked bush into the barrel may remove the major part of the glue/shellac. There are glues however that bond after you allow them to dry so maybe you have to find that kind of glue. 

 

[Steveg58]

Shellac isn't used as a glue these days outside of fountain pens. You can find it in hardware stores in many countries as a wood finish often called French Polish. It is sold as flakes that can be dissolved in alcohol or an already prepared mixture. It is fine as a metal glue for a low loading application. If you find you have made a mistake you can dunk the whole thing in alcohol and let it dissolve again.

[troubleman]

thanks to everyone. 

what about the nibs replacements? is it doable ?

[mana]

1 hour ago, troubleman said:

thanks to everyone. 

what about the nibs replacements? is it doable ?

Yes, but it can be... problematic. I managed to break a feed on one of mine when attempting that (one half of the feed came out with the nib, the other half remained in the section). They are friction fit and provided it is completely free of fouling (residual ink) you might be able to pull it out intact. They really were not meant to be disassembled.

[mana]

This is how the parts should look.

 

 

[mana]

Ah, now I got it! So the part inside the barrel (bushing?), that contains the counter threads to the section threads, has gotten loose? Never thought that as a separate part! But... yeah, now that I think of it, yes, it indeed is a separate part from the barrel housing (which is just a brass tube). Wild... I suppose you could use epoxy to glue it back on.

 

Can you unscrew that part from the section?

[troubleman]

5 hours ago, mana said:

This is how the parts should look.

 

 

Very cool. Mine is like this now .

 

4 hours ago, mana said:

Can you unscrew that part from the section?

Which part from what ?

[mana]

28 minutes ago, troubleman said:

Which part from what ?

 

You already did! 👍🏻 As in, the black part in that picture needs to be glued back inside the barrel so that it is seated so that only the top portion, on the right in that picture, remains visible. I recommend epoxy, you really do not need much for that.

[mana]

Something to pay attention to, the depth it is seated to determines how well the cap closing mechanism works (or if it works at all). I can measure how much it should protrude from the edge of the barrel tomorrow.

[troubleman]

1 hour ago, mana said:

so that only the top portion, on the right in that picture, remains visible.

Actually the left side is the "visible" side. Suggestions oh how remove glue remaining?

1 hour ago, mana said:

I can measure how much it should protrude from the edge of the barrel tomorrow.

Thanks a lot but I have another 600 i can compare to it. 

 

1 hour ago, mana said:

I recommend epoxy, you really do not need much for that.

Any recommendations on which epoxy and on how to do that ?

[troubleman]

6 hours ago, mana said:

This is how the parts should look.

 

 

how to unplug and plug in back these guys here ?