Disassembly

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Daddy1

Daddy1

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Feb 2, 2007
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Toledo, Ohio, USA.
I recently have gone through my pen inventory and a lot of pens were not up to par. You know those pens that seem great when you first start and then after you have been doing it for a while you look at those pens and say " the quality on these is HORRIBLE?"

Anyway, I would love to save the pen parts. Is there any good way to disassemble the pens without damaging the parts?
 
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Get a set of Harbor Freight transfer punches. I think they're usually around $10. You can disassemble just about any kit with those.
 
Depends on the kit. Aside from click pens, which I haven't figured out yet, most can be disassembled with a set of Harbor Freight punches. Just find the largest size punch that will fit inside the barrel, grab the barrel with one hand, and whack with a hammer with the other.

Edit: Beat by a minute... oh well.
Here's a link to the HF punches. They are on sale in a flyer I got for $5.99 until 9/24.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=3577
 
The transfer punches are great, but on some kits they can damage it too. On these kits (say like a Churchill) the centerband is thin plastic on the inside and will break if this method is used. On these kits, I will remove the wood with a light pinch of pliers, just enough to crack the wood. Now flake off the wood to the brass tube. I use a dremmel tool with a cut off wheel to just grind the tube off the length of the hardware. It takes just a second to pop the brass tube free and there is no chance of damage to any part. I have also "popped apart" the finals on some kits like the Jr. Gents trying to tap them apart.
 
I also use the transfer punches.

I have also experienced the same problem that Lee has in disassembling a churchill. What I stumbled across was a wire nut. Can't remember which color at the moment, but it fit almost perfectly inside the tube and allowed me to apply even pressure around the entire plastic piece in order to knock it out.

jeff
 
Lee/Jeff,

But sometimes when disassembling a Churchill you may not want to destroy the barrel. Occasionally I want to refinish one.

You can't just bang it off with the plastic, but there is a much easier way to get the Churchill center band out with the punches. Simply take the biggest punch that will fit, wedge it tightly against one edge, and tap lightly. I don't use a hammer, because I'm bracing the punch in my left hand and holding the pen in my right. I simply tap it against a hard surface like a floor or workbench. That edge will come out slightly. Then I work my way around, gradually working the center band out without damage.

The key is to keep the punch wedged tightly against the edge of the band and work it out a little at a time. You have to be gentle, but it still takes less than a minute.

I've done this successfully five or six times with no damage.



Originally posted by Firefyter-emt
<br />The transfer punches are great, but on some kits they can damage it too. On these kits (say like a Churchill) the centerband is thin plastic on the inside and will break if this method is used. On these kits, I will remove the wood with a light pinch of pliers, just enough to crack the wood. Now flake off the wood to the brass tube. I use a dremmel tool with a cut off wheel to just grind the tube off the length of the hardware. It takes just a second to pop the brass tube free and there is no chance of damage to any part. I have also "popped apart" the finals on some kits like the Jr. Gents trying to tap them apart.
Click to expand...
 
Granted, but it comes down to the fact that sooner or later one WILL break, and you have to buy a mildly expensive kit just for that one part. Saving the blank is nice, I was just offering a good solution to save a pen that the material has failed, say a cracked wood body. The $.50 insurance by using new tubes is worth it for me in that case.
 
Thank you all. Last night I disassembled several pens and the punches worked like a charm. I figure I saved $50-70 in pen kits(I had a lot of "oops pens" Once again thanks
 
This sounded like such a good idea I stopped at HF on my way home today to pick up a set of punches. The price on the shelf had them on sale for $9.99 but at the register they were only $5.99.

Later I managed to put the nib coupler on the wrong end of my first Jr. Statesman. Used my new punch to remove it and was ever so glad I bought the punch set.
 
Originally posted by cdcarter
<br />Lee/Jeff,

But sometimes when disassembling a Churchill you may not want to destroy the barrel. Occasionally I want to refinish one.
Click to expand...

Carl,

My method does not destroy the blank. The wire nut goes inside the tube and I use a punch to gently tap the nut. It applies even pressure along the entire rim of the center band, causing the band to slide evenly out of the tube. I find that if you just use a punch, the band wedges in the tube and the punch causes the rim of the center band to curl in.

jeff
 
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