Has anyone every successfully refilled a Uniball Rollerball with FP ink?

[dizzypen]

I have a Uniball Vision on my desk that has just about run out of ink. I'm wondering if it can be refilled with FP ink, but I don't know where to start. Does anyone know?

[ZeissIkon]

Do a search around; there's a thread somewhere here that tells in detail how to refill most disposable rollerballs. The simple version is to pull the point assembly or section out of the barrel, flush the old ink out of the section, refill with your choice of ink, and reassemble.

[Mrsal]

i refilled one of my friends rollerballs. there was a cap on the end, and i pulled it off, cut the little plastic bubble that sealed it, filled it with ink from a converter, no syringe needed, the converter fit just fine, and put the black cap back on.

[someonesdad]

If you can pull the tip out to access the ink storage, it's easy. I've done it with some Staedtler Liquid 7 rollerballs, as you can pull them apart with your finger. The Uniball Vision looks like it could be pulled apart, but I'm not about to get a bunch of ink on my fingers trying it right now...

[Possum Hill]

I have a Uniball Vision on my desk that has just about run out of ink. I'm wondering if it can be refilled with FP ink, but I don't know where to start. Does anyone know?

I haven't disassembled one of those, but I'll suggest a general approach. You might start by grabbing the part of the feed/point that projects out the front of the body and trying to turn it, to loosen it a little. Use pliers if necessary. Then, gripping with pliers, try to extract the feed/point by pushing on the pliers with your thumb while holding the body in your hand.

 

Sometimes the first disassembly attempt has ugly results but you learn enough that the second attempt is successful.

[BearsPaw]

I did this with a similar pen, and posted way too many photos here.

[dizzypen]

well I've destroyed a uniball trying to figure out how to do it, and it seems like it can't be done with these particular uniballs. The tip of the pen is not permanently attached to the feed, so when you pull on the tip, the tip comes out but the feed stays put. What is still exposed is not large enough to gasp and pull out.

 

It was an interesting experiment anyway.

[dizzypen]

If at first you don't succeed...

 

I found a Pilot V Razor Point lying around the house. I was able to pull the feed out of that one, and now it is filled with Levenger Coablt Blue and writing quite well.

Edited July 19, 2009 by dizzypen

[PMARINA]

While this is quite old, just in case anyone is wondering, it is quite easy to do with a pair of pliers. To begin with, take your pliers and pull the black part off (when you rotate it, it will make clicking noises). When you pull it out, you should have a round tube surrounded by disks. If not, you didn't pull the entire thing out, so pull what's left. Now, wash out everything. Make sure you've washed out every single fiber, or else, when you start writing, you'll have a nice transition from black to blue (or whatever color it used to be to whatever color you're putting in). (If you don't, it takes about 3 sheets of writing to get the old color out -- my english professor was not pleased to see the color gradient). Now, fill it with ink, but don't overfill or else it will leak a tiny bit where the black thing goes back in. Now, using your handy pliers, put the parts back in carefully and slowly to avoid having the ink sprayed back in your face. Make sure you put it in part by part (2 or 3 in total) or else it can get annoying. The last part should go in with a satisfying click, which can cause a small amount of ink to splatter out. In the end, I found that the pen wrote as smoothly as before. Not sure if it's just my pen, or if it's the vision series in general but it writes really badly when it's nearly vertical; however, it writes really awesomely when it's at an angle (like the angle you'd use when writing with an fp). Also, in response to another comment asking why you'd want to do this: it's quite portable because you don't need to worry about running out of ink (I was able to pour 1 full pipette of ink into the vision) and you don't need to worry about making a mess with transportation of your fp or with having to clean it. Sorry for the giant ramble, I'm in a bit of a hurry.