Repairing piston knob on an Aurora Optima

[RevAaron]

Hey all! I have an Aurora Optima that I bought used ~2008. It's been one of my favorite pens since, and one of the few I've actually used on a regular basis for writing the last number of years. When I got it, the blue resin had already warped/shrunk, which meant that I happily used the pen instead of thinking about it as a showpiece. Fidgeting with it the other day, I apparently put too much pressure from the wrong angle and the piston knob snapped clean off. Photos below.

 

My questions: 

1. Who in the US could repair this economically?
2. Can I order the parts to do the repair myself?
3. Are there cheaper pens which will take Aurora Optima nib units?

 

I've recently gotten back into the hobby, and have been having a lot of fun re-discovering a lot of other great pens that I have. One of the things I discovered in my boxes of pen stuff is two additional Aurora nibs for the Optima that I completely forgot - an 18k Fine and a lovely 14k OB/OBB with more line variation than I expected on a newer nib.  I'd really love to keep using this one! 

 

Thanks in advance all!!

 

 

Rev

[pix]

It happened to me on two Optimas and one 88. Apparently that is a weak point. In my case, a very small amount of cyanoacrylate on the surfaces that sheared off was able to fix it. But it could have easily gone wrong if the glue went to the wrong parts, so I'm not really recommending this solution.

 

If I'm not mistaken, Optima/88 nib units can be installed on the cheaper Talentum or Alpha models, which are cartridge/converter pens.

[RevAaron]

Thanks for the reply! If yours broke in the same way, did you apply glue to the ring in red?

 

I'd love to send this away to have it fixed properly, but I also understand that most pen companies would rather have us buy a new pen than facilitate or provide repairs at a reasonable cost. I'm guessing that Aurora would fix, but probably at the cost of a new pen. Especially with the resin shrinkage/warping, this isn't a pen worth spending hundreds of dollars on for me.

[pix]

7 hours ago, RevAaron said:

Thanks for the reply! If yours broke in the same way, did you apply glue to the ring in red?

Yes.

[RevAaron]

Thanks! I may give that a try, but for now I'll just treat it as an eyedropper.