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Disappointment

Hubert

Full Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2023
Posts
44
Location
Wolford, North Dakota
First Name
Hubert
Flat Top Screw Caps Fountain Pen. Never again. The cap unscrewed while in pocket and ruined a shirt. I bought four kits, and three of the four caps will not stay fastened. It was a real disappointment. I couldn’t give one of these to an enemy let alone a friend.
 

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alan morrison

Fellow
Joined
Feb 26, 2019
Posts
2,417
Location
Co. Down N Ireland
First Name
Alan
That's a good looking pen otherwise, which makes it worse. Can you convert it to a rollerball?
It won't help the cap unloosening but you won't ruin your shirt.
 

Padster

Graduate Member
Joined
Jun 12, 2021
Posts
564
Location
Leicester
First Name
Paddy
Nice looking pen, perhaps one of the black arts kitless guys have a suggestion to fix the thread so it bites better?
 

DuncSuss

Full Member
Joined
Mar 27, 2023
Posts
48
Location
Wilmington, MA
First Name
Duncan
If you want to attempt a modification, you could try a trick I learned from Kurt Hertzog.

There's a type of wood glue that expands (or "foams up") as it cures, here in the US one brand is "Gorilla" polyurethane glue. The foaming action happens when it comes into contact with water, it fills gaps in a wood joint, then cures hard.

Get a tiny drop of this glue on the tip of a toothpick, and reach inside the cap to deposit the drop on the internal threads some way up. Add a drop of water to the threads on the pen, and screw them together tight. Wait however long the label on the bottle of glue says it takes to cure, and then unscrew the cap - you'll have to twist hard to break the glue bond, but since you only used a tiny spot it won't be impossible.

Clean up any glue in the threads of the pen - toothbrush, Brasso, dental floss - whatever your standard technique for cleaning up threads is.

The glue that's left inside the cap will hopefully add enough grip to keep it from unscrewing.
 

Hubert

Full Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2023
Posts
44
Location
Wolford, North Dakota
First Name
Hubert
If you want to attempt a modification, you could try a trick I learned from Kurt Hertzog.

There's a type of wood glue that expands (or "foams up") as it cures, here in the US one brand is "Gorilla" polyurethane glue. The foaming action happens when it comes into contact with water, it fills gaps in a wood joint, then cures hard.

Get a tiny drop of this glue on the tip of a toothpick, and reach inside the cap to deposit the drop on the internal threads some way up. Add a drop of water to the threads on the pen, and screw them together tight. Wait however long the label on the bottle of glue says it takes to cure, and then unscrew the cap - you'll have to twist hard to break the glue bond, but since you only used a tiny spot it won't be impossible.

Clean up any glue in the threads of the pen - toothbrush, Brasso, dental floss - whatever your standard technique for cleaning up threads is.

The glue that's left inside the cap will hopefully add enough grip to keep it from unscrewing.
Thank you, I'll try.
 

Nicholas Andrews

Full Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2018
Posts
12
Location
North Yorkshire
First Name
Nicholas
Flat Top Screw Caps Fountain Pen. Never again. The cap unscrewed while in pocket and ruined a shirt. I bought four kits, and three of the four caps will not stay fastened. It was a real disappointment. I couldn’t give one of these to an enemy let alone a friend.
A great shame given the obvious quality of the turning. I think it would be helpful if you shared with us the make of the kit pen you used. So we don't go there! There are some dreadful kit pens on sale and some fabulous ones. Members of this forum should be able to air their experience of using them. After all, kits are not cheap.
 

Hubert

Full Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2023
Posts
44
Location
Wolford, North Dakota
First Name
Hubert
A great shame given the obvious quality of the turning. I think it would be helpful if you shared with us the make of the kit pen you used. So we don't go there! There are some dreadful kit pens on sale and some fabulous ones. Members of this forum should be able to air their experience of using them. After all, kits are not cheap.
"New Series" - Flat Top Screw Caps Fountain Pen - not sure who makes them.
 

Hallelujahal

Graduate Member
Joined
Jan 5, 2023
Posts
710
Location
Lincolnshire
First Name
Alex
Doubtless they’re made somewhere in the far east. However I’m reasonably sure that the glue trick will work, but it’s not a thing you’d want to be doing regularly for sure.
As usual the best course of action is to avoid the product and feedback to seller.
Having said all that, you’ve turned a beautiful pen 👍
 

silver

General dogsbody
Executive Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2013
Posts
6,304
Location
Somewhere in Staffordshire,
First Name
Eamonn.
Excellent fit and finish, shame about the unscrew issue. But I have heard it beofre and there may be a solution (Not glue though)

Put a small 'O' ring over the threaded section of the main barel, the nib end where the barel meets the cap, not inside the cap. That was an old trick that I used when making kitless just to help "nip" the two edges together.
We had some kits that used to come with them to fit on the threaded sections at one point, think they were called the Americano kit if I remember rightly, that's where I got the idea from.
EDIT -
Added a photo
 

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howsitwork?

Graduate Member
Joined
Sep 18, 2019
Posts
527
Location
north york (gods own county)
First Name
Ian
Excellent fit and finish, shame about the unscrew issue. But I have heard it beofre and there may be a solution (Not glue though)

Put a small 'O' ring over the threaded section of the main barel, the nib end where the barel meets the cap, not inside the cap. That was an old trick that I used when making kitless just to help "nip" the two edges together.
We had some kits that used to come with them to fit on the threaded sections at one point, think they were called the Americano kit if I remember rightly, that's where I got the idea from.
EDIT -
Added a photo
great idea i was thinking * along the same lines but maybe inserting a small groove for it to sit in?
 
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