El Grande FP problem

[wicook]

Hi folks,

I recently completed my first El Grande fountain pen. It worked great with a cartridge. However, when I put the ink pump in it, I discovered that the top of the pump binds in the plastic end piece. When I take the nib off to see how much ink I've got left in the pump...I also have to unscrew the black plastic end to get access to the pump. If I don't think about it and put the nib back first, I get lots of ink...everywhere...but I've never done that, of course. [xx(] The fit is quite snug. Any ideas will be appreciated.

By the way, the ink pump in question is the simple all-plastic one that comes with the Lee Valley kit (Berea, I believe). I also have a Waterman pump that I tried, but it goes into an air lock condition very quickly.

 

[bgray]

Was this pen once a rollerball, and you converted it to a fountain pen? If so you might still have the spring in the bottom of the pen. I've done that with a pen, and the spring will grab the twist mechanism of the converter, sometimes twisting it, spraying ink everywhere. That's all I can think of.

 

[bjackman]

I have run into this as well, a time or two and have a couple possible soloutions for you.
It's .....POSSIBLE.....I might have been a little aggressive trimming the blank down and shortened the tube some when it happened to me. []
Once it was not the actual smaller diameter end that was bottoming out on the very end of the pen body, but the wider shoulder that was coming into contact farther up, and once, I think it was a combination of both.
First you can sand off a small amount of the very end of the converter without affecting it's operation. I think I've taken off ~ .25" before on some closed end pens I've done. As long as the little threaded plunger inside the ribbed black plastic part you turn doesn't go all the way past the internal threads, meaning it won't catch and retract when you turn it back the other way, you are fine.
Also, you can ream out a small amount of the hole in the plastic reciever so the wider shoulder part does not hit there. I think a .25 drill bit just fits inside the hole in the reciever, so a size or two larger reams out enough for the slightly larger shoulder to clear inside the hole.
As I said, it may be either or, or a combo of both that you need to do to fix the problem.
Good luck, and let us know how it works out.

Ps, Edited to say I just read this post with my signature line and am laughing at myself. [:I]

 

[wicook]

bgray: Thanks for the input. The El Grande was never a rollerball and does not have a spring in the cap. I can see why you might suspect that as the problem based on your experience. I think Bill J.'s observations, however, are probably more the case. I do tend to get a bit over-aggressive when trimming sometimes... []

Good ideas, Bill. Your suggestions may well fix my immediate problem. I'm pretty sure it's the shoulder that's binding. I suspect that reaming out the end cap a bit would be the best option. In the longer term, I probably need to watch my trimming a bit more carefully. With this particular pen, the mill cut a bit more quickly than I expected... [B)]

 

[wicook]

Your idea did the trick, Bill. I used a 9/32 to open it up a bit, followed by a 5/16 to open it up a bit more. That's all it took to stop the binding. Thanks again.

Now to figure out how to keep from getting so aggressive with my squaring cuts... [B)]

 

[bjackman]

Bill,
I have actually started leaving a small amount of squared wood extending past the brass tube in both directions on the body of EG's. With just that little bit of extra length there should be no issues if the end user wants to use a different converter, and since all the fittings are still mostly on brass tube, I don't see that I am loosing much strength.
Glad it worked for you. []

 

[RussFairfield]

There is sometimes a problem with the Schmidt converter because it is longer than the ones that come with the kit. You can cut about 1/8" off the twist knob on the end of the converter. However, there is also a metal band around the Schnidt that can bind up at the entry into the posting cap.

The old American Classic (Parker) pens were very bad about length, and if you weren't careful, even the kit converter was too long.

The secret is to NOT square the ends down to where you are making shiny metal on the end of the tybe. As Bill says, leaving the wood a heavy 1/32" long solves all of these length problems. Checking hole clearances and depth with a dial caliper is always a good idea.

The real solution is to make closed end pens. Then you can make the diameter and depth anything you want. You can even drill the pen so it will hold a spare cartridge, or use the long universal cartridge. Those are things you can't do with most kit pens.

 

[wicook]

Thanks for the extra info, too, Bill and Russ. Closed end pens are something I'm interested in trying...just haven't gotten to that level yet. Maybe in the next few months...