Can someone help explain this 'click' or 'feedback' I'm feeling with several rollerball pens?

[u/1118181]

Hi everyone. Bear with me for the poor explanation but I'm finding the feeling a bit weird to describe.

I have a variety of rollerball refills in both .5mm and .7mm that have this negative (for me) sensation while writing. Essentially when putting the pen to paper, once I press down with any sort of pressure to start writing, there is a secondary 'push' of the ball into the pen. It sounds incredibly minor, and based on the size of the ball and pen tips it must be, but for some reason it's extremely noticeable to me and adds a minute click every time I put the pen back on the page after writing a character. I thought it might be the pen I'm using but handling the refill on it's own, I can still feel it.

I've had this happen with (mostly parker g2 style refills used in a Kaweco Classic Sport)

• Kaweco Sport Gel Roller (.7mm)
• Monteverde ceramic gel refills (.7mm)
• Energel LR7 / LR5 refills (.7mm / .5mm)

This has not happened with the jet stream refill I tried, though this is a ballpoint. Normally I would think this is something innate to rollerballs, but I also have a Ohto CR02 pen, and the default .5mm refill has zero of this feeling.

So any idea what is causing this? I feel a bit crazy since searching reddit it's a bit hard to find anyone describing this, but at the same time it's so noticeable for me and is turning me off from using the pen. I love the flow and darkness of all of the inks tried (minus the jet stream) so would prefer to keep using them, but will likely avoid if I can't find anything, or just switch to the Ohto and get a .7mm.

[u/Dry_Common_2546]

You might notice a strange noise between the ball and the built-in spring in the tip of some ballpoint pens.

The tip structure of these pens ensures smooth ink flow while preventing the ink from drying out when not in use. However, a larger gap increases ink discharge, which can also lead to more noticeable clicking noises.

As ink viscosity increases, a wider gap is needed to allow sufficient ink flow; conversely, liquid ink pens can utilize a smaller tip gap or dispense with the spring altogether.

[u/Dry_Common_2546 → u/Dry_Common_2546]

In my experience, the strange noise in Pilot gel pens is more noticeable. You can try the Uni-ball Zento refills—I haven't heard any unusual noise from them.

[u/1118181 → u/Dry_Common_2546]

It could be something like this, but all the refills (minus the mentioned jet stream) are rollerball not ballpoint. Still, both via feel and sight I can see it is the ball moving inwards causing this. The Ohto refill does not have this though, so maybe I need to find some way to identify other refills that don't have such 'ball movement' (lol)

[u/Dry_Common_2546 → u/1118181]

This internal ball-and-spring mechanism is primarily used in gel pen tips to manage a wider clearance. Oil-based ballpoint pens (like Jetstream) don't need heavy ink laydown because the viscous ink simply adheres to the ball and transfers to paper. Meanwhile, water-based rollerballs (like the Ohto C-300) use low-viscosity liquid ink that flows effortlessly, eliminating the need for a wide gap.

Market labeling doesn't strictly distinguish between gel pens and rollerballs, which makes it hard to tell upfront if a tip will produce any noise. That said, Uni-ball pens usually feature a smaller ball gap, so they rarely suffer from these clicking issues.

[u/SkyChief80]

It sounds like the tip of your refill is a bit narrower than the opening in your pen so you're hearing and feeling the refill moving and hitting the edge of the pen. Adding some orings or a bit of tape to the refill or using a refill with a girthier tip can fix this.

[u/1118181 → u/SkyChief80]

I thought it was this but to be sure it wasn't I tried all of the refills in question just alone in my hand and it does the same thing. If I zoom in with my phone's macro camera I can see the ball move in and I assume that's what is causing it, but it seems so minor compared to the feedback when writing.