The idea was that I had some ballpoints I liked and would’ve loved to convert them. The reality is that it’s a gamble given the small differences between the hole dimensions and different lengths between the manufacturers.
The first candidates were the Kado, Waterman Carene, Caran d’Ache and an Aurora Ipsilon. All this ballpoints I got for cheap on different occasions.
From the start I had to dismiss the slim ballpoints, only the ones that can take a Parker style refill or have a wider body could potentially be converted…I had to exclude Waterman. The Caran d’Ache doesn’t work either, the front hole and inside of the body don’t allow the refill to be fitted.
The Aurora Ipsilon could work if the front hole is enlarged, the refill fits, the push mechanism works but the tip is unaesthetically hidden.
The Kado works too, by removing the tip spring and adding some length using the original refill as a donor.
For slim push-button pen conversions, you will need a variety of equally slim mechanical pencil components from various multi-pen systems. One of my favorites is Zebra’s Sarasa Select system, which includes 0.3, 0.5 and 0.7mm options. However, the width of the Zebra parts could still be too wide for certain brands that chose to make a cone with a longer narrow channel just behind the opening. For this, older multi-pen systems like Uni Style-fit might do the trick, but then the next challenge is finding a way to make a ‘stopper’ on the mechanism’s ‘neck’ so that it catches just right with the cone’s inner funnel and allows the tip to protrude just right. Then you’ll also need to figure out how to deal with the length of the reservoir tube…
Bet you’ve never seen one of these. It’s a Steno Walzgold ballpoint which takes slim Schmidt 700 refills, but the mechanism was completely destroyed. Push button with its internal spring still worked, so i adapted a Parker Jotter 0,5 insert: shortened and thickened with tape at the rear, linked to the button by a cut down rear portion of the ballpoint refill which goes inside the Parker insert, also thickened with tape so as not to rattle.
