Rollerball vs Ballpoint

[yucki8aby]

Hello,

 

I was wondering, what's the difference between a rollerball and a ballpoint.

[graceaj]

Hello,

 

I was wondering, what's the difference between a rollerball and a ballpoint.

 

The ink is the most basic difference. A ballpoint uses a thick, usually water-resistant ink. A rollerball tends to have much more liquid ink, more so that a gel pen, in fact quite like a fountain pen. In fact, some Rollerballs have this ability to be refilled with fountain pen ink.

[Glenn-SC]

You will see that most Rollerball pens use caps, so that when unused they don't dry out.

 

The thicker Ballpoint ink doesn't dry as fast and so they are open tipped bodies with twist or "click" feeds.

 

 

[grimakis]

You will see that most Rollerball pens use caps, so that when unused they don't dry out.

 

The thicker Ballpoint ink doesn't dry as fast and so they are open tipped bodies with twist or "click" feeds.

 

Ballpoint ink actually dries very fast, but since it is thick and oil based, it wont evaporate away. It only takes a little scribble to start up a ballpoint, whereas a rollerball that has been uncapped may have no ink left.

[RayMan]

The Paper Mate FAQ (which somehow disappeared after I linked to) had the following explanation of ballpoint, gel and rollerball inks:

 

Ball point ink ­ Non water based, high viscosity paste ink (like molasses), which does not thin down when you write with it. Ink transfers from a rotating ball like on a printing press.

 

Rollerball ink ­ Water based, low viscosity ink (like water), which takes very little effort to get it to flow ­ hence smooth writing. Ink floods the ball point and in effect you just drag a pool of ink around the paper as you write. Typically, rollerball ink is not permanent and will run when exposed to water.

 

Gel ink ­ Water based ink which has a viscosity which can change. The ink typically has a high viscosity when the pen is not being used, but when the ball starts to rotate, the ink thins down to have a low viscosity similar to rollerball ink. Ink transfers from the ball similar to both ballpen and rollerball ­ a cross between a puddle of ink and printing press transfer to paper.

 

 

Edited November 1, 2008 by RayMan

[yucki8aby]

Thanks for all the replies.