Slimline question

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Kalai

Kalai

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Joined
Jul 10, 2007
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809
Location
Kurtistown, Big Island of Hawaii, USA.
Hi everyone, I have a friend who has a slimline pen (not made by me), he says if he pushes down to write then the pen starts to retract back into the pen and he has to twist the pen again to get the tip out, do you know what causes this and can it be fixed? Thanks and aloha.

Chris "Kalai"
 
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I'd guess it is fixable, sounds like the transmission needs replaced. If you need 1, let me know I can send it out in the morning.
 
Sounds like the transmission was pressed in just a bit to far. this causes the refill to bttom out in the nib before the transmission is able to reach the little notch that locks it in place. I have had it happen before and is fixable by figuring out a way to pull the tranny back out just a bit.
 
Agree, but if this is the case the refil most likely does not retract fully into the nib either. If it does just need an "adjustment", remove the refil, and use a small punch to tap it back a bit. Just be carefull not to damage the transmission, or you will be back to replacing it. :wink:
 
Kalai said:
Hi everyone, I have a friend who has a slimline pen (not made by me), he says if he pushes down to write then the pen starts to retract back into the pen and he has to twist the pen again to get the tip out, do you know what causes this and can it be fixed? Thanks and aloha.

Chris "Kalai"
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Change the twist mechanism.
 
Ditto on change tranny. They are super-cheap to start with. Removing without damage is highly unlikely anyway. They are about as sturdy as wet tissue paper.
OTOH, being a slim, unless it is an exceptional piece of wood, I would just trash and make a better pen, at least a European.
 
This may not be the problem, but... I purchased pens about 7 years ago, bulk order of 50 pens with up to three lines of text, blah, blah, blah...

Upon ripping one apart several weeks ago, I found the same innards as a slimline pen. Same size parts all the way through. But like your friend, after about a week of writing with a new one (right out of the pack), it starts to retract during usage.

It was the transmission.

When new it sort of locks into place the same as any slimline you are used to using. But after a bit of writing with it, the transmission doesn't hold anymore. It slowly turns as you are writing and allows the refill to retract into the pen.

I've since taken the ink out and discarded all the pens. Cheap innards was the cause.
 
I have found that when the refill retracts during writing pressure it means that the transmission is NOT in quite far enough. When the transmission is in too far then the refill point will not retract fully back into the nib. If it retracts while writing simply put the lower half of your pen back into the press and nudge the transmission in ever so slight and do this until the problem goes away.

MikeDe
 
MikeDe said:
I have found that when the refill retracts during writing pressure it means that the transmission is NOT in quite far enough. When the transmission is in too far then the refill point will not retract fully back into the nib. If it retracts while writing simply put the lower half of your pen back into the press and nudge the transmission in ever so slight and do this until the problem goes away.

MikeDe
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That's not been my experience.

Every time I have had a slimline pen that retracts while writing, it has been due to the transmission being pushed too far in so that the cartridge bottoms out in the nib prior to extending far enough to drop into the locked position.
 
The problem is that the transmission was pressed a little too far and has become loose. The lesser quality transmissions then tend to "move around" in the tube.

PSI and CUSA both sell complete disassembly punch set for $20 and a slimline disassembly for about $7. If you are going to make very many pens, you will eventually need the complete set.

The first step is to remove the refill and knock out the nib with the small punch. Then with a larger punch, go in from the nib end and tap the tranmission back out a bit. Then you can use one drop of CA to glue the bottom of the transmission to the tube. BE CAREFUL not to get CA on the twist part.

A better repair is to use these steps to completely remove the transmission and replace it with a Schmidt tranny. The Schmidt transmissions (sold with better or upgraded kits) works better for me because they stay in place with no wiggle. Additionally they taper a tiny bit, where the cheaper trannys are straight. IMHO, the Schmidts just seem to work better and help avoid things like this problem.
 
PenMan1 said:
The problem is that the transmission was pressed a little too far and has become loose. The lesser quality transmissions then tend to "move around" in the tube.

PSI and CUSA both sell complete disassembly punch set for $20 and a slimline disassembly for about $7. If you are going to make very many pens, you will eventually need the complete set.
Click to expand...
Most of us just went down to the local Harbor Freight store and bought this punch set for $9.99 (or less).
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PenMan1 said:
The first step is to remove the refill and knock out the nib with the small punch. Then with a larger punch, go in from the nib end and tap the tranmission back out a bit. Then you can use one drop of CA to glue the bottom of the transmission to the tube. BE CAREFUL not to get CA on the twist part.

A better repair is to use these steps to completely remove the transmission and replace it with a Schmidt tranny. The Schmidt transmissions (sold with better or upgraded kits) works better for me because they stay in place with no wiggle. Additionally they taper a tiny bit, where the cheaper trannys are straight. IMHO, the Schmidts just seem to work better and help avoid things like this problem.
Click to expand...
Regardless of the transmission that you choose to replace the old one with, the solution is to not press the transmission in too far. No matter what transmission that you use, if you press it in too far, the pen will either not work properly or it will be visually defective.
 
Pen disassembly kit

Just thought you might like to know:
I had ordered the pen disassembly punch set from CSUSA for $19.99 & s/h.
I also went to HF for a set of transfer punches for $8.99 (Will use for pin chucks).
When the order arrived from CSUSA, the disassembly punch set was in the EXACT same box as the transfer punch set from HF.
 
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