 |
Koh-I-Noor Rapido Sketch Technical Pen- Size 0/.35 Sale Price: $15.15 Average Rating:   |
Description
Koh-I-Noor Rapido Sketch Technical Pen- Size 0/.35Once used mainly by the graphic art industry technical pens are making a cross over into fine art. Many of our customers have requested them for pointillism and detailed pen-and-ink artwork. Of course they can still be used for graphic design as well! These pens use the refillable ink system (please see the alternate image to view one of the pens disassembled). The knibs are stainless steel. Each pen comes in a re-useable plastic box and includes a 3/4 ounce bottle of waterproof black ink. Technical pens require special care; the knibs MUST be flushed out with water after every use to ensure that the ink does not dry in the tip. The tips are very delicate; similar to an airbrush tip- they must not be dropped on the floor. Technical pens have to be held upright in order to get proper ink flow. Tipping the pen to the side while working will result in a broken line.
Reviews
I've recently moved from the wonderful Pilot P-500, a needle point gel ink pen, to the .35mm Rapidosketch as my life-pen. I write about 5-8 pages daily, so I've been looking a long time for a permanent writing pen, and the rapidosketch is it. A refillable needle point pen requires more engineering than cartridge pens, disposable pens, or fountain pens. But with the rapidosketch, you get a pen on the level of the Pilot P-500 / Pilot V5 that will hypothetically last for decades. But it's more more temperamental and requires some maintenance. ** Some Tips ** Compared to airtight disposables, refillables have to deal with (1) drying (2) consistent ink flow. But the engineering is clever and simple: see [...]. DRYING -- The cap is airtight, so if you use it daily and store it vertically point up, it shouldn't clog. You should also put the cap on if you aren't going to be using it for a few minutes. Daily cleaning is not necessary, but you might want to clean it after your first use just to see how everything works. Be careful with the fragile filament part. It does go back in, but you have to be patient and thread the filament into the funnel. Soak it all in windex. DISCLAIMER: I've heard it's not advisable to remove the filament (the plastic cap holding on the weight and the filament) for extra thin pens. FLOW -- Don't shake it. Instead, do a single jerk by lifting the tip off the surface and lightly pounding that hand onto the table -- without slamming the needle onto the paper of course. ** Conclusion ** I wouldn't say this pen is convenient. But if you figure out how it works and play nice with it, it will do what you ask, because it is well engineered. Ie, they've thought about your problem and have dealt with it :-D. I would recommend this to obsessive and heavy writers who grow attached to their tools, but if you want a pen that "just works", go with the Pilot P-500. ** EDIT ** The Staedtler Marsmatic 700 series is just like this except they've perfected the leak-proof air feed, so you can actually shake it (rather than do the single pound method above) and it won't leak ink. It's really a great pen -- seems to produce more consistent flow, too, but that might be just a variance in manufacturing. For what I do, if I had to choose, I'd choose the marsmatic 700.
I really love this pen because of it's accuracy. It's pricey, but worth how long the ink lasts.
I do believe that the other reviewer had a faulty pen, particularly since he says that the box was broken. An undamaged pen does not leak ink (I haven't had trouble even when I put the pen back in the box for storage with ink still in the pen). I have two of these pens in different sizes and neither one has had a problem. I would like to add that I have never seen one of these pens with a bent nib in our local art store; again I would suspect the seller and not the pen itself. The only slightly annoying thing about the pen is that it does take a couple of strokes to get the ink flowing once you start using the pen, but I find this a minor problem; I just keep some scrap paper handy. The pen writes a very nice, fine, even line
I recently got one of these. I am an artist who specializes in stippling. This was among the cheapest rapidographs I have ever purchased. The thing leaks ink, the box was broken new and the nib is bent. I contacted the seller, who directed me to the manufacturer. I would have to pay to ship it back myself; I think I'll just buy a better pen (it's really not worth my time to drive to the post office, package it, possibly insure it, buy stamps for it, and wait a month for another one.) Anyway, it looks really pretty in the picture.