Refilling Pilot Gel pens with fountain pen ink!

[weemeng]

Here's something fun to try:

 

When your Pilot G-Tecmatic gel pen is about to finish, about 5mm of ink left, fill up a syringe with ink, carefully push the needle thru the plastic casing in the middle of the ink section and slowly inject the ink inside the pen. Do it slowly so that the ink doesn't flow past the "grease" seal.

 

Once done, remove the syringe needle and use a small piece of clear scotch tape to seal the hole.

 

As u continue to write, once the original gel ink finishes, the injected fountain pen ink would start to flow into the ball. The writing experience is just as smooth as the original ink but the lines are a little broader now as fountain pen ink is not as viscous as the gel based ink. It now behaves exactly like a very smooth fountain pen!

 

I intend to try injecting with India ink next to see if the ball would be clogged up. India ink once dried is waterproof. Would be a handy refillable waterproof pen to write with (if it works!).

 

Let me know how it goes for u.

 

If there's any chemist around, is there some non-toxic additive that can be added into the ink to turn it into a gel?

If a "gelling" agent can be found, we can inject a few different colored ink into the tube. Then as one writes, different colours would appear.

 

For those who are thinking why would one want to do such a thing?

It's the same answer why people climb mount Everest

 

 

Hv fun

weemeng

 

[Songwind]

Are you going to use fountain pen India ink, or regular?

 

The regular ink will probably gum it up in short order. Fountain pen India, alas, is not waterproof.

[gregoron]

If there's any chemist around, is there some non-toxic additive that can be added into the ink to turn it into a gel?

If a "gelling" agent can be found, we can inject a few different colored ink into the tube. Then as one writes, different colours would appear.

 

 

Hv fun

weemeng

 

How about Jell-o? I am not a chemist.

 

This works well for those metal rollerball refills too that fit pens taking Pilot G-2 gel refills.

[weemeng]

Are you going to use fountain pen India ink, or regular?

 

Am thinking of using regular india ink which would gum up a fountain pen whose feed is exposed to the air.

 

Looking at the construction of the gel ink tube, everything is sealed except for the edges round the ball at the writing tip. So my gut feel tells me that maybe it might work unless the dried ink "glues" the ball.

 

[lovemy51]

ok, this is what i did:

got a Hauser brand RB refill cart. and took out the sponge reservoir from inside. i took the tip off and cleaned it as well and put it back together sealed with shellack and filled it with pelikan blue FP ink.

plugged the back of the cartridge tube with the same cover that came with it (using shellack as well).

 

it's holding and working well. lets see what happens in a day or two!!!

[lovemy51]

... now i did it to MB roller ball. popped out the top cover and use the syringe to inject a small dosage of black quink!

 

it was completely dry, now it's working fine.

[bobfet1]

interesting! I love pilot gel pens. But... where do you get syringes? I thought you had to have a prescription to buy them.

[jhsiao]

interesting! I love pilot gel pens. But... where do you get syringes? I thought you had to have a prescription to buy them.

 

Varies from state to state. I believe in Florida, you can just buy them for a quarter at your local pharmacy. But laws to curtail illegal intravenous drug use in various states may make syringes unavailable without a prescription in other states.

[Tweel]

In states where you can buy syringes without a prescription (Indiana is one of them), you should be able to get something sturdier than an insulin syringe at a farm-supply store.

 

For transferring cartridge ink, I use the syringe from one of those inkjet refill kits.

 

-- Brian

[weemeng]

... now i did it to MB roller ball. popped out the top cover and use the syringe to inject a small dosage of black quink!

 

it was completely dry, now it's working fine.

 

Wow! Are we poised at the start of a re-inking revolution?

 

Heh heh, we better keep it quiet amongst ourselves else those manufacturers may change their design and make it more difficult for us to re-ink our pen's refills with our favourite inks just like what printer manufacturers are doing :roflmho:

[graceaj]

interesting! I love pilot gel pens. But... where do you get syringes? I thought you had to have a prescription to buy them.

 

You may find something suitable advertised as a 'pipette'. I found a syringe with a small, long hollow tube in the cosmetics section in Daiso. They had another variant which was a squeeze bulb with the tube.

[tankahn]

Thanks for the tip. I was looking for them.

 

You may find something suitable advertised as a 'pipette'. I found a syringe with a small, long hollow tube in the cosmetics section in Daiso. They had another variant which was a squeeze bulb with the tube.

 

[jhsiao]

In a related note, does anyone know what the "grease" is at the end of a gel tube? Is it silicone grease?

 

Just curious.

[lovemy51]

... now i did it to MB roller ball. popped out the top cover and use the syringe to inject a small dosage of black quink!

 

it was completely dry, now it's working fine.

 

Wow! Are we poised at the start of a re-inking revolution?

 

Heh heh, we better keep it quiet amongst ourselves else those manufacturers may change their design and make it more difficult for us to re-ink our pen's refills with our favourite inks just like what printer manufacturers are doing :roflmho:

 

i hear you!

 

just an update on the RB by Hauser. taking out the tube/cylinder with the absorbent material inside the barrel (which act as a reservoir) and pouring the ink directly into the barrel was not a good idea. it leaked.

 

on the other hand the MB RB refill, where i injected the ink in cylinder/reservoir, rather then pulling it out, is holding very well!!!!

[weemeng]

just an update on the RB by Hauser. taking out the tube/cylinder with the absorbent material inside the barrel (which act as a reservoir) and pouring the ink directly into the barrel was not a good idea. it leaked.

 

on the other hand the MB RB refill, where i injected the ink in cylinder/reservoir, rather then pulling it out, is holding very well!!!!

 

I too tried a MB RB compatible refill from an old promotional pen and it works!

 

Pulled the front out, it had a plastic tube filled with absorbent material. Saturated the plastic tube with ink and refitted the front back in. The feed to the roller ball is some kind of stiff stick like absorbent material that pokes into the plastic tube of absorbent material.

 

Ink used is Km's Ink made in Shanghai China. Comes in a round glass bottle with yellow label wrapped around it. About US$0.40 for 60ml. Once it dries on paper, it washes off a tiny bit (no noticable change in the letters). It clogs the feeds of fountain pen even though it says "For fountain pens" on the box.

 

 

[lovemy51]

just an update on the RB by Hauser. taking out the tube/cylinder with the absorbent material inside the barrel (which act as a reservoir) and pouring the ink directly into the barrel was not a good idea. it leaked.

 

on the other hand the MB RB refill, where i injected the ink in cylinder/reservoir, rather then pulling it out, is holding very well!!!!

 

I too tried a MB RB compatible refill from an old promotional pen and it works!

 

Pulled the front out, it had a plastic tube filled with absorbent material. Saturated the plastic tube with ink and refitted the front back in. The feed to the roller ball is some kind of stiff stick like absorbent material that pokes into the plastic tube of absorbent material.

 

Ink used is Km's Ink made in Shanghai China. Comes in a round glass bottle with yellow label wrapped around it. About US$0.40 for 60ml. Once it dries on paper, it washes off a tiny bit (no noticable change in the letters). It clogs the feeds of fountain pen even though it says "For fountain pens" on the box.

 

wow! that's a very inexpensive ink. where can one get it?

[graceaj]

wow! that's a very inexpensive ink. where can one get it?

 

You may try someplace that sells Chinese calligraphy supplies. In Singapore it can be found in most stationery stores alongside brushes and Chinese Calligraphy ink.

[gregoron]

I did this a while back to a Lamy M66 rollerball refill and it works. I did not take out the sponge inside though. Also, instead of the syringe, I used an eyedropper because the refill barrel was wide enough. I used Pelikan black ink which came our really black, but wider than the original version.

 

... now i did it to MB roller ball. popped out the top cover and use the syringe to inject a small dosage of black quink!

 

it was completely dry, now it's working fine.

 

[Bernie0104]

God! I used to do this sort of thing back in the days when I was in High School! I used to use disposable Ball Pentels (you know, the green ones), and they made ideal candidates for refilling with Indian ink! The ink reservoir is large, and all you have to do to access it is pop off the coloured cap on the end of the barrel. Inject the sponge with some Indian ink and Bob's your auntie!

 

Bernie.

Edited April 19, 2008 by Bernie0104

[Bernie0104]

To add to the above:

Don't overfill the pen with ink as you may find drops of ink coming out of the breather hole down near the writing tip! Just inject enough ink to soak the sponge, but not enough to cause the ink to drip from the sponge. You can test for this by turning the pen upside down after filling to check for drips. Best do that over a sink though!

 

Bernie.