DIY: Staedtler Liquid Point 7 with Waterman Blue-Black

[BearsPaw]

I was intrigued by a post about rollerballs in which several of the replies mentioned refilling them with fountain pen ink. I had some free time tonight, and decided to test it out. This is nowhere near as cool as some of the other DIY projects on here, but I thought it could generate some discussion.

 

I am a Staples Rewards member, which had provided me with some coupons that allowed me to purchase a package of Staedtler Liquid Point 7 pens for almost free.

 

First, the tools. I did not have a syringe, so I improvised and used a fountain pen (a Reform 1745).

 

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f110/bearspaw12/DSC03418JPG.jpg

 

The first step was to remove the tip. I gently used a pair of pliers. Be careful near the end, I heard a hissing sound, and was afraid some ink might shoot out.

 

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f110/bearspaw12/DSC03422JPG.jpg

 

Next, I carefully placed the nib and feed into a plastic cup. It is dripping ink, so watch out!

 

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f110/bearspaw12/DSC03423JPG.jpg

 

Rinsing the barrel out is pretty easy, but the feed is a pain. First I soaked it and dried it with a paper towel a few times.

 

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f110/bearspaw12/DSC03424JPG.jpg

 

Next, I tried a trick that I learned for fountain pens from Richard Binder's website. I took the felt tip connected to the end of the feed opposite the rollerball, wrapped it in a paper towel, and shook it up and down. I do not think this was as effective on this pen. I ended up gently "writing" on the paper towel with the felt tip and the ink started coming out pretty fast. I had to keep re-wetting it, but this was somewhat effective.

 

I dried all of the pieces.

 

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f110/bearspaw12/DSC03426JPG.jpg

 

I loaded my fountain pen with Waterman Blue-Black.

 

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f110/bearspaw12/DSC03427JPG.jpg

 

I inserted the fountain pen into the barrel, and threw the piston into reverse. I used two full pistons in my Reform, which filled it up about 75% of the way.

 

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f110/bearspaw12/DSC03429JPG.jpg

 

I reassembled the pen.

 

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f110/bearspaw12/DSC03432JPG.jpg

 

And I started writing! At first it was completely black (the original ink color). But I scribbled on a sheet of paper for about two minutes, and it turned blue-black.

 

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f110/bearspaw12/DSC03434JPG.jpg

[matthewst1]

Cool idea! Does it seem to write better than it did before?

[richardandtracy]

Nice idea. But why do it? Does it write better than an FP when using fp ink? If so, let us know & all these beautiful fp's are totally redundant as opposed to mostly redundant. And FPN is stuffed.

 

Regards

 

Richard.

 

[rcannonp]

You can pull the fiber feed out of the nib. It makes it easier to clean out the old ink that way.

[BearsPaw]

I AM NOT SUGGESTING THAT PEOPLE STOP USING FOUNTAIN PENS!!!

 

Honestly, I only did this for the novelty factor: I thought it would be cool to have a BP with non-standard colors in it, such as blue-black. The thing that convinced me to try fountain pens was all the different colors of ink available. But having used them near exclusively for over a year, I am now addicted to the way they write as well.

 

This is smooth for a BP (both before and after the ink change), but it does not compare to a nice fountain pen.

[rcannonp]

I've refilled a few LP7s and an LP5 that I have with Pelikan Fount India and Dr. Marten's Black Star. They work better on certain papers with those than with most other fountain pen inks or the ink that was originally in the pen.

[BearsPaw]

You can pull the fiber feed out of the nib. It makes it easier to clean out the old ink that way.

 

Thanks for the tip. I thought about that, but I was afraid it might not go back in. I will do that next time.

[Silvermink]

Hm, I'm going to have to give this a shot. Thanks for the writeup.

[Daosus]

Very nice! Just FYI: if you pull out the fiber tip and clean it all out, instead of getting black ink that changes to whatever color you put in, you'll get water that changes to that color. Still, taking out the felt center makes cleaning a LOT easier.

[rcannonp]

You can dry it out with a paper towel.

 

I also soak it in the ink that I'm going to use before I put it back in the nib.

Edited November 11, 2008 by rcannonp

[someonesdad]

I did this last night and was going to write it up -- fortunately, I searched for Staedtler and see someone's already done a nice job describing it. I'll add a couple comments about what I learned.

 

I was able to just grab the "nib" section and pull it out -- no pliers needed. I use a syringe with a long needle (blunted on the grinder) to rinse things out. As mentioned, you can pull the fiber wick out and rinse it out too. rcannonp gave good advice about soaking the wick in the new ink. I didn't do this and got water out for quite a while. I stored the pen vertically overnight with the tip down and everything was fine in the morning.

 

I filled the pen with Herbin's Poussiere de Lune and it writes beautifully with it. But FPN brown is my favorite ink, so I'll probably switch over to that soon.

 

And of course this doesn't mean I don't use my fountain pens anymore. All of these things are just writing sticks, after all. Filling a rollerball this way just gives you another stick with ink you like.

[jonro]

If you check the user license on your Staedtler Liquid Point 7's, you will see that you have violated the terms of service that you agreed to by opening the box. There are numerous legal penalties for anyone who uses non-Staedtler ink in a Liquid Point 7 pen. Fines may reach as much as $2,000 per violation. Just kidding. It's okay.

[someonesdad]

If you check the user license on your Staedtler Liquid Point 7's, you will see that you have violated the terms of service that you agreed to by opening the box. There are numerous legal penalties for anyone who uses non-Staedtler ink in a Liquid Point 7 pen. Fines may reach as much as $2,000 per violation. Just kidding. It's okay.

OMG, you're right! It says so right here in the fine print. <paper rustles> Here's $2000. Do you think you can just forget what you saw and go away?

[Ink Stained Wretch]

If you check the user license on your Staedtler Liquid Point 7's, you will see that you have violated the terms of service that you agreed to by opening the box. There are numerous legal penalties for anyone who uses non-Staedtler ink in a Liquid Point 7 pen. Fines may reach as much as $2,000 per violation. Just kidding. It's okay.

OMG, you're right! It says so right here in the fine print. <paper rustles> Here's $2000. Do you think you can just forget what you saw and go away?

Hey, I saw it too! Gimme, gimme!

[WillSW]

After reading this post I tried to do the same thing with a Faber Castell rollerball, but the tip was the more traditional conical rollerball type and seemed to leak and get a little messy. Eager to make some pens with "good" ink for my parents and friends who were too stubborn to switch to nibs (like Spanish Missionaries we are in our fervor to convert!), I rushed out for a pack of Liquid Points and made some custom blue blends for distribution. Plus I get to write with my Walnut drawing ink for once.

 

So, thanks for the inspiration.

[dennisraines]

Wow- I'd actually like to try this, not to replace my fountain pens- but to add some Noodler's Black and make that pen waterproof- the liquid ink pens run with slight moisture. Hopefully no probs with the Noodler's....

[RevAaron]

I'm with the OP- fun! It's good to know which OTS rollerballs can have their point/collectors pulled out easily... Most of the rollerballs I have around the house don't seem to be one you can do that with.

 

As to the *why*, there are a lot of reasons you'd want to do this. If you don't want to do it, then don't. Easy as that.

 

I don't think I'd have much actual use for this- I have a Kaweco Ink Roller and some PAN piston filling rollerballs for this purpose. I like the idea of using your 1745's piston for filling the pen- it reminds me of line in Dubiel's "Da Book," where he points out a few handy uses for a Snorkel, like using it to fill cartridges.