Pen Refill Problems

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patharris

patharris

Local Chapter Leader
Joined
Mar 30, 2008
Messages
123
Location
Lexington, South Carolina, USA.
Happy Holidays Everyone! I haven't been making pens too long and some of the ones I made and sold, I have received compaints about the "Cross Style" refills that came in the kits. You have to scribble or wet the tip to get them going sometimes and I need to replace the ones my customers have that are bad. These refills are mostly PSI kits and some Rockler. Have any of you had these problems with the refills and what did you do? Where can I get reliable refills?

Pat
Lexington, SC
 
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Rob, I couldn't find Perfect Pen Co. website, went through 10 pages of Pen Companies, do you happen to have the web links? Thank you for your response and the suggested resources.
 
I haven't found a decent Cross style refill. Even the original Cross brand suck most of the time. If some one finds a good one, let me know. If it wan't for the slimline kits using them, I wouldn't even sell them. Parker is a much better option.
 
Thanks Rpb, Butch & Eric for the Refill sites. How do I know which of these refills are better than the PS Kit ones? Sounds like Steve has expierenced the same problems I have. It is really embarrassing to have sold a nice pen that uses a Cross Style refill only to have it not work frequently. I guess it was good for the traffic offfendors when the Highway Patrol man attempted to write a ticket with the pen I sold him. Now this also increases the cost of the kit having to buy a a replacement refill as a substitute to insure quality product. My custom pens sell for $45 to $65 and the buyers are expecting to have a nice writing pen that is reliable. I just want to make sure I have good cartridges in my pens. Thanks again for your help.
Pat
 
Can't say good better best hehe, but it may be weather conditions to some degree with writing problems , I live in the sub tropics and even the cheapest cross refills do a fair job , I make it a point to give a new refill with each sold pen ,as I do the local markets and sometimes pens are around for weeks ,some test write etc , so I give a refill to be sure they get good value . Cheers ~ John
 
gawdelpus said:
Can't say good better best hehe, but it may be weather conditions to some degree with writing problems , I live in the sub tropics and even the cheapest cross refills do a fair job , I make it a point to give a new refill with each sold pen ,as I do the local markets and sometimes pens are around for weeks ,some test write etc , so I give a refill to be sure they get good value . Cheers ~ John
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John -

I LIKE your approach. I think I will try to find some better Cross refills and give the PSI ones away!

Dan
 
I hate to toot my own horn, but I have in stock genuine CROSS refills, blue and black, fine medium and broad points, below the wholesale costs from Cross. Have a limited amount, so when they run out, they're out.
 
Richard, do you also have the Cross Liquid Ink Refill that Ken mentioned. I am interested in ordering some of your geniuine Cross Refills and hopefully the Liquid Ink ones as wekk. If you had prefer not to sahre the price here. please PM me with details.
Pat Harrris
 
Pat, the only CROSS refills I have are the ones that are on my website, they are from a pen store that went out of business so I bought their stock of CROSS refills, I wasn't interested in their other refills. I was going to get some from SCHMIDT on my last order, but they stopped making the CROSS style, since they only fit CROSS and the Chinese kits, it was a matter of economics for them. My normal price for the CROSS close out is .75 ea. plus freight, but I am running a 20% off sale until the end of the year, so they are currently .60 ea. plus freight. They are starting to run low now since I made the reply, and I want to thank those who made purchases, they will hopefully be shipped tomorrow. By the way for anyone who uses the PARKER style refill, SCHMIDT's easyFlow 9000 is also on sale at $1.80 ea. plus freight, which I believe is the lowest price on the internet.
 
I can vouch for the Liquid Silk refills. They don't last very long but they write wonderfully. I gave one to each of my cross style customers last spring. They're all fans now too.

I actually really like the Dayacom "Made in West Germany" parker refills. Their cross refills are bleh, though.
 
The Fisher refills are the best quality in parker or cross styles for overall operations. Butch gave a location with an attractive price. The Schmidt 9000 (0r lookalikes) seem to be top of the crop for rollerballs.

The Fisher writes upside down, on everything, and never seems to skip (when really empty they quit).

Always seems strange to have a premium quality hand made product and throw a cheap operating part into the mix --

I'm with Butch on this one!!

(P.S. The pen in carry has a Fisher in it).
 
RAdams said:
Is that price for one refill? That would more than double the cost of a slimline. Must be one heck of a refill...
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Yes it is and worth every cent of it . as for price just add $5 to your slimline price and let people know they are getting an upgraded refill that will last as long as several regular refills .
 
Thank all of you for contributing to this tread on my pen refill problems. I absoultely agree that to put the time and effort into making a quality pen that you sell of give must have a quality ink refill or all your effort is in vain. Now what do I do with all those cheap refills that come in the kits.. . Toss em!
Have a Happy New Year fellow penturners.
Pat
 
I know this is a common complaint and argument... and I definitely do not want to stir up any flames here....
many of the turners either replace or give another refill with their pens... I think this is commendable, but also thinks it may send a wrong message... "here is my expensive hand made pen, but the refill isn't going to last very long".
I make sure that every pen I make writes... some of the kits arrive with a little black tip cover that has to be flaked off before the pen works... this is a safety device to prevent the ink from drying... I have several cross style refill pens that I have carried for 3-5 years and they still write... granted I don't write with them constantly or every day now, but they do still write.

If you go down to Office Depot or Office Max or Staples and buy a pen that uses the cross refill, you will get a pen... generally if you want a refill, you buy that also. I tell my customers where they can get refills and I also tell them the existing refill will last a good while, depending on usage.

Another argument is, if you sell the pen and also give them another refill for when the original runs out, the refill will have been around as long as the original and they are already starting with an older refill... why not let them buy their own new refills when needed and get a fresher one?

No Flames please... JMHO (and remember the correlation between opinions and that other part of the anatomy):biggrin:
 
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