12 June 2013

Press Stud Repair

Older Filofax personal organisers have plastic cover on the press stud on the clasp.  Early Finsbury organisers had one, here's my A5 from about 2005:


Later ones like this Pocket had a leather cover over the press stud.


My elderly Winchester suffered from the plastic cover on the press stud cracking and eventually being lost completely.






Fortunately it left behind a metal dome, but I've seen ones where that too has been lost! I lived with mine like that for a while. But decided to smarten it up a bit.

So I already had some exterior grade black paint for use on metal work.  I cleaned up the button with a little burnish and degreased it with a cloth and some white spirit. Then when it was all dry I dipped a cotton bud in to the paint and just let a small drop of paint flow over the button.  Then I left it to dry in our warm office for a couple of days and here's the result.


Since the photo was taken I've given the leather a bit of leather care treatment and my dear olde Winchester looks as good as new again!

If you have lost the metal cap as well, then you have a couple of alternatives. You can either get a small piece of leather and stitch it over the exposed button. Or get the press stud replaced, this is best done by a shoe repair shop, you can buy the press studs from most craft shops or haberdashery shops. Or use a small bit of epoxy glue/putty to form a new cap and then paint this once the glue/putty has hardened.

10 comments:

  1. Isn't it amazing what a little TLC can do! I know some people who would throw it out rather than take the time to fix it or have it fixed.

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  2. Will Filofax do a repair?

    Has anyone actually done this (rather than thinking they might do it)?

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    Replies
    1. Replying to myself.
      I rang Filofax.
      They do not do press stud repairs, end of story!

      Delete
    2. Thanks for asking, you try a shoe and bag repair shop, most towns have them?
      Steve

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    3. My understanding is that Filofax closed their repairs and servicing operation many (maybe 20) years ago as part of their cost-cutting and outsourcing at that time. Filofax, is now purely a design, marketing and sales operation. They don't make binders or anything else, themselves. Filofaxes that are returned to the company for any reason (dodgy rings etc) just get replaced with new and the faulty item thrown away (so I'm told).

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  3. I know it's not Tuesday, but is there an unlined A5 Filofax diary insert( or a Personal size one)?

    I can't print Philofaxy diaries - no duplex printing, I have tried and the pages don't line up.

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    Replies
    1. Err you still have posted this in FFAT... .....

      You can easily modify our inserts to remove the lines or change the colour to white.

      Without a duplexes, use A5 paper and print first odd pages then even pages

      Delete
  4. I found that one of my Winchesters developed a cracked plastic cap, but had not originally been fitted with the metal dome underneath.

    Since all of the coloured plastic was still there, I applied several coats of clear top-coat hardener as used by manicurists, and the cap seems to be stable and secure again.

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  5. Steve,

    This cleared up my confusion on the Finsbury. I came across one like this and I wasn't aware they used to make their clasps this way and that it has been around longer than I've known Filofax.

    Thank you.

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  6. I may go the "shoe repair" route on the stud that I have to fix, but I thought that someone in this forum had a supply of replacement domes. Was I dreaming?

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