Fitting A Vintage Eversharp Ca Ballpoint With A Modern Refill

[BamaPen]

Eversharp introduced its Capillary Action (CA) ballpoint in 1946 in a rush to market intended to head off a challenge from Reynolds.  The product was poorly designed, untested, and resulted in so many returns because of poor performance that Eversharp was financially crippled to such an extent that it never recovered.
The CA refill was fitted into conventional capped pen bodies in both the Skyline and Fifth Avenue pen lines and into a clickable cap-action ballpoint as well.  The major design flaw was that the actual rolling ball was a permanent part of the pen and the refill screwed into that ball unit.  This opened the way for the refill to dry out, for the ink in the refill to air lock and fail to make its way to the rolling ball, or for the ink to leak at the joint.
No modern refill is designed to fit into the vintage CA pens.  A number of adaptations have been described on Fountain Pen Network and by Richard Binder and other pen experts.  Most of these involve precise cutting of an original CA refill so that it becomes an adapter to hold a modern refill.
Some time ago I purchased a Skyline CA with its original non-funtional refill, but I had neither the skill nor the machine tools to make an adapter from the refill.  By happy coincidence, I happened to have a Pilot “Birdie Switch” ballpoint/pencil combo that uses an unusual and proprietary ballpoint refill.  I looked at the Pilot refill and realized that it looked to be about the size of the CA refill, so I tried it.  To my astonishment, it was practically a press fit into the opening in the CA pen’s nose cone. Luck trumps skill sometimes.
This turned out to be a far simpler way to adapt the old CA pen to use a modern ballpoint refill. In additon, there is no modification to the old CA refill or the pen itself, so the process is totally reversable.  While the Pilot Birdie Switch refill is definitely not common, it can be had online from several vendors for a very reasonable price. Jetpens has them for $1.35.  The look of the finished conversion is quite similar to the original.
Original CA refill and permanent rolling ball unit

Pilot BTRF-8F-B refill for "Birdie Switch" pen/pencil

CA nosecone and Pilot refill

The Skyline CA with Pilot refill installed


 

[Chthulhu]

Nice! What, if anything, keeps the refill in place?

[BamaPen]

Nice! What, if anything, keeps the refill in place?

It is a really tight fit into the CA nosecone and I've not had any problem with it wanting to push in farther or fall out. I think that little bulge in the black part of the refill where it fits over the shiny metal part just locks into the threads in the CA nosecone.

 

By the way, I tried to fit this refill into the nosecone of a Sheaffer Stratowriter - the capped type - and the refill is too large for that opening.

[Greenie]

Bravo. Thank you for figuring it out, and for sharing it. I have converted a few CA to take new refills, and the result is a really great pen (I love my Skyline CA more then the 5th Ave style, but that is my taste).

 

Nice to know there is such a great, off the shelf solution so absolutely anyone can now enjoy an Eversharp CA.

[BamaPen]

Bravo. Thank you for figuring it out, and for sharing it. I have converted a few CA to take new refills, and the result is a really great pen (I love my Skyline CA more then the 5th Ave style, but that is my taste).

 

Nice to know there is such a great, off the shelf solution so absolutely anyone can now enjoy an Eversharp CA.

The Skyline CA is my favorite as well...

[Ted F]

Here's a couple of Retractable Eversharp CA ballpoints. The mechanism is faulty and the tip will pop back into the pen while you're writing.

I tell everybody that they are in mint condition because they never worked.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Gloucesterman]

Eversharp introduced its Capillary Action (CA) ballpoint in 1946 in a rush to market intended to head off a challenge from Reynolds. The product was poorly designed, untested, and resulted in so many returns because of poor performance that Eversharp was financially crippled to such an extent that it never recovered.

The CA refill was fitted into conventional capped pen bodies in both the Skyline and Fifth Avenue pen lines and into a clickable cap-action ballpoint as well. The major design flaw was that the actual rolling ball was a permanent part of the pen and the refill screwed into that ball unit. This opened the way for the refill to dry out, for the ink in the refill to air lock and fail to make its way to the rolling ball, or for the ink to leak at the joint.

No modern refill is designed to fit into the vintage CA pens. A number of adaptations have been described on Fountain Pen Network and by Richard Binder and other pen experts. Most of these involve precise cutting of an original CA refill so that it becomes an adapter to hold a modern refill.

Some time ago I purchased a Skyline CA with its original non-funtional refill, but I had neither the skill nor the machine tools to make an adapter from the refill. By happy coincidence, I happened to have a Pilot “Birdie Switch” ballpoint/pencil combo that uses an unusual and proprietary ballpoint refill. I looked at the Pilot refill and realized that it looked to be about the size of the CA refill, so I tried it. To my astonishment, it was practically a press fit into the opening in the CA pen’s nose cone. Luck trumps skill sometimes.

This turned out to be a far simpler way to adapt the old CA pen to use a modern ballpoint refill. In additon, there is no modification to the old CA refill or the pen itself, so the process is totally reversable. While the Pilot Birdie Switch refill is definitely not common, it can be had online from several vendors for a very reasonable price. Jetpens has them for $1.35. The look of the finished conversion is quite similar to the original.

Original CA refill and permanent rolling ball unit

Pilot BTRF-8F-B refill for "Birdie Switch" pen/pencil

CA nosecone and Pilot refill

The Skyline CA with Pilot refill installed

 

 

 

Really like the lines on the Skyline "CA".

 

I have a Waterman CF ballpoint which takes only one modern refill/replacement - Cartier Must Ball point refill at $15.00 a "pop". I like your less expensive solution. And actually I like the looks of the Skyline CA!!!

[dmmay]

Great tip! Thanks for this insight. In order to get it fit, the only thing I had to do was whittle down (carefully) the little bulge at the back of the refill where it fits over the metal part. I have several Fifth Avenues, and this beats the process of cutting (cursing), drilling (cursing), lathing (cursing), etc.

 

David

[PDW]

Great idea - Fifth Ave CA ballpen retrieved from pen case, refills ordered.

 

One question: should the CA ball tip unscrew easily from the nose cone, or does it need persuading - and if the latter, how did you do it?

[BamaPen]

Great idea - Fifth Ave CA ballpen retrieved from pen case, refills ordered.

 

One question: should the CA ball tip unscrew easily from the nose cone, or does it need persuading - and if the latter, how did you do it?

The CA tip unscrewed relatively easily on both my Skyline CA and Fifth Avenue CA. I used a bit of rubber band to get a grip on the cone, then gripped tight and actually pushed the metal tip toward the plastic section as I turned it. If it won't budge, a little heat should loosen things.

[Greenie]

If it has the long metal tube inside, I found it pretty easy to twist that inside part as if you are screwing it in (clockwise), and that will unscrew the nose cone.

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/297518-converting-a-fifth-ave-ca/

 

And now, thanks to Bama, we all have a solution for how to use a CA that lacks the proper guts for the Binder style conversion.

[PDW]

Refills arrived, and as instructed I carefully filed down the plastic bulge. I've screwed the remains of the plastic bulge into the section, but unlike the examples above I've left all of the metal part of the refill standing proud of the original coloured nosecone, mainly as it was getting tight and I didn't want to risk straining and possibly splitting the metal nosecone.

 

The result looks less like the original than others' but the section to tip length works better with my grip. So, may I extend thanks to BamaPen for showing me how to remake a working pen.

[Limi]

This thread was great since I also neede to sort out my eversharp ballpoint. But when I had a closer look i noticed the previus owner have replaced the original rod with somthing else, possibly an old bic pen or somthing. But inspired of this thread and the name of science I did some tinkering on my own with stuff I had at home. The result is if not great, at least quite alright and fully functional. 

 

This is what I did:

 

First i needed some tip that fitted a filler I had at hand and the combination i went for was ballograf epoch and waterman filtertip refill. 

 

The remove the bit I need, and mount it to somthing that can screw in to existing thread in the eversharp. I found 3.25mm styrene pipe with an inner diameter of 2.25 fit the refiller but needed some trimming to easily screw in place. 

 

I also repurposed the balograf spring and the refiller lid to get rid of some slop but just some plasic or whatever would have worked. 

 

[Limi]

Ahh, I just re read the first post and relised that i missunderstood, everything really... But netverthe less i did a convertion so i can use my waterman fiber tip refills that i dont have a pen for. Looking back i cant understand how I managed to not understand since the post is very clear.