Ballpoint pen refill question

June 15, 2005 12:25 PM

Ballpoint pen question: I bought a Parker Jotter 0.7 mm-point refill last month, and after about twenty pages of writing it's already starting to crap out on me--its line is unacceptably light, and sometimes disappears completely. (These refills usually last me a year or more.) Is there anything I can do to save it (soaking the tip in some substance, etc.), or is it a lost cause?
posted by Prospero to Grab Bag (9 answers total)

When ballpoint ink stops flowing, sometimes holding the tip in the flame from a lighter briefly works. (The abiguous grammar is unintentional, but the sentance is true either way.)
posted by QIbHom at 1:01 PM on June 15, 2005

Have you dropped the pen tip down lately? That'll bork the rollerball more often than not (with the same symptoms that you're describing - does it write better if you rotate the pen?).
posted by PurplePorpoise at 1:27 PM on June 15, 2005

You can try lightly blotting with a paper towel soaked in alcohol. I have also had good luck shaking them down like a thermometer to work out air bubbles.
posted by 445supermag at 1:32 PM on June 15, 2005

Methyl alcohol (methyl hydrate) dissolves ballpoint ink PDQ.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 2:15 PM on June 15, 2005

I've steamed a cartridge for a pen that I enjoyed writing with. The results were good.
posted by boo_radley at 2:20 PM on June 15, 2005

Shake it like a thermometer. (Do they do that anymore?) What I mean is: hold the pen at very top end, and shake the ink down toward the the tip by snapping downward from the wrist.

This will help if there's some kind of bubble or gap in the ink supply.
posted by wryly at 2:29 PM on June 15, 2005

Ask these guys
posted by craniac at 5:26 PM on June 15, 2005

And this usenet group
posted by craniac at 5:27 PM on June 15, 2005

Response by poster: Thanks for your responses. I tried steaming, shaking, and blotting with alcohol, with no success. I don't recall dropping the pen, but nonetheless I suspect it may be borked for some mysterious reason.
posted by Prospero at 5:23 AM on June 16, 2005