Montblanc rollerball cap won't post properly

A little over six years ago I bought a Montblanc Classic Rollerball #163
(the slim version, in black resin with gold) that I put away and never
used until the other day.

When I took it out and started to write with it, as soon as the cap,
which I had posted, came into contact with my hand just slightly, it
immediately popped off the pen. I have tried this many times and always
get the same result.

I have owned a Parker and two Pelikan rollerballs, plus many Parker and
other brands of fountain pens, but never had this problem before.

The store I bought it from Write With Style, in San Francisco, is out of
business, so I called the San Francisco Montblanc store. The person who
answered the phone told me that a service bulletin had recently been
issued saying that Montblanc pens are not designed to be posted.
(Someone should alert whoever produces the advertising photos.)

She also said that she didn't know what could be done, if anything, to
fix my pen. If I wanted to send the pen in for service, there would be
no guarantee it could be fixed at all and it would cost a minimum of $70
even if no repairs were made.

Of course I guess I could use the pen without posting the cap, although
in many situations away from my desk, it is a nuisance. Also, the pen is
too short for my hand and doesn't feel as balanced that way.

I must not have tried this particular pen in the store or I would have
noticed this immediately, so evidently it doesn't occur with every pen.

Anyone ever heard of this happening? Perhaps someone knows of a simple
way of fixing it?

Charles

On 2008-09-30, Charles wrote:

Anyone ever heard of this happening? Perhaps someone knows of a simple
way of fixing it?


surfwax or some other grippy coating?

Charles writes:

When I took it out and started to write with it, as soon as the cap,
which I had posted, came into contact with my hand just slightly, it
immediately popped off the pen. I have tried this many times and always
get the same result.

[...]

Anyone ever heard of this happening? Perhaps someone knows of a simple
way of fixing it?

Simply put, you shouldn't post your MontBlanc. This is the advice I have
heard in multiple places from multiple people for quite some time. You
could do some things to make it post, but any solution to you should make
sure that you don't put any pressure on the cap. MontBlanc resins are
known to be more brittle than other resins, and putting pressure on them
over time can result in a weakening in the pen's structure, and result
in cracks or chips.

Of course, plenty of people post their pens, and plenty of people have
them working just fine that way, but it can have negative long term
side effects.

Aaron Hsu

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In article ,
Aaron W. Hsu wrote:

Simply put, you shouldn't post your MontBlanc. This is the advice I have
heard in multiple places from multiple people for quite some time. You
could do some things to make it post, but any solution to you should make
sure that you don't put any pressure on the cap. MontBlanc resins are
known to be more brittle than other resins, and putting pressure on them
over time can result in a weakening in the pen's structure, and result
in cracks or chips.

Thank you for letting me know that at least I am not alone. I had
googled but didn't find any discussions on this subject, although I was
sure I wasn't the only one with this problem. Do you remember any
solutions?

The strange thing to me is that a company of such stature--or at least
such a great marketing image--would design a pen whose cap can't be
posted. (As I mentioned in my first message, their advertising photos
certainly show their pens posted.)

Or maybe it's just my expectation.

Are pens generally considered to be postable? Are there many that can't
be posted?

Charles

Charles writes:

Are pens generally considered to be postable? Are there many that can't
be posted?

At least two, maybe more of my pens aren't really good candidates for
posting. The first is my MontBlanc. I'd actually say it's possibly more
postable than the others, because the resin stands up better to posting
than do the others, even with the long term side effects. The other two
that I have are Waterman and MontVerde pens, and both of these have seen
damage because I used to post them. On the Waterman, the Lacquer has
chipped off right where I used to post, so I stopped doing that some
time ago. In the MontVerde, there is some of the brass or gold finish
that is coming off, also mostly due to posting. Once I realized this,
I stopped posting most of my pens.

There are some pens which are just fine for posting, but I think that
there are also plenty of pens which don't really work well when posted.

Aaron Hsu

--
+++++++++++++++ ((lambda (x) (x x)) (lambda (x) (x x))) +++++++++++++++
Email: | WWW: http://www.sacrideo.us
Scheme Programming is subtle; subtlety can be hard.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++++++++++++++

Aaron W. Hsu wrote:
Charles writes:

When I took it out and started to write with it, as soon as the cap,
which I had posted, came into contact with my hand just slightly, it
immediately popped off the pen. I have tried this many times and
always get the same result.

[...]

Anyone ever heard of this happening? Perhaps someone knows of a
simple way of fixing it?

Simply put, you shouldn't post your MontBlanc. This is the advice I
have heard in multiple places from multiple people for quite some
time. You could do some things to make it post, but any solution to
you should make sure that you don't put any pressure on the cap.
MontBlanc resins are known to be more brittle than other resins, and
putting pressure on them over time can result in a weakening in the
pen's structure, and result in cracks or chips.

Of course, plenty of people post their pens, and plenty of people have
them working just fine that way, but it can have negative long term
side effects.


Long ago I was informed that in order not to mar a 'pricey' pen, it
shouldn't be posted and that the cap should be placed open side down on the
surface of your desk. Haven't you noticed circular 'ethchings' on pen's
barrel caused by continued posting? All this is irrelevant to all but 'anal'
collectors concerned about maintaing a costly pen's new pristene appearance.

Aaron Hsu

In ,
Norman M. Schwartz wrote:

Long ago I was informed that in order not to mar a 'pricey' pen, it
shouldn't be posted and that the cap should be placed open side down on
the
surface of your desk...
...All this is irrelevant to all but 'anal'
collectors...

You were advised to carefully balance the cap on end on your desk ? That
*is* pretty anal. It also sounds like it would make the cap much more
"swattable", ending with your expensive pen cap flying through the air when
you reach for something.

Unless you were just meant to sit and contemplate the thing...

Brian
--

In article ,
"Norman M. Schwartz" wrote:

Long ago I was informed that in order not to mar a 'pricey' pen, it
shouldn't be posted and that the cap should be placed open side down on the
surface of your desk. Haven't you noticed circular 'ethchings' on pen's
barrel caused by continued posting? All this is irrelevant to all but 'anal'
collectors concerned about maintaing a costly pen's new pristene appearance.

Yes--if I had a very expensive pen, I would not post it if that would
mar the finish, although I don't think I would go as far as setting the
cap down in a special way. (If a pen was that delicate, I wouldn't use
it at all, but just keep it in a case.)

This pen, however, which cost $180 in 2002, is not a particularly exotic
model and far from an "art pen." Even though it wasn't cheap, I bought
it for daily general business use in a variety of situations, most of
them away from my desk. (Otherwise I would have bought a fountain pen.)

One Pelikan rollerball I have, now about 15 years old, does show some
dulling where the cap has been posted, but even greater dulling in the
area below where the cap is screwed onto the barrel--certainly not
something that can be avoided. Neither of these is apparent except upon
close observation, however, nor are they offensive to me; these are the
wear marks that come from normal use of a functional tool.

The barrel of this Montblanc is very slim and the pen is just under
4-11/16" long without the cap. This makes the pen feel unbalanced and
uncomfortable to write with. I think you would have to have fairly small
hands to use it with ease.

Among other pen manufacturers, Nakaya, at least, implies that most pens
are designed to be posted when they say, in describing their original
Cigar model, "This model is very long and is supposed to be used without
posting the cap when writing" http://www.nakaya.org/eproduct3.html.

None of this helps me very much, though. I am still looking for a
solution--other than not posting--if anyone has one.

Someone suggested surfwax--has anyone tried this or anything similar?
Any other ideas?

David

Charles writes:

None of this helps me very much, though. I am still looking for a
solution--other than not posting--if anyone has one.

Any substance that will hold the cap at the back without rubbing off or
leaving residue on the inside of the pen cap should work. Rubber attached
to the back of the pen, &c.

Aaron Hsu
--
+++++++++++++++ ((lambda (x) (x x)) (lambda (x) (x x))) +++++++++++++++
Email: | WWW: http://www.sacrideo.us
Scheme Programming is subtle; subtlety can be hard.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++++++++++++++

"Aaron W. Hsu" wrote in message
...
Charles writes:

None of this helps me very much, though. I am still looking for a
solution--other than not posting--if anyone has one.

Any substance that will hold the cap at the back without rubbing off or
leaving residue on the inside of the pen cap should work. Rubber attached
to the back of the pen, &c.


Yes, I was thinking along the same lines. How about glueing one or two small
pieces of rubber band inside the lip of the cap?