Parker IM (Pre-2016) Rollerball Pen to Fountain Pen Conversion.

[AbdurRaheem]

Dear FPN Community

I hope this post finds you all in best of your health and wealth. I like to share my Parker IM rollerball pen to fountain pen conversion journey. Please note that I am no fountain pen expert and this is not a tutorial. Also I have not recorded/documented each step as I was not expecting a working fountain pen in the end.

 

Background

I had a Parker IM (pre-2016) rollerball pen lying around since past 8 years. I am a fountain pen guy so I tried to get IM fountain pen section both locally and online. Separate section  was not available in local market and online cost + shipping  (from overseas) of section was nearly equal to complete fountain pen available locally. so I decided to take the matter in my own hands.

 

Plan

The pre-2016 Parker IM fountain pen seemed to share almost same feed and nib as Parker vector. Parker vector section was available in local market

My plan was

1) Cut and ground the roller ball tip of Parker IM rollerball section

2) Remove the plastic tube (Containing nib and feed) from Parker vector section

3) Fit the tube in Parker IM rollerball section and call it a day.

 

Conversion

Actual execution of plan was as following

1) IM rollerball tip was cut. Due to lack of proper tools, I used utility knife, pliers  and sandpaper for smoothing the edge. In fact during the process, roller ball tip along with trim piece ( which engages with cap) came out from section (friction fit, no glue) which made things easier for later stages.

2) For vector section I used small file and sandpaper to thin the metal in a single line vertically. After it was thin enough, it came out easily in two pieces (clipped, not glued).after that I only had to cut the lip portion which engages with the vector cap and its length was ideal.

3) Fitting was the most difficult part, lots of sanding on of plastic tube (outside) and trim ring of IM (inside) was done and after that section was ready to accept the nib and feed. Nib and feed had extremely tight fit but pen was finally assembled.

 

Results

Pen works ok for now, of course with some dents and scratches on section, nib and a messed up feed appearance. I am able to get a fountain pen with fine nib in the end which was a plus as , to the best of my knowledge, Parker IM fountain pen ( Pre-2016) was only available in medium nib.

What are your thoughts on this conversion?

 

   

[bsenn]

Interesting, thanks for sharing! Glad it worked for you.