Pilot Parallel Custom Body

[Eusorph]

Hello,

 

I love the Pilot Parallel but would like to convert it to a portable, more attractive pen, especially a transparent demonstrator.

I know of two ways to modify the Parallel:

1) Putting the feed into the feed holder of another pen like in the Opus 88 Koloro mod https://youtu.be/LpMTVSCTvnU

2) Screw the feed holder onto another pen body (it screws on the Pilot Metro, but the pen cap can't be put on and closed because the nib is too long)

 

My question: do you know of

1) other cheap (the Koloro is too expensive) feed holders (and pen of course) that would take the Pilot Parallel feed?

2) other pen bodies where the Parallel feed can be screwed on?

 

Thanks

Edited November 24, 2018 by Eusorph

[Maurizio]

I love the Pilot Parallels and have all 4 sizes ( I have 2 of the 3.8mm pens ). I use them frequently to practice italic calligraphy. I dont think there is an inexpensive solution. Though I too would be happy to hear about one.

 

A couple of years ago I paid FPN member Appleman

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/user/2152-appleman/

around $50.00 to create a custom body for my Parallel pens from a poor-performing Think pen. (I can not state that he would still do this work for that price it is time-consuming and involved).

 

A pricey solution yes, but the job was well done and I have been pleased. I now have a ordinary-looking fountain pen which I can carry in my pocket and in which I can interchange any of my 4 nib sizes.

 

Im on the fly at the moment but I will post photos later today.

Edited November 24, 2018 by Maurizio

[Eusorph]

Thank you. I'll definitely keep Appleman in mind. :-)

[Maurizio]

Photos. This was a Think Pen which wrote poorly and was just sitting in a drawer.

 

I would be happy to pay more for a Pilot Parallel pen housed in a more stylish body. I hope Pilot will do this someday. I would really love it if Pilot somehow managed to put a Parallel Pen into a wooden housing like a traditional dip pen.

[Eusorph]

That's nice. If I looked at the the right website, it costs more or less like the Opus 88, which I like a little more, because it is a demonstrator. I too hope Pilot will make a high end (Metro like) version of the Parallel, but in the meantime, we've got to work something out.

[Maurizio]

I agree. Mine was not a very cost-effective solution. It was fun once and I continue to enjoy the pen, but for what I paid I could buy a whole new set of Parallels, some nice paper and a couple of bottles of ink.

 

☺️

[A Smug Dill]

... a demonstrator. I too hope Pilot will make a high end (Metro like) version of the Parallel,

A reasonable commercial expectation, then, would be the retail price of a Pilot Prera demonstrator plus the price of a Pilot Parallel pen, plus a premium to cover the overhead of a low sales volume product, as the entry-level solution that ticks your boxes.

[Maurizio]

I’d be willing to pay that price and even more if the managed to thread a wooden shaft so we could screw a cap onto a wooden-bodied Pilot Parallel Pen.

[A Smug Dill]

2) other pen bodies where the Parallel feed can be screwed on?

Pilot Custom 74, Pilot Custom Heritage 91, Pilot Custom Kaede (Maple). The inner caps get in the way of being able to screw the pen caps onto the barrels at all, though; it's that 2mm that makes all the difference. Unless you're prepared to rip out the inner cap, but then I guess spare Pilot Custom bodies aren't easy or cheap to come by for you to experiment.

 

<EDIT>Oh, and the Namiki Falcon. The cap usually takes two full turns to screw back onto the barrel, but when the section of the Pilot Parallel is screwed onto the barrel, the cap will only manage half a turn and be barely held in place.

I'd say the easiest and cheapest way to making the Pilot Parallel more portable is simply to truncate the barrel and cap it with something on the open end (if you want to, even though there is no real functional need for that).

 

 

Of course, the neatest way to make the pen more attractive is to get a bespoke pen barrel and cap to your liking and specifications.

Edited November 27, 2018 by A Smug Dill

[Maurizio]

Bespoke - you’re right.

 

And therefore there seems to be no current inexpensive solution unless or until Pilot ever decides to produce a higher end version of the Parallel Pens.

[A Smug Dill]

And therefore there seems to be no current inexpensive solution

 

 

Only for the 'problem' of making the pen more presentable or attractive. Looking good costs money.

 

Making the pen more portable, including cutting a slot in the fin on the pen cap to make a 'clip' or adding a metal clip for ease of carry, is inexpensive, without compromising the functionality of the pen at all.

[tamiya]

Pilot Custom 74, Pilot Custom Heritage 91, Pilot Custom Kaede (Maple). The inner caps get in the way of being able to screw the pen caps onto the barrels at all, though; it's that 2mm that makes all the difference. Unless you're prepared to rip out the inner cap, but

Does inner cap fouling only affect the widest (blue?) Parallel or all of them?

 

I don't have the wider 2 to try.

[A Smug Dill]

I only have the blue 6.0mm one here.

[Maurizio]

All the Parallel pens are the same size except for the nib width itself, so the answer is yes.