Why did your Prodigy PaperPro One Finger Stapler die?

Why did your Prodigy PaperPro One Finger Stapler die?

Possibly also known as ‘how to fix your PaperPro Prodigy One Finger stapler”

A customer dropped this stapler off because it would no longer staple. I determined it was probably not going to be economical to fix; partly because it would likely be outside of an IT guy’s expertise, and also because I could not get the bugger apart using traditional IT tools.

Rather than just bin it outright I decided to take a destructive route to disassembly first, and let F=MA plus concrete take care of that.

It came apart with a few sudden strikes to the garden path from 3 metres; destroying some plastic end pieces in the process.

Anyway, the long and short of it is that this stapler uses a spring and lever to rapidly fire a metal plate onto the staple. Thus, this metal plate takes significant forces from two spring-ends that fit through holes towards it’s base, and in this instance it appears the metal plate became weakened over time and eventually broke into two pieces as shown below.

A skilled metalworker could probably produce a new plate, but not I.

10 comments

  1. seth wollard says:

    how did you spit it in half

  2. Hobbit says:

    Ok, that’s interesting. I’ve got one of these an I like it alot. But it’s a bit too powerful. I was going to open it up and see if I can tone it down a bit.

    But I can’t figure any nondestructive way to open it. Any ideas?

    Thx

  3. Hobbit says:

    And that is how it really comes apart. Pop it loose from the base, then use a screwdriver to split it in half. I recommend taking a few pictures to help with putting it together properly later. The springs make it a royal pain to put together. But after several hours of failures it finally came together. Never to be taken apart again. At least, not by me.

  4. Jeannie says:

    I have a pretty pink one finger 15 sheet power stapler. it jams QUITE often and is quite dangerous to open. After a couple bloody scratches around the areas of my eyes, I learned when I open it to clear the jam, I must ALWAYS point it away from my face. Now, I point it toward the wall, open it, and an 8 staple chunk flies through the air, hits the opposing wall, and ricochets back to the center of my desk. it usually takes 3 shots to get it to staple again. It has become quite the game.

  5. Mark Wheelis says:

    How do I get the lever detached from the body. What the trick. I saw guide YouTube do it but he is not making it clear how we did it

  6. Sean McG. says:

    Mark Wheelis, open the stapler wide, as if you were going to load it with staples, grab both sides (the stapler and the base) and manually twist the base loose. It should come apart without much effort. As to fixing the issue that many people seem to have where the “hammer” (metal slide that rams the staples down) fails to “pop” down, I’ve fixed multiple ones here at work by flipping the stapler on its side and banging the head (where the staples come out) on a solid surface fairly hard multiple times. If that doesn’t work, flip it 180 degrees onto its other side and bang it a few times again.

    Hope this helps some. Good luck!

    • Ri says:

      OMG that worked! Thank you! I call mine “Mr Blue” in my classroom, he makes everyone happy when he’s used. My kids love Mr Blue and were sad he was sick. (High School students)

    • Kevin R. says:

      Thanks, Sean! Your suggestions worked like a charm for fixing my stapler. Gave it a bang a few times on the side and the hammer mechanism started working again!

  7. Lauren Little says:

    Thank you cccmickey, this OP was very helpful and I discovered that my stapler had the same plate break, once I managed to pry it open. I appreciate you and your helpful picture!

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