roting rapid PRO 0.5 mm Drafting Pencil in Black

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Grace, elegance, sophistication, beauty, no, I am not talking about my lovey wife, this time, although she is all these things, I'm talking about a drafting pencil.  Namely the rotring rapid PRO 0.5 mm in Black.  Like my lovely wife, the rotring rapid Pro is all these things and more.

First introduced in 2010 it's price range puts it in between the rotring 600 and the rotring 800 drafting pencils, the spot once held by the now discontinued and rare rotring 700 drafting pencil.  So I am going to take a wild guess here, mind you it just that, and say that the rotring rapid PRO was designed to fill the gap between the rotring 600 and the rotring 800.  But I could be wrong.  At any rate it fits the gap well.

Now, why would I apply such words like grace, elegance, sophistication and beauty to a drafting pencil?  Because they fit.  The rotring rapid PRO is everything one would expect from the International known and loved rotring family of pencils and pens.  It has graceful lines, is n elegant design, has a sophisticated look and is a beauty to look at and use.

Yeah, I know what you're thinking!  You're thinking that because he likes drafting pencils and rotrings that he's going to give this one a glossy review!  Well, I could see why you would think that way, but you'd be wrong!  I'm going to give it a satiny review.  Get it?  Satiny review!  The pencil's a satin black...  (Sigh)  Why do I even bother?

OK, enough dry humor.  Lets get down to some hard facts....

 The Construction..  The rotring rapid PRO is of all metal construction on the exterior and a combination of metal and plastic on the interior.  The metals are aluminum plate over brass (my best guess) which is anodized a satin black.  The barrel is hexagonal while the grip assembly is round.  The top of the pencil where the pocket clip resides is round as is the push button.

The Look.  The finish is a satin black with a smooth texture on the barrel and a rough texture on the grip portion of the grip assembly.  This is due to tiny spiral cross hatching intended to provide the surface a good grip. A red plastic ring separates the grip assembly from the barrel.  This is part of the interior assembly. On the left side of the pencil, in gloss gray paint, are the rotring logo and the name of the pencil, "rapid PRO" and the lead, size, "0.5" (mm).  Embossed on the pocket clip is the company logo.  All in all a rather attractive pencil.

Point of Interest.  The "red ring" around the pencil is the companies trademark.  It literally means "red ring".  The original manufacturing company, based in Germany, changed the company name to "rotring" in the early stages of the company's life.  The company is now part of Newell Rubbermaid and the pencils are made in Japan.  To the best of my knowledge the quality of the German pencil has been upheld by the Japanese version.  As far as interchangeability is concerned, I haven't a clue.  If you know of anything different please write me and let me know.

 The stats.  The rotring rapid PRO is a solid, high end pencil worthy of the rotring name.  It is made of metal, probably a combination of brass and steel.  I'm certainly NOT going to take a carbide scribe to it to find out for sure, but most metal pencils have brass bodies as well as other parts made of brass while things like the pocket clip, lead sleeve and push button are made of steel.  Generally the interior is a combination of metal (brass and steel) and plastic of some type.  Such is the case with the rapid PRO.  Don't disdain plastic in a high end pencil as plastic can dampen sound and it makes far less noise than metal when surfaces contact one another, thus making for a quitter pencil.

The rotring rapid PRO is a heavyweight weighing in at 24.5 grams.  It's 144 mm with the sliding sleeve retracted and 148 mm long extended.  That gives the rapid PRO a 4 mm lead sleeve. the diameter is 8.5 mm across the flats and has a balance point of 73 mm from the extended point.  This means that the Rapid Pro's balance point is almost in the exact center of the pencil.  This makes for a better writing experience. 

The black satin color is probably the result of the brass being plated with a thin coating of Aluminum and then hard anodized.  Brass itself cannot be anodized.  Anodize is a process where Aluminum is oxidized.  Anodize is applied in layers and is harder than the under lying Aluminum.  During the process the anodize can be dyed or colored, thus a black pencil!

The push button on the rapid PRO is a bit unusual and there is no explanation, that I can read (I don't read Japanese) in the pamphlet that accompanies the pencil, in that the push button is a tube, not a cap!  The top is open.  What's up with that!?  I don't see the purpose in the open top, but the metal is rolled down towards the inside so there is no sharp edge, but a nice smooth edge to press against.  Under the push button is a tiny eraser (useless in my book, then any follower of this blog knows how I feel about such erasers).  The eraser hides the fact that instead of a wide mouth for the reservoir there is a metal cap with a small hole in it so that the lead has to be delivered one-at-a-time!  Much like the Mitsubishi Kuru Togas.  Again, what's up with that!?  If anybody knows the reasoning behind this, please let me know!

Now if you go pressing on the push button, and I know that you will, then you will get a surprise. The first depression lets down the hidden sliding sleeve (Ha!  Told you there was a surprise!) along with a small amount of lead.  A second depression releases enough lead to write/draw with.  The mechanism is not loud, while not being silent either.  Shall we say it's on the quiet side, but audible. The sliding sleeve is a true sliding sleeve, not just a hide-a-way sleeve.  This means as you write, the lead wears away but when it reaches the sleeve the sleeve moves back up into the pencil allowing the lead to still make a mark.  However this is more use when drawing with a straight edge than anything else for the pencil is held almost perpendicular to the paper when drafting or doing mechanical drawings.

4 mm sliding sleeve
Now You See Me, Now You Don't!

The rotring rapid PRO breaks down into 4 major components.  The grip/end cap/lead sleeve, the push button, the eraser (without a clean out rod) and the main body.  The pocket clip is removable, but should one do so I am afraid that the finish would be scratched.  To disassemble the pencil in order to remove a lead jam, simply remove the grip assembly, then using a suitable clean out rod, remove the jam and reassemble the pencil.  No need to remove the push button and eraser to gain access to the clean out rod because there is none (did I mention that the pencil doesn't come with a clean out rod already?).

Top: Grip/End Cap/Lead Sleeve
Bottom from left to right: Front Row, Push Button, Eraser.  Back Row:  The Main Body And Internal Works

 

Now besides the obvious grudge I have against pencil makers no longer putting clean out rods in thin lead pencils I have one other complaint about the pencil  But first a word from our sponsors... Please visit jetpens.com often and when you do you can mention my name, The Old Geezer!  And the name of my blog, Pens and Pencils!  It won't get you any discounts or anything but it might get and my blog some attention! (Just kidding,...).  The second, and more importantly is the grip part of the grip assembly.  The knurling is very fine and was intended to provide the end user with a good griping surface.  But for me the knurling is almost to fine.  Almost but not quite.  It's not that the pencil slips in my hand when I use it, it's just that I prefer the feel of a courser knurling!  To each his own. 

 

However, there is one thing that I have discovered.  With use the grooves tend to fill with exfoliated skin!  This turns the black to gray!  An"acid" brush, form a hardware store, with it's natural bristles shortened considerably, is good for cleaning this out of the grooves of the grip. A little bit of tap water used with the brush helps remove the dead skin and wash it away. The natural bristles are easy on the finish.  NEVER use any type of metal brush to do this as this would ruin the pencils finish!

 

Bottom line.  The rotring rapid Pro make a good writing pencil.  it's well balanced, has some heft to it which helps keep in in the hand and in the correct writing position..  The grip issue aside the pencil is a keeper.  It's a very well made pencil, made from quality materials with an attention to details.  The pencil is also suited for mechanical drawing but I personally feel that the rotring rapid Pro is worth the money.  One day I'll buy one in silver and I'll have a side by side comparison.

 

I hope that this review has been helpful, interesting, informative and that you, the reader, liked my since of humor.  If you didn't, then by all means don't email me a bout it!

 

Many thanks to our friends at jetpens.com for the pencil used in this review.  Please visit them for some of the finest pens, pencils and stationary items that Japan makes. 

 

Thank you.

 

 

 

 

The Faber Castell TK-Metal 903 0.3 mm Drafting Pencil

Faber Castell is a name that I am familiar with in that I grew up with the

brand.  I mostly knew the company for it's erasers, especially the long white typewriter erasers with the blue plastic bristles on top.  I used these to clean the contacts on battery cases and circuit board contacts.  Sadly these are no longer available except on eBay and the like and were last made by Sanford Brands.  The few that I have left are probably all I'll ever find.  But I digress.  Faber Castell has long been a name that meant quality, being made in Germany, as are and were some of the finest drafting pencils in the world.  A visit to the Faber Castell web site reveals that there is only one the series of drafting pencils I am most familiar with, the ones that are dark green and gleaming bright metal, still made, the TK-Fine Varol L in 3.5mm.  So the one that I have is no longer available, the TK metal 903, as are a host of other such pencils.

When I first got into buying and collecting drafting pencils I neglected buying the Faber Castells in favor of the Japanese made pencils.  I guess I was thinking that the Faber Castells would be available for longer than they have been.  Many of the vintage pencils are selling for $150.00 and up!  I guess I had better get the TK-Fine Varlo L 3.5mm soon or I'm not going to get one!  All the others are out of my reach, financially.

I am always reluctant to write something bad about a pencil seeing as I am just one lone man in a sea of writers, would be writers, artist and those who wish they could draw and the like, all who would have an opinion on the pencils that I review.  You must remember that what I write, though I try to be as objective as possible, is always somewhat subjective.  I've only trashed 2 mechanical pencils on this blog, and I believe that they deserved it!  I write this in order to say this: I'm a little disappointed in my first Faber Castell drafting Pencil!  Why, you ask?  Well I'll get to that in a bit.  Right now some stats!

The TK-Metal 903 is approximately 144 mm long, 9 mm in diameter at it's widest point and weighs 16.7 grams making it a medium weight in the drafting pencil arena.  The balance point is approximately 70 mm from the tip of the pencil which gives it nearly perfect balance!   Now for the first disappointment.  The body of the pencil is not metal as the name would imply, but plastic! Now being plastic is not a crime by any means!  Some high end pencils have plastic bodies.  It's just that because of the name, TK-Metal 903, I expected an all metal pencil! 

Putting that aside, the green plastic is an attractive color, a British Racing Green I'd call it, even though it's of German make.  The body is round and smooth with the manufactures name and logo, the pencils designation and lead size being imprinted in a silver tone on the barrel below the chromed metal removable pocket clip. The push button and ring between it and the pocket clip are also metal as it the chromed ring and chromed grip and pencil tip.  The band between the ring and grip is plastic.

The grip is the area of the second disappointment.  Being metal does not assure that a grip will have grip, thought it usually does as it is often knurled and not bright chrome!  One day mechanical pencil manufactures will learn that slick chrome grips, while they may look pretty, are not a good gripping surface!  The TK Metal 903's grip is unique in that it has 18 narrow evenly spaced rings cut into it.  It itself not a good gripping surface.  The rings need to be wider and a little deeper to provide a better gripping surface.  Between the narrow rings are a number of micro cut rings almost to fine to see with the naked eye. (A magnifying lens will reveal them).  The idea is that the micro cut rings will provide a sort of micro prickly surface that will act as a good griping surface!  If you have baby soft skin it might.  but for the average person I do not feel that it does.

The take down.  WARNING!  The end of the pencil disassembles into 4 parts!  None of then except the end cap/lead sleeve are attached in any way!  To remove the tip in order to remove a lead jam for instance it is best to grasp the pencil body ABOVE the metal ring with one hand.  Then with the other LOOSEN the end cap (it's the smooth bright part below the ringed grip) then STOP!  Now grip the grip along with the rest of the pencil in the palm of the hand and continue to remove the end cap.  The remaining 3 pieces are now very loose and should be carefully removed and stored in a safe place such as a small container.  Once the lead jam has been taken care of reassemble the pencil in reverse order.  However don't go looking for the lead clean out rod under the eraser as there is none.  You'll have to provide your own.  But removing the end cap/push button and eraser will allow you access to the cavernous lead reservoir.

Click picture to enlarge

The writing experience and the rest of the story.  The pencil only needs 2 clicks to advance enough lead to write with.  The clicks are smooth and not overly loud.  The balance of the pencil is off set by the fact that I have to either hold the pencil above the long grip area or grip the pencil overly tight in order for my fingers not to slide down the grip.  Over gripping cause my hand to tire easy, so I've never had the opportunity to use the TK-Metal 903 for extended periods.

My conclusion.  Well, I am afraid that you, the reader, are on your own on this one.  Because of the grip situation and the way the end components are assembled, I can not in all honesty recommend this pencil for the average user.  It's a shame for the pencil has some fine qualities, but not enough, for me at least, to overcome the one major flaw, the lack of grip in the grip.  If you do buy a Faber Castell TK-Metal 903 ( or any of the other sizes it comes in) or if you have one, please drop me an email, theoldgeezer@live.com and let me know your experiences.

Bottom line is that they all can't be winners.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

We Have A winner!

We have a winner of the JetPens and Pens and Pencils Giveaway!  Congratulations to Jenny Mabee of Milton, MA for being the winner of a brand new Platinum Pro Use MSD-1500A 0.3 mm drafting pencil!  Jenny has been contacted by JetPens and will receive her new pencil directly from JetPens via snail mail!  So from all of us here at Pens and Pencils, and I am sure form JetPens as well, congratulations Jenny on winning your new Platinum Pro Use MSD-1500A 0.3 mm drafting pencil!  We hope that you will enjoy using it for years to come!

Remember the Platinum Pro Use MSD-1500 A, as well as all the Platinum Pro Use models in lead sizes 0.3 mm, 0.5 mm and 0.7 mm, are available from our friends at JetPens.

JetPens & Pens and Pencils Giveaway

 

 

Geezer: Jet-Do and Jet-Da!  What are you two pixies doing here!?  Aren't you a long way from home?

 

Jet-Do: Hello, Geezer!  We're here to help you give away a Platinum Pro Use MSD-1500A 0.3 mm drafting pencil just like the one you reviewed recently!

 

Geezer: Get out!  Really?

 

Jet-Da: Really, Geezer!  We're going to give away a Platinum Pro Use MSD-1500A to one of your readers!  The Giveaway is only open to readers of your blog, no one else can enter!

 

Geezer: Cool!  How does the Giveaway work?

 

Jet-Do: It's easy, Geezer.  All your readers have to do is click on the link below and follow the instructions on signing up for the JetPens news letter.  They have to sign up to receive the news letter in order to enter.  All you need is a valid e-mail address to enter.

 

Geezer:  That's great!  How long do they have and how will they get their pencil if they win?

 

Jet-Da: The contest is open from Friday, October the 4th at 10:00 AM through Friday, October the 11th at noon when it will close!

 

Jet-Do: The winner will be picked at random and contacted by e-mail for a mailing address so a brand new pencil can be mailed to them directly from JetPens!  And you get to announce the winner on your blog!

 

Geezer:  Guys!  That's just great!  Wow!  I'm stoked (eh, do they still say "stoked" any more?)  And Let me guess, the "link" is like, right below me!?

 

LINK

 

Jet-Da: Oh, Geezer you're so clever.

 

Geezer: Thanks, Jet-Da.  And thanks for the 2 of you stopping by and helping me set up this Giveaway and for giving away such a beautiful pencil to my readers!

 

So faithful readers here is your chance to win a brand new Platinum Pro Use MSD-1500A 0.3 mm drafting pencil just like the one I reviewed recently (the previous post) directly from JetPens!  Help spread the word about the Giveaway by telling all your friends to read my review of the Platinum Pro Use MSD-1500A 0.3 mm drafting pencil and then to enter the Giveaway!  It's free and it's easy!  "My the pen force be with you" (JetPens).

 

Jet-Do and Jet-Da are trade marks of and are the sole property of JetPens.com.  Used here without permission (I sure hope they don't mind or I'm in deep do-do).

 

Platinum Pro Use MSD 1500A

The Platinum Pro Use MSD-1500A is the Pentacle of my Platinum Pro Use collection.  With the gifting of this pencil I now own all 4 Platinum Pro Use Drafting pencils, in 0.3 mm. I have only blogged (so far) about the Platinum Pro Use MSD-1000A.  As I get back into the swing of things I will review the other 2, which are on the lower end of Platinum's line.

I was struck by the pencils odd hypodermicesk look it has about it.  In that I mean that it has a rather bulbous grip that suddenly and sharply becomes the tip and lead sleeve!  The gradual narrowing of the body at the pocket clip does nothing to belie this mental image!  Neither does it's lack of stature!  Yes my readers, the Platinum Pro Use MSD-1500A is a shorty!  At 128 mm  it falls shot of it's cousins stature of 143.3 mm!  It is also larger in girth being 11 mm in diameter at the widest point on the grip.  It's also heavier than the MSD-1000A, coming in a t21.9 grams compared to the MSD-1000A's mere 16.1 grams. The chubby pencil's balance point (from lead sleeve) is 62 mm making it 4 mm's  top heavy, but you'd never know it!  There!  I've gotten the stats out of the way!  Important as they may be, they are still stats and still boring (well, to some they're boring).

While being fat and stubby (honestly, it's the shortest drafting pencil in my collection) it is far from being ugly!  In fact, I find the Platinum Pro Use MSD-1500A  rather attractive.  If you take a real good look at the MSD-1500A, I man an in depth look, then you see the true beauty of the design.  First, like the other high end Platinum, the MSD-1000A this pencil has had quite a bit of thought put into it.  It's form is really elegant and sensual!  It's not only pleasing to the eye but to the touch as well.  The anodized satin finish is high tech and a pleasure for the fingers and hand.  Unlike many drafting pencils it has no rough edges or sharp corners.  Nothing to cause an unpleasant sensation to the skin.  I just keep running my fingers over the surface as I'm typing!

Despite the almost teflonest surface the MSD-1500A is surprisingly easy to hold mostly due to the design of the grip.  It has 8 rings that are approximately 4 mm apart.  The base of each ring (pointing downward) is larger than the top.  This gives the appearance of trapezoidal rings stacked atop one another.  The edges are nicely curved and for me the grip provides a surprising nice surface to hold onto!  The slimming of the upper body at the pocket clip has a unique function in that the curve falls right at the web of my hand and helps nestle the pencil in my hand thus keeping it in place while I write.  Due to it's light weight (it is made mostly of aluminum, not brass) and it's near center-of-pencil balance point the MSD-1500A is a pleasure to hold and to write or draw with.

 

Something else that enhances the pleasure of writing with the MSD-1500A is the fact that the protruding lead has very little movement within the stainless steel lead sleeve.  This helps give the pencil a more solid feel when in use.  The pencils rock solid construction is another factor in giving the user such an in control feel when using the pencil.  The tip body, grip, lead grade indicator ring, upper body, pocket clip retainer and push button are made of aluminum while the lead sleeve is made of stainless steel and the pocket clip is made of spring steel.  The tolerances are such that the pencil fits together very well and all the parts seat solidly and stay that way.  Dear readers, this is a very well constructed pencil.  Impressed yet?  I am!

The Platinum Pro Use MSD-1500A breaks down into 8 separate components/sub assemblies.  The are (A) the tip/lead sleeve, (B) the lead indicator ring, (C) the grip/clutch assembly/lead reservoir, (D) the main body sleeve, (E) the pocket clip, (F) the pocket clip retainer, (G) the eraser and (H) the push button. The tip/lead sleeve unscrews and the lead grade indicator slips off it.  The  push button is removed then the upper body sleeve can be unscrewed and removed.  The pocket clip retainer can be unscrewed and the pocket clip removed and the eraser can be removed.  In order to fill the lead reservoir simply remove the push button and the eraser.  In order to clear a lead jam it is necessary to remove the tip and the lead grade indicator ring, which can easily be lost as it is a simple ring with indication notch.  It is not threaded.

However, the MSD-1500A DOES NOT come with a clean out rod!  This is one of my pet peeves and it, to me, is a mar on an otherwise excellent pencil.  I'm also not a fan of the erasers that come with drafting pencils.  Originally the first mechanical drafting pencils did not come with an eraser at all!  However there is a solution to  both problems.  JetPens.com sells erasers for the MSD-1500A and they sell some thing unique in the world of drafting pencils.  Pilot makes 3 different packets of 5 erasers for some of their pencils that also contain 2 stand alone clean out rods.  One for 0.3 mm to 0.4 mm and one for 0.5 mm to 0.9mm lead sizes.  The HERFS-10 set contains 5 erasers that will fit the Platinum Pro Use MSD-1500A as well as the 2 aforementioned clean out rods.  This is a better buy in my opinion.  For detailed instructions on how to clear a lead jam from the tip of a drafting pencil see the link "All Jammed Up" at the top left of this blog.

One feature of the MSD-1500A is it's uniquely designed and placed Lead Grade Indicator.  The LGI is located on the tip of the pencil.  The grades are impressed on the body of the tip and the open base of a triangular notch in the LGI ring is set to the lead grade being used. The LGI is not easily set with fingers such as mine while trying to screw the tip back on the pencil while holding the notch base on the lead grade in use.  So what I ended up having to do is use a wooden toothpick as a sort of pry tool.  By placing it in the "V" shaped notch  in the LGI ring at an angle perpendicular to the pencil, I maneuvered the notch into position above the selected lead grade.  To me this is a minor annoyance but it does detract from the pencils overall grade.  But then again, how often does one change the grade of lead one uses?

Let's see, have I missed anything?  Oh yeah!  It takes only 2 pushes of the button to advance enough lead to write/draw with which is nice.  The mechanism is a little noisy and has a definite metallic sound.  The lead reservoir is cavernous but like most mechanical pencils of it's type the Platinum Pro Use MSD-1500Afeeds best with a half dozen pieces of lead or fewer.  The pencil is available in one color/finish, satin Aluminum and 3 lead sizes, 0.3 mm, 0.5 mm and 0.7 mm.  It and all the linked items in this review are available from out friends at JetPens.com.


Over all I am impressed with the Platinum Pro Use MSD-1500A.  It is a unique, good looking design, attractively finished, well designed and constructed.  The 2 issues I have with the pencil are minor and do not detract from the pencils over all appeal.  In fact, I believe that the pencil would make a fine addition to any collection of fine mechanical/drafting pencils.  It would also be an excellent choice as a writing/drawing instrument.  So if you are in the market for a high end, but not terribly expensive mechanical/drafting pencil then you should consider the Platinum Pro Use MSD-1500 series of pencils.  Thanks for reading.

Sometimes...

Recently I did a review of the Hi-Tec-C Coleto Lumio 4 Multi pen.  One of the inserts that I put in mine was a 0.3 mm pencil.  Avid readers of this blog are well aware of my fondness for 0.3 mm drafting pencils, so I was stoked to have a 0.3 mm pencil in a multi pen.  My write up was rather glowing, and perhaps a bit premature!  As you can see it proved to be a bit fragile!  The pencil refused to advance lead when I tried to use it the other day so I removed it from the Coleto body to see if I could find the problem.  my investigation proved fatal for the poor fragile pencil.  It broke at the swivel point where the plastic push button meets the metal body.

Now as to why the pencil stopped working I'm not 100% sure, but my guess is static electricity!  0.3 mm pencils often have this problem, probably due to the fact that the lead is so small in diameter that there is not enough weight to break the lead free of the adjoining pieces.  It could be any number of problems, but the fact is I have had quite a few 0.3 mm pencils fail to feed over the years and I have had to tear them down and clean them out before they will feed again.  I guess it's the nature of the beast.

I wrote to jetpens.com to inform them of the breakage and to say that I should have bought a 0.5 mm pencil instead, believing them to be less susceptible to feeding problems.  Lo and Behold, I received and email informing me that I was being sent, free of charge a 0.5 mm insert as a replacement for the broken 0.3 mm insert!  Wow!  That was unexpected!  But I guess I really should have expected something like that to happen considering my past dealings with JetPens.

Sometimes it's not about the sales, or the product being sold, sometimes it's all about the service after the sale.  Sometimes it's all about the Customer Service.  If JetPens is about nothing else it's about customer service!  Not lip service, but real, honest, "the customer is always right" Customer Service!  I have dealt with all kinds of customer service personal with all kinds of companies, both small and giant, both via phone and email but I can count on one hand how many of them have been as customer oriented as the people at JetPens!  Everyone I have dealt with at JetPens, from employee to co-owner has treated me with the utmost kindness and respect!  They treat me as if I matter to them, and I believe that I do, as all their customers do to them, I'm sure!

It's not that I received a freebie from JetPens (which is a heck of a lot more than I've often got from companies 10 to 1000 times their fiscal size), instead it's about how I was treated, how I am genuinely thought of as an important customer to JetPens, even though I am sure I am not one of their most prolific customers!  But I am treated as one!  As if I buy high ticket items in quantity all the time!  It's the type of customer service lots of companies reserve for such "important" clients!  But JetPens gives out such customer service to each and every customer they have!

Sometimes it's not about what you buy, it's about who you buy it from!  Sometimes it's all about the people behind the counter, or in this case across cyberspace, that matter.  If all Customer Services personnel across the world were like the Customer Service personnel at JetPens then this would be a much nicer world.  So guys and gals at JetPens, take a bow, you've earned it!

Attention Readers.  I would very much like to read about your experiences with JetPens customer service.  So please leave a comment or drop me an email about your experience with JetPens customer service.  I'll pass along the comments I get to JetPen.

Please check out all the latest items JetPens has to offer by visiting jetpens.com.

Pacific Arc DP-03 0.3 mm Drafting Pencil

The regular readers of my blog know that I have a fondness for 0.3 mm drafting pencils.  I have a particularly keenness for the Pentel 0.3 mm P203, which some years back I discovered was discontinued... "Discontinue!  No discontinue, Stephenie!".  Pardon my "Short Circuit" parody, bit I just couldn't help it!...  Well I could help it, I just didn't!  When I inquired about why the response from Pentel was that it was being discontinued due to a lack of sales!  What?  A lack of sales?  I did not believe it then and I do not believe it now!  The pencil sold for about $4.00back then, now they are $10.00, when you can find them!  As far as I am concerned Pentel made one of the biggest mistakes the company has ever made when they discontinued the P203!  The P200 series pencils have been one of the most copied and cloned and modified mechanical pencils in history!  Case in point the Pacific Arc DP-03, 0.3 mm Mechanical Pencil.

When I saw the pencil I was intrigued.  A P203 clone or copy (clone - all parts are interchangeable with a Pentel P200 series pencil.  Copy - they are not all interchangeable, though some might).  The DP-03 0.3 mm mechanical is a copy.  I discovered this when I disassembled the pencil, along with a P203 and tried to interchange some of the parts! The tips, erasers and push buttons exchange but the non-tapered Pentel mechanism would not fit into the Pacific Arc body, though the Pacific Arc mechanism did fit the Pentel body.  The parts look similar but there are subtle differences such as the shape of the metal tip.

The 2 pencils are very close in size and balance, but the Pentel is slightly heavier at 11 grams verses 9 grams for the Pacific Arc.  The feel of the Pacific Arc is also different due to the slight difference and slightly more forward balance.  It also sounds less solid, more clunky when the push button is used to advance lead.  Lockup of the lead is as solid as with any such pencil but there were 2 things I didn't like about the Pacific Arc DP-03.  One is that a single 'click' does not quite advance enough lead to write with, for me any way, but a second advances too much!  With the Pentel the advancements are in very small increments which means it takes at least 3 'clicks' to advance enough lead to write with.

The second is that the the lead protruding from the tip of the Pacific Arc pencil has considerable lead shake.  That means that the interior of the lead sleeve is slightly over sized inside the tube.  Thus the lead does not fight as tightly in the tube as does the Pentel!  This, along with the over extended lead meant that there was considerable lead breakage when I used the pencil.  Now I was using the Pacific Arc lead at the time, so I replaced it with Pentel lead and got about the same amount of breakage!  The Pacific Arc lead is a high polymer and comes 24 pieces per tube. 2 tubes per package, for only $2.00 as of Saturday, February 1, 2011, from Hobby Lobby.  While I like the price what I don't like is that the pour spout is recessed into the mouth of the cap so it has to be removed by hand and inserted into the lead reservoir.  No direct pouring of lead into the lead reservoir from the container!

I had high hopes for the Pacific Arc DP-03.  I was hoping that I had found a low cost ($3) alternative  to the Pentel P203.  While I did find a bargain in the lead, the pencil is another matter.  Aside from the lead breakage/enlarged lead sleeve the product seems to be more cheaply made than I thought!  As I was disassembling the pencil for photographic reasons, the lead retainer fell out of the tip!  This is never good!  Now I have some experience replacing lead retainers so I tried to replace it.  Dang if I somehow didn't loose it!  I don't know how, but when I went to see if it was in the tip, it wasn't!

For most people this would be a lost cause and no matter how little or how much (I've had a similar problem with an $80.00 pencil) the pencil cost, it would now be rendered useless.  Without a lead retainer the lead falls straight through the pencil when you try and advance the lead!  But for me, it proved a challenge, nothing more.  After some searching I found a piece of small gage wire where the sheath was an adequate substitute.  With some work I got the pencil to function properly once more.  Hooray for me!

But the bottom line is, while I really like the shape and feel of the pencil, I can not and do not recommend the pencil for any reason.  Yeah, it's only $3.00, but one can do better by buying a different style pencil from jetpens.com.  Or if you must have a Pentel P203, than $10.00 on the net.  So my advice is to avoid the Pacific Arc DP-03 0.3 mm pencil, at least for now.  However the lead is another story.  It seems of good quality and the price is unbeatable.