# Starting Pilot Dr. Grip G2 Gel Clone...



## budnder (Mar 11, 2016)

The wife refuses to give up her ancient, plastic Dr. Grip Gel pen for everything I've put in front of her because she likes the "grip" and the Gel ink. I've looked at kits with grips and none of them look like they'd compete with the good doctor in the grip department... so I've taken it as a challenge to do a clone, so at least I can say may wife uses one of my pens... 

The Dr. Grip Gel has a nib that screws into a section that has a rubber "grip" around it. That section screws into the main body which has the clip and clicker mechanism. By my measures, and testing with a die, the thread from section to body is 11mm x 0.75, which I have, so my first cut was to make my own body that screws onto a stock Dr. Grip section/nib. So the bottom third of my clone would be stock Dr. Grip, and I'd turn my custom top 2/3rds to be the same profile, but in a much more awesome material. 

I was excited, because this actually all looked pretty doable. However...

Doing some measurements on the click mechanism, I've run into a challenge. The click mechanism I have on hand for kitless is a Schmidt mechanism and it doesn't seem to have enough travel for my needs. To best explain this, I took deployed and retracted measurements across several different twist and click pens - how far into the nib is the refill point when retracted, and how far out of the nib is it when deployed...

Dr. Grip Gel, 4.25mm retracted, 4.25mm deployed, 8.5mm total travel
Artisan Clicker, 1.25mm retracted, 4.5mm deployed, 5.75mm total travel
Retro 51 Twist, 2.25mm retracted, 3mm deployed, 5.25mm total travel
No name#1 Click, 2mm retracted, 4.5mm deployed, 6.5mm total travel
No name #2 Twist, 2.25mm retracted, 4mm deployed, 6.25mm total travel
No name #3 Twist, 1.5mm retracted, 3.5mm deployed, 5mm total travel

So it looks to me that the G2 Gel refill really sits recessed into the nib. Since the G2 Gel ink is one of those "will wick if it comes in contact with anything", I suspect this is a safety thing by design to reduce the chance of a piece of pocket fabric getting into the nib. So I don't want to mess with that in my clone - I want to leave it that deep.

The Schmidt click mechanism I have doesn't have that much travel - I get maybe 6mm on it, so a couple short of the 8.5mm I need. Curious if anyone knows of a click mechanism that has that amount of travel?

Plan B is to harvest a click mechanism from a G2 Gel disposable clicker, but that'll obviously be a more complicated design. I've looked at it and hacked one up - basically I think I can amputate the portion of the disposable body that contains the click mechanism, turn that down a bit and then glue it inside my clone body. And it won't have as nice a feel as the Schmidt or the Dr. Grip, so I risk a victory in name only. 

Plan C, which might be better than Plan B, is to punt on trying to use a G2 Gel refill and use an Easyflow 9000 instead, which she also likes (but maybe not quite as much). The Retro 51 I measured uses one of those, so that would easily work with the Schmidt mechanism. So then I'd have a Dr. Grip Gel clone without the gel :bulgy-eyes:

I might start with Plan C, since I already have everything I need for that and it's easier than Plan B. If she shoots that result down I can move onto Plan B.


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## apple320 (Mar 13, 2016)

These are two I made using the clicker and a Pilot G2 with no problem with travel

Appleman Pens: Vintage G2 Refill Holder
Appleman Pens: Orange Hard Rubber Pilot G2 Refill Holder

Chris


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## budnder (Mar 17, 2016)

Thanks for the inspiration. I'll post back some pics of whatever I end attempting.


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## budnder (Mar 20, 2016)

*G2 Gel Clicker Mechanism*

Progress on my Plan B... pretty easy to harvest the clicker mechanism of a disposable G2 Gel. It's about 10mm wide, but I think I can turn it down to 9.5mm without doing any harm. The pic of the deployed and withdrawn state of the disposable is of the end opposite the click mechanism, just to show the amount of travel - looks a little less than what I was measuring on the non-disposable, but still alot of travel.


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## budnder (Oct 17, 2016)

Finally got around to picking this up again... went down the path to "Plan C". Results are posted as Long Boy Dr. Grip Clone over in the Show forum.


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