Editing The Pen Addict 61/transcript (section)

== Refill Compatibility ==


'''Dan Bishop:''' But I do, that, it's interesting. Uh, you, you mentioned refills. Now, because the mechanism has a very specific throw in it, we've found that some of the quote, you know, pilot G2 compatible refills, they're slightly different in length. And if they're a little longer, it doesn't work quite right. So, uh, Myke Dudek, the dude over at ClickyPost, he, he's actually posted up a couple of things and he, uh, about it, but you have to trim down. You take out that little plug at the end and cut it down. But we're, he's been able to fit like an Energel. Um, and I, I'm trying to think of the other ones, but quite a few of them. And people constantly email you on Kickstarter. Will it take this refill? Will it take this refill? And we, we have to tell them we're not quite sure. Because if, if the refill isn't manufactured to the same tolerance as the G2, then no. But the good news is with a couple of slight modifications, and it's not ideal, but people are packing all kinds of weird refills into them.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. So what, what other refill do you, have you tried any other refills? Any, any specifics that have, have worked well? Any that, any that you just couldn't get around and couldn't get them to work or anything like that?

'''Dan Bishop:''' Um, let's see. The first run of pens, like I said, we sent these all out and they're basically a prototype. And so, I tried the, a Mont Blanc rollerball. And we were having what felt like some interference. Uh, so what I did was I took, I took one of the front ends and I, I put it into a, a mill and we machined it down so we could see what was going on inside. Like a cutaway view. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And we think that if we increase the diameter of the, the barrel bore that we can, we can accommodate for that. But, um, a lot of pens, it seems, are either, um, like I would call a Pilot G2 compatible or like a Parker size compatible. Mm-hmm. So, if I want to just drop in a G2 refill, I can do that. But I can go out and find a more exotic refill and maybe with a razor blade in 30 seconds, I can put in something that nobody else has and have a different feel.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. I think that speaks to a lot of us too. You know, we like to, we all have our favorites and we all want to try to, you know, we have a favorite refill and a favorite barrel and we want to try to, try to find a way to make them work together. Sure.

'''Dan Bishop:''' Well, and that's, and that's why we didn't, like, because I've seen hacks with like, you know, duct tape and all kinds of weird stuff and we didn't want that to happen. Um, we include that length of tubing with all our pens. But on this one, it's kind of funny because if you unscrew the knock mechanism, it has this little, uh, I don't know what you'd call it, like a finger or a piston that sticks out. Um, and I've actually cut a couple refills too short. And so I just jam that over the end of that mechanism and trim it to length. And then it's great because I can use that refill until it wears out and then trim the next one to be the right length and just cut that little piece of plastic off. So it's like a, an adapter that you can use over and over again and customize to any refill you want. But it's not, like I said, it's not the most ideal way, but if somebody really wants to get into the nitty gritty and do something weird, they can do it.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right. Cause you're, you're never going to be able to make a pen that can fit everything. I mean, there's, there are limits, you know, but so some of it does, does require a little bit of modification to get, you know, a specific refill. But I think going the, the, the basic G2 route or the basic Parker style route, I mean, that you, you pretty much have to do that. And there's so many refills out there nowadays that are really high quality. You know, if you, you know, didn't like the standard G2 or a standard Parker that you can, you can easily, easily find something to fit in there without any modification and just go. So yeah, that's awesome.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So while we've been talking, while you guys were talking then, um, I went and replaced the refill with an easy flow 900, 9,000 M and it does feel really different. Yeah. And I think I've really liked it. I really like it. Uh, and I, I guess it's maybe because the spring that I'm using is tighter maybe. I don't know. Cause you used, you used like a smaller spring for the, for the refill, right? Because they have the, like the long thin refill at the end. So you can use a smaller spring. So it will be tighter and give more bounce.

'''Dan Bishop:''' Yeah. It's, I think it's a slightly different spring pressure and it's also, um, it might have to do with just the way that the barrel interacts with the machining work on the inside. Of, uh, uh, what the refill interacts with the machining on the barrel. Um, like I said, we're going to do a couple, couple more tweaks, but the idea is to make everything feel, you know, like it was designed that way. And more or less it was, I picked two solid refills and, um, designed to accommodate both. And I think we've done a fairly decent job at it.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I think you've done a great job.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I know. And I can't, I can't wait to get mine. I've, I'm, I'm backed on the, uh, the aluminum, the aluminum version that way it'll, it'll match my render K. It'll match my bolt. I'll have a, I'll have the full set, full set of, of, of aluminum versions. So, you know, I, I hate to even ask this at the, at the outset of the retract project, because this is such an awesome pin, but, you know, do you, what's next for you guys? I mean, do you have, do you have something that you've always dreamed of doing or something you've wanted to do? Or, you know, do you have a, you know, an itch that needs to be scratched that, you know, I don't, I don't want you to give, give away all the trade secrets, but, uh, I know it, knowing you and, you know, we talk a lot, you know, offline and, you know, and, and through our, through our daily lives. And I, I know how your, your brain works. There's always something going. So what, what's, what's turning around in that, uh, that dome of yours? Right.

'''Dan Bishop:''' The hamsters are turning on the wheels. No, um, I actually have a short list of, of what to do next. And it's, it's kind of hard. I would like to eventually tackle a fountain pen. Oh boy. I need.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Are you okay? I don't know, man. I don't think so. That's, yeah, that's, that's a, that's a big thing. But you know that you shouldn't have said that. Why is that? Well, I mean, now everybody's going to want it.

'''Dan Bishop:''' Hey, well, that works too. No. So, but I, I, I, I'm kind of an information junkie. Um, and it's kind of the reason I, the pen project even came up because I was, you know, in the first place, the first, uh, render K was because I was trolling the internet for my, just my information fix like I do every day. And, um, I, I was like, oh yeah, I can, I can do a pen like this. I can do a pen that takes a high tech C and I did my research and I've been looking into fountain pens. And fountain pens are a tough nut to crack because there's no rhyme or reason or universality of nibs or, or, you know, I guess they call them, uh, flexis or nails if they're flexible or stiff. I mean, there's all these things. So it's like, what's the, what's the 0.7, you know, version of, uh, equivalent of a nib that, you know, everyone could tolerate if we make something. And so that's the nut that I'm trying to crack right now. But yeah, that's, that's going to be down the road. I don't know. I have a couple of a couple other ideas and refills that I'd like to design a pen around because I would like to have a pen that takes a very specific refill so that people who love that refill can have a pen for that. And I don't know. I have a list of about five different projects and one of them is, uh, is also a pencil. Okay.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Oh, interesting.

'''Dan Bishop:''' Um, they're like, oh, that's great.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Well, no, see, the thing is like the book for me and Brad, we feel that the pencil has been fixed. It's been solved and cannot be beaten is in the Kuru Toga. Are you familiar with the Kuru Toga?

'''Dan Bishop:''' The Kuru Toga.

'''Myke Hurley:''' No. You need to look this up because it's an incredible piece of engineering. Um, so it's made by Uniball. Mm-hmm. Regular listeners will know about this. It's Kuru. It's Kuru. K-U-R-U-T-O-G-A. Okay. Um, and what this does is, you know, like if you're using a mechanical pencil. Yes. And you're writing with it and the, the, the lead or the refill will wear down on one end because of the way you hold it.