I’ve encountered a couple of Livescribe Symphony pens that were very difficult to open. The end of the pen with the lanyard hole seems to have been glued in place during manufacturing. I thought I could double up on the ties I was using to pull the cap out via the lanyard hole. Well, that little bit of plastic suddenly let loose, and I was left with a damaged end cap.
I have been trying to pry the end cap loose after wrapping it to protect the plastic from the jaws of my pliers. I know, I told y’all not to use pliers. And for good reason, now the cap with the busted lanyard loop has vertical ‘bite’ marks from my pliers. Not good. But I was able to open it and replace the battery. Luckily, I had an ‘extra’ end cap that I could swap for the mangled one.
Here’s what I do now. I’ve drilled a hole that just fits the end of the Livescribe Symphony pen. It’s just a piece of scrap pine, 1 cm thick. I’m now able to insert the end cap into this ‘tool’, and I can apply pressure to wiggle the end cap. With the lanyard hole at twelve o’clock (so the micro USB looks like it’s smiling), I can use some torque directly towards six o’clock. And then I’ll switch directions by 180 degrees so that I’m applying pressure from six o’clock to twelve o’clock.
I finally got aggressive enough that I heard a ‘crack.’ I think that this is the adhesive letting go. I slowly increased the pressure to carefully get to that point. After the ‘crack,’ I’m able to wiggle the cap enough to remove it. No broken lanyard loop, no plier marks! I’ve used my ‘tool’ on several old Symphony pens that won’t take a charge. I think that it was fortunate that my scrap was pine, not oak, because now the hole is a little elongated, which seems to make it more useful.
As always, it always helps to have the ‘right tool for the job.’ Sometimes it just takes a bit to figure out what that tool actually is…
—
Got the following message from Annie, “I found that twisting it back and forth was much more effective to break the glue bond and remove the cap than trying to pull the cap straight off. But I, too, have some damage on the end cap, even though I had a layer of tissue between the pen and the slip joint pliers I used.” (2025-11-19) Thanks Annie!
Generic Refills 