So, I have had a Cross Solo Rollerball in Navy with the Gold accents for more than 10 years and love it. I have always regretted not getting the fountain pen instead...so here is what I did

I picked up a Cross Solo FP recently, it was in one of the gaudy school colors (an aqua color with the matte black accents), and I just took the FP section out of it and swapped it with the RB section of my original Solo. The only other thing I had to do was get the spring out of the bottom of my original pen so the rollerball refill would work right in the new pen.

Now, I have a perfectly fine Navy Blue Cross Solo F Nib, and an Aqua Cross Solo RB with black and gold accents (gold around the tip of the RB portion).

I love it when a plan comes together...

Have any of you done this?

Shane

I had done this on a chineses cheapie (Baoer). The shopkeeper had just one FP who's barrel and cap were a bit damaged. So on my request he put a rollerball's body and cap over the FP section. And yes he did remove the spring from the barrel!

Will the Solo FP insert fit any other models of Cross rollerpoints?

Hi Shane,

I did the same exact thing. I had the Solo rollerball in solid black, and won the Solo FP with fine nib in an auction on the 'bay. I had the hardest time pulling the little springs out of the bottom of the barrels, and one distorted a bit, but I fixed it.

I must say - with the Cross cartridges that pen lays a decent line down, better on some paper than some of my other FP's with better pedigrees.

And I never fail to get comments from the common folks (People who don't use FP's) telling me how beautiful my pen is!

GeneF

Hi,

Talk about your timely posts...I've been contemplating doing the same thing, but in reverse: buy a Radiance rollerball, remove the spring and swap in the section from a Solo FP. (I know the two pens are essentially the same, but somehow the little differences in the Radiance add up to a large overall difference in feel.)

May I ask: what implements did you folks use to liberate the spring? (I've got a reasonably full complement of pen repair tools, and I'm not overly concerned with the health and welfare of the spring itself.)

Thanks!

Jon

Started with a crochet hook - a really small one.

Didn't work.

In the end, a long thin screwdriver. I just went in down one side of the pen, till I hit bottom, then pinched it against the barrel, and flexed it out.

GeneF

Hi Jon,
For removing the spring from a Sheaffer NoNonsense ballpoint, for example, I use a pair of hemostats. I am *very* careful, however, to ensure that I don't press on the sides of the barrel when I open up the prongs (?? sorry, I don't know the term for the blade-like parts of the tool) for fear that I will crack the barrel.

I'm not interested in removing the spring from my Radiance SelecTip, but FWIW, here are a couple of 2¢ observations:

- Ordinary hemostats wouldn't be able to reach the spring in this pen.
- It appears that the spring is tapered, with the narrow end pressed onto a post at the bottom of the barrel.

-- Brian

Hi,

Haven't bothered with messing with my Solos as I have 2 FPs anyway, but have converted several No Nonsense, including a couple into eyedroppers, I found crochet hook works pretty well (my wife wasn't best pleased), sometimes they come out easily other times not, you just need to persevere.

Andy

I haven't done this myself, but I'm told that the section from a Solo will fit into the 70s-vintage Parker Big Red ballpoint/felt-tip flattops quite nicely.

Thanks, Brian! I was thinking more along the lines of my alligator forceps - I've been able to get to the bottom of most barrels with that one. (I've successfully used the chopstick method on all my Sheaffer conversions, but I wasn't sure it would work for the Cross.) The tip about the spring is awfully helpful.



I can attest to that one. The Solo section fits perfectly - not even an awkward "step" from barrel threads to section. My retrofitted Big Red BP may be the best-writing recent Parker I own. (Why didn't Parker offer the FP configuration for that pen?)

Cheers,

Jon

I've got to get an alligator forceps someday (along with 10,000 other tools...)! What's the "chopstick method"?


I have a "Big Red Solo" too (-- did Lee Marvin use one?). Even the color of the gold seems to match.

-- Brian

Ahh, the chopstick method. Here's a thread with detailed instructions - and photos, too.

Cheers,

Jon

PS I was fiddling around with the now-retired Solo that had supplied the section for my Big Red, checking to make sure that the alligator forceps would indeed reach to the end of the barrel (no problem there), and I discovered that there was a tiny spring in the end of that barrel as well: a short spring with a white plastic plug at the end that would be facing toward the barrel opening. So far as I know, that Solo was born a FP, and the converter always fit in the barrel just fine; so the presence of this little spring perplexes me. Do all Solo/Radiance FPs have these vestigial springs? Are they intended to keep the converter well seated?

I thought that might be the way a chopstick would be used. Thanks for the useful tip!

Hmm... all of my Solo and Radiance FPs have that little white plug. I also have a Townsend -- FP by birth -- with a spring in the barrel. That spring is compressed (and doesn't have a white cap), and I thought that Cross might have started using the same barrel for every version of a model, and stretching the spring to working length as needed for rollers.

But in the case of the Solo, that white plug sure appears to be smaller in diameter than the spring in my SelecTip Radiance (not just a compressed spring with a cap added), so maybe that piece is specific to FP barrels.

-- Brian

( anyone else get the movie reference? )

...and I just created a Cross Solo-"Big Red" Parker Frankenpen yesterday!
As Jon (Univer) wrote, the Cross section is just the right size for the Parker---no awkward "step down" for your fingers...

Sorry to derail the thread. I just wanted to say "thanks" for the Frankpen pen idea above.
Back to the spring removal topic....The chopstick method of spring removal certainly seems to be safer for the pen barrel than my hemostats---unless you are very careful---so thanks for the tip, Taki! I missed the thread the first time around....