Editor / Tiny Giant Conversion to Rollerball

[egnald]

Hello all,

Before I dig in and figure it out, does anyone have experience with converting an Editor / Tiny Giant ballpoint kit (Parker Refill) to accept a Rollerball refill? It looks like it should be as simple as making the brass tube a little longer and swapping out the Parker refill and spring for a Rollerball refill and spring.

I ask this because the "Snap Cap" design from William Wood-Wright is a Rollerball kit with an 8mm tube just like the Editor / TIny Giant. The caps and other parts even look like they might be identical. Although the overall length of a Rollerball Refill is about 11.4mm longer than a Parker Refill, the Snap Cap tube (110.1mm) is 14.7mm longer than the Editor (65.6mm). A typical Rollerball spring is somewhere between 7mm (compressed) and 13mm (uncompressed) so that would make me think the difference in tube sizes should be more like 18.4mm (11.4mm + 7mm) rather than the 14.7mm as measured between the two kits.

Here is a picture for comparison. The Snap Cap is the Red plating and the Tiny Giant is the Antique Bronze. Note the similarity between the parts except for the brass tubes, refills, and springs.

Perhaps I should just start by trying a 80.3mm tube in an Editor / Tiny Giant kit and swap out the refills and springs to see how it comes out.

Regards,
Dave

 

[mark james]

I have not done this, but to my simple brain it looks like you are spot on for the conversion.

 

[KenB259]

Hello all,

Before I dig in and figure it out, does anyone have experience with converting an Editor / Tiny Giant ballpoint kit (Parker Refill) to accept a Rollerball refill? It looks like it should be as simple as making the brass tube a little longer and swapping out the Parker refill and spring for a Rollerball refill and spring.

I ask this because the "Snap Cap" design from William Wood-Wright is a Rollerball kit with an 8mm tube just like the Editor / TIny Giant. The caps and other parts even look like they might be identical. Although the overall length of a Rollerball Refill is about 11.4mm longer than a Parker Refill, the Snap Cap tube (110.1mm) is 14.7mm longer than the Editor (65.6mm). A typical Rollerball spring is somewhere between 7mm (compressed) and 13mm (uncompressed) so that would make me think the difference in tube sizes should be more like 18.4mm (11.4mm + 7mm) rather than the 14.7mm as measured between the two kits.

Here is a picture for comparison. The Snap Cap is the Red plating and the Tiny Giant is the Antique Bronze. Note the similarity between the parts except for the brass tubes, refills, and springs.

View attachment 373903

Perhaps I should just start by trying a 80.3mm tube in an Editor / Tiny Giant kit and swap out the refills and springs to see how it comes out.

Regards,
Dave

Just a heads up. The 8 mm tubes that are supplied with the kit are slightly different in size than other 8 mm kits. If you use the components in regular 8 mm tubes, you'll probably have to glue them in.

 

[woodwzrd]

I found on the first one that I did that I had to put the ballpoint spring on the roller ball refill to keep it from over extending out of the tip. In order to avoid that I 3D printed a small bushing that I glue into the tip which keeps the refill from extending out to far then you can just use the roller ball spring as intended. I have a note somewhere in my shop of how long I cut the new 8mm tube but as Ken pointed out you will probably have to glue your components into the new tube.

 

[Darios]

On just eyeing this, is there a potential problem with the neck of the rollerball cartridge?

 

[egnald]

Just a heads up. The 8 mm tubes that are supplied with the kit are slightly different in size than other 8 mm kits. If you use the components in regular 8 mm tubes, you'll probably have to glue them in.

Ahh - Thanks for the heads-up. I never compared the ID or OD of the tubes between the two kits until I read your post. Unfortunately I never did buy that set of Plug & Pin Gauges I've had my eye on a few times, so I had to resort to trying to measure the ID with my standard caliper. Comparing the two kits I have, both seem to have the same OD (7.75mm) and ID (7.30mm) with the length being the only difference. The standard 10" bulk 8mm tubes I have from PSI also measure 7.7mm OD but perhaps 7.35mm ID, so maybe a couple thousandths bigger. - Dave

 

[KenB259]

Ahh - Thanks for the heads-up. I never compared the ID or OD of the tubes between the two kits until I read your post. Unfortunately I never did buy that set of Plug & Pin Gauges I've had my eye on a few times, so I had to resort to trying to measure the ID with my standard caliper. Comparing the two kits I have, both seem to have the same OD (7.75mm) and ID (7.30mm) with the length being the only difference. The standard 10" bulk 8mm tubes I have from PSI also measure 7.7mm OD but perhaps 7.35mm ID, so maybe a couple thousandths bigger. - Dave

I tested the 10 inch long 8 mm tubes, that I bought from PSI,with the actual pen components, and they were a slip fit.

 

[egnald]

On just eyeing this, is there a potential problem with the neck of the rollerball cartridge?

On the Tiny Giant, the position of the Parker Refill relative to the tip is controlled by the length of the brass tube and Body Cap as it is forced towards the Body Cap by the compression of the spring. Since a Rollerball Refill is usually positioned by the internal dimensions of the Tip and is forced towards the Tip by the spring, I checked the fit of the Rollerball Cartridge in the Editor / Tiny Giant tip. It does extend about 3mm more than the Parker Refill in a completed pen, I compensate by slicing off a 3mm piece of the Rollerball's protective cap to use as a spacer sleeve over the end of the refill which reduces the extension just the right amount. I have used this same spacer sleeve procedure to make minor adjustments of refill extensions for using Pilot G2 gel refills in Rollerball pens as I prefer Pilot G2 inks over Rollerball inks. - Dave

PS I don't sell my pens so the spacer sleeve modification doesn't present any kind of customer concerns, and if I do gift a Rollerball pen, I take out the spacer sleeve and install a standard Rollerball cartridge so they don't have to deal with it either.

 

[egnald]

I tested the 10 inch long 8 mm tubes, that I bought from PSI,with the actual pen components, and they were a slip fit.

That doesn't surprise me, 3 thousandths is more than what we used to use as the difference between press and slip fits. (In the machine shop we generally increased the hole diameter by 0.002" when going from press to slip). - Dave

 

[pacer_3iii]

I've not tried it with regular rollerball cartridges, but the standard Editor works great for gels like Energel and G2. Just cut the refill short enough to fit. I keep a .5mm Energel in an Editor for my pocket notebook.