Refill a ballpoint or gel pen with fountain pen ink

This instructable explains how to dismantle, prepare and fill a gel or ballpoint pen with fountain pen ink. Although not efficient for everyday use, this will probably be a fun-filled activity for pen nerds everywhere.

Step 1: Materials

-1 syringe with needle (I got mine from a printer refill kit)
- A set of pliers
- Some fountain pen ink (I used Parker Quink)
- Surgical spirit
- A pen, preferably used ( I used 0.5 ballpoint and gel pens)
- Steady hands
- Several sheets of scrap paper for absorbing any spills
- Gloves
- a disposable cup (optional)

Comments

[rera]

I had tried several times but I had som problems:
I need something to replace the gel that's uesd to close the pen tank, maybe can I use hair gel?
I found fountain pen ink (I used Pelikan) too liquid for gel pen

[oldtypewriter]

Have you tried to make the pens pocket safe by putting Vaseline or Hair Wax at the end of the tubes?

It might work properly as a grease seal, making sure the ink doesn't flow out from the end.

[sreeraj]

whats the cost of the cheapest gel pen available in your country?

[Half-Life]

There's a locally manufactured good quality gel pen for 15 LKR, or 0.14USD (which I used above).
Recently, a new pen called "butter gel" has been released by the same company for slightly less than that.

www.atlas.lk (their products can be viewed under "shopping cart")

[sreeraj]

i think more cheaper gel pens are available in India. You can get a gel pen for Rs.5(12 lkr) and cheaper ones are available for Rs.3 ( about 7 LKR). And Hi , I am glad to see someone from the sub continent :D

[rammstein2]

If you have a longer needle can you fill the ink tube completely witout removing the writing tip(i,e you fill it from its open end)????

[atombomb1945]

Very interesting.  dose it work on cheaper pens (roller balls and the like) or only on the more up scale pens? 

This would be good for those high dollar refill pens.

[Half-Life]

Well the total price I paid for those two pens was only around $ 0.3 and I think this technique will produce different results with different pens, irrespective of price.

BTW this fountain-pen-ink mod runs out pretty quickly, and isn't pocket safe.

[fastlines49s]

oh the indignity of using fountain pen ink in cheap pens