My Rotring 600! It Has Failed Me! Any Thoughts On A Newbie?

[dzarren]

I'm in the midst of finals season, and yesterday was my Linear Circuits Final. At some critical moment after an epiphany, the pencil refused to feed out lead, and I was there fiddling with it for a good 3 minutes. A three minutes I turned out to have desperately needed at the end.
After this mess, I didn't actually get the pencil to start writing, I just had to switch it out for another pencil I had.

Here is the problem:
You know how when you get to the last bit of the piece of lead that is currently in use, and the mechanism can't quite grasp it, so it just slips back into the sleeve, and you make a few strokes by accident just with the metal or plastic tip?
Well typically you would either just pull that piece out, and advance out a new one, or just keep advancing out lead, and eventually the new piece will push out the old stubby piece, right?

Not with this atrocity of a pencil!! I've actually noticed this for quite some time. With the Rotring 600, when you get to the point where the lead is too short to be grasped by the mechanism, you MUST pull it out, you have no choice, because the mechanism CANNOT advance out a new piece while the old unusable "fragment" is in the sleeve. I have "fragment" in quotes because this is far from a stub, it's about a quarter of the total length of a new piece of lead!! What a waste. But that's a separate issue.

So when I write and I write and I get to the point I just described, where the lead is slipping in, I know now that I will need to remove the lead it continue writing. But the thing is, the part that keeps slipping in, is less than a millimetre in length.
What I mean is, the lead keeps slipping in, because it is too short to be grasped, but yet, when advanced to the full capabilities of the mechanism, (I advance it as far as it will go, in order for me to remove it), it is less than a millimetre in length, making it VERY hard to grasp with my fingers.

So what happened during the exam was that the piece of lead in the pencil was slipping back in, as mentioned, and I tried to grasp it to remove it, I knew the protocol. But because I was in such a hurry, and the amount of lead sticking out for me to grab is practically non-existent, the tiny portion that was sticking out snapped off when I tried to remove it.

So this left the last quarter piece of the lead inside the sleeve, UNABLE TO ADVANCE, but yet, the next piece of lead in the queue could not push it out!

This has happened to me many times before, but what needs to be done, is the following: You have to take a new piece of lead and feed it into the sleeve, to force out the old piece of lead that's sitting inside the sleeve, unable to: either be grasped by the mechanism to be advanced, but yet still far up enough to prevent a new piece from being grasped, thereby pushing the old guy out!

 

And yet the pencil does not come with the thin metal (bleep) thing to remove jams!! WHAT IS THIS MESS!?

I've always felt strongly about it, because I thought that such a high quality pencil shouldn't do this. Not to mention that it wastes more than one quarter of the most expensive lead known to humankind.

But for this to happen during a critical exam was the last straw. I just don't understand why it fails in such a basic aspect of its operation, seeing as it is well manufactured in all other aspects, I think.

So all in all, does any one have a reccomendation for a new, fixed sleeve, black, 0.3mm drafting pencil? Thanks for reading!!

[dzarren]

Sorry, I failed to mention that I'm looking for a similar feeling pencil, of course that won't exhibit the same behaviour. I liked the Rotring 600 very much, but can't deal with this of course.

Perhaps mine is just a lemon? Anyone else with a Rotring 0.3mm please let me know!
Thanks!!

Edited December 13, 2014 by dzarren

[a.zy.lee]

I just ordered a Rotring 600... Well, ****.

Guess this shows that remarkable looks and feel in the hand does not translate to excellent construction quality or flawless design. I'm guessing the vintage 600s (before Rotring was bought by Newell Rubbermaid) were better, since those have cult following.

[blINK]

It's possible that it is an issue isolated to the pencil. I have a 0.7mm and have never had this problem. It's possible that it is related to lead size. I agree that it should not behave in this manner.

 

I would certainly contact their service department and see if they might have a look for you.

Edited December 13, 2014 by blINK

[______Zaphod_Beeblebrox]

If you pull the eraser is the a long metal pin attached? If so this is so you can unscrew the tip of the pen and use the metal pin attracted to the eraser to clear old lead from tip of pencil.

 

If there is not metal pen then just use a piece of lead to clear the tip.

 

One cleared screw tip back on and advance next piece of lead.

 

Not 100% sure your particular mechanical pencil works this way but most of the mechanical click type of pencils work this way, if it's a twist to advance that's another story.

[______Zaphod_Beeblebrox]

I just grabbed one of my mechanical pencils, looks just like the rotring 600 but mine is an Alvin Draft/Matic.

 

The whole knurled front section unscrews and this allows you to use a piece of spare lead to clear any stray lead.

 

Over the 20+ years of using mechanical pencils in a professional manner this is not an uncommon issue but easily remedied.

[______Zaphod_Beeblebrox]

Rotring Example

 

 

 

Alvin Example

 

 

Edited December 13, 2014 by Zaphod_Beeblebrox

[______Zaphod_Beeblebrox]

Example of disassembled Rotring

 

 

Edited December 13, 2014 by Zaphod_Beeblebrox

[Tasmith]

Mine too gets to the point where if the lead won't advance anymore, but the piece sticking out is just long enough to pull out with my fingers and the new lead feeds normally. Every click feed style mechanical pencil I've owned has worked this way.

 

I've also on rare occasion had to use a new lead to push out the too short old lead. I know they make erasers that have that wire attached for this purpose and would make it easier and faster to remove the old lead.

 

I do have a Rotring 500 that I use along with my 600 so if one goes down, I have an instant back up. At $15, half the price of a 600, it's a good investment and I like it as much as the 600.

 

My 500 & 600 are .5mm, it's never taken me more than a few seconds to clear out the old lead and get the new one advanced.

 

The same reason I carry at least two fountain pens so if the one I'm using runs out of inked or is damaged, I have a back up.

Edited December 13, 2014 by Tasmith

[a m a r g o]

I have the old and new version of the 0,35mm 600's and haven't had any issues with them, you should try a softer lead and see if that solves the problem.

 

A good backup would be the Pentel P203!

[dzarren]

@Zaphod
The rotring erasers to not come with any sort of metal rod, and rotring does not produce any erasers that have this feature, although I could probably find one that fits.
-using a a piece of lead to clear the channel is very difficult because of the thickness of the lead.And often, due to imperfections between the inner diameter of the sleeve, and the outer diameter of the lead, the short unusable lead will be slightly offset in the channel, meaning not aligned with the hole it was fed out of. So even in pushing on the old piece, it has no hole to slide back into readily, since it is not perfectly aligned inside the channel in the first place. So by trying to push it back in, especially in a hurry, I am always snapping up piece of lead, often into pieces too short to be used!!!

The Alvin pencils look interesting, but I'm not sure why, but yellow has always been my lease favourite colour. Too bad most pencil companies use yellow to code for 0.3mm.


@Tasmith
Hmm, I've never had a pencil that did this. Even those 50 cent bics that everyone uses as a child can feed out the next piece of lead, in my experience. I must admit, this is the only 0.3 pencil I use extensively, but I don't think this diameter should cause this type of experience. I always have a back up as well, usually a semi-nice 0.5mm pencil.
But like I said, it's really hard to grab onto the tiny piece of super thin 0.3mm lead that sticks out less than a millimeter to pull it out, so the next one can start coming out. And because it is so hard to grab, it ends up breaking off, thereby I am unable to grab it, nor can the next piece advance.

 

@Coppilcus
I'm not sure if softer lead is the issue, I've only been using B or 2B in this pencil. The pencil is pretty heavy, so try to avoid adding excess pressure. I actually have the Pentel p205 as my semi-nice backup pencil that I mentioned above! It's great as that, but I would like to find a new main pencil again.

 

Thanks everyone! I will contact the company, as well as the online retailer I bought it from.
In the meantime, if you guys have any more suggestions for nice drafting pencils, I'd love to hear it! Thanks!

[a m a r g o]

@Coppilcus

I'm not sure if softer lead is the issue, I've only been using B or 2B in this pencil. The pencil is pretty heavy, so try to avoid adding excess pressure. I actually have the Pentel p205 as my semi-nice backup pencil that I mentioned above! It's great as that, but I would like to find a new main pencil again.

 

Thanks everyone! I will contact the company, as well as the online retailer I bought it from.

In the meantime, if you guys have any more suggestions for nice drafting pencils, I'd love to hear it! Thanks!

Indeed, 2B lead is more than enough to avoid breakage and waste... I do not consider an issue the 'looseness' it feels once the last part of the lead is being used, even the amount of lead extended at this stage is the double or triple than the usual amount with a new lead, which happens only with the 0,35mm version and not with the 0.5 and 0.7mm versions.

 

Maybe the difference is the supposedly 0.05mm difference in diameter with the Rotring leads?

 

Who knows!

 

The Pentel Graph 1000 or the Staedtler 925-35 could be the ideal replacement! Both are great, the Staedtler rattles a bit though...

Edited December 14, 2014 by coppilcus

[dzarren]

Mmm yes, I only referred to the looseness to make a point about it being very hard to be able to clear the "jam" with a piece of 0.3mm lead. Because it is loose, the lead just doesn't line up perfectly with the feeding mechanism, making it very hard to push back into the pencil, since the lead is so fragile. The looseness is unnoticeable in regular use.

[______Zaphod_Beeblebrox]

@Zaphod

The rotring erasers to not come with any sort of metal rod, and rotring does not produce any erasers that have this feature, although I could probably find one that fits.

-using a a piece of lead to clear the channel is very difficult because of the thickness of the lead.And often, due to imperfections between the inner diameter of the sleeve, and the outer diameter of the lead, the short unusable lead will be slightly offset in the channel, meaning not aligned with the hole it was fed out of. So even in pushing on the old piece, it has no hole to slide back into readily, since it is not perfectly aligned inside the channel in the first place. So by trying to push it back in, especially in a hurry, I am always snapping up piece of lead, often into pieces too short to be used!!!

The Alvin pencils look interesting, but I'm not sure why, but yellow has always been my lease favourite colour. Too bad most pencil companies use yellow to code for 0.3mm.

 

Yeah, 0.3 is pretty small and fragile.

 

When I used to do board drafting I loved the 0.3mm pencils.

 

I was also thinking, if I remeber right there is an o-ring inside the nib (at least on some pens) and maybe this is causing your issue.

 

Anyway I hope you get it worked out.

[Ricardo1962]

@dzarren

How many leads do you load your pencil with?

 

R.

[Tasmith]

@Tasmith

Hmm, I've never had a pencil that did this. Even those 50 cent bics that everyone uses as a child can feed out the next piece of lead, in my experience. I must admit, this is the only 0.3 pencil I use extensively, but I don't think this diameter should cause this type of experience. I always have a back up as well, usually a semi-nice 0.5mm pencil.

But like I said, it's really hard to grab onto the tiny piece of super thin 0.3mm lead that sticks out less than a millimeter to pull it out, so the next one can start coming out. And because it is so hard to grab, it ends up breaking off, thereby I am unable to grab it, nor can the next piece advance.

 

You're correct. I guess I just always pulled the lead out.

[takkun]

Can't speak for the problem being typical of Rotrings, though I've always wanted one. I've got a small collection of the older Pentel GraphGear 1000s, from back when they looked nearly identical. So you might consider looking into those. They've got a good amount of heft to them.

 

Though honestly, these days i end up using a Mars lead holder, both for writing and drafting. Not as precise in line width unless you continually sharpen, but its meant a lot fewer jams and digging into paper when low.

But what's the fun in something that doesn't go click?

[discopig]

Staedtler 925-25 is a great alternative to the Rotring 600. I have both and use the Staedtler much more often now.

[stevesurf]

I also have the Rotring 600 0.35 as well and love it. The lead I use is the Uni Hi-Uni ~

 

http://static.jetpens.com/images/a/000/004/4635.jpg

[Ricardo1962]

...The lead I use is the Uni Hi-Uni ~

 

 

Excellent leads!

 

R.