Parker style refill hanging up.

[RussBerg]

I just made a Southwest style pen and the refill won't retract all the way. It seems to be hanging up in the tip. Any ideas how to fix this problem? It seems every time I turn a pen with a parker refill the refill doesn't want to retract smoothly. Help!!!

 

[Woodchipper]

I had this happen with a kit but can't remember the kit or what I did to solve the problem. Senior moment? Will try to remember.

 

[duncsuss]

Option (1) - try a genuine Parker refill (most office supplies stores sell them).
Option (2) - very gently, open up the hole in the nose cone using a rat-tail file .

 

[its_virgil]

Reverse the spring...

 

[wolf creek knives]

If it's the refill that came with the kit, then probably what the first responders said. If it's not the original it's probably a bad refill and was meant to be sold only in Tibet and India. I bought some "Genuine" refills off amazon and had problems with them. looked at the packaging and right on it it say for India and Tibet only.

 

[mmayo]

Some refills can get bent. When this happens to me I use another and move on. It even happened to a label-less Schmidt! I'm sure Ed will make it right.

 

[ed4copies]

When you take the pen apart and push the refill out and let the spring push it back, does it work? If so, it is not the refill.
When I made a LOT of cigar pens, I had to ream out every nib on the ti gold. The proper dimension for a bit is .10" which corresponds
to the size of one of the wire bits, I don't remember which one.

 

[magpens]

As a couple people, including Ed, have mentioned, I use a very fine drill bit - I use a #37 (which is 0.104"). Actually a #38 should do (0.101") but in practice, with my drill set, it doesn't quite do the job and the refill still drags.

 

[jttheclockman]

I agree with what has been said but will caution if drilling chipping of plating could occur. I also suggest as Don mentioned check to see if the spring is facing the right way and for giggles just reverse it and see what happens.

 

[qquake]

I used to have a problem when assembling pens, pressing the tip against a block of UHMW plastic. It seemed sometimes it would close the tip just enough to make it hang up. I now drill a hole in the UHMW so the tip isn't pressed against the plastic. Seemed to work for me.

 

[plano_harry]

Insert the refill in the opposite direction into the tip. If it doesn't slide in effortlessly all the way to the refill shoulder, you need to ream the tip area. If it does slide in easily, the problem is likely the crappy southwest tip casting. Use a "parker size" drill bit to hand ream the inside of the tip casting a bit. No need for power. It should be easy to ream the soft metal. That should clear it up. Not unusual for these theme style PSI kits in my experience.