Roller Rule Mechanical Pencil

The Roller Rule Mechanical Pencil or A Different Yard-o-Led Part 2

I recently posted a copy of an old advertisement about a mechanical pencil with an inbuilt measuring wheel. Well that posting jogged the memory of ‘P’ and he commented that his grandfather had one of those pencils. 'P’ then went on a bit of a hunt and found the pencil in question, and sent me these photos and a little more information about it.

P’s grandfather used to use his Roller Rule mechanical pencil to measure road trip distances on a map. P demonstrates and explains here.

The cap rotates with friction against your map. The cap is supposedly 1 inch in circumference, and the cap is calibrated to the 1/8 inch. For each rotation of the cap the ‘head on the shaft’ moves one indicator. And as the advertisement says there are 36 indications, i.e. it can measure up to 36 inches. The shaft has a corkscrew that moves the head.

The lead measures .046 inches in diameter. (That’s 1.18mm in modern speak) Eraser inside the body.

The pocket clip reads, “USA PATD ROLLER RULE.”

Photos and text supplied by, and used with permission of ‘P’.
Thanks 'P'.

Uni Alpha-Gel Mechanical Pencil Review

Uni Alpha-Gel Mechanical Pencil Review

There are a few different varieties of the Uni Alpha Gel mechanical pencil – originals, slimlines, shakers, etc. I never planned on getting one because they aren’t available in my part of the world and their main feature is a large squishy gel grip…something I am not usually enamoured with. But in a very polite way Isu from Japan frequently asked me if I had a Uni Alpha Gel, and did I know “...its gel grip is the exact same consistency as Haribo Gummi Bears?” Well, I hadn’t ever heard of Haribo Gummi Bears, obviously another thing we don’t have down my way, but Isu’s sweet tooth got to me and eventually I ordered an Alpha Gel mechanical pencil. A Uni Alpha Gel HD Shaka Shaka M5-618GG 1P chrome green mechanical pencil to be precise.

The bright shiny chrome green upper body and metallic chrome fittings combine to make a rather striking and attractive looking pencil.

The Alpha Gel weighs in at 18grams and in the hand it feels about the weight you would expect for a largish plastic mechanical pencil. I must say that when you first pick it up or wave it around a bit in your hand the movement of the internal shaker weight seems more obvious than on many other shakers, and more noisy when the weight hits the end stops.

I have read that the gel grips are slightly different formulations and consistencies on some of the models. (Unlike Gummi Bears?) My creamy white grip is quite soft and squishy, flowing and moulding under normal finger pressure. I wouldn’t be surprised if the grip has some ‘memory’ and becomes permanently deformed after extended use, but I haven’t used it long enough to say for sure. I have also read on some other reviews that people have had problems with the grip tearing. It didn’t happen to me, but I take extra care with my review pencils because I want to try and keep them in ‘as new’ condition for my collection. I could see the Alpha Gel grip being very susceptible to damage if stored in a pencil case and rolling around with other pencils and items. That’s just plain ole askin’ for trouble. Anyway, it does seem likely to me that the Alpha Gel grip is not particularly robust or durable. I’d also suspect that the grip won’t stay that nice milky white colour for too long in real-world conditions.

Like most gel grips it is of larger than average diameter – about 13mm or 1/2inch to be a little more specific.

Not surprisingly the Shaka Shaka is a shaker mechanism pencil. The instructions for its use were a little beyond me, but you can operate it as an ordinary push top ratchet mechanism, with ten clicks getting you 7mm of 0.5mm lead, or you can shake away and operate it with the shaker mechanism. The push top button can also be fully depressed to lock the shaker mechanism so it doesn’t operate. This doesn’t just lock the shaker, it also makes the pencil non-operational as the lead is no longer held by the chuck and thus can be pushed back up inside the sleeve. Some might say that the lock is not 100% effective, as if you give it a really good shaking you will get a little bit of lead advancement. However the lead is not gripped and it can just be pushed straight back in.

The shaker is readily activated, possibly almost too easily, but that’s a matter of subjective opinion.

I have long since reconciled myself to the fact that if you write a blog, at some stage you are going to end up looking stupid, only the frequency and degree of stupidity will vary, so now for the embarrassing bit. I feel really certain that when I first got my Alpha Gel that the lead sleeve was retracted, and the first push on the top button extended the sleeve out. Now though it is a non-retractable fixed sleeve. So surely it can’t have been retracted when I first got it? But my mind is convinced. Garrrr!!!….I must be going mad. However I will ignore the madness and say that the Uni Alpha Gel has a fixed non-retractable 3mm lead sleeve.

There is a small white occasional use only eraser under the top button. I quite like the pepper-pot arrangement of holes in the top button. As expected you pull the eraser out to refill the lead magazine.

The pocket clip is very good - very springy with an interesting clear plastic tip that catches the barrel colour or not, depending on your angle of view.

Whilst I wouldn’t say no to a Gummi Bear or Jelly Baby, I’m really more of a Milk Bottles type of person. Many Milk Bottles perished preparing this article.

• Best Points – That chrome green finish really is good looking.
• Not So Good Points – Lead sleeve not retractable, questionable durability.
• Price Range – Low.
• Does this pencil make it into the Top 5? - No.

Dimensions – Length 145mm, diameter 13mm at grip. Balance point about 70mm up from the tip.

Note: The alpha symbol is sometimes mistaken and written as oxy and thus the pencil mistakenly called oxy-gel, uni oxy gel or oxi gel or other names along those lines.

A Different Yard-o-Led

A different concept for a yard of lead?
From 'Popular Mechanics' magazine, March 1950.

Follow up posting - Roller Rule Mechanical Pencil

Learn From My Mistakes

See, this is what happens when
(a) Your wife goes away for the weekend, and
(b) She actually does bring home a couple of cartons before she leaves, and
(c) You thus have unsupervised access to (i) online pencil shopping and (ii) beer, so...what could possibly go wrong?

Garrrrr!!!!!! My entire annual Pencil Budget has now been spent.

I will have to start selling things or get a second job to earn pencil-money, or go cold-turkey for the rest of the year.

Ahhh, the almost legendary Pentel Mechanica. Long had I resisted the call of the sirens, enticing me with their beauty and promise…

with their sweet honey dulcet tones...

...luring me to wreck and ruin on the shores of That Internet Auction Place That Must Not Be Mentioned. With my beer goggles on and tuned to maximum enhancement, I was a lamb to the slaughter.

The Mechanica, now that’s a powerful name for a mighty instrument of design. There’s no messing with this pencil.

The lead sleeve is fixed but fully protected by a retractable steel sleeve. Initially extended to cover and hide,

...you twist the metal grip to retract the sleeve and reveal the full glory.

Many would say a true classic.

Great styling, lead hardness indicator, visually appealing grip zone, push top mechanism, removable pocket-clip, no eraser. Timeless through the ages, a pencil for then and now.

Yes, but...

The morning after...

Glad to have one…for sure. Interesting design with that extending protective sleeve…definitely. Worth what it cost me, money well spent…ahhh…now there’s the rub.

Housekeeping

Lately I've been spending heaps of time on behind the scenes blog housekeeping stuff e.g. transfering all my DMP Organiser blog content back to this blog, and on projects like the Top 10 lists.

Just some information for any of you who use Firefox and have trouble commenting on Blogger blogs like this one, one common cause is that you are not allowing third-party cookies, so if you change your security setting to allow third-party cookies then you will probably be able to comment on blogs.

The link has been in the sidebar for a while, and I think the site is still under construction, but whats currently up is mighty impressive. Check the Eversharp section of Online Pencil Museum. I am filled with awe and tinged with envy.

Monami Gripix Mechanical Pencil Review

Monami Gripix Mechanical Pencil Review

The Monami Gripix mechanical pencil appears to be part of a small ‘Gripix’ range of products sold by the Korean stationery company Monami. There is the 0.5mm Gripix mechanical pencil, Gripix-T lead refills and a Gripix eraser. Both the eraser and lead refills include the wording “…for professional” on them so I assume Monami market the Gripix products as superior grade products.

Over the last six months or so I’ve ended up with quite a few mechanical pencils from various Korean brands. Korean people have generally implied to me that most Korean made writing instruments tend to be cheap both in price and quality, and their attempts at more expensive looking pencils are not good. This has always surprised me as many Korean manufacturing industries don’t operate in the cheap or nasty end of the market. But I did say “most”, not “all”. There are some Korean brand mechanical pencils that are not down there in the mire, and an initial glance at the Monami Gripix pencil suggested it might be one of them.

Firstly, it didn’t look cheap from a distance, and a second closer glance didn’t reveal any glaring issues either. That’s better than many Korean pencils have done.

So then, the Monami Gripix mechanical pencil is a drafting or technical style pencil. In the black and silver plus chrome colour scheme of my example it looks quite good. Close inspection though reveals the printing on the pencil body is not of a high standard – the silver rings do not completely encircle the body, and there are some dots of silver splattered on the body. The chrome appointments though look good, and the body and rubber grip appear to be well moulded.

The Gripix is quite lightweight, only 10g, and it certainly doesn’t feel any more substantial in the hand. The round rubber grip is quite a narrow diameter, with moulded in grooves which give a little under finger pressure. Combined with a reasonably grippy compound this is a rubber grip that works well, one that actually improves grip. Although the grip is round the groove pattern is not constant and a smooth area aligns with the fixed pocket clip perhaps discouraging those who like to twirl their grip.

The lead sleeve is the traditional draughting pencil fixed non-retractable thin lead pipe, this time at about 3.5mm long.

The lead advance mechanism is a standard push top ratchet. It’s a fairly positive feeling mechanism; ten clicks will get you 7mm of the 0.5mm lead. At the time of writing Monami only offer the Gripix mechanical pencil in 0.5mm lead size. I did an unusual thing (for me) and unscrewed the tip section to have a look at the mechanism and chuck. It is an all metal chuck for those who demand that.

Just above the rubber grip is a lead hardness indicator. It is a simple rotating ring with a U-shaped cut-out to display the lead grade printed on the body underneath. Grades 2B, B, HB and H are available for display. Not a particularly large selection, and perhaps geared more towards art and general writing rather than drafting work. There is no positive lock on the ring, it just sits in position by friction. It is prone to being inadvertently rotated as you handle the pencil. Also the plastic ring is a moulded metallic silver colour and it just looks plain cheap. I think it is the single most obvious feature that detracts from the Gripix.

The pocket clip looks quite good, but is only barely adequate. It doesn’t spring well. ‘MONAMI’ is stamped into the pocket clip.

Up at the top end of the pencil there is a twist out eraser cartridge.

The eraser is about 3.6mm diameter and has 22mm of usable length. The twist function works well, but the small chrome ring around the top of the cartridge is loose. It spins on the black plastic cartridge. That’s no big deal, it is purely decorative, but again it just seems “not right”. I feel it should be fixed, not free to spin, and I keep expecting it to fall off. A more important point is that the eraser always has some black powder on it. Nice white eraser, clumps of black powder…again it just looks wrong. I’m not sure if the powder is graphite dust or plastic grindings, but no matter how many times I wipe the eraser clean, next time I twist it out the black stuff is back. I’ll be honest and say that from the feel of the eraser compound I had my doubts as to whether it would be any good, but I gave it a quick try and it did a respectable job of erasing HB mechanical pencil lead.

You pull the whole eraser cartridge out of the body to refill the lead chamber, which is a decent size so you’ll get a good number of spare leads in there.

‘Gripix – 0.5’ is printed on the body. The barcode and price sticker states KOREA which I want to believe means “Made in Korea”, but that may not be the case at all. Somebody from Korea want to enlighten me - does stamping ‘Korea’ on an item mean ‘Made in Korea’, or just that it’s got some association with Korea, like designed in Korea but it could be made in China?

Overall then, despite the mainly aesthetic faults detailed above, I quite liked this pencil, and for the peanuts that it costs, the Monami Gripix mechanical pencil is a pretty good deal.

• Best Points – The rubber grip (Have I gone crazy?).
• Not So Good Points – The lead hardness ring design and appearance really lets the side down.
• Price Range – Economy.
• Does this pencil make it into the Top 5? - No.

Dimensions – Length 145mm, diameter 10mm at widest part of grip. Balance point about 70mm up from the tip.

Coming soon to a blog near you…more on Gripix eraser and leads.