Yet another way of refilling Pilot Varsity with a syringe

[leewm]

To make it easy to measure the syringe diameter, I measured the external diameter of the existing syringe that I used. It was 11.6 mm, so I cut out a 11.6mm square from one side of an old business card like so:

 

|XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX|

|XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX|

|XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX|

|XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX|

|XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX|

|XXXXXXXX.....XXXXXXXXX|

|XXXXXXXX.....XXXXXXXXX|

|XXXXXXXX.....XXXXXXXXX|

 

The "." above is the cut out.

 

 

To measure the external diameter of a potential syringe, just fit it over the syringe in question like so:

 

xxxxx

xxOxx

 

 

The bad news is I wasn't able to locate a syringe with an external diameter of 11.6mm. The closest diameter was a 5ml syringe but it was still about 2 mm larger than the required diameter. The 3ml syringe (brand is B-D) has an external diameter of exactly 10mm(!) but that means that the bore is smaller than the required 10mm.

 

So depending on the brand, the bore of the syringe would vary. It's between 3ml and 5ml. The brand of the syringe that I have is Cellotron.

 

But the 10mm diameter syringe is a possibility. One alternative I can think of is to find a short length of tubing with a bore of 10mm to be used as a coupler between the syringe and the pen section.

 

The search goes on ....

[savingbirds]

I agree that this is a genius idea, but I also agree that it is difficult to find a proper syringe.

[kcunvong]

Brilliant! I can't wait to try this out. Is that syringe a standard size 10 cc?

[Scrawler]

A couple days ago I was given a Vpen to experiment with and I found the video that shows this method of filling on You Tube. I shall use this method for my first try. However I shall need to clean out all the old Pilot ink first. I plan to stub the nib and fill it with BSCG, then give it back to the person who gave it to me. I hate waste and there is a significant ball of iridium on mine, so it is perfect to play with. I must say, the nib is surprisingly smooth. For cleaning I assume that I will just have to patiently fill and empty it with clean water. Getting the water out is going to be a challenge.

[leewm]

Hi,

 

After 3+ long years of not being able to find a suitable syringe, I finally found a way to the connect the smaller sized syringe to the pen.

 

Details in http://leewm.freeshell.org/penstuff, click on refill pilot pen.

Or search youtube "refill pilot pen coupling".

 

Enjoy!

kenneth

Edited January 16, 2014 by leewm