Cracked Cap Repair - Visconti Van Gogh Room in Arles

[ArchiMark]

Hi,

Hope someone can advise...


Just noticed that the cap to my Visconti Van Gogh Room in Arles pen has a crack in it. Ouch!
I do recall that I dropped the cap from my hand onto my desktop surface recently, but didn't notice any problem then.


It's a parabola shaped crack, see photos.

I can feel the edge of the material that lifted up, see photos.

Any chance of repairing the crack?

Material is acrylic resin.

Would like to at least get the material to lie down flush with rest of cap so that I don't feel the lifted edge.

Thanks for any and all help!

Mark

[Chrissy]

I hope an expert like Ron comes up with an idea for you. I don't know what there is inside the cap that might need removing before attempting any adhesive repair because I don't have any Visconti pens. I can imagine that sending it to Visconti via their US agent(?) might be a lengthy process.

If it belonged to me and I felt I was happy to do it myself I would hope to start by removing the interior cap part and would look on the web to see how I might do that. Then I would get some tape and a band clamp ready and use some very carefully applied Superglue Gel inside and along all of the broken edges, apply the tape to flatten it all down, and the band clamp around the edge that has lifted.

I personally have a speciality two part resin called Hxtal that could be easily applied into the crack, but I'm not sure it's available in your part of the world. It's hard enough to find here. Getting out the interior cap will be the tough part of the job. Once you only have one cap layer to deal with you should be able to get a strong enough adhesive in there.

Edited The Repair Book calls the clamp a band clamp not a dental clamp and recommends two part resin as standard adhesive for cracks in caps, but that's thicker and more difficult to control cleanly than today's modern Superglues.

[ArchiMark]

THANK YOU, Chrissy, for your helpful input and info.

Hadn't thought about the inner cap issue. Looking inside the cap, it looks like there is a liner that goes from the top of the cap down about halfway of the length. I can see a Philips head screw at the end of the cap.

Cap isn't very wide inside, might be a bit tricky to get glue in the right place working from inside.

Will be great if Ron can advise too.....

Thanks,

Mark

[FredRydr]

...Will be great if Ron can advise too.....

Ron's contact information is on his website: Main Street Pens

[ArchiMark]

Thanks, Fred.....

[Chrissy]

I really hope that Ron can do the job. Good luck ArchiMark and please keep us updated on what happens.

[Chrissy]

Hadn't thought about the inner cap issue. Looking inside the cap, it looks like there is a liner that goes from the top of the cap down about halfway of the length. I can see a Philips head screw at the end of the cap.

Cap isn't very wide inside, might be a bit tricky to get glue in the right place working from inside.

Thanks,

Mark

You shouldn't try to apply adhesive from the inside of the cap. Too much of a risk of getting it in the wrong places. You need to work from the outside and use a very thin tool or toothpick to dab it inside the cracked edges.

[ArchiMark]

Thanks for clarifying, Chrissy. Makes sense.

[Jon Szanto]

Aside from who or when to send it to someone else, and as someone who very occasionally attempts repairs of a similar nature (but only on beater pens that would be no loss when screwed up), I wouldn't try this on my own if I weren't repairing acrylics/etc on a regular basis. That is a pretty long crack and once sealed well, you will likely need some cosmetic work on the exterior. A perfect example of when to send to a professional.

Unless you are already good that this stuff, of course.

[FredRydr]

I agree with Jon. That pen and that repair deserves to be in the hands of someone with proven knowledge and experience and the tools to do it.

[Ron Z]

That is a pretty long crack and once sealed well, you will likely need some cosmetic work on the exterior. A perfect example of when to send to a professional.

That is a given with any crack repair on any material. Fixing the crack i.e. bonding the surfaces together is one thing. Blending the repair to make it as close to invisible as possible is another whole level, and the hard part.

[ArchiMark]

Thanks, everyone for all your input and help.

I shipped pen to Visconti's US distributor on Friday. They should receive pen today. Will let you know how it goes....

[FredRydr]

Cool. You might get the cracked part replaced. Aurora did that for me for a reasonable price, including the roundtrip journey to Italy via the USA distributor on Long Island.

[ArchiMark]

Thanks, Fred, I sure hope so.....such a nice pen and hate to see that crack.....

They just received package, so, may take a few days to hear from them.

We shall see....

[ArchiMark]

WOW!!

Received email this morning from Coles of London (US Visconti distributor), that my pen has been taken care of and being shipped back to me.

And they did not request any $'s from me for this, which means they considered it a warranty matter.

They received package on Monday and are now shipping it back to me on Thursday.

Pretty darn good service....

Of course, I need to see pen to determine if they glued it or gave me a new cap......

We shall see........next week.......

And of course, will report back on this.

[ArchiMark]

UPDATE

Received my pen back today with a brand new cap!

Only charge was $15 for return shipping....pretty darn good service!

Feel much better now....

[Jon Szanto]

Congratulations, sounds like a very good outcome!

[FredRydr]

Excellent. If the patterns don’t line up, I hope you won’t send it back! ;-)

[Jon Szanto]

If the patterns don’t line up, I hope you won’t send it back! ;-)

You crack me up.

[Chrissy]

Great job. Well done you.