Restarting old ballpoint pens

[hellymedic]

I cannot hold a pen firmly so I seldom use these things.

I've given up trying to restart the job lot of black Bic pens I bought before I gave up work.

I found a Parker ballpoint today under the mqt on my desk. I have been unable to get it going again. So far, I have tried:

A piece of paper.
Isopropyl alcohol
Another piece of paper
Vaseline
Moar paper

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to get this going?

I could hunt for new refills but I KNOW there's loads of in here...

[fuaran]

Try some heat? ie a lighter flame on the tip. Or put the tip in boiling water.

[Polar Bear]

If you've got the heating on leave it on a radiator.

[ian]

Find someone willing to apply centrifugal force towards the writing end (ensuring the tip is covered, dahikt).

[Basil]

I'm usually able to restart old bic pens by sort of scribbling on a soft rubber trainer sole.
Problem is that dried ink is stopping the ball from rolling.  A very grippy rubber will break it free.

[T42]

Going off at a tangent: friend of mine who had bad arthritis used to get his wife to put aquarium tubing onto pens to increase the diameter and make them easier to grip. Better surface than hard plastic, too.

[DaveReading]

+1 for shoe sole.

[frankly frankie]

I found a Parker ballpoint today under the mqt on my desk. I have been unable to get it going again. So far, I have tried:
A piece of paper.
Isopropyl alcohol
Another piece of paper
Vaseline
Moar paper

Remind me again how many times you would patch an inner tube?   

[pcolbeck]

I'd give up now and buy some refills.

https://www.cultpens.com/c/q/explore/product-type/refills/parker-type-g2-refills

From £1 per refill.

[ian]

Seriously, get someone to give it a good, vigorous shake. You'll find men are uncannily good at that kind of thing. It's almost like they've spent a good portion of their lives practising.

[Kim]

Going off at a tangent: friend of mine who had bad arthritis used to get his wife to put aquarium tubing onto pens to increase the diameter and make them easier to grip. Better surface than hard plastic, too.

In the later years of primary school, customising stationery was A Thing (it was the 80s, 'nuff said).  One of my more successful creations was to replace the body of a Bic biro with a suitable length of aquarium tubing (which had about the same diameter), making a pleasingly bendy - if not especially practical - pen.

[hellymedic]

I found a Parker ballpoint today under the mqt on my desk. I have been unable to get it going again. So far, I have tried:
A piece of paper.
Isopropyl alcohol
Another piece of paper
Vaseline
Moar paper

Remind me again how many times you would patch an inner tube?   

 

Tubes with the correct width and valve stem length are worth patching until irreparable. You only have to see our poor friend's V rims in another thread...
I think the pictures were hidden behind spoiler tags...

Anyway, as I posted initially, I THREW OUT around two dozen beautiful black Bics...

[hellymedic]

Going off at a tangent: friend of mine who had bad arthritis used to get his wife to put aquarium tubing onto pens to increase the diameter and make them easier to grip. Better surface than hard plastic, too.

In the later years of primary school, customising stationery was A Thing (it was the 80s, 'nuff said).  One of my more successful creations was to replace the body of a Bic biro with a suitable length of aquarium tubing (which had about the same diameter), making a pleasingly bendy - if not especially practical - pen.

Adapting a pen is not really an option. There is next to no pinch grip and also finger drop.
I hold a table knife between middle and ring fingers and move it mostly with shoulder muscles. Writing is not something I can really do.

[Kim]

Going off at a tangent: friend of mine who had bad arthritis used to get his wife to put aquarium tubing onto pens to increase the diameter and make them easier to grip. Better surface than hard plastic, too.

In the later years of primary school, customising stationery was A Thing (it was the 80s, 'nuff said).  One of my more successful creations was to replace the body of a Bic biro with a suitable length of aquarium tubing (which had about the same diameter), making a pleasingly bendy - if not especially practical - pen.

Adapting a pen is not really an option. There is next to no pinch grip and also finger drop.
I hold a table knife between middle and ring fingers and move it mostly with shoulder muscles. Writing is not something I can really do.

Wasn't for a moment suggesting you should.  Bizarre ergonomic grips (and increasing the diameter a bit with grippy tubing is barely scratching the surface of bizarre) can make a huge difference to some people, and not a jot to others.

Bendy pens are still 80s cool, though.

[Jurek]

Who remembers grab-on foam handlebar padding / grips?
I have some mini grab-on just the right size for fitting to a pen or, in my case, to some Swann Morton No.4 scalpel handles.

Or No.3


If you turn up your screen brightness it's possible to just about make out the words 'Grab-On'.

[Poacher]

I'm usually able to restart old bic pens by sort of scribbling on a soft rubber trainer sole.
Problem is that dried ink is stopping the ball from rolling.  A very grippy rubber will break it free.

There is nothing better in life than writing on the sole of your slipper with a biro.

(Half man half biscuit)

[hellymedic]

Who remembers grab-on foam handlebar padding / grips?
I have some mini grab-on just the right size for fitting to a pen or, in my case, to some Swann Morton No.4 scalpel handles.

I had some early Grab-On, which left me with black hands.

Don't think I ever used the mini Grab-On.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Are you sure it was genuine Grab On rather than one of the cheaper imitations? The genuine stuff didn't do that IME but imitators did. I didn't know there was mini Grab On and am rather puzzled as to its intended application.

[fuaran]

I didn't know there was mini Grab On and am rather puzzled as to its intended application.

Covering your brake levers?

[Cudzoziemiec]

And what's the purpose of that? I suppose to give extra grip in wet-weather panic braking.

[Jurek]

I think the intended application was for pens and pencils.
I seem to remember that mine were liberated from the stationery cupboard at work.

[Brucey]

Ballpoint pens can stop working for several reasons

a) - ink has flowed away from the ball during (horizontal or even inverted) storage
b) - ink has coagulated so that the ball won't turn easily
c) - ink has coagulated to that it won't flow to the ball under any conditions

The thing is that you only find out if it isn't c) by trying the things that solve a or b first.

Heating the tip temporarily makes the ink (even gungy ink) more fluid and can help to restart a pen. However if the ink has flowed away from the tip there may be an airspace behind the ball and heat will expand that and push the ink further away.

Find someone willing to apply centrifugal force towards the writing end (ensuring the tip is covered, dahikt).

this is commonly how they eliminate a possible airspace in the factory.  If you make up a support frame so that you can have a (balanced) arm assy that is put into a drill, ~1000rpm will push the ink against the ball even if it is fairly gungy. The longer the arm is, the higher the centripetal force at any given rpms.  Be warned that if the refill comes out of the drill as it is spinning, it will fly like a dagger and will make a hole in anything (or anyone) that gets in its way....

cheers

[hellymedic]

Are you sure it was genuine Grab On rather than one of the cheaper imitations? The genuine stuff didn't do that IME but imitators did. I didn't know there was mini Grab On and am rather puzzled as to its intended application.

Mine was very early genuine Grab-On. I had friends in the trade and spent Too Much Time in the shop when I should have been Elsewhere.

[Kim]

Are you sure it was genuine Grab On rather than one of the cheaper imitations? The genuine stuff didn't do that IME but imitators did. I didn't know there was mini Grab On and am rather puzzled as to its intended application.

Mine was very early genuine Grab-On. I had friends in the trade and spent Too Much Time in the shop when I should have been Elsewhere.

I use foam grips on several of my bikes, and it doesn't do that either.  It's mostly the stuff that Rose sell in metre lengths, but the Baron has moulded grips like the Grab-On ones, and those are fine too.

[Greenbank]

I've always licked the end of a ball point pen to get it to restart.

If it doesn't with that (and some vigorous shaking and more and more scribbling on paper) then I assume (c) above and it goes in the bin.