Jr Gent Cap Thread Replacement

[PTownSubbie]

I have a Jr Gent I that the threads have cracked on and have to be replaced. Long story short is the finial had to be glued due to some other factors and can't be removed (unless someone knows how).

Is there a way to replace these threads without having to remove the finial cap? Normally you pull the finial cap and push them out the top...not possible this time.....

Any input on how to do this would be greatly appreciated!

 

[toddlajoie]

How did you glue the cap in? Even if you used CA, persistence will remove the cap.... It takes a bit, but it will come free. Not sure if there is something you may have used that holds stronger...

I can't think of any way of getting the CB and threads out from their own end. There is nowhere near enough grip in them to pull the centerband free...

 

[SteveG]

Have never done this, but the thought popped into my mind reading this thread...try at your own risk Insert a 3 inch toggle bolt into the CB end, then turn the bolt. The bolt will push on the cap, and the wings of the toggle will catch the CB. If all goes well, either the cap or the CB will be pressed out. I say again: do at your own risk. Also: don't try this at home

 

[GoodTurns]

I have heard (from a friend) that you can find a screw that will fit inside the trim ring, screw it in tight, lock the screw into a mounted vice and use one of those rubber grippers from the kitchen to yank the top off of the now secured trim ring. You may need to replace the entire trim ring and thread insert if you are not VERY careful....so I have heard :wink:

 

[PenMan1]

When this happens to me, I take linesman's pliers and mash the centerband flat. Then grip the flattened centerband with vice grip pliers and move the centerband left and right while holding the upper barrel in nitrite gloved left hand.

When the damaged centerband is freed, I replace the entire center section. THEN, I place the damaged centerband in a conspicuous place to remind me to only use threadlock to secure clip assemblies.

 

[workinforwood]

Take a solder or woodcarving iron and push it up inside till it touches finial. Wait about 3 min then pull it out and quickly punch out finial before glue resets. Heat will break bod temporarily..don't burn yourself. Then scrape glue residue from tube and push insert up through top.

Pliers and brute force is a disaster waiting to happen

 

[PenMan1]

Take a solder or woodcarving iron and push it up inside till it touches finial. Wait about 3 min then pull it out and quickly punch out finial before glue resets. Heat will break bod temporarily..don't burn yourself. Then scrape glue residue from tube and push insert up through top.

Pliers and brute force is a disaster waiting to happen

In 8 years, I have NEVER damaged a barrel by removing the entire centerband assembly (and I have removed a bunch because I bought a 100 lot of the bad thread Jr. Gent IIs). I said nothing about brute force. Simply a crimp and a flat surface so that the ring can be moved back and forth and impressed. (opposite and equal the pressure used to press in the ring).

Conversely, holding a 325 degree soldering gun inside a copper tube cover in PR, Alumalite, or 1/32" CA finished wood finished barrel for 3 minutes is a perfect way to bubble the resin or crack the CA finish. HEAT is the last method I would ever use. It is a common cause of premature pen failure (being left in auto glove boxes for extended periods).

If heat is a last ditch effort, I would use a hair drier before a soldering iron. Remember, copper tubing is an excellent distributor of heat, so the entire barrel gets super hot. Resins, woods and glues react poorly to heat. The weakest link will always fail first. EVERY pen that I have "super-heated" eventually developed a cracked or split barrel.

Respectfully submitted.

 

[workinforwood]

Sorry to upset you Andy. I tried that, my pliers slipped and I crunched the end of the pen on an occasion that I tried this technique. The heat from the soldering tip is on the center of the finial, not on the tube. by the time the heat makes it to the tubes, that cap is free. But..to each their own, you are welcome to destroy a centerband, it's your pen...but if Fred wants to save his, he can remove it with heat no problem. If you do apply heat to the tubes, you will then release the glue from the barrel and be able to remove it. Many a pen, especially laser ones, have been rescued this way due to the user installing something backwards, or simply getting a tube stuck halfway in a barrel. Heating like this is not enough to affect hardly any material we would make a pen with. Antlers and bones and casein don't crack from a little heating of a tube to remove it or from getting it a bit hot from drilling. Constant changes in environmental circumstances do that.

 

[PenMan1]

I'm not upset at all, Jeff. Heat has just always resulted in a barrel chip that starts to split at the cap end and eventually resulted in a hairline crack down the entire barrel.

I'll alway build another pen before applying heat.

As for destroying centerbands, I got a bad lot of the first "new" Jr Gent IIs. EVERY pen in that lot eventually quit threading and cracked the plastic insert. After replacing about 40 of them, I became quite proficient at sliding out the center assemblies. I never reused the centerbands (because I had plenty more of them) and even today, I am not convienced that the ring assembly was not defective as well.

You didn't make me mad, just the thought of those $&*# square thread Juniors did that.

I ruined a few high end pens with heat and vowed "never again".

 

[workinforwood]

I have used very little of the new inserts, pretty much just can't bear to make any of those insert pens anymore. I had one that was a few years old and a customer put the cap on and maybe turned it a touch too much and the insert broke, not just cracked but broke like the plastic was dried out and crumbled. I was thoroughly embarrassed, as I always will be if something isn't perfect before and after a customer touches it. Made me wonder if all pens with these inserts are doomed over time whether used or not. I think if I was going to use a kit, I'd get a matching tap and tap the cap with no tube, or just half a tube on top for the finial and clip area and thread the bottom of the pen itself.

 

[PTownSubbie]

Well, the finial had to be glued in with Epoxy. Don't know if it is stronger than CA but didn't want to chance getting CA on the finish.

The pen is a label pen cast in S41. My concern is like Andy said...If I heat it too much the tube will slide right out of the label.

If I use pliers to squeeze the centerband, the roundness will expand the opposite way (even if just a little) and possibly crack the casting because it is so thin.

Choices......Choices.....Don't know yet which way to go..... I am going to cast another tube so I have one in the event I have to just remake the cap. I guess that is first.

 

[PenMan1]

Good luck Fred. 30 minute epoxy is a BEAR to break loose.

AND...as you already know, PR doesn't like heat very much!!! DNA, perhaps?

Using the small toggle bolt solution to expand enough to pull out the centerband is sounding better all the time!