How Not To Manufacture A Rollerball

[OneRiotOneRanger]

Until today, after using lots of rollerballs for lots of years, I thought that rollerballs which required a

spring at the bottom of the cartridge to enable it to properly fit in the barrel were just poorly (or quickly

or cheaply or d) all of the above) made. Of the couple I have purchased that were configured thusly, I have

either returned or discarded them. Recently, I purchased a Laban Solar rollerball, from Fahrneys. After waiting

a week, as it was backordered, it arrived today. As I do with any new pen I receive, I opened it, to see what

kind of refill it contained. [i generally replace what the factory has provided with one of my choosing]. With

ballpoints, factory refills are nondescript, and I usually use a Beaufort Gel or a Visconti. With rollerballs,

almost all take the Schmidt 888 or some variant thereof, and it's generally a question of ink color or point

width.

The Laban mentioned contained not only the Schmidt 888 refill, but also a small spring, to sit in the bottom of

the barrel. When I tried to write with the pen, I found that the tip of the point receded, unless I pressed very

lightly. I don't, and knew that there was going to a problem. Fortunately, I also keep a supply of pen springs

- which reminds me, I'm running low. Does anyone have some they can sell me? - and found a firmer one, to

accomplish a workable fit. That said, who the hell designs a pen barrel that's too long for the refill? I could

use words like stupid or careless and not yet express all of my annoyance. Laban, I thought, prided itself on

product quality. The pen, other than being half a millimeter or so too long, is fine. I'm nothing like an engineer,

but fixing mistakes (?) with springs is not how it's supposed to be done, I don't think. It could have been

fixed, my eye tells me, with a slightly longer section - it's about nine cm shorter than the ones on Acme

pens, e.g. - or the shorter barrel mentioned, or - ok, all you engineers or pen designers out there, educate me.

A couple of years ago, I swore off alcohol. Never much of a drinker, I just decided to stop (I had two good

friends who died too young because of it). This is enough to make me go back!

Thanks for allowing me to vent, once again.

Paul

(Up past my bedtime, once again)

Edited February 20, 2019 by OneRiotOneRanger

[Sui-Generis]

Perhaps it is a way of simply allowing for variations in manufacturing? Or allowing for different refill manufacturers tolerances?

 

Or is there maybe a pen in the same line that uses a push-button mechanism? That would also explain it, no sense in completely re-working the design of a product to remove the spring that was there as part of the push button flavour.