Disappointment

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Hubert H

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Jul 13, 2010
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917
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Wolford, ND
Flat Top Screw Caps Fountain Pen. Never again. The cap unscrewed while in pocket and ruined a shirt. I bought four kits, and three of the four caps will not stay fastened. It was a real disappointment. I couldn't give one of these to an enemy let alone a friend.
 

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NJturner

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Dec 4, 2006
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New Jersey, USA.
Well, that is a shame! Sounds like something went wrong in the production of the threaded inserts on the kit. My only suggestion is to take a close look at how the cap and the body mate. Normally, when making your own threads for a pen, you add a bit of relief to the threads - meaning leaving a little room for tightening and not cutting the threads to the end of the connection - so the cap can be tightened snugly. Without the relief, the two pieces don't really 'lock' to each other, potentially allowing them to do what is happening to you. I don't know how you could add a relief if it needs it, but it might be that something else, like an overhang of the blank, or potentially a mis-truing of the end of the blank, is keeping things from snugging up. Take a magnifier to it and give things a good close look.
 

jrista

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Aug 12, 2021
Messages
2,241
Location
Colorado
Flat Top Screw Caps Fountain Pen. Never again. The cap unscrewed while in pocket and ruined a shirt. I bought four kits, and three of the four caps will not stay fastened. It was a real disappointment. I couldn't give one of these to an enemy let alone a friend.
That looks the same as the "New Series" kits I purchased a while back. I had the same problem, and vowed never to use the kit again. I think the problem is that the threads are metal on metal. I don't think the sleeve in the cap is plastic, like most screw on capped kits. The metal on metal does NOT stay put. I have several of the New Series style kits...they will probably never be used.
 

Darios

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Joined
Oct 27, 2022
Messages
417
Location
US
Flat Top Screw Caps Fountain Pen. Never again. The cap unscrewed while in pocket and ruined a shirt. I bought four kits, and three of the four caps will not stay fastened. It was a real disappointment. I couldn't give one of these to an enemy let alone a friend.
Appreciate the heads up.
 

ed4copies

Local Chapter Manager
Joined
Mar 25, 2005
Messages
24,528
Location
Racine, WI, USA.
This is a fact of life: Metal on metal will not stay closed.
Add an O ring and you mitigate the problem (NOT solve completely)

We often hear "kit complaints" about the "crummy plastic threads", so people try the metal threads and find out they open when in the pocket.




Oh, I found this out when I sold pens retail--amazing the pen ALWAYS opened in the pocket of a hundred dollar shirt!!!
 

Hubert H

Member
Joined
Jul 13, 2010
Messages
917
Location
Wolford, ND
That looks the same as the "New Series" kits I purchased a while back. I had the same problem, and vowed never to use the kit again. I think the problem is that the threads are metal on metal. I don't think the sleeve in the cap is plastic, like most screw on capped kits. The metal on metal does NOT stay put. I have several of the New Series style kits...they will probably never be used.
I agree completely.
 

Hubert H

Member
Joined
Jul 13, 2010
Messages
917
Location
Wolford, ND
This is a fact of life: Metal on metal will not stay closed.
Add an O ring and you mitigate the problem (NOT solve completely)

We often hear "kit complaints" about the "crummy plastic threads", so people try the metal threads and find out they open when in the pocket.




Oh, I found this out when I sold pens retail--amazing the pen ALWAYS opened in the pocket of a hundred dollar shirt!!!
Sad but true. I have learned a lesson the hard way.
 

jrista

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Joined
Aug 12, 2021
Messages
2,241
Location
Colorado
We often hear "kit complaints" about the "crummy plastic threads", so people try the metal threads and find out they open when in the pocket.

I'm kind of surprised by that. I always thought that it was a good idea to have both the plastic threads and the plastic sleeve extending into the tube a ways. Aside from allowing the threads to actually stick to each other and keep the cap closed, the sleeve protects the plating on the nib as you insert it. A long sleeve of some kind also hides the rather ugly look of the brass tube, producing a better look in the end.

Perhaps another material, ebonite or something, could be used, but that would certainly increase the cost of the kits... And I don't know that it would actually look all that different.
 

ed4copies

Local Chapter Manager
Joined
Mar 25, 2005
Messages
24,528
Location
Racine, WI, USA.
People manhandle the kits. Cross-thread and pull instead of twisting--then blame the kit.

Fortunately, it is a small portion of the population, but they CAN be very VOCAL!!
 
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