Blade click kit advice

[hooked]

Hello,

I am hoping that I could ask for some advice. I am putting together 12 Blade pens for Christmas for my son's teachers at school. I have made this kit before and love it. This time I went ahead and upgraded to the Schmidt 9000 refills. I turned all of the pens, and when I went to assemble them, I realized the refills were not coming out of the nib enough, making the pens unusable. I thought it was something with my turning or that the blanks were cut too long, bad presses. I come to realize that the Schmidt 9000 refill is not exactly the same size as the included refill. The Schmidt seems to flare out less at the spring, and it also is a tiny bit shorter on the plastic piece on the end of the refill. When I use the included refill, everything works fine.

Does anyone know of a workaround to make the upgraded refill work in this pen? I was thinking about adding a drop of solder at the bottom of the Schmidt click mechanism to make the refill protrude a little more. Is there a more standard workaround for this issue? Perhaps a different spring? It's not easy to see in my pictures, but the little extra that the original refill protrudes makes a big difference in usability.

Thank you!

 

[magpens]

How about sanding a wee tiny, little bit off the barrels .... (sanding by hand not by a motor driven sander) ? ..... Or maybe it is too late for that.
You might have already assembled all the pens, and disassembly would be difficult and a real pain even if you could do it.

I would NOT apply any heat (for soldering) to the Schmidt SKM-88 click mechanism .

You could glue on a very tiny "washer" to the end of the "push rod" extending from the SKM-88 mechanism.

I hope you find a way. . Let us know, please.

EDIT: . From the last picture, it seems to me that the pen is still usable for writing, even tho' the protrusion of the refill is not quite what you want.

A tiny carpet tack glued into the hole at the top end of the refill would add a bit of protrusion without altering the architecture of the pen itself.

I think, as David says below, that you want to avoid altering the pen architecture to ensure that future refill replacements are not compromised.

 

[David350]

Hi Mark, did you get these from Exotic Blanks, as they appear to be the new Schmidt 9000 without labels that they are selling. If so, I would contact Ed at EB and ask him to compare their label-less 9000 refill's length to a standard parker type refill. There are several things you could do to fix your pens. However, I would suggest your "fix" takes into account what parker type refills your users are likely to get in the future.

 

[hooked]

Thank you for the replies. Yes, I purchased it from Exotic Blanks, and I have sent an email to Ed about it. I was hoping someone on here might have experienced the issue and have a quick fix. I need to get these done tonight.

The picture showing the issue is not the best, but it is just enough difference to make the pen skip occasionally when writing. Unfortunately, assembly is done. I tested the first of the bunch with the original refill, and everything looked good, so I finished the rest. It wasn't until I was done that I dropped in the Schmidt refill and noticed the problem.

I may have found a solution. I put a bead of thick CA at the Schmidt refill's tip to give is just a little bit of length needed. The refill seems to be working well now. Think this will hold up?

 

[RobS]

yes it should hold up if the plastic is compatible with CA. So give it a few days, and then see if it the CA pops free with your nail, or if it is truly adhered.

 

[magpens]

It should be OK, Mark ..... there are no forces that would tend to dislodge the bead of CA. . In fact, the forces would tend to hold it in.

Good solution !

 

[gware]

I just had the same issue with the same kit. I also "fixed" the problem doing the same thing with CA . It has been just over a week and have clicked it quite a few times without problems.

 

[hooked]

Thanks everyone! I did the CA hack to the refills and all looks good.

 

[mmayo]

A similar issue came up with steampunk pens from PSI. The pen would simply not move the writing end through the nib. I talked with Ed and he came up with the label less cartridge. It fixed some issues and I buy them now for everything. PSI recently changed their spring. Both ends are different now. By switching the orientation now I can have premium EasyFlow 9000 and write with them too!

I do like the CA solution, but think it will be an issue if they buy an exact refill and it does not work. Amazon sells EasyFlow 9000's

 

[tomtedesco]

What happens when the refill runs out and owners need to replace? Do you advise them of the "fix" or to replace with a different refill?

 

[hooked]

I included the original unlabeled refill that came with the kit along with the installed Schmidt 9000. I know that refill fits unmodified. I know that is not ideal and definitely not the best solution for people selling this pen. Being a hobbyist, friends/family who have my pens can always ask me for a refill.

I imagine if I were selling them, As Mal suggested, I would think that if the tube was sanded down a little under 1/16 of an inch while squaring, the included Parker style refill and a Schmidt 9000 would both work properly without modification. As mentioned, I discovered my issue when it was too late to sand the tubes down a bit to compensate.