Non-Pilot Pens For Frixion Refill?

[pakucha]

Hi all,

does anybody know of a pen / pens that will take Pilot Frixion refills? Out of the box, or with some adjustment. I find the colourful erasable refills very useful, but I don't like the Pilot Frixion pens. Most of them look and feel cheap and have rubber grips that I hate as they age poorly. I don't particularly like their metal models either. Any suggestions?

[flatline]

They'll fit anything that takes a Pilot G2 refill so you have a wide variety of host options. However, how will you erase it without the little rubber nub?

 

--flatline

[pakucha]

Thanks flatline. Does a particular pen / brand (without a rubber grip) come to your mind to get me started? Erasers are sold separately, which may be too much hassle for some people, but it doesn't bother me at all.

[flatline]

Thanks flatline. Does a particular pen / brand (without a rubber grip) come to your mind to get me started? Erasers are sold separately, which may be too much hassle for some people, but it doesn't bother me at all.

 

Off the top of my head, the only G2 pen I can think of that doesn't have a rubber grip is the B2P gel pen made from recycled 2-liter bottles. Pretty cheap looking, but very comfortable.

 

I'm sure there are others.

 

--flatline

[flatline]

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/182962-pens-that-fit-pilot-g2-refills/

 

Lots of nice pens mentioned in that thread.

 

Good luck finding something you like!

 

--flatline

[Mike 59]

Hi, The Frixion refills will certainly fit the Pentel Energel Pen bodies.

[flatline]

Hi, The Frixion refills will certainly fit the Pentel Energel Pen bodies.

 

This is not correct. The Frixion refill is too wide to pass through the tip of the Energel body.

 

However, the converse is true: you can use the energel refill in the Frixion body.

 

--flatline

[Mike 59]

Hi flatline, Ooops, I made a mistake there, that's what comes of hurrying and throwing a refill in a Pentel pen after midnight.

In fact the Frixion refill does just about poke out of the Pentel, could be written with, but the clicker mechanism does not work.

Looks like the steel point of the Frixion refill is a few thou too wide.

You would think by now there would be an agreement or arrangement where all these gel/hybrid/rollers would all be interchangeable, but it doesn't happen.

I think the O.P. wanted a better quality barrel to put the Frixion refill into, it really comes down to chance fit more than anything.

[pakucha]

You would think by now there would be an agreement or arrangement where all these gel/hybrid/rollers would all be interchangeable, but it doesn't happen.

I think the O.P. wanted a better quality barrel to put the Frixion refill into, it really comes down to chance fit more than anything.

 

Yes, exactly on both points. One would think that the moment Pilot develops terrific erasable ink, they will do their best to sell as much of it as possible before it becomes commonplace. If not make the refill universally easier to use then filling it into all sorts of refills, but no, that is apparently not the case. The argument that they wouldn't sell as many of their own pens doesn' apply here, I think. I would be happy to pay the price of the whole plastic erasable Pilot pen for a Parker type refill.

[flatline]

Most other gel pens use the same geometry: Uni-ball (signo and jetstream), Paper Mate, Bic, Pentel, and others. You can freely mix and match refills with bodies. I think this is actually a pretty old geometry since I have some old roller ball pens that will happily accept any of these refills.

 

Pilot, however, does something slightly different. All their refills are interchangable with each other (G2, Dr Grip, precise RT v5 and v7, Frixion) and the Pilot pens can use other manufacturer's refills, but the Pilot refills won't fit in other manufacturer's mass market pens (including my old roller balls).

 

--flatline

[Jarno]

Ancient thread, but happy newyear everybody!

I like Rocketbook for my work note taking, and am very fond of Pelikan fountainpens (m805). It dawned on me that Pelikan do the Souveran also in rollerball, and that Pilot makes Frixion rollerball refills, sounds like a plan.....

I bought a Pelikan r605 on Marktplaats (local craigslist), for little money, new in giftbox, and a few of the Pilot refills, but alas, they do not fit.

Comparing the two refills, the Pelikan 338 rollerball refill tip section is 2mm in diameter, all the way to a thicker section, while the Frixion refill (0.7mm) is 2.5mm in diameter, and then has a slightly larger diameter (3.5mm) until the thicker section which is in the same position, and has the same dimensions.

 

So, very carefully while holding a 2.5mm drill in a pair of small pliers, I carefully enlarged the nosecone diameter of the r605 to 2.5mm. Now, I need to order a long 3.5mm drill to enlarge the hole from the inside of the pen. This to accept the slightly larger diameter of the plastic section of the tip.

That is, unless the chrome nosecone of the r605 can easily be removed and refitted

[Jarno]

Also, I still had this pen (Parker Duofold International in Chocolate Pinstripe), which I "converted" to a fountainpen by drilling out a stopper on the end and screwing in a nib (didn't work very well, only takes short Parker ink cartridges, and it leaked, possibly because those cartridges are slightly different).

Added a stopper on the end and fitted the Frixion RB refill, it is a tight fit, because of the thicker plastic section on the Frixion refill but it does work.

Lovely pen:

 

[Jarno]

I am hogging this thread a bit, but today I received the extra long 3.5mm drill. I found out that the front section does indeed unscrew  (so, if you can unscrew the nosecone, a regular drill bit is just fine)

So after very carefully twisting the drill between my fingers, and then following up with the 4mm drill to form a little chamfer, I could fit the Frixion RB refill. It is still a pretty tight fit though, one might want to go a bit bigger than 3.5mm

The refill is still kept from wobbling when writing by the good fit on the front of the nosecone, and there is also a white plastic spacer (semi loose part) which keeps the refill in place.

All in all, a bit scary, because it is a really nice pen, but it all worked out.

[Paul-in-SF]

On 4/18/2017 at 3:52 AM, pakucha said:

One would think that the moment Pilot develops terrific erasable ink, they will do their best to sell as much of it as possible before it becomes commonplace.

 

I learned something yesterday that might help explain this, and also why you need the particular Pilot Frixion "eraser" to make the erasing function work. It is that what is happening is not removal of the ink from the paper, but changing of the ink from colored to clear, a chemical transition that depends on whatever the Frixion "eraser" is made of in order to work. 

 

Pilot might be willing to license production of these components to other companies, but maybe they aren't, or maybe the price as set by Pilot is too high. In the meantime, I can see why Pilot would make these refills only fit pens they sell that come with the proper kind of erasers. I use a lot of these, and one thing I really like is that the erasers last a very long time, through dozens of refills, so that I don't have to keep buying new pens, only refills.