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Caran D'ache 849 Refill Hacks?


sidpost

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I have tried searching though past threads without much success so, here goes ....

 

If the CDA 'Goliath' refills are not your thing, what refill do you use? How hard a 'hack' was it?

 

  • Do Parker refills really work?
  • Does a Pilot G2 need to have the tip diameter sanded down?
  • Do "needlepoint" refills work?
  • Do refills need to be 'shimmed' to fit this pen?

What refill options work for you? What are the easy 'refits' and what are the best refill upgrades?

 

TIA,

Sid

post-134108-0-54126800-1487352626.jpg

Edited by sidpost

On a quest for better pencils and pens in rural East Texas. :)

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The fisher space pen refill is a little shorter than the goliath refill. If you make a small spacer to make up the difference, it seems to work just fine. For my proof of concept, I used a short length off the back of a spent Energel refill.

 

Parker style refills (and fisher refills with the supplied adapter) are too long. If you're willing to shave them down to length, then you can probably make them work. The edges on the back will catch on the 849 retraction mechanism which will make it more difficult to loosen/tighten the button since it'll try to turn the whole refill against the spring rather than just spinning against the back of the refill like it does for the goliath.

 

When my goliath refill runs out, I'm going to go with a Fisher refill and a spacer.

 

--flatline

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Parker-style refills work fine in Caran D'Ache ballpoint pens. This gives you lots of options for point sizes, ink types, and ink colors since there are many companies making Parker-style refills.

Edited by elysee
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Hi, Just checked this out, Parker 'style' refills do fit the CDA 849, but are about 1mm too long, so when in use the tip of the refill sticks out of the pen too far to look right. I would think just trimming off the top 1mm from the plastic would be enough.

I found that by fitting the Parker type refill, then screwing in the CDA's cap fully home, then unscrewing it one turn, does make a difference, in allowing the mechanism to 'catch' or not 'catch' in the 'down' position. (Really proving that the refill is just 1mm too long!)

So if the Fisher refill + adapter is used, the same should apply.

The Pilot G2 refill fits the 849 barrel, no sanding needed, but the refill would need to have the black 'plug' at the top removed, then about 10mm cut off the refill, then the plug put back on. (Just matching the length of the CDA refill.)

Also the return spring would need to be reduced by about half as it's just too long as standard.

(I would put the original CDA spring aside, and cut down another from a cheaper pen!)

Edited by Mike 59
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Hi, Just checked this out, Parker 'style' refills do fit the CDA 849, but are about 1mm too long, so when in use the tip of the refill sticks out of the pen too far to look right. I would think just trimming off the top 1mm from the plastic would be enough.

I found that by fitting the Parker type refill, then screwing in the CDA's cap fully home, then unscrewing it one turn, does make a difference, in allowing the mechanism to 'catch' or not 'catch' in the 'down' position. (Really proving that the refill is just 1mm too long!)

So if the Fisher refill + adapter is used, the same should apply.

 

Thank you for confirming the Parker refill option and issues. I might take an older Parker cartridge out and chuck it up in a drill against a file or sand paper for a test fit and see what happens. It sounds like that might be a really good option for these pens.

 

The Pilot G2 refill fits the 849 barrel, no sanding needed, but the refill would need to have the black 'plug' at the top removed, then about 10mm cut off the refill, then the plug put back on. (Just matching the length of the CDA refill.)

Also the return spring would need to be reduced by about half as it's just too long as standard.

(I would put the original CDA spring aside, and cut down another from a cheaper pen!)

 

Thanks again! The Pentel Energel refill looks like it matches the Pilot G2 refill profile with more of a "needle nose" profile on the point and without the back plug at the end so, it looks like a good refill candidate as well.

 

Best Regards,

Sid

On a quest for better pencils and pens in rural East Texas. :)

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I've been using a Sheaffer ballpoint refill in mine for years. With slight turning of the top button, they work just fine.

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I used a Fisher refill; if you use the Parker adapter that's included with the Fisher refills it makes it close to the right length. I did have to sand down the top of the adapter -- as mentioned Parkers are a bit too long and the shape of the end bit kinda messes with the Caran mechanism. Extrapolating from this, any refill that is skinnier than the Parker or original CD should work; you may just have to bulk it up with tape in certain places or use the adapter for the end. My recommendation is to get a Pilot Acroball refill in there; they are dirt cheap and yet have hybrid ink that writes better than most others I've tried... I prefer Acroball to Montblanc, Fisher, Parker etc. etc. Uniball's Jetstream is the only one I find better, but I've had so many Jetstream refills (bleep) out on me that I've given up on them.

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Hi, As noted by 'Kaysguy' above, the Sheaffer ballpoints do fit and are very similar in shape and size, a minor 'issue' is that the plastic top part on the Sheaffer refill has a groove in it which catches sometimes in the brass 4 sided CDA mechanism, but I suppose the plastic could be filed flat which would stop that from happening.

The Pilot Acroball refill is a very different, thinner type of refill, but with shortening, it appears it would fit inside the CDA brass mechanism, so would be another good choice, I've always likes the way the Acroball writes. Not tried this one yet.

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  • 1 year later...

Hello,

 

has anyone used a Parker style refill in a Léman ballpoint pen (or eventually a shortened Parker style refill since it is normally longer than C d'A Goliath)?

 

Which Parker style refill would you call better than C d'A Goliath? I recently tried Aurora (not in my C d'A pen though) and it's quite nice except I would love to have it bolder than medium...

Edited by aurore

Seeking a Parker Duofold Centennial cap top medallion/cover/decal.
My Mosaic Black Centennial MK2 lost it (used to have silver color decal).

Preferably MK2. MK3 or MK1 is also OK as long as it fits.  
Preferably EU.

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The new Caran dAche SwissRide refills provide an excellent alternative. These skinny refills are designed to work in the newer 888 ballpoints. However, they fit perfectly in the 849 and Ecridor series. Although the swissride refills are longer than the Goliath, the swissride actually fits inside the hole of the removable ballpoint mechanism. This also keeps the refill from moving around inside the barrel. The swissride writes extremely well: its a low viscosity ballpoint ink, similar to an Uni Jetstream.

Edited by Jezza
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It sounds good indeed, however considering Léman I was referring to is a twist pen not a click one, I am afraid it wouldn't work...

Edited by aurore

Seeking a Parker Duofold Centennial cap top medallion/cover/decal.
My Mosaic Black Centennial MK2 lost it (used to have silver color decal).

Preferably MK2. MK3 or MK1 is also OK as long as it fits.  
Preferably EU.

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Indeed the Goliath refills are lame...

 

Specially the blue and red ink refills, the least insufferable of them is the black one, have yet to try the green refill.

 

A shame because the 849 is quite a stunner!

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Goliaths are heavily overpriced. Like really a lot. They are not bad in general (well, some are nice, some are terrible), but for the price... ridiculous. I recently tried Schneider 755 blue XB (not in my C d'A so far, it is a classic Parker style refill), writes way better than Goliath, the ink is somewhere inbetween ballpoint and gel.

Edited by aurore

Seeking a Parker Duofold Centennial cap top medallion/cover/decal.
My Mosaic Black Centennial MK2 lost it (used to have silver color decal).

Preferably MK2. MK3 or MK1 is also OK as long as it fits.  
Preferably EU.

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Plus one on the Schneider 755 XB refill. I found the ink to be similar to the three sided Slider XB disposable BP; a little more rounded point compared the more conical Parker original refill.

Roger

Magnanimity & Pragmatism

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Also one refill I have recently tried in my Genève (an older Léman) and it worked superbly is a Faber-Castell XB (blue). It has got a wide ball hence writes almost under any angle and requires almost no pressure at all, it is Swiss made (not all F-C ballpoint refills are Swiss made, some are Chinese - those are quite bad, some are Japanese - not good either, but these are Swiss and are great). And what is weird it somehow fits well even without shortening (unlike many other Parker style refills) - I just replaced the spring with a shorter one. I am accenting this because Genève / Léman unlike Ecridor/849 is a twist pen, so getting a Parker style refill to work there well is usually more tricky than in case of 849/Ecridor, but this F-C XB works great immediately.

Edited by aurore

Seeking a Parker Duofold Centennial cap top medallion/cover/decal.
My Mosaic Black Centennial MK2 lost it (used to have silver color decal).

Preferably MK2. MK3 or MK1 is also OK as long as it fits.  
Preferably EU.

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  • 2 weeks later...

The Parker refill worked for me throughout an entire summer in Europe chasing down stories with one problem: ink got onto and stained the mouth of the pen over time. I didn't notice it at first but by then it was probably too late. So I bought an 849 earlier this year but didn't know about the 888 refill so just stuck with the Goliath - ugh - and after a few weeks I lost it. The pen that is. Maybe I should get the 888 :-)

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  • 6 months later...

Hello, a new member. This was to be a question for someone about my new Geneve. I got a new , still sealed Geneve. the paperwork was 1989. The refill still works after I unsealed the bag. A local pen store has the refills, I got one today before we discovered the old worked. No problem, my wife loves it. But a recent post discussed the use of a Faber-Castell XB refill but that the spring needed to be shortened. I would like a little more info, how long should the spring be, if you cut the spring how many turns and any spring or a Parker/Sheaffer etc? Thanks, Jerry

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  • 1 year later...

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