Incompatible converters on Jr Gents?

[chrisk]

Hi all,
Tonight I offered a Jr Gent FP to a friend who generally uses converters. But I had a lot of trouble by trying to fit a Schmidt or a Heritance Vacuum converter on this FP kit. In the beginning, even by forcing the converter to fit, it remained stubbornly empty! At last I was able to fill a Schmidt one.
But it seems that those converters aren't compatible with the Jr Gents kits.
Do some colleagues had a similar experience?

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

 

[ed4copies]

Chris,

Is this a Jr Gent II?

 

[chrisk]

Yes Ed it is a Jr Gent II. And the same problem happened with two kits.

 

[ed4copies]

This could be difficult, because all my calipers are in inches--I'm guessing your tools would be metric.

Here's what I can see on our inventory---the Jr. Gent II "front end" has a .26" hole.

The Heritance converter has a diameter of just under .25"

I looked at 3 different platings of the kit and took sample readings on three converters. They were all the "same".

If you would like to PM me the exact model of Jr. Gent, maybe we can get more information????

Ed

 

[rixstix]

Jr Gent 2. Yep. Happens regularly. The converter just barely fits and/or comes off about the time you get things all screwed back together. More often with the Black Titanium than others. If one brand converter doesn't fit, none seem to fit.

My solution was to shorten (grind & polish) the metal a mm or so where the shoulder of the converter or cartridge comes into contact with the nib assembly.

Actually the metal extends past the end of the threads by a MM, more or less on the ones that have problems.

Substitute converter for cartridge shown in pic

 

[chrisk]

Ed the two kits I tried are Jr Gent II Black Titanium fountain pens (smooth end).
As for the dimensions (sorry for the milimeters) we have a 6,6mm hole and a 6,35mm diameter for the Heritance converter, exactly the same as the Schmidt converter.
Having a Schmidt converter in front of me I can see 3 different diameters from the beginning of the converter: the first one is 4,2mm diameter and 2,8mm long; the 2d is 6,35mm diameter for a length of 4,25mm; and the 3d (a tapered one) begins at 6,9mm up to 7,45mm for a legth of 31,4mm. I found out that this 3d diameter has to be crushed in the hole in order for the converter to stay in place and for the converter's hole to fit in the pin which will pump up the ink.
Am I right or am I wrong?

Seemingly I'm right as noted by Rick above.

In the opposite with ink cartridges there is no problem.

 

[chrisk]

Yes Rick it's exactly the same problem I encountered.
Thank you for sharing your solution.

 

[Sam@CSUSA]

Thank you to everyone who has participated in this thread. At Craft Supplies USA we've looked into what is going on with the converter. We are looking into a more permanent solution for future shipments from the supplier and a Craft Supplies USA rep will keep you all posted on what we decide on. Here is a response I emailed to chrisk in response to his email he sent to us.

... Thank you for contacting us with this issue. Upon inspection of the converter we definitely agree with your complaint. Here are a couple of suggestions for using the ones that you currently have that will not affect the outside aesthetics of the pen.
· Take the male threaded section of the nib housing to a grinder and remove about 2mm (1/16") from the male threads. You will then want to use an exact-o knife or box cutter blade to remove any burrs from the inside diameter where the refill/converter is inserted.
-OR-
· Use an exact-o knife or box cutter blade to trim the step from the largest diameter to the middle diameter. This will make the transition from the middle step to the large diameter more of a taper than an actual step making it easier to press the converter onto the feeder.
A tip for ensuring the converter is properly seated on the feeder is to twist the converter while pressing it into position. You can use this tip without doing either suggestion above, but you will need to press the components together with a lot of pressure. This will slightly "peel" back the step on the converter and make it easier for future assembly of the same converter onto the feed if the converter is ever removed.
...


If you have any questions about my response, please either post it here, private message me, or call the Craft Supplies USA Technical Department (800) 551-8876 ext. 2.


If there are ever any questions regarding any products from Craft Supplies please feel free to contact me so we can get any issue resolved quickly. Thanks again to all who participated in this thread!

 

[chrisk]

Sam, thanks a lot for your feedback. With your posting, you're concretely demonstrating CSUSA professionalism.
As for the one kit with which I finaly achieved the proper seating, I proceded (instinctively) with a "twist and pressing" motion (I described it as crushing), exactly as you're detailing above.

Thanks again for taking care of your customers.

 

[chrisk]

Thanks also to the IAP colleagues, Ed and Rick, who contributed to this thread.

Christos.