Stratus Repair

[keithbyrd]

I recently sold a Stratus click ball point. The customer just emailed me and said she dropped it and the clicker on top broke of and wanted to know if I could fix it and of course I said yes. So now my question is how? The clicker simply screws onto a plastic threaded end of the click unit and I am afraid that is what broke off. Does anyone know if you can get replacement parts and how to get that unit apart? I thought I would ask before I started messing around with it!
Thanks for any help or ideas you may have!

 

[avbill]

do you have a second stratus kit on hand? start there

 

[Ted iin Michigan]

Same issue. I took the broken part and backed out the threaded plastic part inside. I used the tip of my pocket knife. SAVE BOTH PARTS! The plastic part is hollow. I experimented and found that an 18 gauge brad from my brad nailer fits in the hole of the plastic part pretty good. Imagine a small piece of wood would work as well. Then I mixed up a SMALL bit of epoxy, put a wee bit (just enough to coat the surface) on the INSIDE of the hole in the plastic part. Inserted the brad. Twisted until the mating surfaces lined up and cleaned any epoxy off the threads with DNA before the epoxy set up. The clean up was the hard part. Then I threaded the button back on. Good as new (almost).

And, yes, you can get spare parts. Call the PSI cust service 800 number. I've found them very helpful on the phone. Don't bother emailing them. The tough part on that option would be getting the old click mechanism out without damaging the pen.

 

[Jim Burr]

I'm wondering if it's like the Vertex clicker...super cheap plastic screw top? Couple good fixes for those if it's the same anatomy.

 

[Ted iin Michigan]

Jim - Yes, it's the same mechanism.

 

[keithbyrd]

Ted - thanks for the tip - question did it hold up for the customer. Would hate to do the same repair twice!

 

[Si90]

I recently had a customer damage a pen. I contacted Penn State regards spare parts. I was advised that spares are available for all Penn State kits. The only issue is you have to telephone in orders for spare parts. They are despatched from a different location. As regards the Stratus, I couldn't get the mechanism out of the pen when I tried. You should be able to buy the whole click section and replace it if you can get the top fitting out of the tube.

 

[Swagopenturner]

I've got a few Stratus kits in some of the finishes on hand. Which finish do you need? PM me if you want to try that. I haven't had to repair a Stratus, but I have had to repair a Vertex . Using a transfer punch, you will completely ruin the mechanism when you tap it out. And i always use the glue and nail trick on all the Vertexs and Stratus that I make, AND warn the customers about dropping them!

 

[Ted iin Michigan]

Keith - Yes, the repair has held up. The customer is my barber as a matter of fact, and I get kudos every time I get my hair cut.