The "Spring" in a Rollerball. - Question

[Mark]

Is it wise to glue the spring into the upper portion of the pen?
During cartridge replacement, the spring comes out too. Have you folks found that these springs get lost (a lot) or am I over thinking it?

Is there anywhere that sells the (replacement) springs?

Thanks for your time.....

 

[RussFairfield]

The spring is important to the life of the roller ball. They write better and last longer when the spring is there to limit the pressure applied to the paper. A heavy hand can compress the spring, but they will have a rollerball that doesn't write well or last very long.

 

[toddlajoie]

Don't know of any replacements, but some kits, such as the Zen, my personal favorite, come with the spring permanently attached to the butt end. so I don't see any problem with gluing the spring in (assuming you're careful with the glue and don't end up bonding something that should not be...

Any particular kit you're thinking of?

 

[Mark]

The Majestic I just made. The spring is cone shaped, so it sits in there nice, but if you remove the cartridge, it falls right out. I was thinking just a drop of thick CA, and let the (point) of the cone shaped spring set into it. There wouldn't be enough CA there to go anywhere inside the pen, just to tack the spring in place. Kind of like a tack weld..

 

[leestoresund]

I would glue the wide base down.
If you glue the pointy face down the cartridge may get stuck in the spring and not work quite right.
Check it out both ways before you glue in the spring.

Lee

 

[rsmith]

If you do this I would try to use something that will just hold it in, yet be easily removable. If in the future you ever decide to switch the majestic to a fountain nib you will want to make sure you can take the spring out. If you keep the spring in with a converter it will get stuck to the back of the converter and will pull it right out of the feed connection. I've watched it happen

 

[Mark]

I would glue the wide base down.
If you glue the pointy face down the cartridge may get stuck in the spring and not work quite right.
Check it out both ways before you glue in the spring. Lee

I will do that. I dropped it in pointed end first. It should be the other way around? The fat end seemed to (fit) in the cartridge.

If you do this I would try to use something that will just hold it in, yet be easily removable. If in the future you ever decide to switch the majestic to a fountain nib you will want to make sure you can take the spring out. If you keep the spring in with a converter it will get stuck to the back of the converter and will pull it right out of the feed connection. I've watched it happen

I will keep that in mind too. I didn't build the FP, due to the fact I am still learning how they work, how to maintain them and how to upgrade them. Till then, I'm not building an FP for anyone but me (to learn on).

 

[Mark]

Don't know of any replacements, but some kits, such as the Zen, my personal favorite, come with the spring permanently attached to the butt end. so I don't see any problem with gluing the spring in (assuming you're careful with the glue and don't end up bonding something that should not be...

Any particular kit you're thinking of?

The Zen is likely the pen I will build as an ongoing RB. I love the simple look and feel. Thanks for posting your opinion of the pen.

 

[toddlajoie]

As was said before, the narrow end of the spring is the part that should be pressing on the ink refill. The larger end COULD in some cases be larger than the ink cartridge, and get wrapped around it rather than pushing it. The narrow end will keep the pressure on the butt end of the refill. That is the way it is on the Zen final. I can agree on the advantage of having the spring held in place but still be removable. Not sure what would be best to use tho...

 

[Mark]

I had a bugger of a time getting it to sit with the pointy end of the spring against the cartridge. It kept landing the opposite way. Finally sat the right way and I put it all back together. I'll just educate the new owner as to how it all goes together. Hopefully they will use the pen, but I think it will likely be tucked away somewhere and never see the light of day, ever again... :frown::frown::frown: What a shame.

 

[Fred]

I have found that if one were to take the LARGE end of the spring and slightly uncoil the very first bit of the spring until it is now slightly wider than the tube's ID. Insert it into the tube WIDENED END FIRST and then 'seats' the spring against the cap that the spring is held firmly in place and never falls out. Just use the ink cartridge and push carefully until it is all the way up into the tube. Assemble and let the cartridge set the spring in place.

Simple solution for a very serious problem that we all have probably experienced at least one time or the other.