Pilot G2 conversion

[sorcerertd]

Hello all! I've seen a few mentions of converting pens to accept a Pilot G2 refill. The refills are obviously easy to obtain in different colors and widths and they write very smoothly. If my measurements are correct, the Pilots are 12mm longer than the Parker style cartridges and very slightly wider.
Have any of you had luck modifying kits by making a longer barrel without having to modify the hardware?
What kits have you tried with?
Any luck with click style kits?

 

[More4dan]

The nose cone will also have to be modified to work with the G2. I've not modified kits for the G2 but have made kitless pens using this refill. The Spring that comes in the G2 works better than the ones from Exotic Blanks. It sits higher on the refill and work better for the tip design. Good luck and post pics of what you come up with.

 

[Brotherdale]

The Blade kit is the easiest I have found. You only need to trim the click mechanism pusher. The EDC is a good candidate as well. You need to mill a shoulder inside the nib. Which isn't hard to do. I do it with a hand held drill.
Like Danny said use the spring that comes with the Pilot.

 

[Brotherdale]

I forgot the best part. If you happen to have both the Blade and the EDC. You can swap the click mechanisms and use the Blade without trimming the pusher, and the use the EDC with the normal refill without needing the plastic extension.

 

[magpens]

I forgot the best part. If you happen to have both the Blade and the EDC. You can swap the click mechanisms and use the Blade without trimming the pusher, and the use the EDC with the normal refill without needing the plastic extension.

I have both the Blade and EDC kits.

I find that the Blade mechanism is just a tad too long (about 0.5mm or less) for doing what you suggest.

Putting it in the EDC results in the refill poking out by just that tiny bit when retracted.

Lengthening the EDC barrel by 0.5 mm fixes that, but that's hard to do after you have made and assembled the EDC.

The EDC barrel is a tad too short to begin with, in my opinion, so I try to remember to always lengthen it a bit ... but that involves aged memory !!!
Perhaps there are minor variations in the production batches of the EDC (or their refills).

 

[Ted iin Michigan]

I just finished up that modification. I was working with a Cigar style component set. This one was from Exotic blanks but they are all pretty much the same IMHO. There were 2 issues to contend with. The first was the mentioned narrowness of the opening at the tip. Actually the tip is ok but the part that presses into the brass tube is a wee bit too small for the refill. And the machined threads of that part make the wall a little thin, too, so reaming with a drill was kind of iffy. I took a transfer punch, wrapped some 600 wet/dry paper around it and chucked that into a drill. Then I used that to ream out the part. It took a bit of doing but the refill now slides through the part just fine and the minor reduction in wall didn't weaken the part. The second issue is (also mentioned) that the refill diameter is a little bigger than a Parker so it won't fit into a standard twist mechanism (about 0.5mm difference - 6.2mm vs 5.7mm). I was lucky on this one in that the customer spec'd an EnerGel refill which has a plastic body. I chucked the refill into the drill and used 220 to reduce the diameter enough that the refill slips into the mechanism. To accommodate the whole thing I cut a piece of 10mm tubing the noted 12mm longer dimension and then made the pen as usual.

 

[More4dan]

Here is a dimensioned drawing of the G2 refill and spring. (and it's not a "properly" dimensioned engineered drawing)

Danny

 

[Brotherdale]

I have both the Blade and EDC kits.

I find that the Blade mechanism is just a tad too long (about 0.5mm or less) for doing what you suggest.

Putting it in the EDC results in the refill poking out by just that tiny bit when retracted.

Lengthening the EDC barrel by 0.5 mm fixes that, but that's hard to do after you have made and assembled the EDC.

The EDC barrel is a tad too short to begin with, in my opinion, so I try to remember to always lengthen it a bit ... but that involves aged memory !!!
Perhaps there are minor variations in the production batches of the EDC (or their refills).

You are right Mal. When I first started doing these I was making the barrel 0.020 inch longer. Now I just take a little off the pusher. It's made of brass and I just sand a little off.


Sent from my iPhone using Penturners.org mobile app

 

[magpens]

@Brotherdale

Thanks for adding that, Dale. . I had been wondering if maybe I just got a "bad" batch !

 

[sorcerertd]

I just finished up that modification. I was working with a Cigar style component set. This one was from Exotic blanks but they are all pretty much the same IMHO. There were 2 issues to contend with. The first was the mentioned narrowness of the opening at the tip. Actually the tip is ok but the part that presses into the brass tube is a wee bit too small for the refill. And the machined threads of that part make the wall a little thin, too, so reaming with a drill was kind of iffy. I took a transfer punch, wrapped some 600 wet/dry paper around it and chucked that into a drill. Then I used that to ream out the part. It took a bit of doing but the refill now slides through the part just fine and the minor reduction in wall didn't weaken the part. The second issue is (also mentioned) that the refill diameter is a little bigger than a Parker so it won't fit into a standard twist mechanism (about 0.5mm difference - 6.2mm vs 5.7mm). I was lucky on this one in that the customer spec'd an EnerGel refill which has a plastic body. I chucked the refill into the drill and used 220 to reduce the diameter enough that the refill slips into the mechanism. To accommodate the whole thing I cut a piece of 10mm tubing the noted 12mm longer dimension and then made the pen as usual.

So many uses for transfer punches!
As far as the pen goes, you are saying you reduced the diameter of the refill? I would think that would be a problem when the recipient has to refill the pen and finds out the standard refill doesn't fit.

 

[Ted iin Michigan]

So many uses for transfer punches!
As far as the pen goes, you are saying you reduced the diameter of the refill? I would think that would be a problem when the recipient has to refill the pen and finds out the standard refill doesn't fit.

Todd - Yep. I reduced the diameter of the refill just at the top where it slides into the transmission. But he's an engineer I worked with a lot before I retired. I explained the whole process to him before I made the handoff (in a park & ride with our masks on - ) and he was cool with it. If I could have modified the twist mechanism easily I would have gone that route, but the housing on it is just pressed metal and I was sure I would screw it up.